Jason Brown

[Bookseller]

From everything I've read, if (when) you run into him at Skate Canada he will remember you and give you a big hug.

...

There's an interview with Jason on the ISU website:

Jason Brown: I’m so lucky to be able to call so many people from around the world friends

Even if he doesn't remember you, he will give you a big hug. He was clearly exhausted by the time I saw him, but he was still enthusiastic about everyone. There were at least 15 or 20 more people waiting after us. He's bounced back!

 

[katmari]

O.M.G.

Jason's Riverdance program (and Scott Hamilton's announcing) continues to inspire athletes in other sports:

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1022979949169274880

In another tweet Slamson thanked Jason for the inspiration:

https://twitter.com/SlamsonTheLion/status/1024032306162368512

 

[Mrs. P]

Man, more than an Olympic quad removed and people still bring up Riverdance, which is great. (Also that skit is funny! Glad Sacramento is getting SOMETHING...

On the other hand, I'd love for Jason to have another iconic program. I feel like Riverdance was his big splash and then people kind of just know him for that. He's has other great programs since then (The Piano, Hamilton), but I feel none of them have reach the same status as Riverdance has.

I also feel like he's improved a lot as a skater, in spite of the quad issues. The Piano really highlighted those improvements, but I'd love another program that really highlights that improvement (as well as any technical improvements he'll make in his new training environment).

I mean some skaters never have a program that has that kind of reach or audience connection, so maybe I shouldn't complain, LOL. I'm hoping that his two programs this season, in a sense, will give people a chance to rediscover his skating. The SP is promising in that aspect.

 

[Tavi...]

O.M.G.

Jason's Riverdance program (and Scott Hamilton's announcing) continues to inspire athletes in other sports:

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1022979949169274880

In another tweet Slamson thanked Jason for the inspiration:

https://twitter.com/SlamsonTheLion/status/1024032306162368512

That is so funny - I love how s/he does the two footed “jump” and Scott says “oh that was beautiful - that was the best one I e ever seen him do” and Sandra says “a little two foot onthat” - perfect!

 

[el henry]

O.M.G.

Jason's Riverdance program (and Scott Hamilton's announcing) continues to inspire athletes in other sports:

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1022979949169274880

In another tweet Slamson thanked Jason for the inspiration:

https://twitter.com/SlamsonTheLion/status/1024032306162368512

It is amazing, when I look at Riverdance now, that I actually think "wow, Jason was a little slow, compared to now, as in, actually, he's a *lot* faster now." But as much as I would like him to recapture it again, few skaters get that lightning in a bottle once, so I can't be selfish....

It does make me wish that Swoosh, the Eagles' mascot, could skate

 

[dorispulaski]

The ISU posted this Q&A with Jason

https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...rom-around-the-world-friends?templateParam=15

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

The ISU posted this Q&A with Jason

https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/...rom-around-the-world-friends?templateParam=15

Probably the best person for the occasion:yes:

 

[Tavi...]

So, per TSL’s most recent video:

-Jason’s FS by David Wilson is beautiful
-They tried the quad and it isn’t happening “this season”
-Jonathan said well even if TCC has the key to help him unlock the quad, it won’t happen overnight, it’s a process - Yay Jonathan!

Discuss.

No hint about music - I’m thinking they got this info from a source and didn’t actually see it. If the FS is beautiful, does that suggest classical music? Could the Alice statute picture be a red herring, not a clue? Or is there beautiful Alice music?

 

[Mrs. P]

Not happening this season mean:

1.) Jason isn't going to even attempt at all this season?
2.) Or based on the initial evaluation that it will likely not come together this season?
3.) Both?

I think Brian's emphasized that there are no quick fixes, so I don't think it would surprise anyone if the quad didn't come together right away?

Also thanks for the cliff notes -- I really didn't want to watch that whole video -- though I might watch the Igor interview at the end.

 

[Tavi...]

Dave didn’t elaborate, so hard to say. He initially said “the free skate is apparently beautiful but the quad isn’t happening.” Then Jonathan said it’s a process. Then Dave said, “I think the safest thing to say is, the quad isn’t happening this season.”

My guess (speculation only) would be that they tried it, it wasn’t coming easily, they don’t want him to reinjure himself and get frustrated by pushing himself to master it immediately, so they decided not to put it in the programs, but to have him keep working on it slowly.

Whether his struggles with the quad result from a mental block or a physical thing, I think it’s a good strategy to put it aside for a bit, or at least not focus on it obsessively. I think this year he’ll be best served by rebuilding his confidence, staying healthy, making sure the new jump technique is rock solid so that (1) he gets the highest possible GOE and PCS; and (2) he has the building blocks in place for working on quads.

Basically, I think he needs to play to his strengths and learn to value the things he does beautifully. It should be a bit easier for him now because the system is designed to reward it more. I think that at least for awhile judges will be re-evaluating how they award PCS/GOE. So I think it’s to his benefit to improve everything he can to the point that, like his catch foot camel, they set a standard for excellence and deserve high marks.

Well, that’s what I think, anyway.

 

[Mrs. P]

It's probable that the quad won't come together this season, but on the other hand, I don't think it's out of the question for the jump to show up in the second half the season or even earlier.

It's kind of a big ask to suddenly have the quad right now (or even be that close) when 1.) He's only started jumping about 8 weeks ago (and likely with the tougher jumps even less so) and 2.) Has likely not trained the quad for several months. I'm guessing late February/early March at best (since he was training for Worlds post-4CC) and could be even earlier if he ditched it after Nationals in January.

At 4CC 2017, which was about 3 weeks after nationals, he tried the quad and wasn't really getting it at all (and some of the 3As were kind of suspect too). A month after 4CC, at Worlds, he had pretty much hit everything EXCEPT the quad in competition but was hitting several of them in practice.

Of course, in this case, he may be undoing some muscle memory of the old quad jumping technique, so maybe it may take longer. We'll see where he is by Senior B time in a month, month and a half.

 

[karne]

Dave didn’t elaborate, so hard to say. He initially said “the free skate is apparently beautiful but the quad isn’t happening.” Then Jonathan said it’s a process. Then Dave said, “I think the safest thing to say is, the quad isn’t happening this season.”

Yes, but Dave also said the triple Axel would never happen for Jason, so.

 

[Tavi...]

So yeah, I agree with both of you.

For me the question is what Dave really meant by that statement, bc as I said, he didn’t elaborate at all, and we don’t know the source. You could interpret it to mean they’ve given up, he’s hopeless with quads. But it doesn’t make sense to me that TCC would make that kind of judgment so quickly; it seems far more likely that he is working on it, but when they tried putting it in the new programs it wasn’t there so they pulled it. I get the feeling that for the most part, TCC skaters don’t put jumps into programs until they have a pretty high success rate in practice. And now that falling on even a fully rotated jump (much less an < one) is so costly, it makes sense to me that they would wait.

Also, there’s the question of expectations. Dave may have expected that if Jason is ever going to get a 4T, he’d get it right away at TCC once he was back to jumping. But to me that’s pretty unrealistic. Jason has struggled with the 4T for years, so it’s clearly complicated for him. Not only does he have old muscle memory, he may have to change his mindset.

Frankly, my own original expectations for this season were mostly that he would get the 3A back to where it was in 2016 - sort of right the ship so to speak - but I really wondered how easy it would be for him to fundamentally alter his jump technique and as a result, how his season would go. Well, we haven’t seen him in competition yet, and we haven’t seen the 3A, but based on those two clips from the benefit, he looks really strong, and it looks like he’s been successful in altering his technique to start rotation sooner, at least through 3Z. That’s pretty amazing, and a lot to accomplish in a couple of months. It will be interesting to see how much he retains of that in early season competition with full competitive programs. Also, whether not training at altitude will impact him. Anyway, all this to say I would never have expected him to have a solid 4T by now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see him do it successfully in practice later in the season.

Man, I really want to see the new programs! And with Champs Camp just around the corner, I’m really curious about which TCC coach will accompany him.

 

[Mrs. P]

TSL is right on a lot of things due to their sourcing, but I feel they're more murky in terms of interpretation of what those sources say as far specific jump technique or progress.

It's a huge jump to go from "They tried the quad and it wasn't working" to "It's safe to say that the quad isn't happening this season."

I'm trying to balance both the expectation that it takes some time for changes to take hold with the feeling the clock is also ticking.

 

[Tavi...]

^ Yes I agree!

 

[Haleth]

So yeah, I agree with both of you.

For me the question is what Dave really meant by that statement, bc as I said, he didn’t elaborate at all, and we don’t know the source. You could interpret it to mean they’ve given up, he’s hopeless with quads. But it doesn’t make sense to me that TCC would make that kind of judgment so quickly; it seems far more likely that he is working on it, but when they tried putting it in the new programs it wasn’t there so they pulled it. I get the feeling that for the most part, TCC skaters don’t put jumps into programs until they have a pretty high success rate in practice. And now that falling on even a fully rotated jump (much less an < one) is so costly, it makes sense to me that they would wait.

Also, there’s the question of expectations. Dave may have expected that if Jason is ever going to get a 4T, he’d get it right away at TCC once he was back to jumping. But to me that’s pretty unrealistic. Jason has struggled with the 4T for years, so it’s clearly complicated for him. Not only does he have old muscle memory, he may have to change his mindset.

Frankly, my own original expectations for this season were mostly that he would get the 3A back to where it was in 2016 - sort of right the ship so to speak - but I really wondered how easy it would be for him to fundamentally alter his jump technique and as a result, how his season would go. Well, we haven’t seen him in competition yet, and we haven’t seen the 3A, but based on those two clips from the benefit, he looks really strong, and it looks like he’s been successful in altering his technique to start rotation sooner, at least through 3Z. That’s pretty amazing, and a lot to accomplish in a couple of months. It will be interesting to see how much he retains of that in early season competition with full competitive programs. Also, whether not training at altitude will impact him. Anyway, all this to say I would never have expected him to have a solid 4T by now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see him do it successfully in practice later in the season.

Man, I really want to see the new programs! And with Champs Camp just around the corner, I’m really curious about which TCC coach will accompany him.

I'm imagining that Tracy and Paige will have a joking argument over who gets to go with him. Realistically, I am going to say whoever's schedule fits best will do it. Both Brian and Lee have students with JGPs not long after Champs Camp. Brian may do Bratislava (22-25) to shepherd Stephen through his first ever JGP and then Lee might do the following weekend (29-1) in Linz for Conrad. So, I'm guessing maybe Tracy or Karen? Lee co-coaches Stephen so even if he does skip Bratislava to stay with Conrad and his other skaters, he may want to be there for Stephen in the run-up to the competition. Or, they may surprise us!

 

[Tavi...]

I'm imagining that Tracy and Paige will have a joking argument over who gets to go with him. Realistically, I am going to say whoever's schedule fits best will do it. Both Brian and Lee have students with JGPs not long after Champs Camp. Brian may do Bratislava (22-25) to shepherd Stephen through his first ever JGP and then Lee might do the following weekend (29-1) in Linz for Conrad. So, I'm guessing maybe Tracy or Karen? Lee co-coaches Stephen so even if he does skip Bratislava to stay with Conrad and his other skaters, he may want to be there for Stephen in the run-up to the competition. Or, they may surprise us!

I know Karen lived in the US (maybe she has citizenship?) but I thought I read somewhere that she doesn’t travel internationally to comps? I could be wrong though, or the information could be outdated. And of course this isn’t a competition. It would be amazing if Tracy went, but as you said, it probably depends on the schedule and who has been working the most with him.

I’m excited for ACI even tho Jason and Evgenia haven’t been announced, but I delayed too long and missed out on the official hotels and the air bnb places. I did get a reservation at a hotel about 5 miles from the rink - it will probably be fine but I’ll keep checking official places for cancellations as they’re MUCH cheaper!

 

[el henry]

@Tavi maybe some of those new posters who are now trying to buy tickets will give up and release the hotel rooms they reserved; at least here’s hoping!

Thanks for the TSL summary. I agree Dave tends to read into whatever report he is getting, even though I believe he gets “real” reports. So the real info could be, Jason has stopped practicing quads, who knows why, and let the speculation begin. I admit I was hoping some TCC fairy dust would magically inspire quads, but I know that was wishful thinking,

And is the latest Jason IG story something he filmed for Carnival on Ice or just one of his random :luv17: shout outs to Japan?

 

[Mrs. P]

I believe it is from 2017 Worlds or 4CC, judging by the banner in the corner. A fan reposted it on IG and Jason picked it up.

 

[LRK]

TSL is right on a lot of things due to their sourcing, but I feel they're more murky in terms of interpretation of what those sources say as far specific jump technique or progress.

It's a huge jump to go from "They tried the quad and it wasn't working" to "It's safe to say that the quad isn't happening this season."

I'm trying to balance both the expectation that it takes some time for changes to take hold with the feeling the clock is also ticking.

I haven't listened to TSL in a long time, but Dave always had a tendency to state his opinion as fact (and, to be fair, he's far from alone in doing so), and I doubt that has changed. The "isn't happening this season" sounds like his opinion to me.

Of course he may turn out to be right, and I don't really believe in miracle cures anyway. But I also would not assume, just based off of what TSL says, that the quad is completely off the table for this season. It may be a slow process, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see it later on.

All in all, we'll see, I suppose.