2014 NHK Trophy Mens Free Skate 11/29

[wordsworthgirl]

Karne, can you elaborate on Josh's confidence issues? What is the evidence for this? I want to help him with his confidence. He is such an extraordinary talent!

I think Jason had one of the most telling quotes on this one, from the IceNetwork Double Interview of Cute, where they were asked to name one thing they would fix about the other, and Jason's answer was that he would tell Josh not to be so down on himself all the time. He's very introverted and apparently quite shy when approached in real life, and doesn't seem to believe in his own talent.

He also admitted last year that one of the things that tripped him up was that he spent so much time over the summer detailing and then redetailing his choreography, focusing so much on that that everything suffered a little. So I think he's got a little of Max's problem, beating himself up when everything's not going right. Just the way Damon said to him, "Don't beat yourself up too bad" after the SP spoke volumes.[/QUOTE]

OK, Karne, what can we and other Josh fans do to help him? Should we tweet our support and belief in him? write to him? I think he needs to know how many people love him. I seriously think it would be a huge loss to skating if he is not able to perform to his ability. I just adored his short. He is so talented and special He needs to know this.

 

[ice coverage]

Balde's FS was great. I hope they invite him to the Gala.

Balde apparently is scheduled to perform as the first skater in the gala.

 

[demarinis5]

^:dance: Thank you!

 

[Violet Bliss]

Nice competition in men. My favourite programs were by far Eladj Balde and Sergei Voronov. Congratulations to Murakami, I was not impressed but he was good enough to win. Great skating!

But I was struck how could Jeremy score 59.59 in TES vs Eladj Tes =72.15 end up with GOE and interpretation to 148.14 for Jeremy and 145 for Eladj. I know Jeremy is a wonderful skater, but Balde had a beautiful, more difficult program, skated very well. This judges are so far away, almost penal. How can this be possible?

Eladj is one of the best performers on ice. He got the commentator looking up his background to verify if he was Spanish but he brings it in very different programs. However, there is no comparison to Jeremy as far as skating skills are concerned. Jeremy can just glide and be so watchable. Eladj did much of his artistic expression in virtual standstill. Just compare their speed and complexity of footwork. And also how vertical Eladj is vs Jeremy's edges.

I feel Eladj maybe merits higher marks in Performance and Interpretation. But I also consider how much harder it is to perform and interpret with high speed and on sharp edge(s) whereas Eladj is slow and often on two feet. As usual, I leave the scores to the trained judges who are there watching it live.

 

[IcyEdges]

Eladj is one of the best performers on ice. He got the commentator looking up his background to verify if he was Spanish but he brings it in very different programs. However, there is no comparison to Jeremy as far as skating skills are concerned. Jeremy can just glide and be so watchable. Eladj did much of his artistic expression in virtual standstill. Just compare their speed and complexity of footwork. And also how vertical Eladj is vs Jeremy's edges.

I feel Eladj maybe merits higher marks in Performance and Interpretation. But I also consider how much harder it is to perform and interpret with high speed and on sharp edge(s) whereas Eladj is slow and often on two feet. As usual, I leave the scores to the trained judges who are there watching it live.

Well... If he truly feels content with himself today then who are we to judge??

Jeremy re-worked his skating technique in late summer (apparently to decrease the pain he has had for years). I think it was crazy for a 29 y/o to re-work things after so many years....but apparently it was something he believed in and from his tweets helped him skate with less pain.

But haters never bother to get the facts, they make up meaning that isn't there.

It was a beautiful skate despite the errors. And it was an improvement over SA.

He needs the quads, step levels and spin levels to bring the score up. Pretty sure he knows that.

He has also lost the "deer in the headlights " look, and seems secure and calm competing this season.

You three are right on here. :agree:

 

[Jaana]

I wonder what happens to Murakami at the Nationals as the competition is soooo hard in Japan? I think he made a wrong choice by starting to represent Japan. After Evan USA has been rather weak in men´s discipline recently and he would more easily gotten to participate in major competitions and GP (with 2 events):

 

[leolion11]

I wonder what happens to Murakami at the Nationals as the competition is soooo hard in Japan? I think he made a wrong choice by starting to represent Japan. After Evan USA has been rather weak in men´s discipline recently and he would more easily gotten to participate in major competitions and GP (with 2 events):

Exactly my thought! I was just thinking about how many more competitions he would be sent to right now if he had chosen to compete for the USA... imo he's technically stronger than most of the current US men.

 

[sequinsgalore]

I wonder what happens to Murakami at the Nationals as the competition is soooo hard in Japan? I think he made a wrong choice by starting to represent Japan. After Evan USA has been rather weak in men´s discipline recently and he would more easily gotten to participate in major competitions and GP (with 2 events):

Is he Japanese of citizenship? Maybe he chose to keep his Japanese citizenship and wanted the possibility to go to the Olympics?

 

[Jaana]

Is he Japanese of citizenship? Maybe he chose to keep his Japanese citizenship and wanted the possibility to go to the Olympics?

He had the the US nationality and chose for the Japanese one (I belive he had dual nationality).

 

[gravy]

He had the the US nationality and chose for the Japanese one (I belive he had dual nationality).

Yep. Japanese duals have to make the decision by 22 if they want to keep their Japanese citizenship or forfeit it since Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship after that age.

Who knows? If Murakami was competing for the US right now, he might not be thriving as he is now in Japan. Reminds me of Pogorilaya who said she would never compete for Ukraine because competition within Russia is what betters the sport and her skating, too.

I have a feeling that after this GP, the Japanese federation will be paying much more attention to him.

 

[Sandpiper]

I'm so darn late to everything. But really nice skate from... Balde, of all people. I especially loved the choreographic step sequence--flowing and musical, almost like 6.0 steps. I wish more people would use the ChSq like this.

Voronov and especially Murakami also brought the technical goods. :yes: Sadly, can't say I'm in love with either program. Voronov was fun but the music cut :hopelessness:. I'm very happy for Murakami, shattering his old PB and winning a GP on home ice when no one even noticed him going into the event. Just wish the program had held my attention a bit more.

If anyone was going to mess up and gift Yuzuru the GPF spot, Jeremy Abbott was a likely candidate. I thought he was cleaner than Yuzuru, and though I found his skate boring, I'd probably have him ahead overall. Still, it's hard to complain when Yuzuru landed more triples in the FS. It's hard to wuzrob Jason though--he, too, didn't put out great skates on the GP circuit. I'm going to add my voice to those saying Misha deserved the spot.

Not sure if POTO was the right choice of LP for Yuzuru... the choreography was solid, but the music cuts and vocals?

 

[noskates]

I was just finally able to watch the men's freeskate and haven't read much of anything in this post. BUT....I'm getting increasingly irritated at really poor skates turned in by Hanyu that get rewarded. He looked terrible in both his SP and his LP. He isn't himself. He hasn't been since the collision. And yet with falls, under rotations, popping jumps, etc. etc. ad nauseum he still manages to make it to the Gran Prix finals. His music is hackneyed, his choreo is boring, and he doesn't in any way shape or form look like an OGM winner. Orser has his work cut out for him.

I'm also pretty disgusted with Jeremy Abbott. If he's going to stay in competition and displace another male figure skater than he needs to go all-out and stop skating so carefully. I'm pretty bummed that because he turned in a less than honest LP he came in after Hanyu and kept Jason Brown out of the finals. I don't see Jason making it to the podium - but miracles happen - but he's more the future of US skating than Jeremy. I've expended so much emotion over Jeremy through the years and I'm just done with him!!!! He blows most every opportunity to excel. Gahhhhhhhhhhhh.........pounding head on wall!!!!

 

[Mrs. P]

I'm pretty bummed that because he turned in a less than honest LP he came in after Hanyu and kept Jason Brown out of the finals. I don't see Jason making it to the podium - but miracles happen - but he's more the future of US skating than Jeremy. I've expended so much emotion over Jeremy through the years and I'm just done with him!!!! He blows most every opportunity to excel. Gahhhhhhhhhhhh.........pounding head on wall!!!!

I get what you're trying to say, but Jason played a role in not getting into GPF. Had he even finished 4th at Rostelecom, we wouldn't even have a conversation about this. Yes, yes, it was a tough week and I admire him for dealing with it the best he could, but that SP was really costly.

Point is, I don't see the point of blaming Jeremy for another person's fate.

Also what do you mean "less-than-honest" LP? You mean in expression? Something else?

 

[Meoima]

If anything why the hell should Jason blame Jeremy for Jeremy's not so good free skate?? Seriously!! Did Jeremy make a promise with Jason that he will help him get into GPF or something??

 

[StitchMonkey]

If anything why the hell should Jason blame Jeremy for Jeremy's not so good free skate?? Seriously!! Did Jeremy make a promise with Jason that he will help him get into GPF or something??

I think it is a rather fair response to the "Jason's plushies ruined Jeremy's free skate" remarks. This why we can all be ridiculous and view the skaters as coming out even in the non-exist mess with each other battle!

Sometimes the absurd is just the best way to get through the day.

 

[Mrs. P]

In any case, I doubt Jason is thinking too much about it and just focusing getting his programs in shape for Nationals. If he gets the call to come to Barcelona if someone WDs, then I'm sure he'll be delighted.

 

[Meoima]

I think it is a rather fair response to the "Jason's plushies ruined Jeremy's free skate" remarks. This why we can all be ridiculous and view the skaters as coming out even in the non-exist mess with each other battle!
Sometimes the absurd is just the best way to get through the day.

Jeremy ruined his own free skate for sure. If he found the plushies distracting then it's his problem. But obviously Jason could not blame Jeremy for Jeremy's bad skate.
Anyways I think Jason doesn't think about it that much.

 

[LRK]

Yes, I doubt Jeremy actually wanted to skate badly. "To heck with Jason! I'm not feeling like doing my best today, so he can go hang!"

 

[noskates]

Perhaps I should have worded it differently. By "less than honest" I meant Jeremy not going for all his jumps. His choreo is beautiful, there is no doubt about it. But like was said in the commentary, his LP looked like a show piece rather than a competition piece. I can personally blame Jeremy for not besting Hanyu. I didn't mean to imply that Jason is blaming him. But as usual, people read something, put their own spin on it and are then "off to the races." And yes, Jason could have skated better at Rostelecom. But skaters are human (remember?) and Jason had just been dealt a personal difficult blow by the death of his manager. He's a very sensitive young man and it definitely affected his performance. The bottom line for me is, no matter WHO was impacted by Jeremy's skate, I'm still over him. I've watched that young man for years and crossed my fingers and hoped and prayed he'd finally put it all together. He manages to do that at Nationals and then falls short internationally. And please don't anyone start quoting his placements internationally over the past 5-7 years. I don't care anymore. He's one of the most talented men out there and he continues to skate with his head instead of his feet. There are few men, very few, with the grace and delivery that Jeremy has and his interpretation of his music. But he is not a competitor. And if you want to call my opinion absurd.....whatever!!!!

 

[noskates]

Yes, I doubt Jeremy actually wanted to skate badly. "To heck with Jason! I'm not feeling like doing my best today, so he can go hang!"

Seriously??? Seriously???? Okay, to me this is an absurd remark!!! Again, I did not mean to imply that Jeremy wanted to skate badly (he never does) or that he deliberately skated badly so Jason wouldn't make the final.