NATIONALS- Talk up expectations here

R.D. · Dec 25, 2004

With the US Nats coming up, what is everybody's expectations of the participants? What do you expect will happen? What do you want to happen? This is not a prediction thread so much as it is an expectations/hopes thread - a sort of pre-game analysis, if you will.

Let's start with mine:

- Someone other than Kwan or Cohen to win ladies title (hope)
- Kwan to win the (ladies) title and skate with fire (expectation)
- There will be endless #'s of "fluff" pieces almost irrelevant to the competition at hand (expectation)

So what are your thoughts?

Tonichelle · Dec 25, 2004

considering it'll be my first live competition... my expectations are high in that it better be good! LOL... I have low expectations for pairs (total yawnfest I'm sure) but everywhere else it'll be great

doubleaxelcm · Dec 25, 2004

Red Dog said:
- There will be endless #'s of "fluff" pieces almost irrelevant to the competition at hand (expectation)

So what are your thoughts?

There always is on the US nats televised programs. About skaters lives outside of the competition and "ice moves" with terri curruthers.

Tonichelle · Dec 25, 2004

terri carruthers? It's Peter! :agree:

R.D. · Dec 25, 2004

doubleaxelcm said:
There always is on the US nats televised programs. About skaters lives outside of the competition and "ice moves" with terri curruthers.

Seems like the norm for any televised competition here :laugh:

Joesitz (RIP) · Dec 26, 2004

If you see Nats at home, you get bathroom breaks during the fluffs. If you see Nats Live you just hold it in while you get chills from the ice. :yes:

Joe

doubleaxelcm · Dec 26, 2004

Tonichelle said:
terri carruthers? It's Peter! :agree:

woops well theres terri gannon and peter carruthers so i mixed them up!

sk8addict · Dec 26, 2004

Don & Hunt

Tonichelle said:
considering it'll be my first live competition... my expectations are high in that it better be good! LOL... I have low expectations for pairs (total yawnfest I'm sure) but everywhere else it'll be great

Jen & Jon should be able 2 keep you awake. They should be the US hope for the 2006 olympics & Nationals will just be a stepping stone for them. After a choaching change in September, they have been hitting their short and are now setteling in to the long. They could well be the darlings of 2005 nationals.

Hikaru · Dec 27, 2004

Well, My hopes would be that Sasha skated a beautiful long program to take the title. I also hope Johnny wins his second title, and that the pairs competition gets better than last year's (it was good for bathroom breaks though). At least this years programs from Inoue and Baldwin are more interesting than what they had last season. I hope all the pairs skate clean.

bronxgirl · Dec 27, 2004

My expectations is that Shasha will run true to form - dazzle eveyone in the short program, and not be able to present a clean program in the long. Again

Fossi · Dec 27, 2004

I hope Sarah will be there to size up the competition.
I don't know what to expect from the ladies. There are reports that Sasha is doing great with Mr. Nicks, and landing up to 8 triples during her run throughs at practices....the 8th one being for conditioning. That's a major improvement from her horrible performance.
I haven't heard anything on Kwan, so maybe Sasha will finally get it right this time?
Jennifer Kirk would be awesome if she surprised us all. Beaty on ice, and she could be a dark horse.

R.D. · Dec 27, 2004

Fossi said:
I hope Sarah will be there to size up the competition.
I don't know what to expect from the ladies. There are reports that Sasha is doing great with Mr. Nicks, and landing up to 8 triples during her run throughs at practices....the 8th one being for conditioning. That's a major improvement from her horrible performance.
I haven't heard anything on Kwan, so maybe Sasha will finally get it right this time?
Jennifer Kirk would be awesome if she surprised us all. Beaty on ice, and she could be a dark horse.

But I've heard she's almost ALWAYS perfect in practices. This means absolutely nothing to me right now. She'll fall apart in the competition anyway...

Joesitz (RIP) · Dec 27, 2004

Fossi - I should hope that Sarah will be there. Emily is skating!!!

You can never expect to hear from the mysterious one. Kwan is not into big publicity of her own making.

Joe

Sylvia · Dec 27, 2004

FYI, Sarah Hughes is scheduled to be on tour with Stars on Ice in Arizona and southern California during sister Emily's senior ladies events at 2005 Nationals (SP is Thursday 1/13 and FS is Saturday 1/15).

Kuchana · Dec 27, 2004

Fossi said:
I hope Sarah will be there to size up the competition.
I don't know what to expect from the ladies. There are reports that Sasha is doing great with Mr. Nicks, and landing up to 8 triples during her run throughs at practices....the 8th one being for conditioning. That's a major improvement from her horrible performance.
I haven't heard anything on Kwan, so maybe Sasha will finally get it right this time?
Jennifer Kirk would be awesome if she surprised us all. Beaty on ice, and she could be a dark horse.

Yeah I'll believe that when I see it...at an actual competition instead of practice. Practice is practice. Doing it successfully at a competition is when it matters. Let's see if Sasha is able to do that.

As for my expectations, I expect to see Michelle skate her best and win once again.

Mathman · Dec 29, 2004

I expect and hope that Michelle will finally do something with Bolero.

One problem that I don't think she can fix, however, is that she has to do every element to the same music -- same tune, same phrasing, same tempo, over and over. For example, in both Aranjuez and Tosca, at Nationals, her footwork sequence brought the house down.

But in Bolero the only thing that heralds this segment is that the music is played a little louder and is raised one note in pitch. So the whole burden is on the skater to make something of this section of her program -- the music won't help her out.

Mathman

Joesitz (RIP) · Dec 29, 2004

Agree Mathman. The same thing happened to Abt who would have brought the house down too if he had used different music.

Joe

MidnightNess · Dec 30, 2004

I expect a better Bolero in terms of jumps, choreography, spins, footwork, and more importantly, a seamless connection between all the elements. It was way too disjointed at Marshalls but I can see the massive potential there.

I expect Sasha to have her jumps under control but I doubt we'll see a COP tailored program until Worlds.

I refuse to predict a winner between the two but I don't want either program to be a disaster.

I expect Johnny to take Nationals, his programs are phenomenal. (IMO)

sk8fanconvert · Dec 31, 2004

I am hoping for some incredibly tense/exhilirating moments. After Sasha's phenomenal short program in Atlanta, the tension was SO high in the arena as she skated her long. I've never felt anything like it; the exhalation as she fell was enormous, heartbreaking. The intensity even surpassed the incredible love-fest for Michelle in 2003, when she skated with such incredible fire, and the SLC Oly were still hot in our memory.

Some other hopes and expectations:

Sasha really pulls out all the stops- on both programs. :yes:

Few of the ladies even attempt 3-3.:scratch:

Johnny amazes us with two lyrical AND technical skates, and wins again without a quad. :love:

Nick LaRoche emerges as a contender with powerful and dramatic skating, taking a spot on the podium. :love:

Inouye & Baldwin, Don & Hunt, and Orscher & Lucash all skate powerful, nearly error free programs, and the resurgence of pairs is the talk of the arena.

The judging is extremely questionable, leading to much head-shaking and booing and :banging:

Portland totally rocks it in attendance and atmosphere, in and out of the rink.

arty:

lulu · Jan 5, 2005

EXPECTATION: Fluff pieces galore on Emily/Sarah Hughes, Sasha/John Nicks, Kimmie M and the obligatory "Michelle walks down a beach", Tan/Ben's "Olympic dream" etc.
COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC HOPE: Instead of fluff pieces, show us the lower ranked skaters/and/or Junior/Novice medalistst.
SLIGHTLY MORE REALISTIC HOPE: That ABC/ESPN would cut down on the number of fluff pieces. Or feature other skaters, besides the ones we always see.

EXPECTATION: Michelle Kwan will win the Title with an emotional free skate-and get a slew of 6.0s
COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC HOPE: Neither Michelle nor Sasha wins the Nationals Title.
SLIGHTLY MORE REALISTIC HOPE: That Sasha skates with gutso and skates clean (okay, that should probably be under "completely unrealistic hope"

)
HOPE: That Jane Bugaeva pulls up all of the stops and has the skate of her life.

EXPECTATION: J. Weir will win the Men's Title.

EXPECTATION: Innoue & Baldwin will be the undisputed US national champions, and he will screw up on the 3 lutz.
COMPLETELY UNREALSTIC HOPE: A "clean" US pairs competition?!
UNREALISTIC HOPE: Don & Hunt are clean in both the SP/LP.
HOPE: That Don & Hunt are at least clean in the SP

EXPECTATION: Belbin & Agosto win the US title, which preceeds ABC replaying the "Tanith & the Olympics fluff" from Skate America.
Fake G&P will win the Silver Medal.
UNREALISTIC HOPE: They show the Cumpulsory dances.

NATIONALS- Talk up expectations here

R.D.

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

doubleaxelcm

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

R.D.

Joesitz (RIP)

doubleaxelcm

sk8addict

Hikaru

bronxgirl

Fossi

R.D.

Joesitz (RIP)

Sylvia

Kuchana

Mathman

Joesitz (RIP)

MidnightNess

sk8fanconvert

lulu

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