Farewell Colorado Springs!

The exhibition just wrapped and the Four Continents Cup has come to an end. I'll post my thoughts on the Pairs and Dance on Tuesday...I have to get to sleep as I have a long trek back to Illinois tomorrow.

Loved meeting and hanging out with @swandie27, @elizabethdehoff, and @TimDavid_Sk8 this week...let's do it again!

Until Tuesday...enjoy these two gems I found today on YouTube!

Twitter Tops

Last October I looked at the who was the Top Figure Skating Tweeps out there. With a season now behind us...I decided to take another look to see where things currently stand in the skating "Twitterverse."

Here is the current Top 10 Figure Skating Tweeps:

#10 Daisuke Takahashi (14,405)

#9 Mirai Nagasu (15,568)

#8 Fumie Suguri (18,046)

#7 Miki Ando (22,363)

#6 Evgeny Plushenko (22,841)

#5 Kristi Yamaguchi (25,464)

#4 Joannie Rochette (26,868)

#3 Evan Lysacek (63,752)

#2 Johnny Weir (95,794)

#1 Kim Yu-Na (356,355)

There have been some change in the results. Japanese skaters are showing up on Twitter and they have big followings. Miki Ando, Daisuke Takahashi, and Fumie Suguri have all made the top 10. Only Nagasu held her ground to stay in the top 10 with Belbin, Chan, and Abbott all getting the boot! Past Ando the placements are unchanged. Women have taken over with 6 in the top 10. Kristi remains the only "Pro" skater to be in the field. Now, all the skaters are single skaters (with Belbin's exit). And the Queen (Kim) is still queen...in a huge way.

I decided to look at the numbers in a different way. Rather than looking at # of followers, I looked at % increase in followers which painted a different story. How do they rank (excpet Ando, Suguri, and Takahashi who I didn't have info on last Oct.) by percent increase of followers?

#9 Evan Lysacek + 8%

#8 Patrick Chan + 31% (No Longer in Top 10)

#7 Kim Yu-Na + 34%

#6 Mirai Nagasu + 34.5%

#5 Johnny Weir + 37%

#4 Jeremy Abbott + 41% (No Longer in Top 10)

#3 Joannie Rochette + 44%

#2 Kristi Yamaguchi + 66%

#1 Evgeny Plushenko + 91%

Wow! The Olympic Champ is struggling! In a more and more socially connected world he was only able to increase his Twitter following by 8%...yikes. The bright-lights of Vancouver are fading...might explain his recent indication that he may be returning to competition. I feel like that was a poor quarterly earnings report.

The rest of the field has made nice gains...but one crushes them all...Plushenko! He's almost doubled his Twitter following. This shows he has a dedicated social core and with his subsequent return to competition I suspect this number will continue to rise as well.

Why has Kristi Yamaguchi gained so many followers? Does someone know something I don't?

Twitter Wars

Whose winning the Twitter War? Who has the most followers? Whose every word are we hanging on too? I have been in a top 10 mood so here are the Top 10 Figure Skaters (by followers at time of posting) on Twitter:

#10 Jeremy Abbott (@jeremyabbottpcf) - 9,980

#9 Tanith Belbin (@TanithJLB) - 10,641

#8 Patrick Chan (@PChiddy) - 10,947

#7 Mirai Nagasu (@mirai_nagasu) - 11,644

#6 Evgeny Plushenko (@Evgeniplushenko) - 11,947

#5 Kristi Yamaguchi (@kristiyamaguchi) - 15,356

#4 Joannie Rochette (@JoannieRochette) - 18,698

#3 Evan Lysacek (@EvanLysacek) - 59,069

#2 Johnny Weir (@JohnnyGWeir) - 70,024

#1 Kim Yu-Na (@Yunaaaa) - 266,581

So my thoughts...

Pro vs Amateur - As far as skating goes, Twitter is dominated by eligible skaters with Kristi Yamaguchi being the only established professional/veteran in the group. Kurt Browning, Scott Hamilton, and Brian Boitano did have followers in the thousands ranging from 5,072 to 7,484.

Johnny vs Evan - Johnny, despite not winning an Olympic Medal and a stint on Dancing with the Stars, has about 10,000 followers more than his arch nemesis (strong words?) Evan Lysacek. A credit to Johnny's inherent ability to simply create buzz and media sparkle. He seems perfect for Social Media.

Singles Club - All but one of the top 10 are singles skaters. Tanith Belbin is the only paired skater to break through. She must have done something right! And that begs the question...why is Tanith so much more popular than Ben and his 4,034 followers?

Vancouver was the Twitter Olympics - All the top 10 with the exception of Yamaguchi competed in Vancouver.

Boys vs Girls - Doesn't seem to be any gender bias on Twitter...5 boys and 5 girls make up the top 10. #equality

10,000 Threshold - Poor Jeremy Abbott is on the only skater in the top 10 not above 10,000 followers...can we get him there. Prove that Pigs Can Fly, follow Jeremy on Twitter! UPDATE: We ran a little Twitter campaign an voila...Jeremy is now above 10,000. Now he's going for 20,000...look out Joannie Rochette!

Popular! - Mirai Nagasu's appearance on this list suprises me. She came to Twitter a bit later than a lot of the top skaters yet has garnered quite a following in a short period of time. I love the 2008 National Champ and reigning U.S. Silver medalist...and apparently so do all of you!

Flag Representation - Twitter's top figure skaters are largely North American. 60% are American, 20% Canadian, and 10% each for Russia and S. Korea. Question...where's Japan?

The Queen - S. Korea's Kim Yu-Na really is the Queen. 266,581 followers and climbing. She destroys the rest of the Twitter competition!

Pic of the Week

Wamp wamp. Oh Evan Bates...

Oh boo! The last thing a skater wants to hear is that they have an Achilles Tendon injury. That's not an easy thing to come back from.

But don't loose hope...the same thing happened to Hongbo Zhao...he went on with partner Xue Shen to win an Olympic Bronze Medal, another World Title, and of course an Olympic Gold Medal.

Six months the doctor says he has to be off the ice. Do the math...if you start counting from today, he makes his return to the ice March 30th...three days after the conclusion of the World Championships in Tokyo. Bummer.

So basically it's the end of the season for Evan and Emily, and it never even started. "It’s very disappointing," Bates told the Detroit Free Press. "We had just made this coaching change, and we were getting a lot of positive feedback and looking forward to this season. Nothing I can do now except sit here."

And just sitting in Ice Dance is never a good thing when you have lots of teams already nipping at your heels including Maia and Alex Shibutani, Chock and Zuerlein, and Madison and Keiffer Hubbell.

At least Evan is being positive; "We’ll be stronger for it."

Oh better days...

UPDATE: Evan updated his Twitter followers this morning: "I had surgery to repair my achilles yesterday and docs said it was extremely successful. Thanks to all who have messaged me their support!"

Your Olympic Look-Outs!

The clock is ticking on the start of the Olympics! I am so excited...I can't even sit still. There's so much to look forward to. I posed the question on Twitter and here are some of the responses:

@jykang - fair play, fair judging, and love all around! also that warm fuzzy feeling you get when someone wins a medal and he/she completely deserves it.

@saramariaj - The men's event!!

@aquarianice85 - Ladies and hoping for gold for Shen & Zhao. I think it will be a good Olympics.

@ericaisrich - I look forward to the women's competition and if the German pair gets gold. ;)

@Annabel_J - Men's competition for sure! I'm also interested to see the dance, and the drama that will undoubtedly come with it ;)

@mycherryloop - I'll be glued to the TV for anything and everything Figure Skating related. No way I can prioritize my favorites...

@lizcarp - Umm, all of it! But specifically - skating, hockey and freestyle ski jumping (think that's what it's called).

I'll throw in my two cents...I'm looking forward to all the great stories that the Olympics offer. The triumph, the steps to overcome adversity, the pride that athletes feel...I'm a sucker for all those things in the Olympics!

Feel free to weigh in...what are looking forward to most at the Olympics?

Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter!

U.S. Nationals (Day Nine)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Senior Free Dance
Senior Ladies Free Skate

Check this post for results and musings. NBC will be showing the final two groups of both the Senior Free Dance and the Senior Ladies Free Skate live. Check your local listings. I may be tweeting during the Senior Free Dance and will definitely be tweeting during the Senior Ladies Free Skate at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102.

Free Dance just wrapped and Meryl Davis and Charlie White have successfully defended their National Title...this time competing against Belbin and Agosto. Tanith and Ben started the final group off strong with a powerful performance to Ave Maria. They seemed a bit slow at times but really connected with the music. They went on to post their highest total score this season. But there was little they could do as Meryl and Charlie took the ice and skated with no inhibitions and complete abandon. Easily skating the best Free Dance of any team this season (sorry Canadian Fans...even better than Tessa and Scott!), the wooshed past Belbin and Agosto and took the title easily even with a deduction (can't figure out what that was for?). Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates claimed the bronze and likely the final Olympic berth. Navarro and Bommentre were 4th and Chcok and Zuerlein 5th. As soon as the Olympic Team selection is official I will post.

UPDATE: It's official. Davis and White, Belbin and Agosto, and Samuelson and Bates have been named to the U.S. Olympic Team.

Ladies free just wrapped and what a wild ride! Your 2010 National Champ is...Rachael Flatt! I tweeted she managed to avoid the three times a bridesmaid jinx and win. Rachael had a very solid skate that included a muscled triple flip-triple toe combo. It was smooth sailing from that point on. The first of the top four ladies to skate was Ashley Wagner who also had a tremendous free skate. She two footed a couple jumps but attacked and gained strength as the program progressed. Her score went up and it was a big number to beat. Sasha Cohen's short program was a jolt to Figure Skating that was much needed. We all held our breath as she prepared for her free skate and wondered if she could equal her performance from Thursday. It was a tough program to watch. Sasha struggled on the majority of her jumps and it culminated with a fall on her triple flip in the second half of the program. Her artistry is unmatched and she finished fourth here, simply happy to have come back and skated at Nationals one last time. Mirai Nagasu was the final skater and turned in an amazing performance. Most thought she would easily take the title but upon close review of her jumps she got those pesky downgrades on three jumps causing her to miss the title. Still she finished second, with Wagner (who was second in the free) taking the bronze. Again once they selected the Olympic Team I'll update the post...an announcement is expected at any moment...

UPDATE: U.S. Figure Skating has named Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu to the U.S. Olympic Team.

U.S. Nationals (Day Eight)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Junior Ladies Free Skate
Senior Original Dance

Check this post for results and musings. I'll be tweeting during the Senior Original Dance at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102.

The Junior Ladies wrapped up their competition today and Agnes Zawadzki took the title after a great performance. In second was Yasmin Saraj and Lindsay Davis took the bronze.

In Ice Dance, the Senior OD wrapped setting up a great Free Dance. Meryl Davis and Charlie White managed to keep and slightly extend their lead over Belbin and Agosto. Still, less than two points seperate the two teams. Samuelson and Bates moved into third with an amazing performance set to a Dixie Chicks Medley. Navarro and Bommentre are in 4th but just under two points back. Chock and Zuerlein round out the top 5.

U.S. Nationals (Day Seven)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Senior Compulsory Dance
Junior Free Dance
Senior Ladies Short Program

Check this post for results and musings. I'll be tweeting during the Senior Ladies Short Program at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102.

The Senior Compulsory Dance is over and is it close! Two battles shaping up. The Gold Medal battle between Davis and White who lead Belbin and Agosto by a mere .4 points! Then there is a battle for bronze as Navarro and Bommentre lead Samuelson and Bates by an even skinnier .24. I know, right!

The Junior Free Dance competition wrapped with no surprise, Shibutani and Shibutani nabbing the win (by 20 points!). Tibbetts abd Brubaker took the silver and Gilles and Donahue won the bronze.

The Senior Ladies Short is over and what a humdinger! The full results are here and you can read my thoughts in the flash above!

U.S. Nationals (Day Three)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Senior Men's Free Skate
Novice Men's Short Program
Novice Pairs Short Program
Junior Men's Free Skate

Check this post for results and musings. I'll also be tweeting during the Senior Men's Free Skate at 1:30 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102. NBC will be showing the final two groups during the Senior Men's Free Skate Live. Check local listings.

The Men's Free Skate just concluded. First, in another post, I have to harp on NBC Sports which bought the rights to the final two groups of men which kept Ice Network from showing it live. Trouble is, NBC didn't show it either, robbing viewers from seeing the skaters ranked between 7th and 12th place. One off those skaters was Brandon Mroz, who had a tremendous skate that included a quad. He moved up to 6th and managed to save himself from having a tougher time getting back to nationals next season.

The top six were quite exciting. Ryan Bradley skated first and skated a tremendous skate! Two quads, one in combo and a standing ovation. He set the score to beat and neither Adam Rippon or Armin Mahbanoozadeh who skated after Ryan could beat him. Adam struggled on his triple axels and finished 5th overall while Armin's hip injury gave him problems and he fell to 8th. Evan Lysacek skated next. He attempted the quad but fell and looked tight from that point on. He doubled a triple loop and had a scratch axel combo. He recently reworked his program to make it harder and he looked a little uncomfortable with the new layout. Still, Evan gave a solid performance and took the lead from Bradley (but lost the free to him), and locked a spot on the Olympic Team. Johnny Weir was next and after a gorgeous triple axel combo, let the nerves creep in. He popped his second triple axel, stepped out of his triple toe behind a lutz, and skated very slowly. Despite finishing only 5th in the free, his lead from the short was good enough to get him in second ahead of Bradley and again probably locked a spot on the Olympic Team. Final skater of the night was Jeremy Abbott who blew the field away! A perfect skate that included a quad...I don't think many men in the world could get close to Abbott if he skates like this in Vancouver. He was brilliant and sent the roof off of Spokane Arena. His score was a whopping 263.66...and that was with, in my opinion, no inflation. I think that, at least for me, was the finest free skate from a man that I've ever had the pleasure to see. Pigs INDEED can fly!

UPDATE: Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek, and Jeremy Abbott have all been named to the U.S. Olympic Team.

Several other events took place today in Spokane. After the novice men's short program, Nathan Chen leads Emmanuel Savary and Phillip Warren. In novice pairs, Vollmer and Sidhu lead Cain and Reagan and Oltmanns and Santillan after the short program. The junior men's competition wrapped today with a stunning performance from Jason Brown who took the Gold. Joshua Farris took the silver medal while leader after the short, Max Aaron settled for bronze.




Video courtesy KHQ Spokane

U.S. Nationals (Day Two)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Senior Pairs Free Skate
Junior Pairs Short Program

Check this post for results and musings. I'll be tweeting during the Senior Pairs Free Skate at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102. Remember, the final two groups of the Senior Pairs Free Skate will be shown Live on NBC. Check local listings.

The pairs competition just wrapped and what a competition it was! McLaughlin and Brubaker skated in the earlier group and put up a fight. They didn't have an easy performance and had to fight for everything they did. They made some costly errors however and were only able to pull up to 5th place. That will almost assuredly mean they will not go the Olympics. Tough break. Castille and Okolski skated a lovely program. For the first time in like years they completed side-by-side triples. Some little mistakes here and there kept them from making a huge leap forward but they did manage 4th ahead of McLaughlin and Brubaker.

The fireworks were in the final group! Evora and Ladwig started the night off with a great performance. Good fight on all their side-by-side elements, amazing lifts, and amazing determination. The only major error came when Amanda went down on a through lutz. They were pleased at the end of their program and took the lead. Denney and Barrett were next and they skated lights out! Huge everything, not a single wobble or mistake, it was so impressive! It's like they don't feel any pressure. A big lead for them. Next up was Inoue and Baldwin, after doubling side-by-side triple toes they picked up their program with a solid throw loop, twist, lifts, and then deep in the program nailed a throw triple axel! The scores came up at the end and they were only able to get to third overall but they definitely gave the selection committee some food for thought. Yankowskas and Coughlin who were stunning in the short came unglued a bit...finishing behind Keauna and Rockne. So Jim Peterson's teams, Denney and Barrett as well as Evora and Ladwig, go 1-2 with Inoue and Baldwin taking 3rd.

Full results can be seen here. Ice Network will actually broadcast the Pairs Olympic selection presser live (and free) later tonight.

UPDATE: The selection committe has named Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett along with Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig to the U.S. Olympic Team.

The final event of the day was the Junior Pairs Short Program. Taylor Toth and Felicia Zhang lead the competition despite a nasty bang up in the warm-up for Taylor. Simpson and Miller are 2nd with Alba and Knierim 3rd. Full results can be seen here.

U.S. Nationals (Day One)

Scheduled Events for Today:

Junior Men's Short Program
Senior Pairs Short Program
Senior Men's Short Program

Check this post for results and musings. I'll also be tweeting during the Senior Pairs Short Program at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) and during the Senior Men's Short Program at 9:45 p.m. (Eastern). You can follow me on Twitter @skating102.

The Junior Men competed their short program earlier today. Max Aaron leads Jason Brown and Austin Kanallakan. You can see the full set of scores here.

The pairs short program was such a shock! First...what wasn't a shock was Denney and Barrett's short which rocked Spokane Arena and, despite being one of the first teams on the ice, they skated to a short program victory the same as they did last season. Right behind them in 2nd was a polished and solid Yankowskas and Coughlin who also managed a standing ovation. In 3rd are Denney and Barrett's training mates Evora and Ladwig who had an iffy performance but stayed on their feet. Veterans Inoue and Baldwin are in 4th after Rena fell on the throw triple axel attempt and John missed a spin. 2007 Champs Castile and Okolski are in 5th after a program peppered with technical mistakes.

At this point you're thinking, you forgot McLaughlin and Brubaker. Well...no I didn't. Keauna and Rockne had a disastrous performance. Keauna fell on her side-by-side triple salchow. Then she two footed the throw triple loop. If it couldn't get any worse, she slipped off her edge on the death spiral and fell again. They are in...wait for it...7th place going into the free and nearly 10 points out of an Olympic qualifying position at this point yet alone a win. The questions are starting to come out...was the pressure too much? Was the expectations of 24 Hour Fitness and Coke more than this team can handle? Was it the switch to John Nicks? Lots of questions right now. This team is going to need the skate of a lifetime in the free and some help from the teams ahead of them to get to Vancouver. I don't forsee them getting a 'good night's rest' tonight.

Full Senior Pairs results are here.

At the conclusion of the men's short program, I'd say things are going about as most expected with maybe a couple little curves thrown in. First, let's talk about who DIDN'T make the cut in the short. Stephen Carriere is in 17th place (ouch right!) and Brandon Mroz is in 10th...guess they won't be medaling this time around. What also didn't make the cut...the quad. All the skaters that tried it...yeah didn't really help them at all.

Let's talk top six. It's becoming clear that anytime Jeremy Abbott skates clean he is dangerous. A clean short found him loftly at the top with a whopping 87.85 points. Really he was brilliant, guess he worked out the kinks from that wonky practice yesterday (see video below). In second is Evan Lysacek who had a solid program but stepped out of his triple axel. Even still he looks Olympic ready and he didn't looked to phased by the mis-step. Johnny Weir currently occupies third but is almost in a dead heat with Evan (these two seem to be like glue as far as their scores and nationals!). Unlike Evan, Johnny skated perfectly clean but didn't have the complex choreography that Evan did...the debate on who should be ahead of who is ensuing on Twitter. Adam Rippon is 4th. He was cruising through his program until he got too close the boards on his patented 'Rippon' lutz. He doubled that jump, ran into the boards, then proceeded to fall on his footwork. Still, his program is brilliant. The surprise of the top group is Armin Mahbanoozadeh who is 5th after a brilliant short despite spending all his free time in Spokane with doctors working on his bruised hip. Rounding out the final group is Ryan Bradley who, after hitting a beautiful quad/triple combo, proceeded to double the rest of his triples...doof! Anywho, nice set up for free skate.

Full results of the men's short can be found here.

UPDATE: Stephen Carriere has withdrawn from the competition. Not sure yet why (17th place SP perhaps?).


Video courtesy KHQ Spokane

On Blogs and Twitter

Well known 'Twitterholic,' Stephen Fry (although he's taking a 'Tweet-break' to finish his novel), was recently on The Graham Norton Show. Amongst other things he talked about Twitter, blogs, the internet, etc.

He caught my attention when he talked about what he called the downside of social media...the comments.

Watch the clip below. It's a sobering reminder that it's okay to have an opinion...but don't be malicious and mean.

Get Shorty!

You may have noticed the big Shorty Awards button in the sidebar. A follower on Twitter suggested I put myself in the running for a Shorty Award.

I was like, "Huh...What's a Shorty?" In short, it's an award for the Best Tweeps out there in multiple categories.

So, I'll throw my name into the ring. I don't necessarily think I'll win but it is a cool way to get figure skating a little more press across the interwebs and it's fun to see why people like what I'm tweeting!

So if you'd like to give me a shout out, just go HERE and nominate me! Be sure to change the category to sports unless you really think I'm the best non-profit out there (not even sure I am a non-profit???)!

An extra bonus...I'll plug in the comments all the Twitter users that nominate me!

Chance of a Lifetime!

Blogging and Tweeting are two of my favorite things to do! And two of my social media compatriots have been given the chance of a lifetime...so naturally I'm going to shamelessly promote them!

Blogger Christie (owner of the blog: Lake Placid Skater), and Twitter user Sarah (@segsk8 and owner of the blog: blogher) are currently vying for the chance to blog for the U.S. at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Basically, that's awesome!

Here's the part I love the best. You can vote for BOTH of them! There are actually two teams...a Student's Team (Christie)and a Women's Team(Sarah)with the three highest vote getter's on each team going before the judges and if selected, winning a trip to Vancouver.

The judges are kind of amazing too! Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld who co-founded www.collegehumor.com and the awesome Bonnie Blair, Five-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Speed Skater!

I said...where's the Men's Team? *Sighs*

This awesome competition is being brought to you by the cool people at Microsoft® Office and you can vote now...just click here.

Also, if you are on Twitter...get out this message (Vote for @segsk8 and LP Skater to go to Vancouver! http://ow.ly/DpKa). Let's get these guys to Vancouver!!!

UPDATE: Looks like Christie has some more press...she's featured at the U.S. Figure Skating Website! Check it out here!

NHK Short Program Flash

I did things a little different.

I actually live tweeted during the short programs (yes between 2am and 6am). You can see my thoughts by checking out my twitter profile here.

The Men's competition was amazing!

So Good...It's Scary?

I been pretty vocal about my 'distaste' for the format being employed at Nationals. That is, senior events spread over two weekends. I get why they are doing it but for those traveling to the event it makes it much more difficult. I simply can't be there for both weekends. And I can't personaly justify (mainly for the cost) flying out to Spokane to see only half the senior events or conversely flying out two weeks in a row. So for the first time since 2000 *gasp* I will not be attending U.S. Nationals (it pains me really).

But I'm totally a go for Greensboro 2011! That should fit into my schedule beautifully and so when I received their press release on their current All-Event Pass Promotion, So Good It's Scary!, I felt the need to expound upon all my blog readers how cool this is.

So, take 15% of an All-Event Pass...if (isn't there always an if?) Greensboro 2011 can get to 500 Twitter Followers (when I wrote this they were at 288). Extra bonus, certain All-Event Pass purchasers will win an autographed copy of Skating Magazine by Alissa Czisny or Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

So, if you are not on Twitter...get there! Then, make sure to follow Greensboro 2011 @NC2011.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @skating102!

$100 Shopping Spree Anyone?

All my readers, you've made this blog so popular that I have Dick's Sporting Goods knocking on my...e-mail?...wanting to give one of you lucky people a $100 Gift Card.

Dick's Sporting Goods...you've never heard of it? Well on the off chance you've never heard of this sporting goods megastore, you can read all about Dick's Sporting Goods here. Basically, anything you could ever imagine related to sports and fitness can be found here. Also, there's a good chance there's one near you. Okay, interested yet?

But how do I win this $100 Gift Card you ask? Two things...very easy:

1. You must follow Dick’s Sporting Goods on Twitter @dickssportcmo.

2. The really fun part, you MUST answer this question in the comments below: "What would you buy at Dick's with $100 and why?" Be sure to INCLUDE YOUR TWITTER NAME in your answer.

That's it! On Sunday @ 6pm CST (that would be your deadline) I get to read through the responses and pick a winner! I'll let you know via Twitter if it's you! Unfortunately, only those in the U.S. and Canada can win the Gift Card.

Dick's Sporting Goods has so much stuff for you (including a LOT of figure skating swag!).

Good luck!

Reminder: In order to win you MUST follow the entry rules above

1000 Tweets! 1000 Great Moments!

A year ago I didn't even know what Twitter was and now I have fully integrated this piece of Social Media Genius into my personal blogosphere.

Twitter has allowed me to connect with not only my blog readers and fellow bloggers, but also new people also interested in figure skating from all around the world. It's also been a cool platform to also talk to figure skaters! I had no idea I would ever be having 'tweetversations' with the likes of Caroline Zhang, Ben Agosto, Fedor Andreev, Melissa Gregory, Ashley Wagner, Kimmie Meissner, and others. But enough of my personal pitch for Twitter.

So I just sent of my 1000th Tweet and to commemorate I'm embarking on a big project and I'll need your help! I've decided to create a list...a list of the 1000 greatest moments on ice.

Ambitious I know, this list will not be my opinion, but yours. As submissions come in, I'll begin compiling the list. There will be a permanent blog post that will have the complete list and I'll update readers on the latest submissions from time to time. Send as many moments as you'd like! I think this will take time, but my goal is to have it done by the time skaters hit the ice in Vancouver (where I'm sure there will be more moments that could make a top 1000 list), or maybe even faster.

I'll get the list started with the first submission right now...

1. The last 30 seconds of Michelle Kwan's 2003 World's Free Skate

How do you make a submission? You can leave it as a comment right here, send it to skateblog102@gmail.com, or Tweet me @skating102.

If you have a Twitter account, do me a huge favorite by tweeting this message: @skating102 is making a list of the 1000 Greatest Moments on Ice...tell him what should be on that list!

Spread the word about this project and encourage participation!

The Globe Trot

Some interesting things happening in the world of figure skating.

First to Korea where it appears Kim Yu-Na invited Michelle Kwan to skate in the All-Stars 2009 Tour...and Michelle said yes! "Michelle has turned down other invitations, but she and Yu-na have a mutual admiration society going. Michelle is feeling healthy and has her abilities up to the standards she sets for herself, which are very high standards" said Shep Goldberg, Michelle's agent. Might Michelle drop a return-to-skating bomb in skating crazy Korea...stay tuned.

Lots happening here in the U.S. First, Carolina Kostner will be staying in L.A. and training with Frank Carroll and Christa Fassi. The moves comes after a disastrous showing at Worlds (ironically) in L.A. and the dismissal of her former coach Michael Huth. The big news is of course the tragic arrest of Nicole Bobek on charges to distribute Meth. She's plead not guilty and has been released on $200,000 bond. Jenny Kirk is getting positive press for releasing details of her eating disorder while she was competing. An important issue, to be sure, that needs more attention. The USOC and Comcast have teamed up to bring forth a new network devoted to Olympic coverage. Sorry if you don't have Comcast. Finally, reigning World Champ Evan Lysacek will be part of the marketing campaign for Ralph Lauren's 2010 Olympic Gear. "Having worn Ralph Lauren clothing for years, I am really excited to partner with Polo Ralph Lauren for their Olympic campaign," said Evan.

The German magazine Pirouette recently did an interview with Stéphane Lambiel and he just will not close the door on a possible competitive return, however, he states that it's not on his top list of priorities. "It is not 100% out of question but it is not my plan yet. I don’t want to disappoint the fans. For me it’s important that I’ve ended my career and I am happy with that, what I have achieved. If something will change on with physical conditions, then I will think about it.”

Who am I following on Twitter? There's an extensive list over on my right side bar but new to my followings are Madison Hubbell, Daisuke Murakami, and Fedor Andreev.

You may have noticed I changed the name of the spot from Around the World to The Globe Trot...thanks to my readers for the feedback and suggestion.

Follow Friday

Friday is my favorite day on Twitter. As always, I've located some more skaters for you all to follow. Seems like every week there is more and more. This whole Twitter thing is really starting to catch on. I must admit, I'm atwicted to it!

Rachael Flatt @RachaelFlatt
Emily Hughes @EmHughes26
Marissa Castelli @MarissaCast
Ross Miner @rossminer
Kim Yu-Na @Yunaaaa

I'm actually following lots of skaters, you can check me out (@skating102) and find more. Also, look for a complete listing of Tweeting skaters to appear on the sidebar to the right soon.

Have a Twitter question...ask here.