Thanks for starting this thread, Bennett .
I have enjoyed all your posts about Johnny on the other threads.
Yes, I am so much for Johnny in this competition; he is absolutely my favorite. I love his skating, because it is so beautiful, and yet so uncompromisingly athletic. I love the way his blades caress the ice. There is no substitute for good edges and true fluidity of motion. His approach to the ice is of a very rare kind. Most single male skaters just land their jumps; his have an exquisite outflow, and that is a kind of skating that is so hard to find. He is truely an artist on the ice.
I enjoy his personality, because he actually has one.
In the movie, "Bull Durham", the script shows how most U.S. athletes are taught to take the safe road, and only spout time-worn cliches when interviewed. When skaters do that, it is not only boring; it is also insulting to the intelligence of the audience. Johnny always treats his audience with respect by being himself instead of hiding behind such cliches. He may overestimate the intelligence of his audience by doing this, but I find it very endearing. I love to read his interviews, and to watch his fluff bits and after-skate interviews on TV.
I love Johnny's internationalism. He is into the whole world, and I think he makes a great ambassador for the U.S., unlike stuffy, jingoistic types. Some people act as if they want the Cold War back again, God forbid! I think the U.S. is lucky to have someone like Johnny as a cultural ambassador. One time I met a young lady, a USFS member, and she told me that Johnny's skating style is "too Russian". What does that mean? That it's too graceful? That the edges are too good? Her attitude truly shocked me.
With some skaters, the behind-the-scenes view is very different from the bland public image. With Johnny, he gives the public a chance to get to know him, "warts and all".
I love it that Johnny's beautiful skating came from the heart, not from a cold calculating of points. I love it that he has now made the painful adjustment to current competition conditions. I could kiss Galina Zmievskaya for helping him with that.
I could go on and on, but other posters have already said much of what I would say. Let's just say I am a Johnny Weir fan, happy to have him back training full programs, and I want him to win the GPF, because I really care about *quality* of skating. Whether he wins or not, he will still be my favorite male skater at this competition; he *finishes* his moves (which is very hard to do under CoP and its emphasis on stuffing as many positions as possible into a program), and he obviously still cares more for skating a *clean* program, than for skating a mathematically busy one. I believe he will not insert a quad in his programs until he feels confident that a fall on it won't occur and mar the wholeness of the program. He is a superb athlete, as his gorgeous triple axel demonstrates, but he is an artist, as John Curry was, a man of rare and beautiful talent.
"Go, Johnny, go!"
. I feel that he looks shinier than the last season. 
:chorus:
You know Johnny could sell that line better than Paula.
