Meissner Article

[flying camel]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune...ersh-figure-skating-meissner,1,4796890.column

Wondering who's coach has something to say about Kimmie's workout affecting her jumps.

 

[demarinis5]

Thanks for the atricle. At least he did not trash Kimmie this time.

 

[Pixie Cut]

The age rule was in effect when Lipinski won Worlds in 1997, but she was grandfathered in because she'd already competed at Worlds the year before.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I see Hersch is beginning to write in a style - a bit flippant - but it works.

My biggest worry about Kimmie is that she needs a new costume designer. That half slip she wore showing her panties just didn't work. Why can's she just wear a dress cut in the style of Dorothy Hammil if she is afraid of the Kwan cut? I believe it would add on a few subjective points to her score.

I believe those ratings of NBC did not reflect the ratings of the country as a whole. However, Hersch is correct with regard to Sunday Night as being Ladies Night. Americans do love the ladies more than the other disciplines. Regardless of other rivalries, Boitano, Torvahl/Dean, and Beresnaya/Shikhilarize (sps) would still lose in the ratings of the ladies on those nights.

While Hersch did not exactly say there should be arm chair discussions after the competitions, he aluded to it in praising Dick and Bob. I would love to see more of these 'apres talks' after each competition with a group of distinguished skaters to get their views on the events that just happened. They should also point out if the judging was on the ball or not. I do think comments from such a group would be most welcome on the 'tie'.

Joe

 

[dizzydi7]

Meissner article

If what I've been reading is true and that Kimmie was having good practice sessions before Nationals, then Hersch's comment about her weight training doesn't hold water. It looks to me like there is a more critical and hard to solve problem here regarding her mental toughness.

Dizzy

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

If what I've been reading is true and that Kimmie was having good practice sessions before Nationals, then Hersch's comment about her weight training doesn't hold water. It looks to me like there is a more critical and hard to solve problem here regarding her mental toughness.

Dizzy

Dizzy, you seem to be writing her off That's ok but is it because of this critical and hard to solve problem with her mental toughness? Do you have any possible reason for the lack of mental toughness? I see Kimmie as being bored with figure skating as the reasn for the lack of toughness.

Joe

 

[emma]

I see Hersch is beginning to write in a style - a bit flippant - but it works.

My biggest worry about Kimmie is that she needs a new costume designer. That half slip she wore showing her panties just didn't work. Why can's she just wear a dress cut in the style of Dorothy Hammil if she is afraid of the Kwan cut? I believe it would add on a few subjective points to her score.

I believe those ratings of NBC did not reflect the ratings of the country as a whole. However, Hersch is correct with regard to Sunday Night as being Ladies Night. Americans do love the ladies more than the other disciplines. Regardless of other rivalries, Boitano, Torvahl/Dean, and Beresnaya/Shikhilarize (sps) would still lose in the ratings of the ladies on those nights.

While Hersch did not exactly say there should be arm chair discussions after the competitions, he aluded to it in praising Dick and Bob. I would love to see more of these 'apres talks' after each competition with a group of distinguished skaters to get their views on the events that just happened. They should also point out if the judging was on the ball or not. I do think comments from such a group would be most welcome on the 'tie'.

Joe

I would scream with joy if we could have current or BETTER coverage of the actual skating AND then an after event hour long show with experts talking in more than quick sound bites deconstructing - post-mortem(ing) the competition. That would be fantastic!!!!!

 

[emma]

I don't know what is causing Kimmie's inconsistency - but since she is short of rotations and/or falling she obviously needs to jump higher and/or spin faster.....HOW you develop that ability is unknown to me, but weight training seems reasonable - yet, I defer to others here (and do understand the tension between need for strength and need to avoide 'bulking up' and too much weight).

My point though is that 'correcting' a problem such as building strength or whatever (improving speed, changing entrances to jumps, better stroking etc etc) often requires a one to two year plan, it isn't always something that can be focused on intensely in 1-3 months. So, here's me hoping that Meissner and her team feel relatively certain that they know what the problem(s) is/are and have a short term game plan but also a long term plan.....and in the meantime, I hope her ankle has healed and that her head/heart or ok.

 

[Tinymavy15]

My biggest worry about Kimmie is that she needs a new costume designer. That half slip she wore showing her panties just didn't work. Why can's she just wear a dress cut in the style of Dorothy Hammil if she is afraid of the Kwan cut? I believe it would add on a few subjective points to her score.

I am guesssing you mean her new pink dress for her freeskate. So far I have not realy liked any of kimmie's outfits, but I thought she looked beautiful and aproriate. She looked like a fairy or somthing... with the hair in braids and the little white flowers. I have seen many skaters wear less.... shizuka arakawa's dress when she won her 2005 world title hardly had a skirt... and the panty was almost a thong.

 

[R.D.]

I think Meissner LOOKS ok. don't know why that is such a big deal. She just needs to land her jumps, that's all. and that is easier said than done, of coruse.

I agree with Hersh that USFS might want to look into moving the Ladies' Free skate to Sunday night...because the Ladies are the draw here and it would only make sense to feature them on the more popular viewing night. but if that happens, the program will either have to be delayed, or the exhibition will have to be scrapped or held the following week. NBC could have the following schedule for the '09 championships:

Sat. Afternoon (2 hrs): Pairs FS, Ladies SP live
Sun. Afternoon (or Sat. Night if they want to keep doing prime time coverage) (2 hrs): Men's SP and FS
Sun. Night (3 hrs): Dance and Ladies Final Live

I think the event did OK, considering that there were no "big names" to REALLY throw out there and get people interested in watching. Expectations shouldn't have been that high to start with anyway, since they took the event when it hit rock bottom in terms of TV appeal. I actually thought the ratings would be slightly lower than they turned out to be, but that said, they're still not great.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I am guesssing you mean her new pink dress for her freeskate. So far I have not realy liked any of kimmie's outfits, but I thought she looked beautiful and aproriate. She looked like a fairy or somthing... with the hair in braids and the little white flowers. I have seen many skaters wear less.... shizuka arakawa's dress when she won her 2005 world title hardly had a skirt... and the panty was almost a thong.

I do mean the pink dress. Of course this is just my opinion. The dress is much too long for her. Single lady skaters look better and show off their line better with a shorter dress. Would you really want to see a dress cut like Kimmie's on Mirai or Caroline? Kimmie has good line and she's hiding it in that dress. jmo.

Joe

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

NBC has control of the TV scheduling and they will handle it for American viewing. NBC had other sports to show on Sunday Night.

The local papers in St. Paul had aritcles on the Weir/Lysacek Rivalry all week winding up with Sunday night taped showing. The tape worked.

ESPN will show the 2008 Worlds in their way. If Sweden does not object to them showing it LIVE and ABC will think it gets a high rating we could see the Worlds early afternoon on the east coast preempting soap operas and late mornings on the west coast. I don't think the American public is so excited about figure skating so early in the day. Taped versions on ESPN and ABC on Sunday night will work for whatever ratings they get.

The 2009 Cleveland Nationals will precede the 2009 Worlds which will precede the 2010 Olys.

Has anyone heard about TV coverage LIVE or TAPED by NBC for the 2009 Worlds?

Joe

 

[R.D.]

I believe the ISU has NOT found an American broadcaster for the 2009 Worlds yet.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

There is a bookfull of BIG NAMES in the 2008 US Nationals Program of Events:
Ladies: Meissner, Zhang, Nagasu, Flatt, Czisny, Liang, Wagner and Hacker! Need more?

Men: Weir, Lysacek, Abbott, Bradley, Smith, Carriere,, Halverson and Ward. Need more?

Pairs Castile/Okalski; Evora/Ladwiq; Innoue/Baldwin; Mclaughlin/Brubaker; Nari Nam/Leftheis; Vise/Trent; Need more?

Skate Dance Belbin/Agosto; Davis/White; Navarro/Bommentre; Samuelson/Bates; Wester/Barantzev Need more?

Then there are all those wonderful Juniors out there on Ice. They don't need voices, they have their blades.

Joe

 

[dizzydi7]

"Dizzy, you seem to be writing her off That's ok but is it because of this critical and hard to solve problem with her mental toughness? Do you have any possible reason for the lack of mental toughness? I see Kimmie as being bored with figure skating as the reasn for the lack of toughness."

Joesitz,

No, I'm not writing Kimmie off. Since she had the capability to land her jumps before, there is no reason she can't do it again. It just seems as though she has some kind of mental block which may or may not be hard to fix.

Perhaps you are right and Kimmie is bored with skating. She has just begun college which might become her main focus. Nothing wrong with that. Also, she has been National and World champion and the Olympics are still a couple years away. Then there are those talented ladies who were chasing her and have now surpassed her!

It's really hard to say what is going on with her. I just think falling three times at both the GPF and Nationals is pathetic. Unless she has a major injury that she is withholding from the public, it's hard to explain such dismal performances. I really hope that she can redeem herself at Worlds.

Dizzy

 

[R.D.]

I'd personally like to end this "omg" stuff about KM. I thought it was a mental issue, and she confirmed it (that's what she said at some press conference). Also wouldn't be shocked to hear she has motivational problems. Wouldn't blame her either.


IMHO, time for American skating to move forward. It already has, actually, but is being held back due to the age rule, so KM gets another chance among two newcomers. It'll likely be her last one, so she should at least want to end her career on a high note.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

First - Hersch is simply funny...

As for Kimmie - I remember in Michelle's '97 season she had all kinds of issues and Button made the comment that all skaters go through that and its better now than later... I'm willing to apply that to Kimmie this week. Its easy for fans to sit & armchair quarterback about who's next, who's done and who's the one to beat. We don't know a darn thing outside of who's new, who's "keeping their options open" and who we like.

Kimmie had the worst drop in National standings that I've ever seen - but that doesn't mean her future as a skater is over - it simply means that Nationals sucked for her... and that's too bad but give the girl a break and wish her luck at Worlds - because despite what the boards say, she's our best hope at securing the required 13 points for three spots...

 

[yelyoh]

First - Hersch is simply funny...

As for Kimmie - I remember in Michelle's '97 season she had all kinds of issues and Button made the comment that all skaters go through that and its better now than later... I'm willing to apply that to Kimmie this week. Its easy for fans to sit & armchair quarterback about who's next, who's done and who's the one to beat. We don't know a darn thing outside of who's new, who's "keeping their options open" and who we like.

Kimmie had the worst drop in National standings that I've ever seen - but that doesn't mean her future as a skater is over - it simply means that Nationals sucked for her... and that's too bad but give the girl a break and wish her luck at Worlds - because despite what the boards say, she's our best hope at securing the required 13 points for three spots...

DITTO!!!!!!

 

[R.D.]

First - Hersch is simply funny...

As for Kimmie - I remember in Michelle's '97 season she had all kinds of issues and Button made the comment that all skaters go through that and its better now than later... I'm willing to apply that to Kimmie this week. Its easy for fans to sit & armchair quarterback about who's next, who's done and who's the one to beat. We don't know a darn thing outside of who's new, who's "keeping their options open" and who we like.

Kimmie had the worst drop in National standings that I've ever seen - but that doesn't mean her future as a skater is over - it simply means that Nationals sucked for her... and that's too bad but give the girl a break and wish her luck at Worlds - because despite what the boards say, she's our best hope at securing the required 13 points for three spots...

But at least Kwan held onto the silver medal that year. Meissner was all the way off the podium! As a defending champ that's gotta hurt.

I would agree about her being the best hope for 13 point except for one small detail...NOT if she keeps skating like that.

That said, I would definitely still send her there under the now rather far-fetched hope that she'll turn things around...because even the alternate at her best won't quite get it done.

 

[Ginask8s]

I think falling three times is discouraging, not pathetic. Skating is such a head game and she has so many people being critical of her. She got lucky at the right time and now it is really hard for her to keep up with the little girls who may not have reached puberty yet, Maybe she is weight training too much who knows.But right now she needs to just prepare as best as she can and not change things. That magic number of 13 is possible. I hope Kimmie does'nt read the boards. I heard Michael Buble say that he never reads the reviews because singing and entertainment is much like being a pro athlete. The negativity can make it even worse. I think she can do a clean program. If anyone watched Europeans the programs were very flawed. Good luck Kimmie!!