Men's SP 5:45 am Eastern Time Friday

[Blades of Passion]

Remember those annoying bird-creatures from Power Rangers: The Movie?

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3184722713/

That's what Evan looks like. Brilliant costume.

[janetfan]

I didn't find Evan's costume distracting at all, but rather sleek, understated and, though somewhat of a departure for him, spot on for the program.

If you feel that way about his, I wonder how you felt about Oda's. Now THERE's distracting!

Different strokes for different folks.

I thought Evan's costume was fine (classy actually) and the choice of music well-suited for his style of skating.

I like Oda's LP but please, his SP is is just strange.

[Spun Silver]

Enough with the black already, Evan. The gloves and flutter ruffles are ghoulish.

But it's an outstanding program and I applaud the choice of music. So commanding and suited to his style. It adds to his skating instead of distracting and detracting from it, as with Oda's.

I'm really surprised Oda scored as well as he did with that program. Maybe they'll hate Chaplin. (Kidding.)

[katha]

Loved everything about Evan. Costume suited music and choreography, music and choreography suited Evan's style. He's an extroverted bravura skater and the program plays to his strengths. I guess it's more that Lysacek isn't very popular with some posters and when you don't care for someone's skating you won't like what they come up with, even when it's a good showing for them. That's how I felt about Navka/Kostomarov, for example, I could see that some of it was objectively good, but it just never interested me.

[merrybari]

Oda is the last to skate tomorrow, he'll know Evan Lysacek's score before taking the ice (btw, do you expect a quad from Evan?). So I think, Nobunari and his coach will adjust their plan accordingly, during Voronov's skate. Sergei will attempt a quad or two for sure, because in the absence of a 3Lz and with an 'e' call on his flip he doesn't have much choice.

If both Evan's 3 axels are ratified, and he receives world champion's PCS, it's one thing. If not, Nobunari might go for a different option. Oda will still have another two occasions to try a quad/ quad-triple-(-triple/ double?) combination: GPF and Japan Nationals, before the Olympics.

So this is my best try.

I think you are right about Oda and co deciding after Evan skates - unless he feels he needs to try it anyway. He already has a gold in the GP so he may want to put the quad out there. Who knows? It's not certain that Oda will skate clean for that matter. He's been known to fold and falter now and again. Not sure if he's put his "head" issues completely behind him.

I have no prediction about Evan and the quad. He's said his decision will be based on consistency in training, and I've not seen any of his training nor heard any reports, I guess we'll all find out tomorrow. With the improved GOEs and PCSs that he's achieving he may not need it either.

Really strategy time in the FS for sure. Could come down to who's strongest mentally. In that dept. my $$ on Evan.

[merrybari]

I thought Evan's costume was fine (classy actually) and the choice of music well-suited for his style of skating.

I like Oda's LP but please, his SP is is just strange.

janetfan, I totally agree on all you said here. I was referring to wonderland's comments re distracting costume.

[Blades of Passion]

It's not certain that Oda will skate clean for that matter. He's been known to fold and falter now and again. Not sure if he's put his "head" issues completely behind him.

I've never known Oda to make more than 1 mistake in a program, discounting the cases where he has done "too many jumps" and gets screwed by CoP.

He's very consistent.

[merrybari]

Loved everything about Evan. Costume suited music and choreography, music and choreography suited Evan's style. He's an extroverted bravura skater and the program plays to his strengths.

Well said!! Very refreshing and rather rare for someone to praise Evan around here. I totally agree!

I guess it's more that Lysacek isn't very popular with some posters and when you don't care for someone's skating you won't like what they come up with, even when it's a good showing for them.

As someone said, if many of the posters here were judges, the "poor guy would always finish last." He's a better skater than he's given credit for in some circles.

It's not necessary that everyone likes the same skater/style. As always, different strokes for different folks. But it would be nice if the nay-sayers could do so a little less harshly. They all work very hard to get where they are and at the very least deserve respect.

[Medusa]

If they don't start putting the Quad out there, they are fools. Both of them. They will need it this season, Plushenko is no Joubert, who hands out Gold medals through stupid strategies and French nerves.

[merrybari]

I've never known Oda to make more than 1 mistake in a program, discounting the cases where he has done "too many jumps" and gets screwed by CoP.

He's very consistent.

I don't think you can :dis" count the fact that he's frequently "mis" counted his jumps. Neither do I call that getting screwed by CoP. It's just following the rules that all the skaters have to abide by. (Though I think we can all agree some of those rules are screwy). Still rules is rules - for lack of a better yardstick by which to measure.

[merrybari]

If they don't start putting the Quad out there, they are fools. Both of them. They will need it this season, Plushenko is no Joubert, who hands out Gold medals through stupid strategies and French nerves.

Point well taken. It's called seeing the broader picture. Don't know how Oda is with that, but I think Evan does it pretty well. Now that's strategy that pays off.

[bekalc]

I think you are right about Oda and co deciding after Evan skates - unless he feels he needs to try it anyway. He already has a gold in the GP so he may want to put the quad out there. Who knows? It's not certain that Oda will skate clean for that matter. He's been known to fold and falter now and again. Not sure if he's put his "head" issues completely behind him.

Oda normally only makes those kind of mistakes at big competitions like Worlds. He's always been fairly consistent at the GP series. Besides, Morozov commented that the Japanese Federation use to write on a peice of paper and order Oda to do certain jumps right before the free skate, which may be why the boy would get so confused. It seems like Morozov has put a stop to this one.

Besides, I think its worth it for Oda to go for the quad this time. I mean he normally rotates it even if he falls, so he'll probably net 5 points which is actually a bit more than he'd get for a double axel. And if he does everything else clean it may not hurt his PCS all that much. I mean maybe a little bit, because it may lessen some of the impact, BUT, I can't see the judges penalizing him that much for attempting the quad.

[Blades of Passion]

Oda needs to do the Quad in every competition for the rest of the season. Not only in the LP, but also in the SP.

It's true that, even if he falls on the Quad, he always gets the rotation.

If he plans a 4Toe-3Toe in the SP and falls on the Quad, he can always just add the 3Toe onto his "solo" jump later in the program.

[Blades of Passion]

Besides, I think its worth it for Oda to go for the quad this time. I mean he normally rotates it even if he falls, so he'll probably net 5 points which is actually a bit more than he'd get for a double axel.

Well, you actually only get 4 points for falling on a Quad these days instead of 5 points. So, a Double Axel would score higher with a decent GOE. A really good Double Axel from Oda would score 5 points or perhaps even a bit more.

Still, the risk is definitely worth it if he wants to go for the Gold Medal at Olympics.

[bekalc]

Oda needs to do the Quad in every competition for the rest of the season. Not only in the LP, but also in the SP.

It's true that, even if he falls on the Quad, he always gets the rotation.

If he plans a 4Toe-3Toe in the SP and falls on the Quad, he can always just add the 3Toe onto his "solo" jump later in the program.

I think that Oda should go for clean in the short program. If he is landing a 4/3 consistently in the long then maybe it would be worth it to try it in the short program. But until then, I think that he can be in fighting distance of Plushenko in the short program with just a 3/3....I mean his long program is so superior to Plushenko's. And I'm not sure if Plushenko will really be adding that much more difficulty.. That I think if he lands a quad, his score will be huge. Heck his score in France was 6 points higher than Plushenkos.