A thousand thousands thousand blessings onto you~
Anyone know what happened to Aronow and Brubaker?
Charlie is doing an excellent job; good detail, pleasant speaking voice and he seems conscious of not speaking too much, haha.
Anyone catch Marina's glare when Aldridge and Eaton's scores came up. They are very pleasant but I more appreciate Daniel than Alexandra. Maybe it their similar height or maybe Alexandra just doesn't have the same presence or artistic flair that Daniel brings. They just don't see to gel as a team to me. Sorry Marina!
Here's the Ice Dance SD's:
U.S. Nationals Group #1 Dance SD (Nardozzi/Traxler, Patsis/Fast, Olson/Lorello, Zucker/Sitiks)
U.S. Nationals Group #2 Dance SD (Bynum/Deveikis, Maxwell/Devereaux, Ponomaryova/Altukhov, Hawayek/Baker)
U.S. Nationals Group #3 Dance SD (Chock/Bates, Shibs, Cannuscio/McManus, Hoptman/Filchenkov) intermittent audio issues beginning around the Shibs, but goes away after a few minutes
U.S. Nationals Group #4 Dance SD (Hubbell/Donohue, Gaughan/Lithco, Gamelin's, Reynolds', Aldridge/Eaton)
Yes, 3 cheers for Charlie. Informative, articulate and timely. Good qualities for a commentator!
Shibs really brought it tonight in the SD. They are fighting for the title. Good speed, solid, deep edge work, wonderful twizzles and great expression.
Is anyone else getting a black screen on the videos?
She waited for him for a entire season while he recover over a lession (they made a mistake and she cut her tendons on practice after 2010 Olympics)... just to tell her he got a new partner. She got late to find a new partner and coach, after one season gave up competitive skating, now she just do shows.
Yes, and I think she got married to a very wealthy guy (not that it matter that he got money), but skate fans know how to hold a grudge... ... as I said , maybe is just me. Not thta I want something wrong over Chock and Bates, just can´t bring myself to like them.
IIRC, Evan and Emily had two injuries from training accidents. Emily's hand was cut first, I believe, and the team weathered that. Then Emily's skate cut Evan's Achilles tendon after the 2010 Olympics. Evan had to have surgery and while he was rehabilitating, Emily waited and trained alone. When Evan was able to skate again, the team resumed their training, but had difficulties regaining their form. Reportedly, they had problems with lifts. Evan decided to skate with Madison, who's partner was retiring and who is smaller than Emily.
On the boards there are posters who lambaste Evan and bemoan the loss of Samuelson/Bates ("They would have won worlds this year!", etc.). I think this is grossly unfair. Evan suffered a horrible injury and I'm sure it was a struggle for him to recover and skate again. I believe he and Emily made a good faith effort to pick up where they left off, but it just wasn't possible. I don't think Evan strung Emily along for a year, then callously dumped her out of spite or fickleness or whatever. I think the team had problems after Evan's injury that neither of them could foresee while he was recuperating. Those problems wouldn't have magically gone away if they had stayed together. Would their fans have preferred to watch them struggle, rather than split up and try to find new partners?
I really believe the Samuelson/Bates split was unavoidable and no one was a villain in this case. Evan was fortunate to find another compatible partner. Emily never found another partner, which makes me sad. I miss seeing her skate. Still, I'm glad one half of the team was able to salvage his skating career. I see no reason to hate on Evan because he didn't go down with the ship.
Ok. all four groups done and yes, shockingly, correct placements. Good job judges.
One thing about Aldredge and Eaton. What I thought was interesting and revealing was Charlie's first comment about them was, Great skating skills. And they do have them. What is interesting (to me at least) is what he didn't say--which is that the performance isn't up to the level of the skating skills. And I think a good part of that is the music selections this year. Aldredge does not on the ice come across as fiery or flirty or passionate. She comes across as a quintessential American girl next door. So what music is she skating to? Carmen and Gone with the Wind, featuring two of the most fiery, flirty and passionate female characters in all of the arts. Hello? Am I the only one who sees a fundamental problem with this? Eaton has a presence on the ice, but alas she is still lacking one. I would send her to take some acting classes, to help bring her out of herself. They are a good example of the problem that even the best skating skills can only take you so far.
YMMV of course.
Compliments to Meryl too for her commentary on Skate Radio.
On a superficial level, I will add that her speaking voice came across very nicely -- sounded more "mature" and not as "girlish" than it sometimes has in the past, if you know what I mean.
And of course, her comments were perceptive and thoughtful.
Sending my love and admiration for sabinfire too. Videos look good!Confessing my undying love for sabinfire!