Playing Catch-Up...Post Event Ramblings

Whew! I've spent all morning, and now a bit of the afternoon, catching up on all my fellow bloggers reaction to this past weekend's Skate America happenings. I have to admit that actually being at the event, at least for me, I tend to tune the rest of the world out and focus. Upon returning to the real world it was nice to read reactions to things I watched live and to really attempt to get a grip on what took place right before my eyes.

First, a funny note. I reported on my blog about my airline fiasco a week before the event, part of the compensation from Delta Airlines was upgrading my ticket to first class (I never fly first class unless its one of those fluke upgrades that happen from time to time) after changing my departure airport. Just so happens on the way home on my flight out of Seattle, Tom Hammond of NBC Sports was two seats from me just on the other side of the aisle. I didn't tell him I knew who he was...I don't think anyone in First Class knew who he was...I think better to let people just be people sometimes.

I think Rockne Brubaker is one of those people that really feels the whole Olympic spirit emotion that swells up inside of you. At Skate America, I was fortunate enough to have amazing seats, and often times a lot of the coaches and officials would come sit in the section directly next to where I was. It was frequented by Tom Zakrajsek, Igor Speilband, and Jason Dungjen, among others. During the Ice Dance final Dalilah Sappenfield showed up, with Keauna and Rockne in tow! After the final, they played a video about competing in the Olympics and representing the U.S. and Rockne was so into that video and you could just see the athleticism and patriotism swell in him. As a direct result of Skate America, McLaughlin and Brubaker are my favorite pairs team! Also, Susan, Keauna is tiny, but not really tiny! I guess I would say fit! Hahahaha...making good on a request there.

Pink Floyd was widely used at this event. I must say I've never seen so many Pink Floyd programs in my life.

In retrospect I now see where Evan lost the event. With TiVo you can watch in slow-motion and you can see where he just had those tinsy-tiny cheats. But...come-on! Wouldn't a little nick on the GOE be sufficient rather than completely downgrading what appears to the naked eye to be a complete jump? Also, what I thought would be a two man race in Japan between Takahashi and Oda for the top spot became a three man race...Kozuka wants to be a contender too! A side note about Kozuka's win...NHK Television was giddy with joy about this one! This was certainly an unexpected surprise...you could see them going crazy at their media platform (which, by-the-way, was triple the size of NBC's!).

Lots of chatter on the blogs about this and I concur...everyone is talking about Meissner and Nagasu and nobody is talking about Flatt. People, FLATT WAS THE BEST US LADY AT THE EVENT...HANDS DOWN! And I feel really underscored...I'm sure it has something to do with jumps and footwork or whatever, but to just watch, she was great!

Now we get to turn our attention to Skate Canada in Ottawa. This event has been really affected by retirements and withdrawals. I'll preview it Thursday.