Pic of the Week

What do you do when one of your favorite figure skaters is one of the biggest wildcards the sport has ever seen? I mean, brilliant beyond belief and more often than not, completely and absolutely disastrous.

I find myself wondering exactly what Emanuel Sandhu is up to these days. After basically bypassing last season to focus on acting, singing, and dancing; he is leaving his fans in a state of flux as to his plans this season.

He isn't scheduled to compete on the Grand Prix at all but stated last season that he would resume training in hopes to represent Canada in Vancouver in 2010. It would be pretty amazing for him to be there because he'd have more home crowd support than anyone, it's his home training base!

I don't know exactly how skaters qualify for Canadian Nationals and what he'd have to do to compete in that event, but I'm pretty sure he'd have to make a decision soon. I can't imagine him taking two years off and being ready to go for an Olympic run...not with the talent Canada is currently producing.

Emanuel, I hope to heck you decide to compete again. I can't imagine a better team in Vancouver than Sandhu, Chan, and Buttle. Hope to see you there!

Another one...

And it appears Mao Asada will be coached by Tatiana Tarasova!

What happened anyway between Mao and Rafael Artunian? That was never quite clear. It was just like she decided not to return to California sometime after the Four Continents Cup...very strange.

Skating's hotties!

The Roundup this week over at Lifeskate (thank you Susan) had a wonderful little gem amongst its ranks.

Apparently Sports Crunch has listed (in their opinion) the top 10 hottest female athletes ever and two skaters made the list.

Peggy Fleming came in at number 10. They cited her using her good looks to finagle a job as a commentator (No...it couldn't possibly be that she was knowledgeable about skating!) for ABC sports.

And Katarina Witt came in at number 2! They noted that only two issues of Playboy have ever sold out, the inaugural issue featuring Marilyn Monroe, and the December 1998 issue featuring Katarina...wow, I didn't know that!

Just a little fun this Wednesday! I find myself wondering how much Google traffic I'll get for having the words hot female and Playboy in this post?

Summer of change continues...

Another skater has changed coaches!

This time it's Ashley Wagner. She has left Shirley Hughes in DC to train with Priscilla Hill. Hill also coaches Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov.

"I'm hoping this change helps bring a new maturity to my skating and brings me closer to my dream of competing in the Olympic Games," Wagner said. "I appreciate all that Mrs. Hughes has done for me; I wouldn't have made it to the World Championships without her. Right now I'm concentrating on my future and where this change will take me."

"I am very proud of Ashley and all we accomplished together," Hughes said. "I wish her the best of luck in all her future endeavors." Nice to see them part ways amicably.

Geez, who's next...so many changes!

Canadian city needs beer-drinking figure skaters!

Sometimes you just run across the best stories! This story is about a new ice-arena in St. Catharines, Ontario and their struggle to make an on-site resturant work.

The solution, I'm sure, more beer drinking figure skaters!

What an interesting story!

More coach swapping!

Now Tanith and Ben have new training mates...Domnina and Shabalin of Russia.

Reportedly, the duo has decided to take from Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov whom Belbin and Agosto just switched to in April. Not exactly sure what has prompted the No. 1 team from Russia to make the change?

Interestingly, Oksana and Max are one of Tanith and Ben's biggest competitors and the teams have had quite a rivalry on the Grand Prix for the past couple of seasons. Wonder how Tanith and Ben are taking this?

Oy! These skaters and their coaching changes!

Grand Prix Predictions

I know this is early, but I just made some initial predictions based on the current assignments...more or less I want to come back to this page later and see how good I did (I realize this is a long post!). I found some of these very tough to predict!

Pairs

Skate America
1. Savchenko & Szolkowy
2. McLaughlin & Brubaker
3. Mukhortova & Trankov

Skate Canada
1. Dube & Davison
2. Kawaguchi & Smirnov
3. McLaughlin & Brubaker

Cup of China
1. Zhang & Zhang
2. Pang & Tong
3. Volosozhar & Morozov

Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire
1. Savchenko & Szolkowy
2. Mukhortova & Trankov
3. Duhamel & Buntin

Cup of Russia
1. Zhang & Zhang
2. Kawaguchi & Smirnov
3. Volosozhar & Morozov

NHK Trophy
1. Pang & Tong
2. Dube & Davison
3. Inoue and Baldwin

Men

Skate America
1. Lysacek
2. Weir
3. Van der Perren

Skate Canada
1. Lysacek
2. Buttle
3. Lambiel

Cup of China
1. Takahashi
2. Buttle
3. Verner

Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire
1. Joubert
2. Lambiel
3. Chan

Cup of Russia
1. Joubert
2. Verner
3. Voronov

NHK Trophy
1. Takahashi
2. Weir
3. Oda

Dance

Skate America
1. Delobel & Schoenfelder
2. Belbin & Agosto (I struggled with this decision!)
3. Kerr & Kerr

Skate Canada
1. Virtue & Moir
2. Davis and White
3. Pechalat & Bourzat

Cup of China
1. Belbin & Agosto
2. Domnina & Shabalin
3. Khoklova & Novitski

Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire
1. Delobel & Schoenfelder
2. Faiella & Scali
3. Kerr & Kerr

Cup of Russia
1. Domnina & Shabalin
2. Khoklova & Novitski
3. Davis & White

NHK Trophy
1. Virtue & Moir
2. Faiella & Scali
3. Pechalat & Bourzat

Ladies

Skate America
1. Kim
2. Ando
3. Flatt

Skate Canada
1. Rochette
2. Zhang
3. Kostner

Cup of China
1. Kim
2. Ando
3. Meier

Trophée Eric Bompard Cachemire
1. Asada
2. Zhang
3. Rochette

Cup of Russia
1. Flatt
2. Kostner
3. Meissner

NHK Trophy
1. Asada
2. Nakano
3. Nagasu

Pic of the Week

The Celtics have won the NBA Finals in grand fashion, and I'm very excited because I'm going to be in Boston this weekend and I'm sure the town will be very much alive and simply abounding with excitement.

But the Celtics are not the real Pic of the Week but I was pleased as punch they won...sorry west coast.

So Game Four of the Finals, which was actually out in LA at the Staples Center, was really a star studded event. I mean the likes of Will Smith, Ja Rule, Jerry Smith, Tobey Maguire, Fergie, Andy Garcia, and Flea to name a few where all out to try to get some mojo going behind the Lakers...I don't think it worked.

But our beloved Michelle Kwan was in attendance as well with her father Danny and that's how we get around to this weeks Pic of the Week.

But Game Four was a star studded event indeed as this Paparazzi like video shows. Goodness!

Grand Prix Assignments

So the ISU has published Grand Prix Assignments for the upcoming season. US Figure Skating has a story about it here while you can see the full listings for all events and disciplines here.

Oh, big news, Johnny Weir will be doing for the first time Skate America! Usually Johnny skips this event to do later ones but not this time. Oddly, Johnny is skipping Cup of Russia, an event where he tends to have huge crowd support. Also, going right up against Evan Lysacek at Skate America will be interesting (guess who has tickets!). Johnny's second event will be NHK Trophy, the last event in the series, where he'll have to contend with Takahashi and Oda (who will be making is competetive re-debut). Lysacek is doing back to back events, getting them out of the way early. He's also doing Skate Canada where he'll have to butt heads with the World Champ J. Buttle and his trusty side kick Canadian National Champ Chan as well as everyones favorite spinner Lambiel.

I've come to really respect US Figure Skating for sticking by Kimmie Meissner. They've given her two Grand Prix events including Skate America which has a packed ladies field! Meissner, the reigning Skate America Champ, will have to contend with Ando, Nakano, Kim, Flatt, and Nagasu....whew! But kudos to US Figure Skating for not giving up on Meissner and seeing her through this rough patch.

Now I'm beyond excited for this season to begin!

Champ Camp

So this weekend all our best of the best figure skaters (those skaters on the A and B envelopes) have gotten together for what they have begun calling Champ Camp!

Basically it's getting these guys ready for the Olympics as it is a pretty good bet that our Vancouver 2010 team will come from amongst this pool of talent. They get to listen to important people talk (including Paul Wylie) and attend seminars. They even get to do a team building activity!

After Monday...all the really good ones get to stay and have their programs evaluated to try to improve on their skills and find ways to squeeze every point out each element.

Apparently Icenetwork is bringing the entire weekend to you if you subscribe! Complete list of participating athletes is below.

Jeremy Abbott
Belbin & Agosto
Stephen Carriere
Castile & Okolski
Davis & White
Rachael Flatt
Alexe Gilles
Hubbell & Hubbell
Inoue & Baldwin
Beatrisa Liang
Evan Lysacek
Armin Mahbanoozadeh
McLauglin & Brubaker
Kimmie Meissner
Brandon Mroz
Mirai Nagasu
Navarro & Bommentre
Paetsch & Nuss
Adam Rippon
Samuelson & Bates
Vise & Trent
Ashley Wagner
Johnny Weir
Caroline Zhang

A new approach

Pang and Tong have 2010 in there sites and they plan on doing everything possible to be on the podium there.

A new article from the China Daily chronicles the steps they are taking to be on the Olympic podium in Vancouver. "Since the very beginning, our graceful and classic performances moved the judges and that was our advantage. But now those judges are expecting changes," Tong said. "If we want to move the judges again, we have to try something new to arouse their interest in us."

How exactly does a team accomplish this feat? For Pang and Tong it's changing everything. They've relocated to downtown Beijing for their training. New choreographers have been tapped. For this upcoming season Nikolai Morozov and Sarah Kawahara are the choreographers. And the music, no flowing classics this year. The Blues and the Tango are their choices this time around. "We have listened to various types of music and finally decided to apply the styles that are a departure from our past," Tong said. "We hope the new program attracts the attention of the judges."

All of this while completely revamping their jump technique to get rid of those of those nasty negative GOE's the judges have hammered them with this past season. "We have had a hard time adapting to the new music while at the same time improving our techniques," Tong said. "We will try hard to change the bad impression judges have of our jumps."

A lot of hard work ahead for this team...hopefully it will pay off!

Bad luck...or just plain stupid?

Oh no, apparently Alexei Yagudin has had his Porsche stolen in Moscow.

That's unfortunate, but that's not where it ends! Apparently one (he in fact has four in total) of his World Championship Gold Medals was in the car...because...you know...everyone keeps their Gold Medals in their car.

It wasn't reported if it was his 98 (Minneapolis), 99 (Helsinki), 00 (Nice), or 02 (Nagano) medal. I can't imagine which one he would consider most valuable. In all, he is quoting his total loss at $1,500,000 (not sure if that is Rubles or Dollars...if it is Rubles it's around $65,000 USD). Either way, I think he's learned to not park expensive Porsche's just anywhere.

Poor poor Yagudin...bad luck or just plain stupid...you decide!

2008 Adult Nationals

I must say that Susan over at Lifeskate has done some serious coverage of the recent 2008 Adult Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid New York!

I mean, really...a journalistic award is in order here! But I invite everyone to head over and take a look...it's great.

It's in depth coverage of all aspects of the competition...it's wonderful! Pictures, video clips, interviews, it all there! Thank You Susan.

Pic of the Week

This past week has been a sad one for the sports broadcasting community. Jim McKay, the renowned announcer for ABC's Wide World of Sports has passed away at the age of 86.

Jim McKay has covered virtually every televised sport, including figure skating, and is widely known for his Olympic broadcasting. His most important piece of broadcasting came at the 1972 Munich Olympics when Jim was the eyes and voice of the American coverage concerning the terrorist attack against the Israeli Olympic Team.

Jim has been at countless figure skating events over the decades and will be sadly missed. Most recently, NBC asked him to host their Olympic Moments segment at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Below is a video of Jim speaking with Scott Hamilton. Jim, we all miss you already...and because of you, we will always look towards sport for "the thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat."

Oh the drama!

I don't even have the energy to post a full recap of the Pasha Grischuk date-rape tragedy so I'll leave you all to your devices to read the story here.

But I will tell you, as with anything associated with Pasha...it's chock full of tragic drama.

Tragic I say!

More shuffling

The figure skating coaching shuffle continues. Today, Stéphane Lambiel announced that he is leaving long-time coach (13 years) Peter Grütter to train in Wayne, New Jersey with Viktor Petrenko and Galina Zmievskaya. It marks the first time Stéphane will train in the U.S.

Which of course means that Johnny Weir was a new training mate, as Johnny also is coached by the duo. Johnny's principal coach is Galina, while Stéphane's will be Viktor, however, both will help with both skaters. It's kind of like Frank Carroll and Ken Congemi or Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson...everyone helps!

On his official website, Stéphane spoke of Peter: "It has been a difficult decision. I owe a lot to Peter Grütter. We part on good terms and remain friends." Apparently given that the Olympics are less than two years away and over the past two seasons he's gone from Defending World Champion, to World Bronze Medalist, to fifth place at World's (not the direction you want to go heading towards an Olympics), some changes needed to be made.

Two of the sports most artistic talents training together...should be interesting! I think these two can really push each other.

Pic of the Week

Sometimes we have to look behind the scenes to find what makes a skater or skaters exceptional. Sure we all see the great performances skaters put on and applaud their performance but we should also applaud their process in reaching that moment.

This week, I've decided that the Pic of the Week will applaud the process maker...this week, I applaud the coach.

And what a week to take a look at Dalilah Sappenfield! Her Pair's teams swept the Gold Medals in St. Paul at the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, most notably Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. And at the recent PSA International Conference in Chicago, she was named coach of the year.

Dalilah coaches at both the Colorado Springs World Arena and at the South Suburban Ice Arena in Denver. Her skating philosophy is to not hold strong skaters back and push them towards the fullest potential. A feat she is certainly accomplishing with McLaughlin and Brubaker.

Dalilah is clearly deserving of Coach of the Year and we can say without hesitation that U.S. Pair's skating is the better because of her.

Wow

I'll put my foot in my mouth now! I just received this Press Release from the Spokane 2010 Organizing comittee:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 3, 2008) - With approximately a year and a half until the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships take place in Spokane, Wash., the event has already eclipsed the previous initial weekend ticket sales record, with 2,692 All Event Ticket Packages and 2,026 Skating Spectacular tickets being sold in the first 48 hours.

Tickets for the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships went on sale May 31 at noon EST. As of Monday, June 2, organizers report an increase of 25 percent over the past record that was set March 15, 2004 for the initial ticket launch of the 2007 State Farm U.S. Championships, which were also held in Spokane.

Fans took advantage of a special payment plan that allowed them to select the seat of their choice and put down a $200 deposit to secure the seat. The ticket purchaser then pays the remaining balance over three payments.

"The 2007 U.S. Championships in Spokane set the all-time attendance record for the Championships," said David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating. "When Spokane was selected to again host in 2010, it was done with the mission to provide our athletes and fans an exciting atmosphere for the week. Spokane raised the bar in 2007, and we fully expected the city to do it again. I think the initial results show that our fans are excited about 2010."

"These initial results make us more excited and proud every day," said Toby Steward, president of Star USA. "We are humbled that so many people have shown their support of Spokane hosting these Championships by their actions. By buying tickets, the fans have shown that they want to come back to Spokane, and we are even more thrilled to host them for the Championships during this most important year."

The All Event Ticket Package guarantees access to all competition sessions as well as admission to all practice sessions at Spokane Arena. The package does not include admission to the Skating Spectacular on Jan. 24, tickets for which may be purchased separately. The ticket price for an all-event ticket is $595 and the price of a ticket to the Skating Spectacular is $75. These are the only tickets available at this time.

The competition begins Friday, Jan. 15, 2010, and ends with the ladies free skate Saturday, Jan. 23. The Skating Spectacular will take place Sunday, Jan. 24, as all the event medalists celebrate with a grand finale performance.

Tickets please...

So I'm putting together my competitive figure skating travel plans this season. This season, I think I'm going to stake claims on Skate America, Four Continents Cup, and Worlds. I'm a little sad about missing Nationals...I never miss Nationals...but I really want to see the Olympic Arena in action and there is little to no chance I can score tickets for Vancouver 2010, thus 4CC, and of course Worlds are in the U.S. so my budget had to give somewhere and Nationals was the concession, sorry Cleveland (I think that was the worst run on sentence ever!).

But, while I have already purchased my Skate America Tickets and plan to purchase my Worlds tickets as soon as I can figure out my airfare, I can't seem to find Four Continents Cup Tickets (or even a schedule anywhere).

To my friends up north, I need some info! I've looked all over Skate Canada's website for info and searched Google and Ticketmaster.ca. I've even visited the Vancouver 2010 website wondering if they would sell the tickets since it's the Olympic figure Skating test event.

My friends in Canada...I'd love to spend a few days with you in Vancouver next February, let me know how to get there!