Men's Free Program: 6:45 AM Eastern

[museksk8r]

I concur. Chan's scores are further dropping the credability and popularity of a sport which was already waning. It is sad.

A large part of me wishes that skating fans from other nations will write to the ISU, maybe get some influential judges involved as well, and boycott attending ISU competitions in the mens' discipline. Something HAS to be done; we the fans have to spur a change in the right direction. It may come down to all the other competitors from all the other nations boycotting competing in the mens' event. How discouraging must it be for them to see that 1 skater has a 4 fall cushion over the other competitors, no matter how they skate. If the ISU and this sport continues in this way, figure skating deserves to fail.

[janetfan]

^ And yet several judges who post at GS have been kind enough to tell us we are all full of it. It has been pointed out that we are living in past, and the scoring is FINE.

I guess Chan is just too superior for most of us to appreciate.
Ice Dancing anyone

[herios]

Oh please. Verner is not Lysacek, but after seeing how Evan managed to win Worlds, the GPF, and the Olympics, it probably taught Tomas a thing or two about the value of hard work and consistency. I could see why people might be mad about the outcome of the competition today but it's not like Abbott or Chan landed a quad in their FS, in fact they didn't even fully rotate the attempts they fell on. Plus Tomas didn't abandon the quad, he's changed everything and is working to peak towards Euros and Worlds, the quad is not quite comfortable in his program yet so why should he try it? Also he said in the press conference he didn't want his programs to be over the top so that the audience can appreciate his skating and not just a bunch of exciting choreography.

I feel so bad for Tomas because I am beyond proud of him for making this change and bouncing back so quickly, but it seems like most people are mad at him because he's not attempting the quad right now and therefore think his nearly clean programs don't count. I love you Tomas and hope you keep up the good work and don't let the naysayers get you down. He'll bring back the quad when he's ready. For now confidence and consistency is most important. Tomas is about so much more than one jump, his skating is smooth, his footwork excellent, and his spirit is the best.

TOMAS VERNER RELOADED: 2010-2011

Hey Silverlake, you are my fellow romanian if I recall ? I hope my memory doesn't fail me, anyway, I am completely in agreement with your message, no matter how much I am proud of the canadians when they are doing well and win on merit, I cannot accept this lovefest Chan is getting all over the place and I feel embarrased and mad.
Verner on another note deserves every bit of respect, this is a comeback story (I am a big sucker for these), and he has always been a better skater technically than his results showed. He got totally hosed in LA 2009 of a bronze medal and since than I am fully behind him, especially when he skates like today. And he is a nice young man, not a cocky one like Patrick

[seniorita]

A large part of me wishes that skating fans from other nations will write to the ISU, maybe get some influential judges involved as well, and boycott attending ISU competitions in the mens' discipline.

Mr Inman doesnt have an email anymore?Isnt he bothered for P/E and IN marks given for a bunch of artistic falls?

[bekalc]

^ And yet several judges who post at GS have been kind enough to tell us we are all full of it. It has been pointed out that we are living in past, and the scoring is FINE.

I guess Chan is just too superior for most of us to appreciate.
Ice Dancing anyone

Somehow though I suspect those judges who say we are "full of it" by complaining about Chan's scores now, well somehow judge different at the Olympics if Patrick were to fall 4 times. Because they know full well how the general public would react to an Olympic champion with 4 falls.

[janetfan]

Somehow though I suspect those judges who say we are "full of it" by complaining about Chan's scores now, well somehow judge different at the Olympics if Patrick were to fall 4 times. Because they know full well how the general public would react to an Olympic champion with 4 falls.

Look, I brought the Olympics up and got nailed by Wally. I was told Evan was superior and the BEST skater and that is why he won.
I don't mind Evan, and admire how hard he worked. But I am obviously not fit to be a judge because I would have given Dai the OGM.

I am just now realizing where Dai went wrong in Vancouver.....he only fell once. Three or four - falls and the OGM would have been his

[bekalc]

Look, I brought the Olympics up and got nailed by Wally. I was told Evan was superior and the BEST skater and that is why he won.
I don't mind Evan, and admire how hard he worked. But I am obviously not fit to be a judge because I would have given Dai the OGM.

I am just now realizing where Dai went wrong in Vancouver.....he only fell once. Three or four - falls and the OGM would have been his

Yeah that what kills me, I must say I'd have given the Olympics to Daisuke even with the fall based on his artistry and the fact that both Evan and Plushenko were shaky. But I can "understand" why Daisuke lost and I don't exactly feel sorry for Daisuke.

But what kills me is this system isn't even freaking consistent. I do have a feeling though that the judges are going to pick a skater or two who becomes consistent, and raise the PCS enough to beat both Dai and Chan if neither skates decently.

Still why can't we just have a system that at the very least doesn't let someone win with 4 falls over other good skaters. I just don't think its ridiculous for fans to start drawing lines at multiple falls.

[lavender]

People are mad at Verner? I'm not mad at him for not doing the quad for once. The dude needs to consistent with his other jumps.

[pangtongfan]

Exactly, if Chan deserves to win events with 4 falls, then Takahashi sure as heck deserved to win the Olympic Gold over Plushenko and Lysacek with just 1 fall. Takahashi is a better skater than the most overrated skater of all time Patrick Chan anyway, even if Chan wasnt falling. He has everything in his skating that Chan has except weaker spins, but far better jumps (even landed), and is a much better performer, skates with more personality and flare, and interprets music better.

[evangeline]

Look, I brought the Olympics up and got nailed by Wally. I was told Evan was superior and the BEST skater and that is why he won.
I don't mind Evan, and admire how hard he worked. But I am obviously not fit to be a judge because I would have given Dai the OGM.

I am just now realizing where Dai went wrong in Vancouver.....he only fell once. Three or four - falls and the OGM would have been his

I too would have given Daisuke the Olympic gold in Vancouver...and nailed Plush and Lysacek on their PCS like they deserved. I guess I am too ineducable to be a judge too, boohoo.

On a more serious note, I think the real test of Patrick will come at the GPF, when he goes head-to-head against Daisuke-his only real equal in terms of scoring right now--for the first time this season. I wonder how a multiple-fall Patrick will score against Daisuke, especially when it comes to PCS.

[Nadine]

Well it looks like I didn't miss much, I'm glad I opted for sleep instead of getting up to watch at 3:45AM PST.

Won't bother to watch it on IN also, I can just imagine the splatfest, and I already know how Verner skates from his previous GP, the one where Mroz came in 2nd, and Verner 3rd.

Hopefully TEB is better skated, and comes on at a reasonable hour here in the PNW.

[lavender]

I too would have given Daisuke the Olympic gold in Vancouver...and nailed Plush and Lysacek on their PCS like they deserved. I guess I am too ineducable to be a judge too, boohoo.

On a more serious note, I think the real test of Patrick will come at the GPF, when he goes head-to-head against Daisuke-his only real equal in terms of scoring right now--for the first time this season. I wonder how a multiple-fall Patrick will score against Daisuke, especially when it comes to PCS.

I'm with cha.

[museksk8r]

Somehow though I suspect those judges who say we are "full of it" by complaining about Chan's scores now, well somehow judge different at the Olympics if Patrick were to fall 4 times. Because they know full well how the general public would react to an Olympic champion with 4 falls.

Yeah, we'll see what sport can survive without fans to support it.

[pangtongfan]

Yeah, we'll see what sport can survive without fans to support it.

They are already at that point now. The only way to see Grand Prix events other than Skate Canada for Canadians is from digging up internet feeds. Nobody cares about the perceived joke that is figure skating anymore except the most dire hard fans like us. Champions on Ice went bankrupt and Stars on Ice is probably not far behind. Chan winning all events with 4 or 5 falls just will take it over the edge for good.

[gmyers]

Oh please. Verner is not Lysacek, but after seeing how Evan managed to win Worlds, the GPF, and the Olympics, it probably taught Tomas a thing or two about the value of hard work and consistency. I could see why people might be mad about the outcome of the competition today but it's not like Abbott or Chan landed a quad in their FS, in fact they didn't even fully rotate the attempts they fell on. Plus Tomas didn't abandon the quad, he's changed everything and is working to peak towards Euros and Worlds, the quad is not quite comfortable in his program yet so why should he try it? Also he said in the press conference he didn't want his programs to be over the top so that the audience can appreciate his skating and not just a bunch of exciting choreography.

I don't think Abbott or Chan deserved to win but that doesn't mean I think Verner's win was good either. Not one of the medalists is good. But for Verner it is for a different reason than Abbott or Chan because Verner is skating sooo below his potential!! I hope his "haven't been training long enough" does not become like Lysacek's stress fracture. Something to be said over and over as an excuse for skating a backloaded triple program with no quads because quads are hard or may lead to mistakes on other things. And it is just so not believable coincidental that the jump layout and combos of Lysaceks and Verner's skates are almost exactly the same. I don't know if his coach will even go for quads becasue it is up to him to right? If Verner says yes to a quad but the coach says no than the coach wins probably. So either Verner is being held back by the coach or the coach and him are agreeing to no quads and to just "Lysacek it" and just use excuses.