gezando said:You mean Reggie Miller?
Yes
And further off-topic- I think your numbers are off a little...
gezando said:You mean Reggie Miller?
Red Dog said:Yes
And further off-topic- I think your numbers are off a little...
Well, I don't know who died and left Maria the sole spokesperson for the who is the best skater in the world?soogar said:I just read an interview with Maria Butyrskaya in Spotlight on Skating and she commented on how she loved Sasha's skating b/c of her flexibility, jumps in time to the music and her SOFT EDGING. I think Maria B is a better judge of edging and skating quality than all of us and it's apparent that she doesn't think there's a problem with Sasha's edges.
Joesitz said:Well, I don't know who died and left Maria the sole spokesperson for the who is the best skater in the world?
Joe
And OT, but yes, that three pointer was something...the kind of something that makes you really admire a player and get a really bad stomache ache at the same time...I still can't believe (but I can) the Pistons lost that by one point...urgh.
Joesitz said:Well, I don't know who died and left Maria the sole spokesperson for the who is the best skater in the world?
Joe
soogar said:If Sasha's edging was so poor, she wouldn't be able to do those edge spins as well as she does (and her spirals).
dancindiva03 said:Not to be rude, but HA!!!!!!!! Sasha's spirals are done on such a very shallow edge! I admit she has gotten better, but she gets nowhere near the depth of edge on her spirals as many of the other top skaters. And her COE spiral can get a bit wobbly. Not my idea of good edging.
soogar said:Sasha's spirals are done with a very high leg therefore she can't get a deep edge or else she'll topple over. Show me a picture of a skater who does a spiral on a deep edge with the leg held as high.
Her COE spiral gets wobbly because of the balance required by her body position. If she held her leg lower, she would be more stable, but then she'd have to compromise the beauty of the position.
I'm sure that Sasha would have no problem with edges on her spirals if she held her leg as low as Kwan or assisted her leg like Irina.
Joesitz said:and just as bad, some fans think the higher the spiral the more balletic it is. That's absolute nonsense. The arabesque (the ballet term for spiral) is a straight leg extension to the back of a dancer - hip squared - knee turned out - toe pointed. The raised leg can be from the floor to highest extension depending on the choreography. It's not a trick in ballet. It's a move.
Most skaters do not have the hips squared for their spiral (arabesque) as well as non-pointed toe and knee not turned out. Still the spiral should be judged primarily on the skater's edge at whatever height the free leg is.
Joe
Joesitz said:soogaar - Those pics are quite nice of Sasha. We used to call that an open fan. The first one, non-hand-holding is quite impressive. the second one required a hand hold. In both instances the hips are not squared but how could they be in such a position. I'd give a +2 for the first pic; just a standard grade for the second.
Joe
soogar said:Note how much deeper her edge appears on the second fan spiral with the leg hold (though the position isn't as nice as the first one). I also think that the first picture doesn't show her fully into the spiral (it looks like she was captured going into the spiral).
This is a drawing of the spiral (I can't find a real pic of it right now though I have see some)
http://www.geocities.com/marquitaj2002/sashaspiral34.jpg
Now Joe, you of all people should know that ballet dancers don't square their hips in every arabesque either. Sometimes they don't because of the choreography but more often they don't because the higher the free leg goes towards a 180-degree split, that is penché, the less possible it is to keep the hips squared. I'd say only about one in 10,000 elite ballet dancers can do a 180-degree penché with their hips as squared as they would during a 90-degree arabesque. Only in very rare bodies can the former happen. The vast majority of hip-pelvic structures are not designed to do that. The idea is to keep the hips as square as possible, but again, that's ballet. Ballet dancers are not balanced on an 1/8th of an inch blade while flowing across ice.Joesitz said:and just as bad, some fans think the higher the spiral the more balletic it is. That's absolute nonsense. The arabesque (the ballet term for spiral) is a straight leg extension to the back of a dancer - hip squared - knee turned out - toe pointed. The raised leg can be from the floor to highest extension depending on the choreography. It's not a trick in ballet. It's a move.
Most skaters do not have the hips squared for their spiral (arabesque) as well as non-pointed toe and knee not turned out. Still the spiral should be judged primarily on the skater's edge at whatever height the free leg is.
Joe