State of the U.S. Men's Figure Skating for 2014-15 | Page 29 | Golden Skate

State of the U.S. Men's Figure Skating for 2014-15

So what's the cure - the Magic Mullet? ;)

:laugh:

No, just more natural hair. The curls were getting in his eyes, but I don't see any reason he couldn't have kept the curls, just a bit shorter.

He's still definitely more handsome than Lysacek though. ;)
 
It's almost like the more Max tries to improve the PCS, the more the judges hate it. :cry:

Hugs to Max. This tweet also made me sad for him:
Eilis ‏@neymar_central
It's terrible that Max Aaron's jumps are letting him down just when he's making actual progress artistically :( #COR2014
8:01 AM - 15 Nov 2014
https://twitter.com/neymar_central/status/533650979271766016

A glass-is-half-full observation:
After placing seventh at NHK last year, Max earned the bronze medal in Boston. This season's Nats podium is not out of reach.

... He's still definitely more handsome than Lysacek though. ;)

Each one of us will be the judge of that ;). karne, I think that anyone on the fence needs to see your Skate Canada photo in Max's fan thread. Hope you don't mind that I am copying it here:

... Not sure when this was taken, but posted to Max's fan Facebook page today. Oh my. :love:
An interesting thing is that Max has said early and often that Lysacek is one of his idols (meaning in general, not in terms of quads).

A happier coincidence is that Lysacek recently started a job in NYC in real estate, which is one of Max's career ambitions.
 
:laugh:
No, just more natural hair. The curls were getting in his eyes, but I don't see any reason he couldn't have kept the curls, just a bit shorter.
He's still definitely more handsome than Lysacek though. ;)
Max is 10 times hotter than Lysacek has ever been IMO.
 
Max is 10 times hotter than Lysacek has ever been IMO.

Oh, yes. Lysacek may be tall... but he is too lean to find him attractive. And too tan (SO orange!). :no:

I couldn't stop staring at Aaron's quads (not the jumps!) when skating. He's so fit! Also he doesn't talk like a monotone robot in his interviews like Lysacek.
 
Max looks the most balletic :yes: :cool: of this photo's many airborne female and male skaters in front of St. Basil's in Moscow.

A close second is the person at the extreme right of the photo [impossible to identify who he(?) is]. :think:

Could it be Daniel Eaton? Alexandra Aldridge is in the photo, so her partner could be close by.
 
GASP! I have just realised the answer. It's the Lysacek hair! Lysacek could never land a quad, so of course Max loses his quadly powers when he has the Lysacek hair! Quick, someone rescue him!!!!!!!!!!!!
Y'know, I was probably the only person who actually preferred the slicked hair to the curls... but after reading this I can't get the image of Lysacek out of my brain. :shocked: Maybe he needs to ditch the hair after all.

Regarding the PCS: I thought he got hosed a bit in the SP, but... I kinda understand the judges' problem with the LP. I think he needs to dig deeper with the character. It is a fitting character for him, but right now he still seems to be going through the motions. Imo, he improved compared to Skate Canada (jumps aside). I'd still like to see a bit more. He's at a disadvantage because he has shorter limbs than the figure skating ideal, and can't naturally create the best lines. But this is why he needs to work extra hard to extend and finish his movements.

The judges were overly harsh, but the program does need a bit more polish. Regardless of placements, I want to see a good performance of Gladiator at Nationals and Worlds (I think he'll still make the team).
 
Might be Jason Brown. Jason does wear those hats often. He also has been seen in Nike wear/shoes a few times in Russia. And I think they may be wearing glasses.

Could it be Daniel Eaton? Alexandra Aldridge is in the photo, so her partner could be close by.

Just pleased to see that Max instinctively pointed his toe so nicely :yes:, even for a casual group photo. (His ballet classes are paying off :). Looks even better b/c he happens to be wearing dress shoes instead of sneakers.)

I think Jean-Luc Baker is next to the Mystery Man, who looks much taller than JLB ... so Eaton seems like a better guess to me?? :think: But hard to tell who he is.
 
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Max looks the most balletic :yes: :cool: of this photo's many airborne female and male skaters in front of St. Basil's in Moscow.

A close second is the person at the extreme right of the photo [impossible to identify who he(?) is]. :think:

golden411, here's another photo of the "ballet group" touring Moscow from Jeremy Ten's instagram:

http://instagram.com/p/vdv91EKBA1/

The mystery man doesn't seem to want to be identified ;)
 
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golden411, here's another photo of the "ballet group" touring Moscow from Jeremy Ten's instagram:

http://instagram.com/p/vdv91EKBA1/

The mystery man doesn't seem to want to be identified ;)

Love Jeremy's photo too, katmari. Thank you. :)

The happy thing is that no matter how they placed in the competition, everyone looks so relaxed as they enjoy each other's company as well as the sights of Moscow.
In fact, even more than Jeremy's photo, I love his caption, which brought tears to my eyes. Although he is Canadian, I will copy it into in this thread (with a tweak to correct his typo):
Had such a blast being #Tourists in #Moscow with these amazing people. So #grateful that #skating brought us all together in #Russia and for these memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life :) #CoR2014 #SGP #FigureSkating #Ballet #Hybrids #Bolshoi #BolshoiBallet #Canada #USA #Germany #Travel​

(Last and least ;): I'm totally overthinking :hopelessness: Mystery Man, but I wonder whether this group ventured out and about while others [such as Jason] were rehearsing for the gala??)
 
I was rudely surprised by Weir's comment today that Max Aaron has a history of stamina issues?? Where the heck did that come from?? :shocked:

Any truth to it, Mrs. P or karne or anyone else?? :confused2:

I thought the exact opposite was true -- that Max was known for extreme fitness that give him exceptional stamina. :think:

------------------

BTW, if anyone is interested in the latest snapshots from the ISU World Standings and ISU Season's World Ranking -- after Rostelecom and Ice Challenge updates:

ISU World Standings
1 4262 Yuzuru HANYU
2 3774 Patrick CHAN
3 3376 Tatsuki MACHIDA
4 3286 Javier FERNANDEZ
5 3152 Denis TEN
6 3037 Takahito MURA
7 2978 Max AARON
8 2823 Sergei VORONOV
9 2791 Maxim KOVTUN
10 2736 Michal BREZINA
11 2709 Daisuke TAKAHASHI
12 2608 Richard DORNBUSH
13 2565 Jason BROWN
14 2443 Konstantin MENSHOV
15 2380 Han YAN
http://www.isuresults.com/ws/ws/wsmen.htm World Standings​

ISU Season's World Ranking
1 1025 Alexander PETROV
2 922 Jason BROWN
3 886 Nam NGUYEN
4 879 Sergei VORONOV
5 837 Max AARON
6 807 Michal BREZINA
7 773 Misha GE
8 760 Javier FERNANDEZ
9 728 Alexander SAMARIN
10 725 Shoma UNO
11 680 Douglas RAZZANO
12 670 Takahito MURA
13 656 June Hyoung LEE
14 624 Richard DORNBUSH
15 592 Stephen CARRIERE
http://www.isuresults.com/ws/wr/wrmen.htm

golden411, here's another photo of the "ballet group" touring Moscow from Jeremy Ten's instagram:

http://instagram.com/p/vdv91EKBA1/

The mystery man doesn't seem to want to be identified ;)

Have we figured out who the mystery man is yet? I'm going to venture and say that it kind of looks like Zack Sidhu (USA pairs).

Breaking news ;):
The Mystery Man is .... Stephen Carriere.​

@sjcarriere also posted an Instagram in front of the Bolshoi -- very similar to Jeremy Ten's.

ETA, check out these additional group shots in front of St. Basil's and in front of the Bolshoi, which have the added advantage of better views of Carriere's face:

ETA, the Bolshoi really put the group in the mood for a lot of ballet poses. Yet another one:

Stupid question:
Are Annabelle PRÖLSS / Ruben BLOMMAERT the ones at the very left of the Instagrams?​
 
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I was rudely surprised by Weir's comment today that Max Aaron has a history of stamina issues?? Where the heck did that come from?? :shocked:

Any truth to it, Mrs. P or karne or anyone else?? :confused2:

I thought the exact opposite was true -- that Max was known for extreme fitness that give him exceptional stamina. :think:

Well, we all know I don't have a great opinion of Weir to begin with, but I did think he was reasonably intelligent...

As far as I know, that would be the first I have ever heard of it. I have watched his programs many times, and it has been remarked by commentators that he actually gets stronger and faster towards the end of the program, and I agree. Stamina issues? In what world?!

Stupid question:
Are Annabelle PRÖLSS / Ruben BLOMMAERT the ones at the very left of the Instagrams?​

They posted one of the pics on their facebook page (they tagged Max), so I guess it was.
 
It seems likely that there will be no US male singles skaters at the GPF, or have I forgotten someone?
 
It seems likely that there will be no US male singles skaters at the GPF, or have I forgotten someone?

Richard Dornbush still has a shot,depending on how he does at Trophee Bompard and how others do at NHK.

Richard will be competing against Tatsuki Machida and Maxim Kovtun, who won their first events.

At NHK, Hanyu may or may not compete (silver from Cup of China) and Mura (gold at Skate Canada) and Voronov (silver at Rostelecom Cup) will be there as well.

Right now, Jason Brown is in second with 20 points, with Nam Nguyen behind him in 3rd also with 20 points (Jason won the tiebreaker). Machida and Kovtun will both pass him by finishing at least 5th. Same with Mura at NHK. Hanyu and Voronov will pass him with a 4th place finish or higher for sure, though 5th place will also do it if they have a higher score to win the tiebreaker.

Heck, Jeremy Abbott could do it if he somehow wins NHK and others fare poorly. Second place at NHK, would put him in a tie-break situation with Jason.

Ross Miner and Joshua Farris can't get into GPF, but they can play spoiler with their placements. Ross tends to do well at NHK.



A few scenarios (and this isn't considering Hanyu WDing from NHK:

Let's say TEB placements are Machida, Dornbush, Kovtun, Ten and NHK placements are Hanyu, Mura, Miner/Abbott, Voronov. Dornbush with 24 points (2/3 placement) would pass Voronov with 22 points (2/4 placement)

Let's say the placements at TEB are Machida, Kovtun, Dornbush, Ten and the placements at NHK Hanyu, Mura, Miner, Abbott, Farris, Voronov. Dornbush would actually pass Voronov and Brown for the last spot.

Or the NHK placements are the same but TEB is Machida, Kovtun, Ten, Dornbush. Brown would pass Dornbush (20 points 3/4 placement) and Ten (also 20 points with 3/4 placement) and Voronov (18 points 2/6 placement).

Or the TEB placements are the same and NHK order is Hanyu, Abbott, Mura, Miner, Farris and Voronov. Abbott and Brown would get into a tiebreaker situation. Abbott would have to score 250.41 or higher. His PB is 246.35.

tl;dr: Richard still has a shot and Jason and Jeremy has a really really tiny shot and will need some major alignment of stars.
 
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It seems likely that there will be no US male singles skaters at the GPF, or have I forgotten someone?

I would not call Dornbush out of the running yet. If he gets bronze again at TEB he will be in front of Jason and stand a good chance of being first alternate. I am still not convinced Hanyu will be able to compete, so if he decides to let his body heal, Dornbush could sneak in.
 
Re Max Aaron:

This season’s long program really highlights how hard he has worked on his spins, footwork, transitions, and even the extensions on the landings of his jumps.

A blogger makes the conclusion above based on a comparison of Max's West Side Story FS at Omaha Nats to his Gladiator FS at Skate Canada. She provides the YT links to both in a Flashback Friday post today.

http://twizzletalk.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/flashback-friday-max-aaron/

Well, we all know I don't have a great opinion of Weir to begin with, but I did think he was reasonably intelligent...

As far as I know, that would be the first I have ever heard of it. I have watched his programs many times, and it has been remarked by commentators that he actually gets stronger and faster towards the end of the program, and I agree. Stamina issues? In what world?!



They posted one of the pics on their facebook page (they tagged Max), so I guess it was.

Thx for answering both of my questions, karne.
 
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Re Max Aaron:

This season’s long program really highlights how hard he has worked on his spins, footwork, transitions, and even the extensions on the landings of his jumps.

A blogger makes the conclusion above based on a comparison of Max's West Side Story FS at Omaha Nats to his Gladiator FS at Skate Canada. She provides the YT links to both in a Flashback Friday post today.

http://twizzletalk.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/flashback-friday-max-aaron/

.

Thanks for this nice article, golden! It's so rare, unfortunately, to find positive discussions of Max's skating.

Congratulations to Ricky who is currently 4th after the SP at TEB! (Ahead of Kovtun, hehehe!)
 
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