2018 US Championships Sr Men SP

[NathanandMiraifan111]

Are you talking about the queen as in Ashley? I am confused. Rippon has made comments and he wants to make the Olympic team but I don't know what the reference is to this queen - I know he is good friends with Ashley.

It's a Rupaul's drag race reference... sorry forgot not all figure skating fans know Gay lingo.

 

[blue eyed birds]

lol @ Johnny for calling out Jason's UR but then when re-viewing Nathan he was like 'oh, that was a ..... tight landing but under a quarter turn, so no UR' when it was just as UR as Jason's jump....

...

Did Jason fall out of grace with Johnny and Tara? They criticized him for not having a quad to rely on, but then brought Grant and Adam as an example of skaters having a quad, lollolol. I'd argue, that both Grant and Adam are not more consistent with their quads then Jason (maybe Grant a little bit more, but Adam definitely doesn't really have that 4lutz... he may land it one time out of 50 tries)

I won't even start with those PCS ... 42 for Vincent ... 9,5 in SS for Nathan ... this is seriously competing with Russian nationals for PCS inflation

I also got the impression that Johnny was salty about Vincent's UR calls, arguing that he should get lots of points just for trying them at all (or something, it was a hard line of logic to follow). If he and Tara were consistent about this matter all night, then complaining about Jason's call would be right in line with that. But they seemed to cherry-pick when they would argue a point, and what side they would even argue.

They've tended to be hard on Jason in the past -- I don't watch Johnny and Tara's coverage often, but I seem to remember, in one case, some talk of his being a ham while Josh was a true artist -- so that didn't surprise me; Nathan is the star so also makes sense for US commentators to overlook his non-call; but the Vincent complaint seems like the biggest show of someone else's hand, given how hard they also hyped him up before his skate -- repeatedly saying he could challenge Nathan, securely had the hardest jumps in the world, etc.

 

[Anni234]

I'm just gonna say it - I loved Nathan's outfit

 

[topaz emerald]

just watched adam's program. He looked great out there, hair, eyes, and all. It's some kind of futuristic song he's skating to. This is the type of music that will oddly put me to sleep, though lol. I just wish he at least attempted one quad.

 

[TontoK]

post.

CSG, I admit it's a balance.

And, I'm being totally honest. Part of it is just personal preferences and opinions built over a couple of years.

I won't get into all the details, because it will just derail the thread, which should be about a very fine men's event... but suffice it to say I'm over both Ashley and Jason.

I'm not a hater of any skater, except Alexi Urmanov. But the Pope has said that's ok (or he should). I'm just indifferent to them and ready for new and different faces.

 

[Skater Boy]

It's a Rupaul's drag race reference... sorry forgot not all figure skating fans know Gay lingo.

Okay got it; thank goodness for Google and here I thought I was pretty open minded - I did not know who Rupaul was or what Rupaul was lol.

 

[topaz emerald]

just watched Vincent's short program and i LOVED it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkjmcg4wg8 He skated with much more passion than Nathan, who looked way too serious tonight. I really hope he makes the team, he's got some great quad jumps and he's a soulful skater. Really enjoyed this program! I actually think Vincent's quad jumps look better in the air than Nathan's, he just looks leaner and more graceful in the air, it could be because he's taller. I like enjoy watching more taller male skaters.

 

[topaz emerald]

poor Max Aaron. that was a rough skate. I see he decided to smear some gray dye to his usual white top. I feel really bad for him. He has those puppy eyes.

 

[topaz emerald]

Grant Hochstein...oh, I can't take anymore of Ewan Mcgregor's voice, his singing sounds so lazy, lol. Grant really prerotated that 3axel jump to make it round. Nice attempt on the quad-3toe

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I think the main problem is that costume. Vera Wang really did a disservice. I wonder did she have no real concept? I have no idea how this fits the music. Honestly looks like his practice gear and not even nice gear. I know simplicity can look divine and say a lot but this simply says I don't care.

I think her concept was to create a costume for Nathan that would showcase his skating. Less is more, if you will. But I think there's more to that... elaborating on my previous post:

When I first saw Nathan do Nemesis (my first time hearing the song Nemesis, too), I actually thought it was some sort of jazz/blues number because of the piano riffs, and because of the rolled up sleeves/casual outfit Nathan was wearing. I thought he was trying to portray a character like some pianist in a jazz bar, perhaps a bit angsty one (yes, cliche, I know). But that's the thing about so many skating costumes. The costume is used to help with characterization, to the point where some costumes become a literal expression of music.

Then when I saw this costume, like others, I was confused - it was such a departure from the costume I'd seen before, and like others I didn't know what to make of it. But once I stopped trying to see the casual rolled jazz pianist character that I'd envisioned before when he'd done this SP earlier this season, I started looking more at the actual skating itself.And then I realized that it's not supposed to be anything specific. It's movement and interpretation of the music. And interestingly, after looking up Benjamin Clementine I learned that critics often struggle to place his music in any genre. His work is often described as avant garde or experimental.

Now that Nathan is wearing a minimalist costume with white lines on black, it's hard to define it thematically (i.e. place it in an era, or picture him as an archetype or a character or assign it a specific storyline), so weirdly enough it actually does reflect the music he's skating too by being almost open-ended and abstract and just "different". And indeed, actually kinda reflects Nathan's movements because when I first saw this program (and I think others mentioned similarly) it really does look like a different way/type of skating.

The question I would ask you is: what WOULD fit the music - what does the music tell you?

How is Nathan *supposed* to be dressed?

 

[TCAngel18]

Whether or not that 3A was <, the reality is, there were other < jumps in this competition that didn’t get called, which didn’t generate any controversy at all.

I get your point that other skaters may have not received the attention of us posters (cough Nathan cough), but I think this has to do with a situational standpoint. Nathan is going to the Olympics, barring injury. There is absolutely no question about that. I think because of this, he gets some leeway with the judging panels, based on his TES and body of Work arguments.

There are a good other chunk of skaters who are just here for the experience, for a personal best, or for future consideration for international assignments. I don’t think we are really concerned here in GS if Andrew Torgashev or Tomoki Hiwatashi UR a jump.

I think our collective vision is honed in on what you would call skaters “on the bubble”; the ones who have a REAL chance of making the team, and are fighting for every tenth of a point. These are the skaters who put us on the edge of our seats, and make our emotions run wild. These are also the skaters who we most want to see treated evenly and fairly. The fact of the matter is that the calling of Jason’s 3A jump directly impacts scoring for this program and seeding for the LP. If the caller called Nathan’s Jump correct, he would still be in 1st place by probably 3 or 4 points, instead of his 8.

If the caller called Jason’s 3A correct, he drops from anywhere between an 86-90. A 90 places him in 4th, and 86 places him in 6th. Right now, he is in 3rd, which puts him in the latter half of the final group. If he was properly called, he would be anywhere in that first 3 positions in the final group, and Grant would bump back to a prime skating order position, potentially impacting his scoring, and maybe his mindset.

Deng I write novels.

 

[topaz emerald]

I like Emanuel Savary...too bad he missed that quad sal. He's a nice performer.

 

[KwanIsALegend]

Nathan can walk to center ice, sit down and file his nails and he would still get first place.

 

[KwanIsALegend]

I like Emanuel Savary...too bad he missed that quad sal. He's a nice performer.

I enjoyed him too. He had good choreography and really skated TO the music. Hope to see more of him.

 

[TCAngel18]

Nathan can walk to center ice, sit down and file his nails and he would still get first place.

I would LOVE to see if he actually had the balls to do so LOL.

However, I’m sure he wants a 2nd National title and more mileage on his LP heading into Pyeongchang.

 

[Mathman]

So it's Nathan and Adam, with Jason's spot in jeopardy. I think Jason can hold off Grant Hochstein, but he needs that triple Axel. Hochstein skated as well as he possibly can and still did not beat a so-so Jason. IMHO the threat to Jason is Vincent Chou. Even if Chou under-rotatres half of his quads, his base value could still be enough to overtake Jason and his PCSs.

 

[shaneb]

Does anyone know if Nathan has an injury or something?? I’m kinda worried that may be the case. Him and his team have been quoted with statements saying 4Loop is off the table. The way he has changed quads up this season is a bit more drastic than normal. It causes concern that maybe he is compensating for an injury not yet disclosed. I truly hope the whole “sick” narrative is just that and not a way to explain away something more severe physically. Fingers crossed he’s 100% next month!

 

[TCAngel18]

Does anyone know if Nathan has an injury or something?? I’m kinda worried that may be the case. Him and his team have been quoted with statements saying 4Loop is off the table. The way he has changed quads up this season is a bit more drastic than normal. It causes concern that maybe he is compensating for an injury not yet disclosed. I truly hope the whole “sick” narrative is just that and not a way to explain away something more severe physically. Fingers crossed he’s 100% next month!

I hope not. If so, maybe he should speak with USF, withdraw and maybe just petition onto the team. If not that, then just play it decently safe, go for 2 or 3 quads and a clean program.

It’s funny that a 3 Quad program is playing it safe these days.

 

[topaz emerald]

don't know if he's injured, but if he is, that's too bad wow, i don't really like his short that much, but really love is long p. so I hope whatever the issue is in him missing his axel jump, he can recover.

but he looks likehe gained some wweight though, he just doesn't look as lean as he did in his grand prix assignments. I'm not saying he's chubby, just looks like he put on some muscle mass, so his jumps don't look as crisp and tight in the air.

I am slowly replacing him as my fav. american male skater with Viincent Zhou now, lol. I am one of those unloyal fans.

 

[topaz emerald]

Does anyone know if Nathan has an injury or something?? I’m kinda worried that may be the case. Him and his team have been quoted with statements saying 4Loop is off the table. The way he has changed quads up this season is a bit more drastic than normal. It causes concern that maybe he is compensating for an injury not yet disclosed. I truly hope the whole “sick” narrative is just that and not a way to explain away something more severe physically. Fingers crossed he’s 100% next month!

oops my comment above is in reply to you