Shine, Good to see you again, too. Thanks for the tip on the avatars. You're right, yours DOES capture the eccentric mystery of Eman. Well done!
Mathman, Thanks re custom titles. I thought I did what you said, but I'll try again.
And about the Favorite Skater Rglasses: Very true, lol, that we all already have ours. But the ones I would sell would be very fancy, like Elton John glasses ca 1970. Michelle Rglasses would have clean simple lines -- think Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass. Sasha Rglasses would have long curves and extensions coming off of them. Irina Rglasses would have electric lights built into them. That way at competitions, you could tell who was rooting for whom by the style of their Rglasses. And believe me, if you think Michelle looks good now, wait till you see her through your Mathman customized pair of Michelle Rglasses. She'll be skating naked
Windspiirit, I think you make an excellent point about negative exaggeration. I don't mind positive exaggeration in the form of gushing after a skater has had a particularly awesome event or season. Being able to share those emotions with others is part of the fun of a forum, IMO. But I do get tired of negative exaggeration involving any skater someone doesn't like only because it takes away from the validity of the discussion.
With Sasha, for example, during her eight competitions (including the Canadian Open and Crest Whitestrips -- love those sponsor-named competitions; when are we going to get the Tampax Open?) of last season, Sasha fell on a spin once. She got wobbly and somewhat out of control on her final spin series at the Campbell's Soup Bowl, but she stayed on her blades. The fall was at Worlds on her camel spin after she'd gone to the inside edge part of the spin. Sasha said she caught an edge on a rut in the ice. Or she could have gone a little too deep into that inside edge and lost her balance. Whatever the cause, falling once on a spin in a nine-competition season hardly qualifies for "She can't even...do spins without falling." Same thing with the "falls on half her jumps" comment. Criticism is of course another fun part of the forum, but IMO there is plenty to criticize on most skaters without making things up.
As for the rankings, it never fails to impress me how the rankings are either "great" or "meaningless" depending on how one's favorite skaters are ranked
For one thing, the current rankings are for the year 2002, not the '02-03 season. So Sasha's ranking is based on how she placed in ISU sanctioned competitions for 2002, including her fourth place finishes at the Olympics and Worlds, her two gold and one silver at the '02 GP events, and possibly her gold medal at the Crest Whitestrips competition, which I don't know if the ISU counts. Irina is number one because of how she placed at ISU events used to calculate rankings in 2002. True, a case could and perhaps should be made that the ISU should change the ranking system and go by the skating season year (ie, events in September of one year through Worlds of the next) rather than the calendar year, and that events such as Worlds and the Olympics should have more weight, but that's a separate subject. If the rankings are one more sign that the ISU has lost its collective mind, then all those years Michelle was number one are meaningless too because they used the same system then as now. And I would not go along with Michelle's number one status being "meaningless."
But even if we look at Sasha's '02-03 season of eight competitions (going by the USFSA News), she won four gold medals, one silver, one bronze, and two pewter (4th place finishes at Campbell's and Worlds). IMO, that is still an impressive record and certainly and improvement over last season when I don't think she even made the podium in any of her GP events, though I'm not sure about that. Anyway, whichever skater you feel is technically better than Sasha, which is indeed the case at least with Michelle, and thus should be ahead of Sasha in the rankings, the fact is that every skater is held to the same standard. If rankings mattered that much to Michelle, I think she would have skated in more events. Besides, what people remember are Michelle's amazing performances at Nationals and Worlds, not a number on a list.
Getting back to the topic of Sasha's edges (12 pages on Sasha's edges -- Oy!), I think they were more secure last season, but that this season she took more chances with her edges, for example, the deep inside edge on her camel spin. IMO, she needs to get back the muscle mass she lost this season, which I think she lost because she did not continue her off-ice training. According to Tarasova, an off-ice training regimen will be part of Sasha's training this year. I hope so; I think she needs it.
I think the reason Sasha's edges were not as secure and her speed not as fast as last year has to do with the change to Tarasova. Sasha lost some of her technique with Tarasova, IMO, but I think she gained a better perspective on skating and competition, and her skating in general is more fluid and connected, plus the choreography is better. Sasha is, lest we forget, only Tarasova's third singles skater and her first US skater. Coaches have learning curves too. With Kulik and Yagudin, I think they came to Tarasova with all those years of great Russian training in the basics and Tarasova helped give them the "sizzle."
With Cohen, perhaps Tarasova is finding out that she needs to change her approach. IMO, Sasha has natural charisma when she is skating well; it's her basics and her mindset that needed work. I think Tarasova did a great job with Sasha psychologically but did not work enough with her on the technical basics. I hope there is more emphasis on the latter this season. I know I saw what a positive difference the right off-ice training made for Michelle's skating. Sasha needs more than that, IMO, including more concentration on edges and speed on the ice as well as full run-throughs with jumps. We shall see.
Rgirl
). Counting all her triples she certainly lands them more that "half the time", and how many times have you really seen her fall on a spin?
