Michael Weiss' Freedom Blades

[ladybug]

Maybe Mike is being paid to endorse the Freedom Blade. Who knows, maybe he had something to do with the Inventing of the blade. I find it strange that the ISU would approve such a blade. They have so many rules but nothing on this.

I have seen Mike perform live and he really utilizes the Freedom Blade at COI. Nothing wrong with a skater trying something new and trying to make skating more interesting. Most skaters just copy each other at least Mike has come up with a new blade and now a new back flip.

[PrincessLeppard]

Let me start off by saying that when I watch Mikey skate and don't think about his big mouth, he's actually quite a good skater. He's got nice artistry and presentation. He can sell a routine to a crowd. But the times he's been able to do that have been in shows (COI and Hallmark).

ITA with everyone who says he needs to pull it together in competition to become a legend. Yes, he has world and national titles, but if he's gotten any of those in clean, well-skated competitions, please let me know. While there is something to being less bad than everyone else, it would be nice if he won because he actually skated well.

Lose the freedom blades for competition, learn a triple axel, forget the quad lutz, make sure you can land the triple lutz in the short program, and then we can talk about legends...

Laura

[Verbalgirl77]

Originally posted by PrincessLeppard

Lose the freedom blades for competition, learn a triple axel, forget the quad lutz, make sure you can land the triple lutz in the short program, and then we can talk about legends...

Laura

Pretty much

[Joesitz]

Mike is Mike. He's at an age of doing what he wants. I with him on whatever.

In the meantime, how would you like a skate blade changed so that the toe rake would allow for a spin on top? Think of the variations a skater would have.

Joe

[Sk8harvest]

I enjoy many aspects of Mike's skating, I think he has some charisma and style. But I agree that he hasn't done anything particularly interesting with the freedom blades. Someone said he interrupts the flow of his program when he throws in that spreadeagle on his heels - I agree. I would love to see him focus on landing his jumps consistently and cleanly, even if he has to forget about the quad and the freedom blades for a while.

[SkateFan4Life]

Since when has Michael Weiss won a World title? He has two World bronze medals, but no silver or gold medals at Worlds.

I'm sure he's being paid a hefty fee to use the Freedom Blades. Certainly, he's entitled to stretch himself artistically by using this equipment, if he chooses to do so. However, I just don't see anything "artistic" about the usage of these blades.

Just my two cents, of course.

[Moto Guzzi]

Mike won the Junior World title.

For all the hype about the Freedom blades when he first started wearing them, he hasn't developed many innovative things on them. Mostly he seems to do the heel spread eagle and a lunge.

[Linny]

When Mike won his first National Title, I was in awe of his fine physique. Most men in figure skating don't have such nice upper body development. Oh yeah, I also liked his skating <blush>.

When Mike came back from an injury too soon and had a total melt down at Cup of Russian, I was embarrassed that he represented USA and wished for him to just go away. It was his skating, or lack thereof, that made me a non-fan. Had nothing to do with anything he said or didn't say off the ice.

At Worlds in Washington DC, the atmosphere was charged. Mike had a lot of fans, since the locale was so close to his home. And he fared well in the qualifying round... so he took the ice in his SP to amazing applause. Regardless of how I'd felt about him previously, at that moment in time I was swept up in the general enthusiasm for him. His music was exciting, his costume was modern, his speed was impressive.

Then came that big fall on the triple lutz. He was so out of control going into that jump. Now, I wish he'd just go away. The let down is too much to take.

Linny