Jason Brown

[dorispulaski]

From the GS article:

The biggest thing is consistency, training the quad and practicing the little different scenarios. We do a lot of different competition scenarios at home, so we’ll continue to do that. I really try to stay on my A-game when it comes to adverse situations.”

Jason has relied on perfect run throughs in previous seasons to get the consistency he has achieved then. This is different, so on balance, I understand why he is struggling a bit, as he incorporates all these open-ended scenarios into his FS.

I just hope he gets everything perfected!

Does he have another competition prior to Nationals?

 

[Tavi...]

Huh. That sounds exactly like last season. Something was wrong and he didn’t know what it was - I remember he even sought the help of a nutritionist - and then he was diagnosed.

Hmm. I’m still more inclined to think it was nerves here. Last year he was having problems all week in practice and he looked terrible at the ex., remember? But in this article he just talks about feeling jittery (rather than solid and comfortable) on the ice, and he looked absolutely fine at the ex. I suppose he could have done something to himself in the 6 minute warmup - it sounds like they pulled the 4T at the last minute, after he struggled there - but he didn’t mention anything like that.

Anyway, here’s hoping he figures out what went wrong and bounces back quickly!

 

[Ender]

I hope he will bounce back at National and be selected for Olympic team.

 

[el henry]

Well, I couldn't even come on the Boards until today and I'll be darned if I'm going anywhere other than the Fan Fest.

:sad21::sad21::sad21:

Partly because I had, contrary to my training and experience as a Philadelphia sports fan, gotten my hopes up. And I just feel so bad for Jason, even though he is taking this, as befits him, far better than I am (at least it confirmed I have a wonderful spousal unit. Who wouldn't know Jason or any skater if they came up and shook his hand, but was still sweet to me when I was upset:yes

I did take a lot of comfort in how much more popular Jason has become in Japan as a result of his adorable handmade sign for Yuzu. I imagine, that when the time comes for retirement, the Jason Brown Skating and English School in Tokyo (or environs) will be an extremely popular establishment.

 

[Mrs. P]

Here's Jason and Mirai at the pre-exhibition interview with Akiko Suzuki (I'm not sure of the host's name): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxRAP6xyIQE
There's no subs, but there's some comments on this thread, so you get the gist: https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/s...Akiko-s-Room&p=1847765&viewfull=1#post1847765
Here's Jason dancing (as always ) prior to the exhibition. He gets a bunch of Ladies to join along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtrNicWM_ZM

By the way, Jason's exhibition was lovely and heartfelt. He looked far more relaxed then he did at competition. The audience loved it.

From the GS article:

Jason has relied on perfect run throughs in previous seasons to get the consistency he has achieved then. This is different, so on balance, I understand why he is struggling a bit, as he incorporates all these open-ended scenarios into his FS.

I just hope he gets everything perfected!

Does he have another competition prior to Nationals?

Yes, that caught my attention too. I wonder if he practices the FS, for example, as a 2 quad program, with the 3Z-1L-3F, a 1 quad program and a no-quad program. I hope he gets it perfected too.

He isn't assigned to a competition before Nationals and he still has a shot to end up at GPF, though it will require some help from others (either with unpredictable rankings in the last two events or a W/D from GPF -- he is probably going to end up 1st alternate). If GPF isn't in the cards, I hope USFS consider putting him in at Golden Spin, which is on the same weekend. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary either.

 

[Mrs. P]

The deadline for Golden Spin was Friday, so we should see the entry list soon.

By the way, I checked the Olympic Channel version of Jason's program with Johnny and Tara and they were surprisingly positive considering how things played out, especially Tara -- namely that this program is seamless and how deep his edges were in the StSq. Johnny noted that there are things that make Jason stand out from the rest of the men. I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2fOnT7yfIs

The reason I checked it out because a poster in the men's FS thread (who was there I think) noted how fast he was and how he did impressive things with his feet so I wanted to look at it for myself. And honestly, from a choreography mastery point of view this program was impressive. But since it's choreographed to be seamless, the mistakes stand out a whole lot more. I'm hoping we'll see a clean version with more mastery of the choreography (the Lombardia version, even clean, didn't really show Jason's mastery of the choreo).

 

[Tavi...]

Yes it’s really nice that Jason’s improvement in SS is being acknowledged. I think he’s worked so hard on them. I remember watching his practices and warmups at SA 2015, which was the first year he did Piano, and thinking that his warmups - lots of edge exercises - were so fast and had such beautiful flow, but that those characteristics didn’t quite translate when he did his programs in competition. A year later at SA 2016, I was really impressed with the beauty of his skating, speed, and flow as well as the height of his jumps and overall charisma, during run throughs as well as in in competition. I think he’s even better now, and it’s nice he’s being recognized. Even TSL, who is frequently snarky, said nice stuff about that. One of the things I noticed is how much power he gets from his edges, and how he’s able to maintain speed in his st sq even when he’s skating on one foot for an extended period.

Not sure whether going to Golden Spin would make sense for him - I guess it depends on the reason he did so poorly at NHK. If it’s something they can solve quickly and he can do well there, it would be a good idea so the last impression people have of him before Nats is positive. And of course, we’d get to see him again! The FS is so beautiful and it would be amazing to see it clean.

 

[LRK]

It can be a good thing for Jason's confidence, also, going into the pressure cooker that will be Nationals, to have two good skates at competition fresh in his mind. That is, if he is skating really well in practice, and they feel that will translate to competition as well.

 

[Mrs. P]

Yes it’s really nice that Jason’s improvement in SS is being acknowledged. I think he’s worked so hard on them. I remember watching his practices and warmups at SA 2015, which was the first year he did Piano, and thinking that his warmups - lots of edge exercises - were so fast and had such beautiful flow, but that those characteristics didn’t quite translate when he did his programs in competition. A year later at SA 2016, I was really impressed with the beauty of his skating, speed, and flow as well as the height of his jumps and overall charisma, during run throughs as well as in in competition. I think he’s even better now, and it’s nice he’s being recognized. Even TSL, who is frequently snarky, said nice stuff about that. One of the things I noticed is how much power he gets from his edges, and how he’s able to maintain speed in his st sq even when he’s skating on one foot for an extended period.

Not sure whether going to Golden Spin would make sense for him - I guess it depends on the reason he did so poorly at NHK. If it’s something they can solve quickly and he can do well there, it would be a good idea so the last impression people have of him before Nats is positive. And of course, we’d get to see him again! The FS is so beautiful and it would be amazing to see it clean.

Thanks for these observations! The SS and non-jump skillwork are long-tail improvements -- while it doesn't provide the instant BV reward as attempting tons of different quads, it will come in so handy when everything else comes together.

As for having a "positive competition" before Nationals he didn't do super awesome at 4CC 2015 and then he recovered nicely to place 4th at Worlds a month later. Rostelecom Cup in 2015 was a problematic as well (though he recovered nicely in the FS, but still a relatively off competition for him) and he won nationals a few months later.

I think if Jason does his programs clean, he'll have a good shot on the team, regardless of what others may think. Karen Chen had a so-so GP season last year (and she has yet to get on a GP podium) and she finished the season strong by winning Nationals and getting 4th place at Worlds saving 3 spots for Ladies. While the criteria doesn't only count nationals -- I don't think there's really a strong body of work argument for anybody except Nathan.

We'll see what happens. The only negative (for fans) about Golden Spin is they never offer live streaming -- but there's usually some fam cams.

 

[NanaPat]

My husband wandered by when I was watching Jason's free skate, and he said "hey, he's good". He saw a not-so-great jump, but was impressed by his non-jump skating.

 

[beki]

I love the "who do the wanderers sit down for test." Jason always passes that one at my house too.

 

[Mrs. P]

Fashion things:

1.) Regarding the free skate -- so are those the pants he was originally supposed to have? They were navy, plain, no beading, like Brad Griffies said they would be. The outfit works a whole lot better.
2.) Did you guys notice Jason wore a Onigiri (rice ball) tie to the NHK banquet? This photo you can see it pretty well (it's a couple photos in this series: https://www.instagram.com/p/BbarOuzhNtE/?taken-by=lorenz.magri)

 

[Tavi...]

Thanks for these observations! The SS and non-jump skillwork are long-tail improvements -- while it doesn't provide the instant BV reward as attempting tons of different quads, it will come in so handy when everything else comes together.

As for having a "positive competition" before Nationals he didn't do super awesome at 4CC 2015 and then he recovered nicely to place 4th at Worlds a month later. Rostelecom Cup in 2015 was a problematic as well (though he recovered nicely in the FS, but still a relatively off competition for him) and he won nationals a few months later.

I think if Jason does his programs clean, he'll have a good shot on the team, regardless of what others may think. Karen Chen had a so-so GP season last year (and she has yet to get on a GP podium) and she finished the season strong by winning Nationals and getting 4th place at Worlds saving 3 spots for Ladies. While the criteria doesn't only count nationals -- I don't think there's really a strong body of work argument for anybody except Nathan.

We'll see what happens. The only negative (for fans) about Golden Spin is they never offer live streaming -- but there's usually some fam cams.

I’m really glad I’ve been able to see him skate in person and watch his growth. It’s interesting - he had the beginnings of very good SS as a kid - if you go back and watch his 2011 Turandot program, it’s all there, just waiting to be developed. I’m so glad they’ve chosen to focus on it these past few years. No, he doesn’t quite have the effortless flow of Patrick Chan, but he brings something uniquely his own.

Anyway, I’m glad you still think he has a shot at the team! I hope so, too. It’s just that this seems to be a “what have you done for me lately” world, and Jason’s poor outing at NHK looks especially bad in contrast to Adam’s super strong showing. That’s more the reason I was thinking about Golden Spin - not so much because he “needs to get back on the horse” by competing again, but to earn ranking points, have another shot at a PB, and remind the committee of how great he is. I do think if he performs as beautifully at Nats as we know he can - even quadless- that may count for a lot.

 

[Mrs. P]

Had an interesting conversation with Mr. P about Jason (which ended with us watching the us ice dance team's on YouTube; a good evening, ). I wasn't intending to, but that's what happened. I was mentioning that U.S. Nationals was going to be heartbreaking for the men and that lead to NHK and Jason's prospects and how he hasn't done well in Japan, blah blah blah except at World Team Trophy.

Anyway, he pointed out that Jason seems to thrive on being part of a team. And that likely while earning three spots at Worlds certainly carries huge pressure, for Jason it was a challenge he could embrace cause his performance would be contributing to a team effort.

And we agreed that competition seems to be a means for Jason to perform and share his love of skating. The thing he has the talent and unique qualities that make him more than a fan favorite and dark horse and we think it's a bit of a challenge for him to embrace that he can break through -- the he can master the quad, be among the top men, etc.

We think he'll embrace it -- like he embraced the belief four years ago he could be on the Sochi team (I think it took some time and some persuading on Kori's part for him to get there).

ETA: Jason and Co. are in Kyoto! See Twitter.

 

[TMC]

Hmm. I’m still more inclined to think it was nerves here. Last year he was having problems all week in practice and he looked terrible at the ex., remember? But in this article he just talks about feeling jittery (rather than solid and comfortable) on the ice, and he looked absolutely fine at the ex. I suppose he could have done something to himself in the 6 minute warmup - it sounds like they pulled the 4T at the last minute, after he struggled there - but he didn’t mention anything like that.

Anyway, here’s hoping he figures out what went wrong and bounces back quickly!

Yeah I'm not saying that it's definitely an injury - last year I was sure about it from the beginning but this year not so much. It was just interesting how similar this situation is. Really really hoping it's not injury.

I think he still has a good chance of making the Olympic team, provided he goes absolutely clean at nationals. Any big mistakes and I'm afraid he's out. It's weird but I don't think I'll be too upset if he's out because he's already been once. I think I'd be more upset if Adam doesn't make it! I'm not a huge fan of Adam's anymore, but he has obviously worked hard and he was so disappointed in 2014, I feel like it would be really heartbreaking if he doesn't get on the team. I'm more sad about Jason not making the GPF to be honest. He's never been yet and the way the guys are developing their quads I worry that this season might have been his last chance...

 

[Mrs. P]

AW, TMC, don't be so resigned!

I don't think it's Jason's last chance. I mean if NHK Trophy should teach us anything it's that opportunities do come about. It's extremely frustrating that Jason has been thisclose and not got there, but I think he'll get there eventually.

(Not to make too much light of things, but after enduring years of being a fan during the Shibutanis dark years, AKA "All these U.S. junior teams will leave the Shibs in the dust/They'll never be on a podium again/Alex needs to dump Maia" this doesn't seem that bad.)

Also...Jason still has a chance to go to GPF. It's slim, but not out of the question. He'll probably still be first alternate, so there's a chance of getting in if someone W/Ds. Not that I'm hoping for ill results from others cause I really don't want that, TBH, but just saying that GPF isn't out of reach yet.

 

[MGstyle]

I really hope and believe Jason can still compete AND be competitive beyond this season. I am fairly sure that ISU will revamp the scoring system after this season, and if they want to do something about the dwindling popularity of the sport in Europe and US, they need to curve the "quads or die" situation of today. They should create a way to recognize the values of all the other elements besides jumps, and open a way for skaters like Jason to compensate with their own strength without a quad, or minimal number of them, and still be in a decent position. I am so darn sick of this "athletic vs artistic" type of discussion, and people who consider Jason "not technical because he can't jump quads". Do they think his spins, footwork, transitions, spirals, and the spectacular, unmatched ballet jumps etc. are merely cutesy dance moves to look pretty or something?
I have heard some dubious hypothesis for the change and probably what they will come up with will still leave much to be desired, and it will probably not suddenly make Jason a World Champion, but I do expect, or at least am hopeful for some improvement of the situation. If the sport continues on as it is today, it will eventually kill the sport, if not the athletes along with it. And while I was absolutely heartbroken this past Saturday for Jason, how refreshing to see the Top three winners on the podium! I was honestly happy for them.

 

[Tavi...]

Some really nice pictures of Jason with Kori and his family in Kyoto:

https://instagram.com/p/BbdtNByARd6/

I’m glad they’re taking a little time there before he plunges back into preparation for competition. He looks like he’ll be fine.

Probably my imagination, but he looks taller! And very much more adult.

 

[Ross74]

Had an interesting conversation with Mr. P about Jason (which ended with us watching the us ice dance team's on YouTube; a good evening, )........

Mr. P is a very wise man.

 

[Mrs. P]

Mr. P is a very wise man.

I'll pass the compliment along.

I really hope and believe Jason can still compete AND be competitive beyond this season. I am fairly sure that ISU will revamp the scoring system after this season, and if they want to do something about the dwindling popularity of the sport in Europe and US, they need to curve the "quads or die" situation of today. They should create a way to recognize the values of all the other elements besides jumps, and open a way for skaters like Jason to compensate with their own strength without a quad, or minimal number of them, and still be in a decent position. I am so darn sick of this "athletic vs artistic" type of discussion, and people who consider Jason "not technical because he can't jump quads". Do they think his spins, footwork, transitions, spirals, and the spectacular, unmatched ballet jumps etc. are merely cutesy dance moves to look pretty or something?
I have heard some dubious hypothesis for the change and probably what they will come up with will still leave much to be desired, and it will probably not suddenly make Jason a World Champion, but I do expect, or at least am hopeful for some improvement of the situation. If the sport continues on as it is today, it will eventually kill the sport, if not the athletes along with it. And while I was absolutely heartbroken this past Saturday for Jason, how refreshing to see the Top three winners on the podium! I was honestly happy for them.

Consider it a backhanded compliment of Jason -- he makes his other jumps look so nice that people think "they're easy." In all seriousness, I get why people like to repeat easy memes like that Jason doesn't jump well or whatever simply because he takes a longer time to master them. Jason's jump technique is actually pretty good when you set aside the fact he takes a while to get jumps. He improved the pop and spring of his jumps overall. The quads he did at Skate Canada looked good, it had good spring, height and it did not feel muscled through.

All that said, I'm not sure if quads are to blame for the declining popularity of the sport in the U.S. -- I think it's more that the marquee discipline, Ladies, is a bit lost right now -- while I think some people know who the Ladies are---they aren't these BIG personalities that Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, etc. were. Not to mention we're not seeing the success, Ashley's silver world medal aside, that those ladies had back the last few decades.

Mr. P said another cool thing last night that he feels like the men has had a bit of a push/revival, relative to the ladies because you have these two strong competing philosophies. He felt that Nathan is leading the effort of big quads, high impact while Jason is the other extreme, quiet workmanship, strong charisma, polish, beauty. The rest of the men seem to be have elements of one or the other.

If you look at who USOC likes to promote -- they both appreciate the excitement Nathan brings with delivering lots of high-risk jumps but they also like someone like Jason, who draws fans in with his overall packaging and performance ability. I agree with my husband--I think both these philosophies can co-exist.