My dream would be for Takahashi to be at the top of the podium tomorrow night. I love his skating expressiveness. I of course love his footwork sequences. I also can't help but love his cute smile.
I hope that he skates a clean program. Yes, I know based upon past experience that it's probably not likely. But this is the Olympics and anything can happen. Perhaps DT has a Paul Wylie moment and skates the program of his life. That would be sweet!!
I know a lot of people (Brian Boitano on the Terry Gannon show included) think that it's a mistake for Daisuke to try the quad but I think I understand his strategy. He performs both his triple axle/triple axel combo before the halfway mark and does no triple/triple combos. I guess he has stamina issues and can't perform all of those jumps in the last half like he used to do before his injury. I think if he performs the quad, it will give DT a little extra edge against Evan. Without it, if both DT and Evan skate clean, I guess the judges would place Evan higher than DT based on the judging last night. If DT wants to get a gold/silver, he will have to pull out all the stops and perform the quad. DT just needs to go for it. If he fails to do the quad, then he will always wonder what if.
It's a risk, but then I also think that Evan not performing the quad is also a risk. Given that he's first in the skate order, he has no idea if his competitors that get good PCS scores will perform the quad and have a clean program. Evan has a cautious strategy that conventional wisdom might think is ok. He's assuming that the skaters below him that have great PCS scores won't have clean programs and the quad. But what if he's wrong? What if one of his competitors has the skate of his life including the quad? Did Frank Carroll give Evan this bad advice? I'm guessing so, based upon what happened to Michelle Kwan especially in 1998, when she skated very cautiously without the more difficult triple-triple combos that Tara L performed. Could this be deja vu all over again for one of Frank Carroll's students? I guess we'll have to find out which strategy is the best tomorrow--Evan's or Daisuke's.
I admire the fact that Daisuke is planning to throw everything but the kitchen sink into his program tomorrow. I wish that he added more triple-triple combos to his programs and more jumps after the halfway mark, but the program is what it is. Too late to change it now. I also wish that he receives his season best on the marks tomorrow night. Skating clean+season best scores=happy ademption.
I hope that all of the men, especially all of the men in the final flight, skate clean with a lot of passion. All things being equal, I think Daisuke would still have the edge over everybody with his quad and PCS scores and earn the gold. But whoever gets the gold tomorrow, I hope they earn it with a clean skate. Think Brian Boitano at Calgary. That would be the ultimate!!
I hope that he skates a clean program. Yes, I know based upon past experience that it's probably not likely. But this is the Olympics and anything can happen. Perhaps DT has a Paul Wylie moment and skates the program of his life. That would be sweet!!
I know a lot of people (Brian Boitano on the Terry Gannon show included) think that it's a mistake for Daisuke to try the quad but I think I understand his strategy. He performs both his triple axle/triple axel combo before the halfway mark and does no triple/triple combos. I guess he has stamina issues and can't perform all of those jumps in the last half like he used to do before his injury. I think if he performs the quad, it will give DT a little extra edge against Evan. Without it, if both DT and Evan skate clean, I guess the judges would place Evan higher than DT based on the judging last night. If DT wants to get a gold/silver, he will have to pull out all the stops and perform the quad. DT just needs to go for it. If he fails to do the quad, then he will always wonder what if.
It's a risk, but then I also think that Evan not performing the quad is also a risk. Given that he's first in the skate order, he has no idea if his competitors that get good PCS scores will perform the quad and have a clean program. Evan has a cautious strategy that conventional wisdom might think is ok. He's assuming that the skaters below him that have great PCS scores won't have clean programs and the quad. But what if he's wrong? What if one of his competitors has the skate of his life including the quad? Did Frank Carroll give Evan this bad advice? I'm guessing so, based upon what happened to Michelle Kwan especially in 1998, when she skated very cautiously without the more difficult triple-triple combos that Tara L performed. Could this be deja vu all over again for one of Frank Carroll's students? I guess we'll have to find out which strategy is the best tomorrow--Evan's or Daisuke's.
I admire the fact that Daisuke is planning to throw everything but the kitchen sink into his program tomorrow. I wish that he added more triple-triple combos to his programs and more jumps after the halfway mark, but the program is what it is. Too late to change it now. I also wish that he receives his season best on the marks tomorrow night. Skating clean+season best scores=happy ademption.
I hope that all of the men, especially all of the men in the final flight, skate clean with a lot of passion. All things being equal, I think Daisuke would still have the edge over everybody with his quad and PCS scores and earn the gold. But whoever gets the gold tomorrow, I hope they earn it with a clean skate. Think Brian Boitano at Calgary. That would be the ultimate!!