Skate America Report 1

So I would have blogged last night but by the time I got to my hotel room I was pooped!

I would love to tell you about the Compulsory Dance but...I can't! Rather than landing in Newark at 2:15 we had to circle the airport for nearly 2 hours so I got in late and what is a 2 hour drive became a 3 hour drive due to traffic...yeah I didn't see any of the dance competition night 1.

The pairs seemed like a relatively weak field but I was impressed with Canadians Dube and Davison, they lead Pang and Tong of China. It was a powerful performance they gave and strong skating skills that got them there. The Chinese looked a bit rusty but I think they will pull away in the free. The only clean team were Russians Basanova and Larionov, but they had lesser technical difficulty than the the other teams and are in third place.

The men also had trouble getting clean performances as well. Ryan Bradley had trouble with his quad combo doing only a triple triple and then did a double axel instead of a triple. His Godfather program is entertaining but he simply must work on his skating skills, he's in 8th place. Stephen Carriere pulled it together and while he had no quad he did accomplish what he planned and sits in 6th place. Evan Lysacek when down on his quad (awesome that he attempted it though) but came back strong. His Zorro program has a great circular footwork section and he gave it a lot of power, he's in 2nd place. The guy to beat was Takahashi. He was last to skate and didn't even have to try a quad because no one landed it successfully (Lutai of Russia almost did but it was a little bit under rotated). His program is brilliant, he incorporates his silky smooth style with hip hop dancing, great spins, awesome jumps, and very difficult footwork. He has a big lead going into the free skate. Patrick Chan of Canada rounds out the top three.

I can also tell you NBC's commentating team is Tom Hammond, Sandra Bezic, and Scott Hamilton.