Ice Wars Discussion Thread

IMO

Both numbers by Kurt were super. He is a master and I can't get over his musicality on the ice; jumps come out of no where. One wonders where the footwork ends and the jumps begins. What an artist. How old is he now?

Stoiko was Stoiko and his second number was the best I've seen from him in years.

Alexei was excellent in the cuban number. He took it on the downbeat and it made sense. Quality performance.

Brian is just not my cup of tea. I can't accept that bent over back as does back crossovers.

Oksana, she also tends to bend the back over on crossovers but not as severe as Brian. She's looking good but those jumps...ich.

Nancy should make a decision to ether get back to skate fully time or tend to bringing up the kids. I don't think she can do both.

Maria - That body alone is the winner. Wow is she built. The skating was great, too. She's now bending her knees when landing jumps.

Yuka - Fastest lady on all the ice arenas. Beautiful skater and the audience loves it.

Joe

it finally started 1 hour late, and they chacked Maria's 1st. Seems strange as she looked like she was up and landing triples. agreed she was much better. Nancy skated with lovely freedom and but for a fall, her 2nd # got me. And has an 8 mo old. Brian was great on his number 2 as well. He and Kurt carry thsese shows. shocked at my pal yuka!

I am grateful that there are still some pro comps are out there. I am grateful that I can see some fantastic skaters who left a huge mark in FS still perform (how many current skaters that we see in the GP circut will leave a mark when they move on??). I was very grateful to watch Ice Wars live last year when they came to Albany.

It was great to watch Ilya Kulik land spectacular triple axels (jumps that elude 2/3 of the current men World medalists, BTW).

Ok, Todd hasn't participated in Ice wars, but he is one of those "30 something" skaters and you could still see him land spectacular triple axels in an exhibition numbers with SOI. He skates way better than a lot of teens or 20+ something.

I guess if you don't like the event, don't bother watching it. I don't like cheesefests and I don't waste my time posting about them or watching them. To each its own.

Yana

TiVo didn't even find the program for me. Oh, well. It's set to capture Marshall's tommorrow.

nancy did ok- oksana sucked eggs once again.

mememe said:

You certainly have a right to your opinion, just as I have a right to mine. You expressed yours (fervently, if the number of exclamation points was any indication) -- I expressed mine (in greater length, but possibly no more fervently). You called the event self-congratulatory, I expressed reasons why I didn't think it was. You wondered what the point of having such an event was, I gave my opinion as to some of the reasons I could see for having it. I do not agree with your opinion, and I certainly have no expectations that you would agree with mine.

As for attending the event -- I feel pretty lucky to have been there. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully, you'll be able to attend (and choose to watch on TV) some events you think are worthwhile and will get as much enjoyment out of those as I get out of the ones I choose to attend and watch on TV. That's what my years being a figure skating fan have meant to me -- a lot of fun and enjoyment. I hope it is the same for you.

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I posted the thread in the manner I did for dialouge. You however, have taken it all so personnaly, misunderstanding the intent of the posting.

BTW: There are 2 other threads of the same topic, probably just to get away from this one.

Memememe:: Any further communication with me, sent a PM, maybe I'll read it. Don't annoy the others.

STL_Blues_fan said:

I am grateful that there are still some pro comps are out there. I am grateful that I can see some fantastic skaters who left a huge mark in FS still perform (how many current skaters that we see in the GP circut will leave a mark when they move on??). I was very grateful to watch Ice Wars live last year when they came to Albany.

It was great to watch Ilya Kulik land spectacular triple axels (jumps that elude 2/3 of the current men World medalists, BTW).

Ok, Todd hasn't participated in Ice wars, but he is one of those "30 something" skaters and you could still see him land spectacular triple axels in an exhibition numbers with SOI. He skates way better than a lot of teens or 20+ something.

I guess if you don't like the event, don't bother watching it. I don't like cheesefests and I don't waste my time posting about them or watching them. To each its own.

Yana

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Actually, Todd did do Ice Wars last year -- did very well, too. His only mistake was trying two triple axels! After hitting his first one beautifully, he went for a second one and fell. Rats! But I think everyone admired him for trying that second one.

This year he's having trouble with his ankle -- he had surgery for a bone spur in May, I think? That's why he's not doing triple axels at this point. That may be why he wasn't at Ice Wars this year, tho' he did do World Team Challenge about three weeks later.

STL_Blues_fan said:

Maria did a great job skating to ABBA medley. I loved the tribute costume. The performance was a huge improvement over last year's World Team Challenge, where she came unprepared and out of shape (she did have some personal issues to deal with back then).

I am disappointed her first number was not shown. From her score it seems she had a respectable performance. And then we are shown Oksana's lying on the ice/holding a rose number? I am sure the TV wanted to milk Oksana/Nancy skating as a team story, but I think Oksana's deserved to be shown just once.

Brian Boitano rules! In fact all guys did a terrific job. What a great show!

Yana

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Cutting Maria's first program was outrageous! She was so good in this event. She came in ready and trained and looked good in both programs -- and she's not usually a favorite of mine. I was very impressed with her at this competition, however, and feel badly that they chose to cut her first program.

Some of the jump problems could be attributed to the ice. From what I heard from some of the skaters, the ice was terrible -- mushy on the top, very very hard underneath. Edge jumps, they said, were especially bad. Elvis took double axels out of his programs because he simply couldn't get a takeoff. Kurt took triple salchows out of his programs. Yuka left both loop and salchow in, but had trouble in that first program with them. Maria was scratchy on her loop in her first program, but got it in. But I did enjoy seeing them all go for their stuff!

How could I forget that?? Maybe because I am still drooling over Kulik's "A house is not a Home" performance

Yana

Did anyone see me on TV?! I was one of the three girls standing up for Brian Boitano's second number. I was the one in the white in the middle! I LOVE that we ended up on TV standing and cheering for Brian in our Canada sweatshirts, LOL

I'll have to comment farther after I've seen the rest of the show tonight. I remember what all I saw while I was there but I want to comment on the actual program from TV too. I'll be back tomorrow with actual comments. I just wanted to mention my little moment of stardom!! LOL

BTW-I merged all the Ice Wars posts together so it can all be discussed in one place. I just saw myself on TV and that's pretty darn cool!

Everybody has their own tastes, but these "old veterans" are much more my taste for an overall enjoyable event of skating.

As for problems with jumps, not to make excuses, but it's been said the ice was terrible....Kurt sort of referred to that in his short interviews during the show, that he was fighting with the ice in practices.

There are so many points made in this thread that I agree with, it would take me all day to copy and quote them all and make my comments....

I agree with the poster who said Nancy should either put more time into skating or give it up...she's never been a personal favorite of mine, but it was nice to see her on the ice again. Her programs suited her, if they were polished, they would've been really nice.
Oksana is Oksana...she'll never not be a drama queen, but I still enjoy her....her smile is so radiant these days, it seems she has her life together now and is happy.
Yuka is a purist, nuff said!
I was thrilled to see Maria skating...I can't remember the last time I saw her on the ice. I loved her Abba program, she really "sold it".
Elvis oughta do those slower/classier numbers more often but I still love his rock programs.
Brian--what can I say...class act all around. I don't think anybody will ever be better than him.
Kurt--anybody who knows me knows I am just ga-ga over Kurt...I just love his charm and his footwork and his overall everything!
Alexei--an up and coming Kurt? I like that the love of skating really shines thru in him.

I can kind of understand why some people feel the pro-events are not really a "sport"...but the lack of pro competitions is very disappointing. I miss World Pro so very much. There is definitely something to be said for the "old veterans"....there is still a place for them in the skating world, there is still an audience for them by the looks of many of the posts in this thread. It's definitely a different kind of skating than what the eligibles are doing (partly by force because of CoP) and IMO the "old veterans" have the "edge" over the young eligibles.

I watched "Ice Wars" and totally enjoyed it. It was good to see some of my old time favourites perform again. For some people, if a certain favourite is not skating, it's not worth watching. for the old pros. They proved that that they still got it. Nancy looks good for just having a baby eight months ago ( I wish I could have done that eight months after having my children, can't even do it now 27 years later)

It was great to see Yags on the ice. I wouldn't mind if he climbed on my lap!