Eastern Sectionals on TV.

Just back from a long day of shopping. Turned on the TV for some relaxation before wrestling with the tree. Lo and behold, they are showing Eastern Sectional Senior Men's on CN8 (Comcast Network. It'll be on from 8PM to 10PM.

The only skater I've recognized so far is Johnny Weir. He skated to Dr. Zhivago and was in 1st place after the SP. He was doing beautifully until he doubled a planned triple. This seemed to pull the rug out from under him. I think he fell on the next jump and then he had to literally stop to re-group. After last year's meltdown at Nationals, Johnny need to get some mental toughness to compete with the big boys at the national level. Perhaps he should see a sport psychologist - while we've become somewhat cynical about Mike Weiss's, seeing a sports psychologist did help Nancy during the 94 season.

BTW, there are fluff pieces during this broadcast, too. Right now, they are showing a piece about Derrick Delmore. These fluff pieces are better than the one's at Nationals because they seem less scripted and/or edited.

Now, Derrick Delmore is skating to music from James Bond. He's got an impressive academic resume. I've always liked his skating, but he was never consistent with the jumps. JoJo Starbuck (who is commentating) mentioned that he had a hip flexor injury last year. He had problems with a couple of jumps, but overall his program was choreographed well and had a lot of style and musicality. He was 4th after the SP. Now that he's graduated from college, I hope that he will pull a Paul Wylie and medal at Nationals.

BTW, the LP was good enough to put him into 3rd for now. Weir is in 1st.

I'm going to post now in case my connection drops....

Heyang - What exactly is the Channel No. of Comcast that shows this competition? It may correspond to a channel on TimeWarner or RCN?

Joe

Hey, Joesitz.

It's channel 8 on my cable line up. I'm serviced by Comcast; I think it's one of their community service channels. I was really surprised.

I plan to get TiVo shortly after Christmas to avoid missing these broadcasts - just in time for a lot more skating hopefully.

Here in NH it is ch.03. Tonite at 6:30-8:30, womens & pairs are on. Hope some of you can get it. mari

Perhaps he should see a sport psychologist - while we've become somewhat cynical about Mike Weiss's, seeing a sports psychologist did help Nancy during the 94 season.

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I completely agree on both points. Mikey's success with his doctor? Not so much. But whatever Nancy's particular psychologist did, it almost seemed to rewire her brain and make her a tough, fearless competitor. No nerves anywhere, and she was able to be solid from start to finish in her programs. She skated great lp's at Piruetten and the Olympics after working with that psychologist.

I just think JW is so talented and I love his skating, but he needs to avoid those jarring mistakes somehow and regroup quicker after he makes them. If he solves this problem he should be right near the top in the US.

I think Senior ladies and pairs airs tonight I believe the coverage is shown live on the web as well at http://www.cn8.tv/

Eastern sectionals are being broadcast - they were earlier this month. To see results, go to usfsa site.

http://www.usfsa.org/events_results/results/200304/sectionals-Easterns/index.htm

oops....forgot to mention that junior nationals are this week.

The name of the channel is cn8, for Comcast Network8. I ran into it yesterday, and was so pleased!!!
I sent an email to Tilley on the comcast site just to tell them how pleased I was to have the coverage, and hope the rest of you will do the same. Right now they are only planning to carry Atlantics and Easterns, because Comcast is an east coast cable channel.

Boy is Tilley dumb though. He was doing the commentating.
However, he is also the program manager, so I held my tongue in the email. But JoJo Starbuck who was the cocomentator had a lot to put up with..actually, it is not a 5 min. program, and other basic corrections to make.

Count me as a new fan of Jane Bugaeva who put in a great LP.
Louann Donovan had a meltdown, but still finished third. What a dress with a peace sign on it has to do with the music of On the Waterfront still has me scratching my head.

dpp

Boy is Tilley dumb though. He was doing the commentating.
However, he is also the program manager, so I held my tongue in the email. But JoJo Starbuck who was the cocomentator had a lot to put up with..actually, it is not a 5 min. program, and other basic corrections to make.

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To be fair to Lou, I'm pretty sure this is the first time he's been involved in any figure skating event. He used to be the sports anchor in Philadelphia (CBS Channel 3 I think) and he is a very recognizable figure here. I'm actually glad they have him the assignment, because it shows that the station views the event as a big deal. This was a big sports weekend in the northeast, but they sent their #1 sports guy to cover skating in Lake Placid. I did think he seemed to be enthusiatic about the event, which was nice to see.

I actually understood his criticism of Weir's mistake, and the fact that he picked up on one of the skaters (Lind?) jumping in the opposite direction. I liked that he, as a novice viewer, saw how great Bugaeva was.

Vgirl, I had to run off to tend to food in the oven, and didn't get to edit my post. I should not have said that Tilley is dumb. I should have said that he appears very, very new to skating commentary. You are right that it was nice to see his enthusiasm for Bugaeva, and that he did try to make some reasonable comments, even though he obviously did not read up extensively on skating...yet.

The reason that I posted an unedited note was that I wanted to be sure to get out the message that if you liked this programming, you need to tell comcast you want more. And their website makes it very easy to do that.

dpp

Here is the CN8 Sports Page


People should also email Lou Tilley and let him know how much we appreciate their coverage of these events.

We will be replaying the 2 day coverage of the Eastern Sectionals on

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I received the above answer from cn8. So if you have Comcast, you can see the above competition.

Bugaeva's LP should not be missed.

Johnny Weir finally skates his Dr. Zhivago program, too.

dpp