2015 Skate America Mens FS Oct 24

[Khoai]

To be honest, these fans prioritize good artistry (ie their opinion of who has good artistry) wayyyy more than technical ability/output.

I bet there are those who thought Brown should have been ahead of Aaron in the freeskate with his UR jumps.

Then you have skaters like Ten getting 77 PCS with an abysmal technical score (3 falls, 2 pops and other errors), and a very uninspired program, and people seem to think Max deserved lower PCS than that.

I pretty much feel wow watching Mr. Aaron's LP. His SP I simply see it as an ok performance. But that LP is such a treat. He skated last, knowing he had to overcome a big score, he never did that in the past, huge pressure on home ice, how could he pull that off? He did. The man has gut. And years of struggling finally paid off.

 

[Pamigena]

How easy to dismiss so's opinion by saying they're a hater. :agree:

I'm starting to think that calling someone a hater is the online equivalent to a Yo Mama Joke :sarcasm:

 

[jenaj]

quit the bs, Mr Aaron didn't deserve these PCS with that program.

Explain, why, specifically. Or is it just a matter of opinion? And the last time I looked, there was no score for "artistry." I find it interesting that some of the biggest proponents of COP get the most bent out of shape when a skater that they personally don't find aesthetically pleasing gets a high PCS score even though COP doesn't specifically value "presentation" or "artistic impression." Similarly, the comments about ranking (eg, how can Max rank above Jason in some component?) seem to forget that judges aren't supposed to rank in COP.

 

[OS]

I was in the hotel lobby late last night and here came Max Aaron with his skatebag and bag of stuffed animals. I thought, OMG its Max Aaron and then realized I said it out loud not just in my head because Max gave a huge grin. He was so sweet, posed for a photo, thanked me for the kind words and said he had homework to do (he is a finance major and hopes to go to grad school at Harvard someday). I asked about his sister and he said they are getting back on track for their B competition. What a sweet kid and a very happy one last night!

That is such a cute story. You are so lucky to have met all the skaters!

I love Max's Martin Scorsese eye brows (maybe he should consider doing a Goodfella sort of program next and be a suave happy go lucky gangster happy Joe in his next outing to something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22tIJ6toPY I think it can be a really cool suited style of program, encouraging him to be more expressive and endear him to the audience like Jason Brown programs are designed to do. Far more interesting than Swanlake. Hate to say it, but all his flaws are magnified in that FS program). I won't comment on the PCS spread for everybody which is quite amusing to see consider what is at stake, but Max is a deserving and refreshing winner this year.

Max had been sort of victim of circumstance these past 2 seasons, and to see him turned into such a glowing lightbulb of gratitude consider how incredibly undervalued he has been at last 2 US nationals because he is just not the artistic type. The way I see it, he deserve this break, and where else can he get this sort of thing except at Skate America? In this sport, is not possible to get 30 points worth of home inflation in mostly in TES vs in 30 points of mostly PCS inflation that Jason get when skate at home. This means if you are only strong in TES, your scope of success is pretty much limited by this within the imbalance! Never mind internationally, you can be at least competitive with the rest of the field (See Maxim's career), and arguably more competitive than those who only get 30 points inflation when skate at home but not internationally.

 

[deedee1]

And congrats to Mura (and his costume) for garnering so much buzz. Actually, compared to the first version I don't find this one as garish. Still amused though. That aside, I really like Mura's FS and barring popped jumps thought he did a good job. Hoping to see a cleaner performance at NHK.

:yes::yes: My thought exactly. After watching his SP (done by Charlie!) and free to "O", I could see his efforts trying hard to raise his PCS, sad to see at the expence of jump concictency though... Hope he can skate much cleaner next time. WTG, Takahito! :yay:

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Internationally I think Max would have still managed high 70's for that FS. After all, his Nebelhorn programs got about 74 with major errors (I think he doubled both quads), so a close to clean FS with two quads and two axels scoring high-70s isn't out of the realm of reason.

 

[daphenaxa]

Explain, why, specifically. Or is it just a matter of opinion? And the last time I looked, there was no score for "artistry." I find it interesting that some of the biggest proponents of COP get the most bent out of shape when a skater that they personally don't find aesthetically pleasing gets a high PCS score even though COP doesn't specifically value "presentation" or "artistic impression." Similarly, the comments about ranking (eg, how can Max rank above Jason in some component?) seem to forget that judges aren't supposed to rank in COP.

did I talk about artistry somewhere?

SS are not very good
Transitions: where are they?
choreography: terrible
interpretation: inexistent

Only P/E I agree with.
Also I find Max aesthetically pleasing

 

[Rissa]

Kovtun isn't competing in Russia.

Ooops, sorry my bad. Prepare yourself for Voronov's PCS at Rostelecom. Won't be near Javi, but still pretty outragous, I think.

 

[qwertyskates]

I was never a fan of Aaron because of his lack of artistry but I must say kudos to him for choosing a classical ballet warhorse to attempt his interpretation of dramatic athleticism. His technical prowess was nicely matched to the crescendos in the piece, even if the grace is still lacking. The field is disappointingly weak, so he does deserve his win.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I was never a fan of Aaron because of his lack of artistry but I must say kudos to him for choosing a classical ballet warhorse to attempt his interpretation of dramatic athleticism. His technical prowess was nicely matched to the crescendos in the piece, even if the grace is still lacking. The field is disappointingly weak, so he does deserve his win.

This is actually a great assessment of why he won. :agree:

 

[ice coverage]

I was in the hotel lobby late last night and here came Max Aaron with his skatebag and bag of stuffed animals. I thought, OMG its Max Aaron and then realized I said it out loud not just in my head because Max gave a huge grin. He was so sweet, posed for a photo, thanked me for the kind words and said he had homework to do (he is a finance major and hopes to go to grad school at Harvard someday). I asked about his sister and he said they are getting back on track for their B competition. What a sweet kid and a very happy one last night!

Thx for your lovely and newsworthy post about Max (and Maddie), semosk8tfan . Lucky you to stumble upon him -- esp. on one of the great nights of his life.

I am trying to catch up with all the GS posts since yesterday, but had to stop and reply to this one.

I must say that Harvard would be very fortunate to get Max as a student down the road. I look forward to hearing more about that phase of his post-competitive life when the time eventually comes. He has had so many valuable experiences in making decisions, overcoming setbacks, pursuing goals, etc. And multi-tasking. The guy has just won his first GP gold, but he isn't going to neglect his schoolwork.

I'm sure Max appreciated (as I do) that you asked about Maddie and Max S. (Loved that in the SP kiss and cry he could be heard shouting out to Maddie and Molly, among others.)
Glad that Maddie and Max S are getting back on track. They'll compete in Tallinn the week after Max A competes at TEB. Exciting times for the Aaron and Settlage families.

 

[qwertyskates]

This is actually a great assessment of why he won. :agree:

Thank you CSG, with this performance at SA, skating outside of his comfort zone and finding his own strengths in his interpretation, my respect for Aaron has grown. Unfortunately, his weakness remains, would be interesting to see how he improves with each competition as he pits himself against the top tier.

 

[semosk8tfan]

Maybe I am Max's good luck charm. I have been to only two skating events: 2013 Nationals and 2015 Skate America and he won the gold at both events!

 

[Rissa]

So you are saying Mr. Aaron must get 70 PCS because you think his choreography is not your taste?

Lol, we can argue the taste in the choreography where there actually is some. Max had almost none. (And whatever there was, was pretty bad. Can someone confirm whether he changed anything from Nebelhorn? Because I thought it was decent at Nebelhorn.)

Judge no 9 actually seemed to know how to judge. The marks for various components seemed to actually reflect said components.

 

[Mrs. P]

Lol, we can argue the taste in the choreography where there actually is some. Max had almost none. (And whatever there was, was pretty bad. Can someone confirm whether he changed anything from Nebelhorn? Because I thought it was decent at Nebelhorn.)

Judge no 9 actually seemed to know how to judge. The marks for various components seemed to actually reflect said components.

I just watched Nebelhorn and Skate America side by side and quite a bit of the choreography is gone. The music cuts are also a bit different at the end.

 

[Rissa]

Then you have skaters like Ten getting 77 PCS with an abysmal technical score (3 falls, 2 pops and other errors), and a very uninspired program, and people seem to think Max deserved lower PCS than that.

Personal opinion here: I thought Denis's program was absolutely inspired in the second half. There was such command, attack, engagement in those breathtaking sequences that it was absolutely clear what a maestro Denis is. Denis makes up in those sequences for all the prior failures and if I were to rewatch somebody's program, it'd be Denis's, not Max's. I wouldn't score the program higher than Max's in general, but in PCS? I totally would. It wouldn't put him ahead of Max, but if Max got 82 for what he had put out, Denis more than earned those 77 PCS.

I just watched Nebelhorn and Skate America side by side and quite a bit of the choreography is gone. The music cuts are also a bit different at the end.

That's a shame. I remember commenting at the Nebelhorn that if Max wants to do classical skating, that was how he should be doing it. But then the skate at Nebelhorn was littered with technical mistakes, so perhaps Max and his team came to the conclusion that they must sacrifice the choreo for the sake of a clean skate. Oh well, it seems to have worked out for him... But maybe now that he pulled if off, he'll put some of old stuff back? I'll cross my fingers for that.

Internationally I think Max would have still managed high 70's for that FS. After all, his Nebelhorn programs got about 74 with major errors (I think he doubled both quads), so a close to clean FS with two quads and two axels scoring high-70s isn't out of the realm of reason.

At Nebelhorn, as Ms. P says, he had different choreography. Even I liked it.

 

[chloepoco]

Whatevs. Their haterade is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Doesn't change the fact that Max has a gold, and haters can't do anything to change that no matter how much they whine. arty:

Haterade? How about Pot. Kettle. Black. Aren't you and Khoai doing the same with Shoma?

 

[Rissa]

On another note: Denis has no chance to make GPF now... But Aaron actually stands a good chance!

 

[xibsuarz]

On another note: Denis has no chance to make GPF now... But Aaron actually stands a good chance!

I hate to be a pessimist, specially with Denis because I think he's such an engaging skater, but yeah, he got 0 points from this competition and now that he's said he's not even sure he'll compete at TEB we may have to wait until 4 CC to see him compete again. But if that's the case, he'll at least have enough time to recover from his injuries.

 

[qwertyskates]

Shame that Denis and Han won't make it to GPF...