Campbell's event announced officially

Joesitz said:

So many excuses in this sport of figure skating: back problems, new boots, too far to travel, food poisoning, puberty, what else?

Yet, the Russian skaters push onwards despite adversities. for them, it is not a 'girlie' sport.

Joe

Click to expand...

Wasn't MIchelle trying to push on though? By taking the time out of her warm up, she was obviously trying to solve the problem and push through the problems and pain. I didn't see MK give up during that performance - did you?

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that, too. Michelle came out for warm-up, but spent most of the time just stomping around trying to work her heel down into her boot. Then she left the ice in a huff, took off her boot and angrily threw something down, maybe a piece of padding or something like that.

That particular crowd seemed pretty knowledgeable, BTW. After Michelle gave it the old college try, her performance held up until the last skater, Irina. But everyone knew before Irina even skated that it was curtains for the Kwanster.

The year before, the ladies' competition was a real nail-biter. Michelle was leading with Shizuka still to skate. Although Michelle was the crowd favorite, there was also a lot of affection for Shizuka. That was when she was living in the Detroit area working with Richard Callaghan, so we (the audience) wanted to put our best foot forward in welcoming our house guest, so to speak.

Shizuka started off great with a huge, high triple-triple, and performed nicely thoughout, doing a spectacular Ina Bauer and other moves in the field. But she ran out of steam at the end, doubling her last two jumps. This allowed Michelle to hold on to the victory, 3 judges to 2.

Mathman

Joesitz said:

So many excuses in this sport of figure skating: back problems, new boots, too far to travel, food poisoning, puberty, what else?

Yet, the Russian skaters push onwards despite adversities. for them, it is not a 'girlie' sport.

Joe

Click to expand...

:disagree:

Mathman said:

Then she left the ice in a huff, took off her boot and angrily threw something down

Click to expand...

:scratch: Funny, I remember it differently than that. I didn't get the impression she was angry at all...

Edited to add: the thing she "threw down" was a piece of tissue or something she had inside her boot that she pulled out of her boot.

Joesitz said:

MM - I really enjoyed your dissertation on the SP. You might think about sending it into International Figure Skating .

I would like to see the SP change or disappear. It doesn't really serve it's original purpose. My suggestion would be boring to about 99% of the fans but it would have some merit in determining a winner. Every skater in the event should skate to the same music and have one spin or jump be executed on both sides.

Joe

Click to expand...

So if they got rid of the SP, as you would like, wouldn't it just change competitions into the "cheesefests" which you proclaim have little validity?

witchykitty said:

Funny, I remember it differently than that. I didn't get the impression she was angry at all...

Click to expand...

I could be wrong. I was sitting quite a ways from the kiss and cry end. Maybe her face was just serious instead of her usual smile.

MM

Joesitz said:

So many excuses in this sport of figure skating: back problems, new boots, too far to travel, food poisoning, puberty, what else?

Yet, the Russian skaters push onwards despite adversities. for them, it is not a 'girlie' sport.

Joe

Click to expand...

Why should they feel the need to make excuses? If this past season has shown anything it's that they can show up and win with a crappy skate just as easily as they can a brilliant one.

Thankfully I'm not worried, though. I know the Sekret Komputer has eliminated all the wheeling and dealings within the pristine ranks of the ISU.

Ouch!

I wasn't pointing my observation at Michelle per se. It was meant for the fans who find excuses for the faves if the skate isn't up to par.

I should think, though, an athlete coming into a championship (albeit a cheesefest) would have the proper equipment ready for competition before hand.

Is a championship the place to break-in new blades (Tim), new shoe laces (Tonya), etc.?

Joe

vixen62025 said:

So if they got rid of the SP, as you would like, wouldn't it just change competitions into the "cheesefests" which you proclaim have little validity?

Click to expand...

They don't have to get rid of the SP. They should just rethink it. Too many fans are thinking of the beauty in SPs which is not their purpose. JMO.

Joe

Joesitz said:

I should think, though, an athlete coming into a championship (albeit a cheesefest) would have the proper equipment ready for competition before hand.

Is a championship the place to break-in new blades (Tim), new shoe laces (Tonya), etc.?

Click to expand...

I have wondered about that, too, Joe. Didn't Shizuka withdraw from some events last year because she was breaking in new boots? Skaters practice every day. It seems like they could have two pairs of boots. They could continue skating in the old ones while they are breaking in the new ones.

I have read, though, that skaters sometimes go through all kinds of troubles making their boots fit right. I think Lysacek was one who had to send his boots back to the manufacturer for adjustments more than once, and never did get it quite right.

A little bit OT, but is anyone planning to to go to the Campbell's thing? Minnman?