Snow, snow, snow! Ice, ice, ice! Figure Skating! U.S. Championships!

Shoveling snow today.  I'm cheating, actually, since the snow I finally removed from my driveway fell over the last 2 weeks!  A dribble here, a dab there, it all added up.  Today, for awhile, the sun came out and I had time, so I put on my fuzzy slippers with the rubber bottoms and my beret, and my shoveling gloves, and I tackled the driveway. 

There was a path, half the width of the driveway, previously shoveled out before the most recent five inches fell, in dribbles and dabs, over the last week, so today I cleared the rest of the drive in two shifts.  Who knows?  The weather forecasters are uncertain -- while it seems fairly certain that our neighbors in New York City will get yet more snow on top of their already record snowfall for this 2010-2011 winter season - within the next few days - we dont' know what may happen here.  I can tell you this much - I've done a lot less shovelling this year than last, if my memory serves me correctly.  In the meantime, the forecasters on the local news are mouthing dire warnings that a big storm is brewing and we may be in its target.  Yeah, well, when it gets here I'll deal with it.  Otherwise, just shut up.  I'm sick of winter already.

This weekend, however, is all about ice when it comes to the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which I have been keenly tracking all week for news of novice and junior results, LOL!  The bigs, of course -- that is, the ladies' long program, the pairs' long program, the ice dance free dance, and the men's long program -- those sly officials at the US Figure Skating Federation saved for live broadcast on NBC today and tomorrow!  Yippee!  Figure skating championships always signal that winter is almost ended for me!  The Worlds are typically held near the end of March and, as we all know, the Spring Equinox is on March 21st (more or less)! 

Decided thus far - this afternoon as I eagerly cast mine eyes upon the television whilst working on a family tree project - the pairs (a new couple crowned as 2011 U.S. Pairs Champions) and the ice dancers (Davis and White repeat.  Davis and White won the Olympic Silver in Ice Dance in - somewhere in Canada... (my memory is going, going...)

So tonight the big drama on prime time commercial television will be the ladies' long program.  Right now, Alissa Czisny (spelling?), Marai Nagasu (spelling?) (I think she will go VERY far, this young lady, if she just lets herself GO there), and Rachel Flatt, who just, unfortunately, leaves me very flat when I watch her skate, are in 1, 2, and 3.  Talented and promising skaters are right behind.  I especially like Christina Gao, who I think is in 5th place right now.  I think she's got the full package and, at only 16, has a lot of time to develope prior to Sochi 2014!  It may come down to an eventual showdown between Gao and Nagasu, also 16.  Just saying...

Prime time coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Champi8onships picks up at 7 p.m. eastern, 8 p.m. here, with the ladies' long program - the PREMIERE event! 

I've got to tell you, I'm just excited that I saw Amodio in the news a few days ago at the European Championships that have been going on the past week too - he so impressed me just about a year ago at the 2010 Olympics that I just had to blog about it then.  I fell in love with the young man - the total package in a male skater, be calmed my beating heart, oh my Goddess!  Whew!  Okay, wiping sweat from my brow just thinking about that young man, I saw tonight after just - really - just checking the news online that AMODIO WON GOLD AT THE EUROPEANS!  Yippee!

Update:  I watched the ladies' freeskate from start to finish.  In my opinion, the correct skater won the championship (Czisny) but I think Nagasu skated a better program than Flatt and Nagasu should have been in second place, not Flatt.  That is crucial because only two women can go to the worlds at the end of March and, frankly, I don't think Flatt will represent us very well.  Oh well.  Now Nagasu will have to wait for another year.

Mirai Nagasu in FIRST PLACE after Worlds Short Program

It's official - Nagasu in 1st, Rachel Flatt is in 6th.  Olympic gold medalist Kim Nu Ya is in 7th place.

I had a chance to find out a little bit more about the scoring - not that I understand all of it, but you can see that Nagasu outscored Kim on the technical side a whopping 10.1 points!  Side by side, their scores for program components were very close, with Kim edging out Nagasu 30.28 to 30.20 - only .08 a point separating them.

Here are the items that go into the Program Components (formerly "presentation") scores:

SS = Skating Skills
TR = Transitions/linking footwork and movement
PE = Performance/Execution
CH = Choreography/composition
IN = Interpretation

So - does this mean that Nagasu outskated everyone on the technical side - crisp edging, centered spins, elegant lines and amazing stretch and flexibility in her spirals, perfect take-offs and landings on jumps?  Of the top 10 skaters, Nagasu has the highest TES (Technical Score), outscoring even the mighty Asada with her triple axel!

I'll be interested to read what the skating people have to say about this.  I admit I'm shocked - not that Nagasu did so well (considering her break-out performance at the Olympics) but that Kim "fell" so far -- and that is absolutely ridiculous sounding, isn't it, since she currently sits in 7th place and that is VERY respectable.  But those 10.1 points in total score that separate Kim from Nagasu - can she make them up in the Free Skate?  Will Nagasu be able to hold it together and deliver a fabulous and technically sound Free Skate to fend off the skaters who will be aiming square at her to knock her off the podium? 

The pressure both skaters will be feeling - unbelievable.  Oy!  When is the Free Skate? -- Just checked -- it's tomorrow 3/27.

2010 Olympics Ladies' Free Skate - A Few Comments

I'm sure no expert on figure skating, that's why I read what people who know the sport said about what happened in last night's Ladies Free Skate in Vancouver.  Then I form my own opinions.

I loved the skating last night.  I hated how chopped up the event was presented to the viewers on network television (I don't have cable or satellite - don't know if the coverage was any better).  I know that there are other events going on or were going on earlier in the day, but honestly, not to show at least the final 12 skaters with minimal interruption - you would have had a much bigger audience, NBC - really!

I think Yu-Na is an incredible skater and will only get better if she learns to relax a little bit more (of course, it was the Olympics and the hopes of an entire nation were riding on her slender shoulders) and connect with the audience a little bit more (needs work).  There is no doubt that she has that "IT" factor, and a lot of IT!  There is no question that she earned the gold medal with her short and free skate programs.  But - she was WAY over-scored.  Mao Asado skated MUCH better than what her scores reflected - or Yu-Na was over-scored.  It's as simple as that.  Yeah yeah, Asada had a couple of glitches.  So did Joannie Rochette.  Their scores were high, but within the realm of reality.  Yu-Na's scores were not.  And, I'm now thinking that as what happened with that scoring really sinks in, there is going to be a backlash in the minds of a lot of figure-skating fans around the world (not, of course, in South Korea).  What the hell were those judges thinking?

Rachel Flatt got hosed by the Olympics judges.  Rather ironic, considering that her team-mate, Mirai Nagasu, got hosed by the judges at the U.S. Nationals in January (photo of her, above, during one of her spins in the Olympics Ladies' free skate - look at those lines - perfect!)  I think Nagasu should have been skating at this Olympics as the U.S. Ladies Championship, not the U.S. silver medalist.  That being said, I thought that both U.S. ladies skated outstandingly.  I have not seen Flatt ever perform better.  I think she reached a whole new level with her skating, in her expression, ease and relating to the audience.  Well done, Rachel.  The so-called "incomplete rotations" on some of her jumps that were marked down - were not marked down for the other skaters.  Period, end of story.  I didn't make this up - I read it in plenty of other places but the writers were much more diplomatic about stating their conclusions that I am :)

Mirai Nagasu got super-hosed by the Olympics judges.  Joannie Rochette's  free-skate was marred by several minor errors (but she stayed on her feet), and Nagasu's free-skate was visually error-free.  But for the skewed scoring, Nagasu should have won the Bronze Medal.  Politics, sympathy and the fact that, at age 24, Rochette will probably not be competing at Sochi in 2014, all played into her being awarded the Bronze Medal. The fitting end to a career where she was always close but never quite lived up to her promise and, finally at the 2009 Worlds, scored Silver.  Did she earn it - yes - for her career.  Did she earn it for her performance at the Olympics?  Not in my opinion.  So, the judges split the difference and give Nagasu 4th place overall, in a nod to the "future" of U.S. figure-skating, which is here already - and should have been recognized as such.

And WHAT was with this scoring Miki Ando in 6th place in the free-skate, two places above Rachel Flatt?  Ando looked like a skating zombie in the free-skate, for Goddess sake!  She was a World Champion in 2007 and had a good Grand Prix series in 2009 - what happened?  I'm sorry to say it because I am a fan of hers, but there was absolutely no life to her free-skate whatsoever.  It was as if she had already given up after the short program, knowing that it was a foregone conclusion that the Gold/Silver/Bronze had been decided, barring some spectacular collapse of one of the top three in the free-skater (which did not happen, but there were errors by the #2 and #3 skaters that should have opened the doors).  Her eyes were dead.  It was scary and sad watching her.  Ando's performance did not deserve to be rated above Rachel Flatt's, who radiated joy and confidence all across the ice during her free skate. Flatt received a standing ovation - and deserved it.

Nagasu's and Flatt's performances shine.  I find it really really interesting how some commentators are trying to downgrade Nagasu as "not mature."  Give me a frigging break.  How old was Michelle Kwan when she won her first medal at the Worlds?  Look it up, dudes - geez!

Well, it's over - for now.  Worlds are next month.  I assume that both Flatt and Nagasu will be there, representing the US.  I expect both will be elevating their "A" game.  It's going to be interesting to see what happens with the scores.  Will Yu-Na's come back down to reality - or will she decide to skate in the Men's events from now on, as a more "worthy" challenge?

Mirai Nagasu Got Hosed

It was clear to me and millions of other people watching the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Ladies' long program last night on NBC that Marai Nagasu CLEARLY won the free skate - no one touched her when it came to grace, choreography, musical interpretation and artistic execution. She floated, light as a feather, seemingly slightly above the ice rather than on it, and made what is a grueling athletic performance look like an effortless ballet. I was entranced. Watching Rachel Flatt skate left me - well, flat. She's technically proficient but she is not a gifted skater, she does not have the something special that excites audiences and draws you into her performance. Nagasu clearly does have that IT factor. To a lesser extent, the Wagner girl, who finished in 3rd place, has IT too. Flatt does not. Her unfortunate last name reflects her unfortunate appearance on the ice. Too bad, because Flatt is the new U.S. Women's Figure Skating Champion and she doesn't deserve it. There's a big fat slap in the face from the U.S. judges to all skating fans in the USA. I'm surprised they didn't jump on top of the counter above their chairs and do a little hoochie dance while thumbing their collective noses at us as the scores went up. They should have been booed out of the arena. Here is what The New York Times had to say about the hose job the judges did on Nagasu: Inside the Rings Skate Scoring Has Little for Artistry By JERÉ LONGMAN Published: January 24, 2010 SPOKANE, Wash. — As Mirai Nagasu completed her stirring free skate Saturday night, the crowd at Spokane Arena leapt to its feet in raucous applause. A hail of toy animals rained onto the ice. Clearly, most in attendance thought that Nagasu had won the United States Figure Skating championship. Except that she had not. Even some of the sport’s most astute experts were stumped. “I blew it,” Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion and NBC commentator, said of Nagasu. “I thought she won. I got caught up in the performance.” Instead, Rachael Flatt, 17, of Del Mar, Calif., won her first American title with a performance that was steady and reliable but workmanlike, slow and hardly inspiring artistically. The crowd also gave her a standing ovation, but one far less boisterous. In Flatt, skating’s controversial scoring system has its perfect competitor, one who is mathematically astute in piling up points. Yet she also leaves an audience wanting much more in terms of rousing performance. Nagasu, 16, the 2008 national champion from Arcadia, Calif., delighted the crowd with a graceful and engaging free skate but finished second because she slightly under-rotated three triple jumps. Critics of the point-based scoring system find it to be overly nitpicking — too weighted toward negativity in taking points away from skaters, too eager to reward competent but lackluster technical proficiency over risk and creativity and originality. Johnny Weir said skating has become a math test. Sasha Cohen eloquently and ruefully said that a skater’s head must now be stuffed with numbers. Did I spin eight times? Did I hold my spiral six seconds? In her view, bean counting has become an Olympic sport. “It’s one thing I don’t like,” said Cohen, who finished fourth after a stumbling free skate. Gerri Walbert, executive editor of Blades on Ice magazine, said the judges were niggling over a failed quarter turn on a jump, which is essentially what placed Nagasu in second instead of lifting her to first. The jumps are viewed by the scoring panel on only one camera, from one angle, much fewer than football uses to determine whether a receiver got both feet inbounds on a catch in the end zone. “This is the problem with the scoring system,” Walbert said. “The crowd thought Mirai won and she didn’t because of something the crowd couldn’t see — a quarter under-rotation on her jumps. They’re making way too much of that. It’s getting to the point where it’s ridiculous. It hurts the sport.” Even if Flatt did deserve to win — and under the flawed scoring system she did — skating officials did her a great disservice by not explaining to the crowd why she won. Instead of placing the marks for each element in the skaters’ routines on the arena video screen, so that rewards and downgrades could be readily visible for each jump and spin, officials served the audience dry cumulative figures: Flatt finished with 200.11 points to 188.78 for Nagasu. The numbers might as well have been qualifying speeds at Daytona. Even a technical expert who appraised each skater’s performance for spectators via in-house radio seemed to miss the tiny but critical mistakes that separated Nagasu from Flatt. “It would be better for the sport if enough information was provided to the audience so they could understand why a skater got the marks she did,” said George Rossano, an expert on the scoring system. No doubt the old 6.0 system needed revision after the judging scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. And the new formula makes one significant improvement: Judges no longer seem to be holding places, or reserving the highest scores, for skaters who are anticipated to win. Performance does trump reputation. Various results at the national championships showed that “our sport is becoming more fair,” Tom Zakrajsek, who coaches Flatt, said in defending the new scoring system. “I thought Rachael was beautiful tonight.” [Well, DUH! What else would he say? Come on!] Perhaps people are still growing accustomed to figure skating being less political and predictable than it has been in the past, Zakrajsek said. [This is bullshit.] “All sports deal with numbers,” he said. “If figure skating is a combination of sport and art, then it shouldn’t be one way or the other way — all technical or all artistic.” Noting that divers and gymnasts are penalized for imperfect rotations in their routines, Zakrajsek said, “Why wouldn’t we do that in figure skating?” He added: “This is not a beauty pageant.” Both Flatt and Nagasu will compete next month at the Winter Games in Vancouver. Their styles will appear in stark contrast. “One is a great athlete, one is an artist,” said Frank Carroll, who coaches Nagasu. Hamilton described Flatt as someone who “punched her time clock every moment. She’s consistent and solid. You can depend on her.” [Yeah, to put the audience to sleep.] Zakrajsek, Flatt’s coach, quoted Sarah Hughes, the 2002 Olympic champion, as saying, “When you go to the Olympics, you better stay vertical.” But many will yearn for something more than an athlete simply staying on her feet. After all, this is figure skating, not boxing.