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Thanks for sharing rain!! Glad you had a great time and enjoyed the live skating
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All three of the Japanese skaters were impressive, with Takahashi the one who really performed his program out to the audience the best. I can understand now why Kozuka doesn't get the highest scores — he really didn't reach out to the audience during his program and when you're reaching into the top tier that makes a difference.
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Regarding Champion mentality, Look-at-me-I-love-me-You-love-me Mentality helps a lot in presenting charisma. Dai and Weir definitely have it, but skaters like Nob and Koz are rather shy.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I came back to GS after the SP and a rest and found an 89 page thread. I guess I forgot what the Oly's are like, lol.
To me Daisuke outskated everyone last night. I was soooooo happy! He is like the Horowitz of skating - inventive, brilliant, unique, exciting - a true OGM-worthy skater if he can hold it together one more night. I'm afraid to think about his quad. I think he'll go for it... and I don't really like his chances of landing it. Please, skate gods, I'm on my knees!
Plushenko did his big trick which is definitely amazing. :thumbsup: His footwork was shockingly bad. :disagree: I admit his spins have improved, which is not saying a whole lot. I thought it was hilarious when they replayed his statement about wanting to be "like Dick Button" to Dick Button. As anyone who knows his taste would know, Uncle Dick is not a fan of crude, one-trick skating. Because of his one-sidedness he looks very beatable to me - but I thought the same the last time....
Evan was the best Evan he can be and like most others, I am very willing to give him props for his drive and determination. Unfortunately he will never be subtle, musical, or beautiful. Still, if he gets a medal (anything but gold, please), he's earned it. I guess.
Johnny had that old look back of the sleek, coiled up wildcat ready to leap and pounce. I'm begging the skate gods to push him onto the podium and I think it's very possible. He skated the best I've seen for a long time but I don't like the program or the posing so it was hard to get excited about his performance.
IMO Lambiel's spins were great but the footwork wasn't as brilliant as Takahashi's or as Scott and Sandra claimed. He wasn't quite sharp to me. I could see him either bombing or grabbing a medal tonight. I'd love it if it were a well-earned silver or even gold if Daisuke falters. Totally mystified by his choice of costume. U-G-L-Y, it ain't got no alibi.
Patrick hasn't looked like himself since he returned from his injury. Maybe he just lost too much training time. Also, I predicted he and Joannie would succumb to the Olympic pressure and so far it looks like I'm right. Prove me wrong, guys. I love Patrick and think he's OGM material but not this time, alas. I'm quite shocked by his talk of retiring now.
Kozuka and Oda - beautiful skaters but they're not going to lift people out of their seats. Yet.
Shocked and saddened by the meltdowns of Brian and Jeremy. I frankly think Brian should retire. He made his feelings about the Olympics plain right after his skate and I don't see how he can keep up this depressing fight for another four years. All he has to do is take off his shirt and smile and he'll make a fortune in movies or modeling, that's my opinion and hope.
I was delighted with Florent and Javier, my two favorite young 'uns. I missed Denis Ten, Schultheiss, and some others I wanted to see... I'm becoming quite knowledgeable about luge and snowboarding, though.
Um, well Brian Joubert DEFINITELY has that mentality and he has been having a pretty rough season and is currently in 18th place. I mean his SP doesn't have a theme or story and is essentially him skating around in a sparkly shirt looking hot and flirting with the audience through cute facial expressions and funny gestures in between his jumps....don't you agree? I mean I love Joubert, but IMO he uses his good looks, confidence, and the audiences' love for him to his advantage in his programs, esp the SP.
Lambiel is mostly appealing because he is good looking and has perfect hair, I'm not going to lie.
What I'd like to know is why Vaughan Chipeur finished so low. He had problems in his skate, but he shouldn't have finished all the way down at 24th. About half a dozen of the skaters who placed above him had worse skates with more errors.
Poor America. It was so boring watching Lindsey Vonn win the OGM in women's downhill and her teammate Julie Mancuso take the Silver.
It was also boring watching Apollo qualify again in short track and to see Shani Davis win Gold in the speed skating 1000 meters tonight. Now I watch our snowboarders win more medals.
Different strokes seniorita
The fluff last night was mild compared to what they just ran tonight.
"The cold war is back and this arrogant, trash talking Russian must be stopped."
They called him a one trick pony and said Evan has everything.
Uh, talk about trash talking right there, I can't believe someone allowed this to be aired. I wonder where the impression people have of the US comes from ah?
Yes, I watched the competition. I think Chipeur should have been several spots higher than 24th.
Coming from the person who seems to mix up figure skating or sport in general - with the cold war and patriotism quite often.This is just skating - and not about real problems in the real world. I thought most posters here were able to tell the difference.
Chan doesn't sell his programs either. He is so caught up in the technical aspects of his programs that he forgets there's an audience out there that wants to be entertained. The performance aspect of his skating is an area that he's neglected so far. That's why Lysacek can beat him even though neither of them does the quad. Lysacek is not a favorite of mine, but he does know how to perform the heck out of his programs.