Since I haven't stated it yet: Congratulations to Ryan Bradley for winning the U.S. Nationals, all his hard work and years of perseverance finally led him to this envious position. Also congratulations to Dornbush and Miner for winning the Silver and Bronze medals respectively, it's amazing how they pull off such upsets that very few people see it coming, I certainly didn't.
It was the craziest I can remember. I totally agree with you about Ryan Bradley's skate.Originally Posted by Blades of Passion
If Richard had won I wonder if we would have had all the quadheads coming out and screaming about how the safer skate won, etc. Well, it's figure skating. No matter what some fans are going to be grumpy.
I would have absolutely never predicted this podium. I'm still shocked that Jeremy, Adam and Brandon all imploded like that. I'm certainly not shocked to see Ryan on the medal stand but of course he was the surprise victor.
I just can't get over the shock. But the consolation is watching Ryan have his moment - if an imperfect one - and and the great skates that Richard, Ross and Armin gave.
2007 was pretty random as well, and I believe at the time was being considered the craziest. Again, Ryan Bradley was in the thick of what made it so odd.
thanks for the impressions from doris and others--esp. doris who saw it live. i liked miner a lot the first time round then on rewatch thought dornbush had more oomph--well more speed throughout. miner seemed to have really good musical timing of his jumps, i am a sucker for this skill in particular, but then he had a lot of empty space in which to prep for those jumps to make sure they hit the crescendo of the music because (to my shallow eyes) his choreography wasn't quite as packed with transitions etc as say, abbott's program. OTOH just landing the jumps is hard enough, timing them nicely just makes me go ahhhh.... and then also, he had, to me, miner that is, the right amount of effusiveness--not too cloying, a tiny bit understated but he had a relaxed expression throughout, not like his eyebrows are half way up to his hairline in anticipation of the next jumping disaster. i really like that. i hope that he retains that trait, but he's a young un' and he'll probably get told to emote more for higher PCS at some point LOL
the more established stars were also wonderful (jump errors notwithstanding), i'm just easily drawn to new shiny objects ^_^ thus the comments about miner and dornbush in particular.
bek brought up a good point about I/K and R/T having known in advance about Euro deciding the world's spot. i think you should spell out the rules and stick with them. i am surprised they didn't send abbott--i thought in the letter of the law there was wiggle room--plenty of people last year thought wagner might get the nod over nagasu for the oly.
yes of course it is "EVEN and REALLY REALLY significant honey. Let say if you send the mail, the stamp cost 44 cents, you put 43 cents stamp. Will they deliver your mail?
But at least he CAN do it. Why not the others try the two worst Quads in history for their FS please.
The two men who sit on each side with Keegen at K&C, I assume at least one or both were his coach? They were scary. They made me feel that they are going to change figure skating into snow-boarding, wrestling, jumping-bean contest, or anything but figure skating.
Last edited by Bluebonnet; 01-30-2011 at 11:53 PM.
I think that is the lesson of this championship. Do bad quads, win gold medal.
OK, yes, the quads in the FS were poor, but there was also the SP, which is why Bradley had the buffer that he did. He did 4T+3T, 3A, 3F. Not too shabby in the jump department.
Oh come on. Look how painful you are to go back and do that kind of calculation. Why your eyes are in front, not the back? So you can look forward, live for present and future. So, moving on please duh...
I agree. Nationals should be the primary deciding factor, of course. But if there is strong evidence from the Grand Prix that one skater has greater potential than another to do well at Worlds, then it would be very wise to consider it (especially when the two skaters end up scoring virtually the same at Nationals like today).
I was definitely one of those people questioning the selection process during that time. Fortunately, E/L ended up doing the SP of their lives at the Olympics, which seemed to up their confidence level, and they performed/scored better than their usual the rest of the season. Based on that, it seemed like a fine idea for the US to have sent them based on their Nationals result, but hindsight is 20/20. Beforehand, I was skeptical if sending them would give the US its best potential shot to do well.
I also think it would be frustrating for top skaters to get good result after good result for their country, proving that they are capable of doing well at Worlds, only to be left at home when someone far less accomplished gets lucky enough to beat them by a fraction of a point at one competition. Skaters need to earn their spots at Nationals, but what they do during the Int'l season should matter.
In the years Lysacek won his World and Olympic title, he didn't skate so well at Nationals, but managed to remain top 3... That wouldn't have been possible if lesser skaters had had "lucky skates" and beaten him there. I don't want to take anything away from Miner... He was great today, and is a good young skater. I just think Abbott has done enough recently to justify a World team spot after finishing just .19 behind him with a skate that was far from his best.
Last edited by gold12345; 01-31-2011 at 12:27 AM.
Keegan's coach has long hair (or did last I saw him) I didn't see the K&C so I'm not sure who else was sitting with him (his other coach/choreographer is Rory Flack - not sure what her new married name is). His brother is an acomplished snowboarder, though, and it's one of Keegan's favorite activities (he lives in a ski resort community, actually, in Alaska, at the base of Alyeska).The two men who sit on each side with Keegen at K&C, I assume at least one or both were his coach? They were scary. They made me feel that they are going to change figure skating into snow-boarding, wrestling, jumping-bean contest, or anything but figure skating.
BTW, some folks on here need to stop with the personal insults and mud slinging of their fellow posters. Be respectful when you disagree. Brush up on teh guidelines if you're confused.
You cannot compare Evan to Abbott. Abbott isn't really someone who has delivered consistently well for the USFSA. Rather he's a skater who skates well one day and then the next day bombs. Evan is someone the USFSA would probably always pretty much hold up over a Miner. But Abbott has earned such a thing. He's America's Sandhu a brilliant skater, but someone who in the biggest competitions, almost always bombs. (I'd hardly say his sixth place finish at Worlds, was because he skated great in the free)I also think it would be frustrating for top skaters to get good result after good result for their country, proving that they are capable of doing well at Worlds, only to be left at home when someone far less accomplished gets lucky enough to beat them by a fraction of a point at one competition. Skaters need to earn their spots at Nationals, but what they do during the Int'l season should matter.
In the years Lysacek won his World and Olympic title, he didn't skate so well at Nationals, but managed to remain in the top 3... That wouldn't have been possible if lesser skaters had had "lucky skates" and beaten him there. I don't want to take anything away from Miner... He was great today, and is a good young skater. I just think Abbott has done enough recently to justify a World team spot after finishing just .19 behind him with a skate that was far from his best.
In contrast Evan has always pretty much delivered for the USFSA.
I'm sorry but can you really look at Jeremy's performance at the last two Worlds, Olympics and at Cup of Russia (he medaled due to a weak field falling 2ce) and say this is someone who performs consistently well for the USFSA) This is someone who can truly back and count on to deliver in the big moments. Yes we all know that Jeremy's an amazing skater and he's capable of delivering a miraculous brilliant skater.
I think that the only skaters who are worth "holding up" are the ones who are repeated World/Olympic medalists. Those skates you can understand the rationale.
Last edited by bekalc; 01-31-2011 at 12:34 AM.
true, if you really just count Olympic 2006 free onward... when he wasn't injured and bowwing out.
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