Weir out, Bradley in

[brenlynn]

johnny weir has been taken off the 4cc roster and ryan bradley is in. im mixed about this... i was really excitied to see johnny was going to be there, and thought he would really benefit from an international competition prior to going to dortmond, but apparently camp weir thought differently.

ryan bradley will be taking his place, and i am excitied because i think ryan could also use the internationl exposure and i really enjoy his skating, aside from his horrible hair and bad eyebrows

so there we have it... GO RYAN!! hehe

 

[Antilles]

Ryan was very entertaining at Nationals. it will be nice to see him. I can't believe how many US skaters avoid this competition.

 

[brenlynn]

i know... i wish 4cc was taken as seriously as europeans. even japan isn't sending their top ladies this season, i believe they did last year though. i don't understand why this competition is taken so lightly, isn't it our version of euros?!

 

[Antilles]

It's supposed to be our version of Euros. Someone needs to tell the skaters that. They can't complain about competing too much. This would be their last competition before Worlds, which is almost two months away.

 

[brenlynn]

This would be their last competition before Worlds, which is almost two months away.

see with that in mind, i thought more of the "team A" skaters - in singles anyways, would attend this year. last year 4CC and worlds were only a week apart, and the year before was an Olympic year so i understood why they didn't want to go those years. i just thought this year might be different :\

 

[chuckm]

But now 4C is less than 2 weeks after US and Canadian Nationals. And this year, Nationals began two days after New Year's.

Many of the top skaters had competed in the GP all fall, plus the cheesefest and the GPF. Cohen competed at Campbell's, Skate America, Skate Canada, Lalique, the Winter Cheesefest, the GPF and Nationals from 10/3 through 1/11. That's 8 competitions in 3 months! Weiss had a similar schedule.

The Japanese skaters have to travel halfway around the World to compete at 4C, since this year it's in Canada. Their Nationals were during Christmas week, only 3 weeks before 4C. Most years, 4C is in Asia, which means a long trip for the NA skaters right after Nationals. It is a scheduling nightmare. It's no wonder the top skaters rarely go.

OTOH, European skaters never have to travel very far to go to Europeans. Jet lag will never be a factor.

 

[Tonichelle]

GOOOOOOOOO BRADLEY!!!! LOL

 

[berthes ghost]

It's supposed to be our version of Euros. Someone needs to tell the skaters that.

Since when did Euros become the next Olympics?

A look back in history shows that only a few countries took part in the first few Euros, so give 4cc a chance to get off the ground.

Considering that Euros in the 90s basically became the Russian Nationals part II, I don't blame the Europeans for the waining interest either.

The whole idea of 4cc is a little silly to me anyways, just because of the vastness of it's skaters/locations. Why not just revive/revamp the North American Championship and the Asian Games? I wouldn't have minded a few more Elvis v. Todd matchups, etc...

 

[berthes ghost]

Just wanted to add, don't forget all of the Euro skaters who blow off Euros.

In 02 the list of no shows included none other than Plushy and Elena&Anton. Ilia blew it off in 98 too, as did Pasha&Evegeny.

 

[amykaren]

Darn! I just picked Johnny to win 4CC's in the gold picks contest. Guess I lost already!!!

 

[Tonichelle]

I did too, but I think Paula will delete the old entries.... who knows?

 

[Antilles]

I still don't think skaters compete that much. I know their competitions tend to be packed togher, but they only do about ten a year. Look at other sports like tennis. There is no real off season, they compete for hours at a time, and they constantly seem to be at tournaments. If they can handle that, I think skater should be able to handle a full schedule when they are healthy.

 

[Ptichka]

I understand why Sasha is not going, as a well as the top Japanese ladies. They've had enough competitions with GP, and now it's time for them to rest and train before the Worlds. Johnny, OTOH, kind of surprised me. He's only had one competition this year besides Nationals, and that was a long time ago. I think he would have benifitted from 4CC.

 

[Kasey]

Okay, THIS is exciting to me! I like Weir, and was quite "Wowed" by his nationals....but Bradley, I think if he gets the jumps consistent, could have a GREAT future! He's got a great sense of humor and style on the ice already...this will be a fun one to watch!

Kasey

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Brenlyn - I, too, am saddened by Johnny's not being in 4CC. I hope he is sure he didn't need an international competition before Worlds.

Ryan Bradley was the hit of the Men's Skate in both the SP and LP. He had the audience clapping to his Americana type of routine. I'm not so sure that will go over internationally. But, hey, why not"

Joe

 

[show 42]

Go Bradley.......it's exciting that he will be competing, but at this rate, if all the originally chosen skaters decline, we will be down to Junior skaters......... 42

 

[Tonichelle]

There is no real off season, they compete for hours at a time, and they constantly seem to be at tournaments. If they can handle that, I think skater should be able to handle a full schedule when they are healthy.

yeah but all I can think about is

Tim
Tara
Alexei
Plushy
and all of the others that are having major hip/knee/back problems... I can see why you want a chance to rest

 

[brenlynn]

Go Bradley.......it's exciting that he will be competing, but at this rate, if all the originally chosen skaters decline, we will be down to Junior skaters

oh my. that would be really sad if all the sudden we were down the junior skaters i mine as well just ask to go, im sure they'd just send me. it could be like a game of pick up hockey lol.

 

[Linny]

Weir

Although it wasn't a major international competition, Weir DID compete: he went through sectionals. They actually televised it in the Philadelphia area (miracles do happen).
Linny

 

[Rgirl]

Re the importance of 4CC (that always sounds like that brand of parmesan cheese to me) and why top skaters don't go--excellent points ChuckM and Berthes Ghost. IMO, if the ISU wants Euros and either 4CC or, as BG suggested, North American and Asian competitions to get off the ground, they're going to cut down on the cheesefests. If a seeded skater did every event from Campbell's to Hershey's (or whatever the CF after Worlds is called), including Hallmark (formerly World Pro) they'd do 13 competitions in seven or eight months. Factor in all the travel plus the fact that the top skaters also do COI and that's A LOT of hard, high-level skating.

Also, as a professional Ilia Kulik fan, it is my duty to say that Kulik was dealing with back injury for most of season prior to the Olympics, which was why he did not go to Euros. Since he won that big shiny thing at the Olympics, I bet he's quite happy with his decision

BTW, I LURVE Ryan Bradley's eyebrows. They're like the male version of Brook Shields'. The hair could use the Fab Five, I agree, but I'd take him anyway I could get him--especially now that he's got his hot new bod. Good luck!
Rgirl