VCR Alert (the 16th)

The problem with Kirk is the music she chooses. How can she have "impact" if she skates to elevator music? I like Abba and the Beatles, but NOT elevator music renditions of same. I'd love to see Jenny pick music with some kick to it instead of music as soft and ethereal as she is. Contrast can sometimes be a very powerful thing.

Speaking of contrast, Emily Hughes and ballet music are a no-no. Emily literally FLINGS herself around the ice and is about as graceful as a bull in a china shop. She does entirely too much with her arms and needs to tone them down quite a bit. That wide-swinging leg on her jumps is going to cause her problems in the future if she doesn't get control. Get some modern music, Emily, and try being just a tad more subtle.

Kimmie, on the other hand, verges on being TOO subtle. I wish she would start wearing just a little makeup, because she is SO washed out on the ice. Her jumps are starting to get just a little inconsistent, and I see the puberty bug starting to affect her, and it couldn't happen at a worse time. She's gotten much taller since last season, and when she starts to fill out, her jump problems are likely to escalate. I'd be surprised if she still has the 3A a year from now.

BeBe is still having problems because of her hip, and it seems to affect her edge jumps. She has spark and fire, but tends to lose momentum in the last 30 seconds of her FS. She is so very short and compact that she doesn't have a pleasing "body line" and that might be affecting her PCS scores to some extent. Not fair, but there it is. She will never look as elegant on the ice as Jenny Kirk, for example. But she does look good when compared to Emily Hughes, who just looks big and awkward.

Men: I was really impressed with the improvements Matt made in the LP since nationals. I love his music and his presentation is very original. He has some of the best choreography, and I agreed with the one judge who had Matt ahead of Tim. I think Tim was held up at nationals and at worlds, and hopefully he has exhausted any residual goodwill from his Olympic medal this season so he will be judged on the true merits of his skating next year. I am already nervous about nationals next year because it will be a showdown between Johnny and Evan. Although I felt Evan deserved the bronze at worlds, I was surprised that the worlds judges went for him the way they did since he is new to international seniors. I think he may have paid his dues on the junior circuit and we may be seeing less transition time from junior to senior now that the juniors are getting more respect. I loved that Evan said it is time for everyone to take notice of him because he has been in the shadows for a while now. It was good to see Johnny try the quad. Hopefully he and Evan will push each other with the quad during the GP and we will finally have a nationals where all the medalists land quads.

Ladies: Kwan showed yet again that 6.0 is second nature to her and she can win under that system without breaking a sweat. I wonder if Sasha would have beaten her under CoP even with the many 2 footed jumps. Kimmie's skating is not interesting for me. I disagree with Peggy saying she has great line, because she seems to be off balance during the exits of her jumps and in her transitions. Bebe and Emily were great, and I would have had Kimmie in last place. I am going to be sad for Jenny when she misses the Olympic team next year. I feel sorry for her that her skating is not going anywhere. 17th at worlds is pretty dismal, and I think that will be enough for the judges to keep her off the team next year, even if she lands her jumps in St. Louis.

Other thoughts: It was great to have Dick Button back in the booth. He and Peggy were starting to remind me of Simon and Paula on American Idol with their arguing, especially about Michelle's lack of 3-3s when Peggy said she did them in the warmup and Dick yelled at her "That's not tonight!" I think Peggy was antagonizing him talking about how great it was to be in the building in Moscow to see Irina's stellar performance since Dick was banned by the ISU. It seemed like Dick spent his time off reading the message boards about Michelle, because many of his comments have been discussed here in depth (Michelle needs motivation, where is Christopher Dean's choreography, where are the 3-3s, and especially she is skating last year's program to new music).

Also, why did everyone's skin look so bad? Was it the lighting in the arena or were the skaters just exhausted at the end of the season? I hope Evan lays off the tanning bed next season because he is starting to look like Twila from Survivor. I don't know if it is the influence of Ken Congemi or not, but it needs to stop!

Peggy's fluff about costume rules showed how ridiculous it is that ladies were required to wear skirts until this year. I loved Irina’s costume in the SP. I thought it looked modern and athletic and more youthful than her other costumes. I also thought Fumie’s leggings and bustier looked great and made her look more mature. I would love to see Fumie skate to music from Kill Bill volume 1 and wear the yellow jumpsuit made famous by Uma Thurman.