Fun exercise.
The first World Championships I watched on TV was the 1991 World Championships. I was just a hair shy of 9 years old. I remember all the fluff was about the fact Tonya Harding and Midori Ito had a triple axel and Kristi didn't. But I was glad that Kristi's overall performance ultimately prevailed.
Like many others, I was an avid follower of the ladies discipline though I was pretty knowledgeable about the men. Not so much with pairs and dance. I remember Nancy's meltdown in 1993 (and also Oksana's rise that same year). I was fascinated by the whole Nancy and Tonya saga, even buying biographies of each of them ("Tough Ice" was the Tonya book, I forgot the name of the Nancy book I purchased.) I loved watching Rudy Galindo win Nationals in 1995 and Todd Eldridge's rise back to the ranks. Always entertained by Candeloro and Stokjo, for different reasons. Kurt Browing was always great to watch. Loved Chen Lu's win in 1995 and Michelle's transformation in 1996. Sad to see Chen Lu do so poorly in 1997 but bounce back and win bronze in Nagano in 1998. Sad for Michelle for not winning OGM that year. I remember getting spoilers after AOL had a photo of Tara Lipinski on its home page.
1998 was the last year where I watched figured skating seriously until a few years ago. By then I was a sophomore in high school and I was busy with school activities to follow it beyond the occasional watch. I did watch the 2002 and 2006 Olympics, but that was about it. I was just busy with getting my degrees and pursuing my career.
Yuna Kim and Mao Asada were responsible for me coming back in 2009. I had remember watching fluff pieces during the 2006 Olympics about how Mao Asada, who had the 3A, was too young to go to the Olympics and that Yuna was her main rival. When I went to South Korea in 2008 I had asked people how well-known Yuna was -- as we all know now -- the answer was that she was VERY well known. So in 2009 I watched the World Championships and watch Yuna win with a beautiful performance. I thought Mao skated great as well.
2009-2010 was my first season watching the Grand Prixs and actively reading about skating. Ladies was my focus due to Yuna/Mao, but I had some knowledge of all the disciplines. Still Ladies was my choice because Yuna and Mao. Akiko Suzuki became one of my faves after her success on the GP. Daisuke Takahashi was a standout as well for me during the GP and Jeremy Abbott as well -- his performance at Nationals was top rate (which made his poor performance at the Olympics even more frustrating). Oh! And I was inspired by Shen and Zhao's comeback --- I really was rooting for them to win OGM (though looking back, I probably did not appreciate Savchenko/Szolkowy as much as I should have).
Things started to shift after 2010. I started to expand my horizons beyond the Ladies and got more into the other disciplines, especially Ice Dance and Men. I really got into Ice Dance after watching D/W and V/M battle it out at Worlds. That was really cool to see. I was also intrigued by some of the up-and-coming junior teams -- Shibutanis, Illynkh/Kastalopov, etc.
So Jason Brown. Some time in the fall of 2010, I had read some blog raving about about Jason and how he showed so much promise. He had made a positive impression on people after his performances during the JGP. But my first viewing of Jason came during Midwestern sectionals, which he won. I had noted this back in Nov. 2010 in this GS
post:
Funny that you just posted this! I just watched his sectionals programs as well and was very impressed! I swear his ice distance is so wide that I swore that he would crash into the boards.
Obviously the lack of a 3A will hold him back, but I could see him break into the top ten (a la Amanda Dobbs) at Nationals on his great basics and nice packaging. Out of all the US men he has the 11th highest season's best score, so I think this is totally possible.
(Now we know he finished 9th with a standing ovation in the free skate. Something that NBC did not even
bother to broadcast.)
However, what probably sealed the deal was watching his SP the following season (2011-2012) to Grand Guignol by Bajafondo at his first
JGP Brisbane.
I make jokes now that it wasn't easy to being a Jason fan back then because of his lack of 3A. But it was true. There were quite a few discussions (at times heated) over this. A lot of people questioned whether he had much of a future because it did appear that he was taking his dear sweet time on that 3A (and I can say now that I was somewhat concerned). Some interesting threads from that time:
Jason Brown's Future Prospects (and the
sequel that came this year)
What does it mean to be an "all around skater" or have the complete package
But anyway, I stuck to my guns and here I am. I was excited to finally see Jason skate live at Nationals (and of course it was even better that it was THE performance of Riverdance) and to meet him and Kori at practice.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
Your situation is practically the same as mine, as I happened to see Jason's Riverdance online and was instantly captivated. Funny that it's been only a few months, yet now I can't remember ever not liking him. This is a wonderfully informative (and at times, very funny) forum (particularly the JB thread, thanks to Mrs. P).
I think I'm hooked! Thanks for posting the review. And, yes, Jason exceeds all limits of adorableness.
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, if I do say so myself 
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