Best of the Best

Simply, my favorite performances from this seasons Grand Prix:

Skate America







Skate Canada







Cup of China



NHK Trophy













Trophée Eric Bompard







Rostelecom Cup

I Screamed Like a Girl

The Regular Grand Prix is over and I'm giddy with delight! I think next to Worlds (which I also will be attending!), the Grand Prix Final will be the best ticket of the year!

I won't go into specifics about who did and who didn't make it...you can check for yourself.

I was pleased with the ladies and pairs fields. I think Christmas came early with that dance field! And then I screamed like a girl when I saw the men's field!

OMG! Look!



No way! So if I was to pick my top six favorite men's skaters in the world...I got 5 of them right here (better luck next time Denis Ten) including my fave Jeremy Abbott. Sorry Yuzuru...I'm rooting for the other 5. Talk about EPIC!

Praying for no bogus withdrawals...I feel as though I would cry.

The Nitpick

At NHK Trophy there was way too many skaters "going against the grain." That is, trying to be skaters that they are not.

I have a pretty strong opinion about this. Skaters need to find a lane and stay in it. Perfect it. Optimize it. Win! I'll use my favorite skater of all time to demonstrate this point; Michelle Kwan.

For over a decade she was hammering out amazing programs...she stayed "in her lane." Then in 2004-2005 she did that Bolero program and for the first time I was like "Oh girl, that is not a great program." She tried to be a skater she wasn't...it didn't work.

At NHK there was an overwhelming amount of these types of programs happening. Here are some of the culprits:









Oh boy...ummm. The skaters that win a lot, even when they try new things, they do it in a way that doesn't take away from who they are as skaters. It's like changing the color of your car...but still keeping the same car. Skaters have to know what their strengths are as skaters and play to them. The above programs do the exact opposite. Armin is a flowing classical skater, Cynthia and Agnes are strength skaters, and the Reed's do best when they aren't attempting character pieces.

In short, what I'm saying is...If you're going to push yourself as an artistic and try something new...make sure it works.

Side note not associated with the above post, but I feel as if the judges righted a wrong by giving Shibby the win at NHK...however I feel like it was at the expense of Weaver and Poje...just saying.

The Nitpick

Grrrrrrrrrr....the Free Dance results at Cup of China were "redonk!"

I found the judges to be impertinent and devoid of all ability to actually "see" what was happening on the ice.

Take a look:



Then this hot mess took the ice...



Now I'm all for Walpurgis Night. Faust is greatly under-used in skating. But this dance was terrible. It lumbered across the ice at a snails pace. Ekaterina gave us her ususal poor posture. Don't get me started about the last 30 seconds or so when it went to complete s%*t! I watched it again to make sure I was giving them a fair shake...it was more painful the second time through.

Let's rewind the the Short Dance where I actually agreed that the Russians out skated team "Shibby." Maia and Alex have many things, but steamy sex appeal in a Rhumba isn't one of them (and now we have one of those weird brother/sister awkward moments). While I don't think I would have had the Russians like 7 or 8 points ahead...I would have given them the lead.

But what a load of crap that the judges not only handed the Russians the title...they marked them as skating better in the free...what?!?!?!?!?! C'mon, really? I realize figure skating is subjective and everybody has to have an opinion...but this is blatant ridiculousness. Put all feelings about style and music aside and just look at the skills and the skating. In short, the Russians weren't even close to being able to keep up with the skating abilities that Shibby displayed. And to even show their incompetence more...the judges didn't even make it close, but called it as a 7+ point blowout resulting in this disaster of a score:



I was pissed...still am! I think what pissed me off the most is that the Russians took their win in stride...they didn't even looked shocked. Not even a "Hey Babe, we just demolished a team that's clearly better than us, isn't that awesome?!?!" from Dimitri. If you just beat the World Bronze Medalists...wouldn't you be 'slightly' more excited?

And the sad part is, we'll never know which of the judges on the panel either don't know how to judge or are passing off favors...their anonymous. Didn't Beyoncé sing, "What goes around, comes back around..."

Cup of China

We are literally hours away from the beginning of Cup of China. So before I go to bed only to rise at an early hour...a few thoughts about Cup of China.

Ice Dance
The field is lacking some depth so it should be a very easy road to victory for the World Bronze Medalists, Alex and Maia Shibutani. Another of the U.S. new teams makes a debut with Samuelson and Gilles hitting the ice. My guess is Bobrova and Soloviev come in a distant second and a fun little fight for third.

Men
I don't quite know how to handicap this one...Gachinski, Oda, Abbott...any could be the one to beat. Lurking in the background are Hanyu, Dornbush, and Reynolds. I'm rooting for Jeremy...last season was a little rough, this one needs to go better!

Pairs
I'm excited to see how Zhang and Zhang stack up against Kavaguti and Smirnov. I'm also excited to see how Evora and Ladwig figure in the mix. I'm hoping they have improved the technical elements.

Ladies
I think Carolina Kostner runs away with this title. Her programs are fantastic this season and is skating great. Her biggest challenge will probably be Kanako Murakami. Team USA has potential to do well but I'm not holding my breath. Sotnikova? Young Russians would appear to be on a roll...?

The Nitpick

So, with my new job I've learned that I can't blog as much as I used too. So when I do blog I want to make sure I'm saying something meaningful. I could give a bland rundown of what took place at an event but those of you reading my blog probably already know about that so I've come up with "The Nitpick." I'll focus on one thing in particular about an event that popped to me.

So this weeks Nitpick...Chanflation.

Before I even begin...I think Patrick Chan deserved to win Skate Canada...let me just say that and get it out of the way.

But now that we have that out of the way, I'd like to offer Exhibit A...Patrick, Daisuke, and Javier's short programs from Skate Canada.

So, after the short program these were the top three men...all separated by less than 2 points (1.43 to be exact). I have to tip my hat to Patrick Chan...even with a less than great skate he managed to be within two points of Javier Fernandez who had the skate of his life! Chan, if he knows how to do anything, it's how to get points. His component scores where close to 4 points up on Javier's (3.79 to be exact). As good a skater as Patrick is...his skate was not 3.79 points up on Javier (typically it might be, but not this day). Seems as though (To me at least. Figure Skating IS still subjective) Chan was propped up a bit. Even Patrick looked a little surprised at his scores when they came up. He was in the Kiss and Cry apologizing for a poor skate and then really good scores come up despite botching some of his elements. What was even more impressive is how the judges managed to squeeze Takahashi in for 2nd...that took precision!

And just a moment discussing Javier...wow! It's like he's somebody brand new! Brian Orser has worked some magic here!

To be fair, even despite the mistakes in Chan's free, it's a brilliant skate and he obviously would have won anyway...but even his free skate wasn't perfect and yet he's pulling scores like he had the skate of his life.

I don't blame Patrick for any of this...I almost don't blame the judges that much. This is the one flaw (well...I think the biggest flaw anyway) with the judging system...it's about points. Despite Chan's errors, he gets tons-o-points by doing what he does on the ice. I'm fearful of the day when, in a huge competition such as the Olympics, he's going to make similar mistakes and still beat someone that skates perfect...then I think there will be an uproar about "Chanflation."

I'm happy that Javier won the short program...he deserved to do so. I think he deserved to win by a bigger margin...or at least it seemed as though his short was better than just 1.43 points.

Later tonight I'll post a rundown of Cup of China.