Replay Lounge 2025 Skate America

[lariko]

American Pairs have been in this phase of not landing things for over 20 years now.

Well, at least in Skate America they didn't stand out because of it.

 

[Arigato]

Some people were accusing certain skaters who appeared to show genuine emotion of basically "crying for points". It's sociopathic.

I'm well aware what they are referring to - Alysa's reaction to Laufey's song. At Worlds she got off the ice and started to cry with her coaches telling her that it's okay to cry about the song being so sad and that others don't have her emotions. And that was okay, too. I sing, and Laufey does an amazing job at conveying the pain of realizing, "It's hard to be something, but worse to be nothing without you." That's a hell of a lyric. And if you are a romantic of any kind, it will knock you on your ass. At Worlds I said she should be using that program at the Olympics and if she doesn't, her team is basically incompetent. You can hear a pin drop in the arena when she skates to it and it's nothing short of captivating.

 

[Mathman]

... they really no longer have men who can jump a 3A and a quad?

If you can't do a quad, do a triple. If you can;t do a 3A, do a 2A. If you can't do that, dazzle us with your spins and footwork. Win our hearts with your musical sensitivity and choreography. Big tent. Something for everyone.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

It's pretty obvious you do care.
But do you think that people had a clairvoyant vision of the future and thought "oh, Alysa Liu is going win. I'm not going to go!"?!

Ticket prices are often just too expensive for people to consider going, especially if its held in an inconvenient location. Many sports are also popular because lots of people at lower/casual levels take part- skating is expensive and facilities are inaccessible to many. Look at artistic gymnastics- lots of people do it and so that gives them an interest and an understanding of it. Fans online may complain of "unworthy" winners but that doesn't stop them watching or attending competitions.

Parasocial and toxic fan behaviours (which are often normalised, including on this forum) could damage the sport's future. The comments often seen on youtube under even junior videos should make any parent wary (even if comments aren't negative). Of course it's bad, if not worse, in other sports, but at least in other sports success can pay well.

Chiming in to add that I would have gone if it weren't for a combination of bad timing (Skate America being on the one weekend I absolutely couldn't justify traveling since it would've meant giving up paid work) and the expense of tickets + hotel rooms in Lake Placid. I went to Skate America in 2017 when it was last held in Lake Placid, and even though that wasn't so long ago, the price wasn't nearly as high. As it happens, in 2017 I knew damn well Nathan Chen was going to win the men's event before he did, but I was still excited to see Adam Rippon and the other men competing, as well as the other three disciplines. IME, when I'm at an event I actually care less about who wins than I do at home, because the actual skating and atmosphere in the arena is stronger than my memory of the scores. And many people leave before the medal ceremonies at every event I've ever been to.

 

[dorispulaski]

I would have gone if Skate America was at Norwood, MA, again where all the seats sold.

And I would have gone to Lake Placid if it were the first event of the season, as it usually is. I don't want to walk or drive in the snow these days, and it does sometimes snow in mid November in Lake Placid.

 

[Jeanie19]

I would have gone if Skate America was at Norwood, MA, where all the seats sold.

And I would have gone to Lake Placid if it were the first event of the season, as it usually is. I don't want to walk or drive in the snow these days, and it does sometimes snow in mid November

I completely agree. I definitely would have gone to Norwood. And Lake Placid only in October.

 

[Sjs5572]

Yes, they had statistics that show that Canadians' travel down to US had shrunk -- only a few days ago -- because of border delays and because States percieved as not a good place to visit, they specifically canceled check on Canadian border for air travellers and yes, they search phones now. It certainly stopped Mom and I. We striked out States from the list of countries we'd travel to until that country normalizes internally and its relationship with Canada improve. Plainly put, we hate Trump and Trump's America.

Quote: October marked the 10th straight month of decline in the number of Canadian travellers to the US. Air travel from Canada to the US dropped nearly 24%, while car travel fell more than 30% when compared to the same period last year, according to data released this week by Canada's statistics office.

The US is not yet as hostile to us as they are toward other countries, but they are not welcoming either.

If Russians were competing, it would override many other considerations for me. I'll probably do a tour once they achieve a near full representation and try to go to two events a year afterwards, not just Skate Canada.

Well, I think the government shutdown also played a role. I know of several people who canceled/postponed trips rather than dealing with the uncertainty of long TSA lines and canceled flights.

 

[rabidline]

Wait. What? Please explain exactly how the Japanese federation benefits from having FEWER choices for their Olympic/World/4CC rosters. Logic dictates that they'd want a pool of as many great skaters as possible fighting for those spots. Intentionally and unjustifiably dumping one

They don't need that many choices for the Olympics, they just need 3 skaters.

Put aside Worlds and 4CC for the moment. They don't matter that much in Japan during the Olympic season outside of netting medals, they can even field a completely different team for 4CC and still sweep medals (see 2022). But the Olympic team is always scrutinized and Japan has been consistently getting into trouble for who they chose for the last 3 quads. It benefits Japan the most if the selection is straightforward, not if there are many contenders. And for it to be straightforward, they need an obvious conclusion.

The thing about having many contenders is at this point of time, they already know which ones they can count on, and they are very reluctant to give opportunities to others that can be used as ways to devalue the ones they're counting on.

 

[TallyT]

If you can't do a quad, do a triple. If you can;t do a 3A, do a 2A. If you can't do that, dazzle us with your spins and footwork. Win our hearts with your musical sensitivity and choreography. Big tent. Something for everyone.

And it may not get any points, but a perfect delayed single axel is the most breathtakingly beautiful move any skater (mostly can't) do... becoming a star who draws fans and audiences isn't all about the efficiency of the tech.

Some people were accusing certain skaters who appeared to show genuine emotion of basically "crying for points".

I suspect that quite a few of the ones we see are performative (these elite skaters are often quite talented at faking emotion and nothing wrong with it, they have to be on the ice), but I aren't about to say so out loud or on screen, it simply makes us look bad when we are wrong.

 

[TontoK]

And it may not get any points, but a perfect delayed single axel is the most breathtakingly beautiful move any skater (mostly can't) do... becoming a star who draws fans and audiences isn't all about the efficiency of the tech.

Be careful, or you'll have some of us old-timers derailing the thread with three pages of links to our favorite delayed axels. I speak from experience.

My hope is that a choreographic jump element is added to programs, simply to give space for this element.

 

[moonvine]

I would have gone if Skate America was at Norwood, MA, again where all the seats sold.

And I would have gone to Lake Placid if it were the first event of the season, as it usually is. I don't want to walk or drive in the snow these days, and it does sometimes snow in mid November in Lake Placid.

Ted said there was a blizzard coming in.
I would have gone if it were in Allen again.

 

[moonvine]

I completely agree. I definitely would have gone to Norwood. And Lake Placid only in October.

I would possibly go to Norwood. I’d love to go to Lake Placid just for the history. But it’s so difficult to get to.

 

[Mathman]

... Japan has been consistently getting into trouble for who they chose for the last 3 quads///.

Who are they afraid of getting in trouble with, the general public? The emperor? Their spouses?

What national skating federation wouldn't be overjoyed to have a broad and deep field of athletes to choose from?

 

[rabidline]

What national skating federation wouldn't be overjoyed to have a broad and deep field of athletes to choose from?

Not Japan. It's another new trauma for them to get through every single quad lol. I think they love it when it's VERY clear who the exact Olympic team members are and the Nationals podium reflect that (especially since their figure skating media coverage is so fractured and prone to misleading narratives by way of excessive coverage for some and bare minimum coverage for others). It's better if it aligns with public sentiment, but they really just want people who consistently show up and deliver so that they can make the choice at peace.

Their media loves the Olympic drama, the general public sentiment stirred by the media goes directly to the skaters, and the people who are responsible to make the selection don't have the resources to support skaters who are hugely impacted by it. There are athletes with strong support system, but for most of them they're on their own.

 

[Mathman]

Be careful, or you'll have some of us old-timers derailing the thread with three pages of links to our favorite delayed axels.

https://packaged-media.redd.it/60nlyols3ldb1/pb/m2-res_480p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1763434800&s=28e37fdd17dfe8bb232a5e5a6bd2d2ce40cdc576

 

[ManyCairns]

Dorothy's

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

Sorry, I keep trying to save it at the right spot -- it's at :53.

 

[Isk]

I would possibly go to Norwood. I’d love to go to Lake Placid just for the history. But it’s so difficult to get to.

There is really not much to do there unless you like expensive food and things, it's a one street town. Adirondacks are nice but not in November. Summer and early fall are fine, hiking is great, swimming is terrible. There are four things I hated about upstate NY: (1) you never get either in or out of town, (2) deforestated, (3) no sidewalks, and (4) every inch of lakeshore is private property.

 

[reneerose]

There is really not much to do there unless you like expensive food and things, it's a one street town. Adirondacks are nice but not in November. Summer and early fall are fine, hiking is great, swimming is terrible. There are four things I hated about upstate NY: (1) you never get either in or out of town, (2) deforestated, (3) no sidewalks, and (4) every inch of lakeshore is private property.

I was watching a short video of Wakaba Higuchi on her Instagram getting a snack in Lake Placid and the background looked like there were barely any people in the place she was getting her snack at.

 

[lariko]

If you can't do a quad, do a triple. If you can;t do a 3A, do a 2A. If you can't do that, dazzle us with your spins and footwork. Win our hearts with your musical sensitivity and choreography. Big tent. Something for everyone.

was nothing for me in this.

 

[lariko]

Well, I think the government shutdown also played a role. I know of several people who canceled/postponed trips rather than dealing with the uncertainty of long TSA lines and canceled flights.

That's just the latest travesty there. Bonkers.