sk8er1964
12-03-2004, 11:39 PM
OK - I'm going totally by memory here, no notes or anything.
Evan went first, and he was wonderful. He skated a clean program, and was so pleased with his performance that he hopped up and down before taking his bows. He was really fun to watch. Then came Johnny. His program started out very well, then something happened with the second 3 axel. Unfortunately, I couldn't really see what because a row of idiots decided to let someone into their seats while Johnny was skating, and all stood up. Jerks. :mad: (I wonder if that had any effect on him, because they did it right in front of where he was taking off. Probably not.) Anyway, after that he seemed to lose some of his composure - little slips of footwork then the fall on the 3 loop. I love Johnny's skating, but tonight was definitely not his night. He looked really, really p****d off at himself, too
Next up was Andrei, and he too started out well. I liked his costume, and he had some really good moves that matched his music. Unfortunately, his jumps fizzled out. Ryan was up next, and I think he wuz robbed a bit. To be honest, as much as I love Johnny's skating, I think Ryan should have placed higher than Johnny tonight. It was close, though - I guess because I felt Ryan held onto his composure a bit more than Johnny did. Ryan's choreography and presentation were wonderful, if he could just master that blasted 3 axel. He got a huge ovation from his home-town crowd, and if I remember correctly, they boo'd his marks.
Brian is hot. I feel like a dirty old lady saying this, but he is hot. That costume of his, which looks so awful on the tv, um, shows off his assets very well in person, so to speak. I digress - back to his performance. I thought he did a nice job. His technical errors landed him behind Evan, rightfully so, but he didn't seem near as wooden as his program seemed on tv. He drew the crowd into his performance, and his edging was very sure and strong, too. Seems like he's reduced some of the Yagudin footwork, which I think is a good thing.
Then came Evgeny. I have not been a big fan of his - didn't like his program last year at all - but this performance was wonderful. He got a standing ovation, and I was one of the people standing. It was artistic, it kept your attention rivited from start to finish, and the technical was there too. Until I saw this program, I was wondering how well Johnny and Brian would fare against him this year. My answer is not too well if he performs like he did tonight. I can't see a perfect Joubert or a perfect Weir beating that, whether it be 6.0 or CoP. It was, IMO, that good. He got three 6.0's for presentation, BTW.
Results:
Plushenko
Lysacek
Joubert
Weir
Jahnke
Griacez
Then came the exhibitions. Inuae (sp?) and Baldwin did a show-type number to vocals. I was wondering how the heck they'd be able to skate with no warm up. Their program was fun, but not particularly challenging - in other words, the perfect show program. Then came Tanith and Ben. They did their free dance, and it was wonderful. The one thing I noticed, that you will never be able to notice on tv, is that all of those gold coins on their costume jingle against each other when they dance. It's kind of cool - makes it more gypsy-like.
They had the men signing autographs during intermission, so I wandered up to see if I could get one. Yeah, right. What seemed like 9 million screaming girls were milling around. They had a lot of fun, though (the girls, I don't know about skaters ;) ), although there were a lot of long faces when the men rushed back to the elevator prior to the start on the ladies event.
On to the ladies.
I was very, very disappointed in Michelle's Bolero (I did not get to see it at Campbell's). We were talking about it on the way back, and we decided that maybe Bolero just isn't suited to freestyle. Because the music builds and builds, you expect the skating to build too (like T&D's dance). But freestyle has natural ups and downs, which doesn't lend itself to that kind of music. Technically, she was good, but you know how her programs usually build until she does that wonderful footwork at the end? In this program, the footwork was more like a fizzle - a let down. Also, the entire program had too many crossovers and basic skating back and forth. I really do not think it will fare well under CoP.
Sasha was up next, and like some of the men she started out strong. I though she looked kind of worried in the warm up, and before she went out. Kind of like she wasn't 100%. Well, she proceeded to fall three times. Nice program, though (first time I've seen this one, too). She wore her Swan Lake white dress, though, so we were wondering before she started if she had gone back to the old program. I think Jenny was next. She skated a wonderful program - and falls into the wuz robbed category. I definitely had her above Sasha - she fell once on a 3 sal, but everything else was picture perfect. I was shocked when her ordinals came up in 3rd place. (To be honest, I'd have put her above Michelle, even with the fall, based on her choreography, which was much more difficult.)
Then came Alyssa. She was wonderful. I saw this program at Skate Detroit, and was not impressed. I thought she looked like a Sasha wannabe. Well, I take back my words. Although she did have the flexibility moves, she does have a style all her own. She had jumping problems, though, which hurt her alot. Irina was next, and she skated a terrific program. I think she nailed everything - to be honest, it didn't really matter if she missed something or not. The program was technically difficult, and fun and entertaining. A well deserved win for her.
Finally came Angela. I didn't envy her skating after Irena. She did well until about 1/2 way, when she started popping into doubles. She singled her axel. She does have, without a doubt, the best layback of any of the ladies, including Sasha (and I love Sasha's layback).
Results:
Slutskaya
Kwan
Cohen
Kirk
Cysney
Nikodinov (I may have the last two places mixed up)
Did I miss someone? It's getting late.
Then they did the check awards, and had the skaters do a "Victory" lap. All of the skaters did a move or element as they were called out (in reverse order of finish) except for Weir and Kwan. Weir looked downright grumpy, and Kwan looked her usual gracious self. Don't know why they didn't do an element.
It was a nice night. Hope I didn't mangle anything up too much.
Evan went first, and he was wonderful. He skated a clean program, and was so pleased with his performance that he hopped up and down before taking his bows. He was really fun to watch. Then came Johnny. His program started out very well, then something happened with the second 3 axel. Unfortunately, I couldn't really see what because a row of idiots decided to let someone into their seats while Johnny was skating, and all stood up. Jerks. :mad: (I wonder if that had any effect on him, because they did it right in front of where he was taking off. Probably not.) Anyway, after that he seemed to lose some of his composure - little slips of footwork then the fall on the 3 loop. I love Johnny's skating, but tonight was definitely not his night. He looked really, really p****d off at himself, too
Next up was Andrei, and he too started out well. I liked his costume, and he had some really good moves that matched his music. Unfortunately, his jumps fizzled out. Ryan was up next, and I think he wuz robbed a bit. To be honest, as much as I love Johnny's skating, I think Ryan should have placed higher than Johnny tonight. It was close, though - I guess because I felt Ryan held onto his composure a bit more than Johnny did. Ryan's choreography and presentation were wonderful, if he could just master that blasted 3 axel. He got a huge ovation from his home-town crowd, and if I remember correctly, they boo'd his marks.
Brian is hot. I feel like a dirty old lady saying this, but he is hot. That costume of his, which looks so awful on the tv, um, shows off his assets very well in person, so to speak. I digress - back to his performance. I thought he did a nice job. His technical errors landed him behind Evan, rightfully so, but he didn't seem near as wooden as his program seemed on tv. He drew the crowd into his performance, and his edging was very sure and strong, too. Seems like he's reduced some of the Yagudin footwork, which I think is a good thing.
Then came Evgeny. I have not been a big fan of his - didn't like his program last year at all - but this performance was wonderful. He got a standing ovation, and I was one of the people standing. It was artistic, it kept your attention rivited from start to finish, and the technical was there too. Until I saw this program, I was wondering how well Johnny and Brian would fare against him this year. My answer is not too well if he performs like he did tonight. I can't see a perfect Joubert or a perfect Weir beating that, whether it be 6.0 or CoP. It was, IMO, that good. He got three 6.0's for presentation, BTW.
Results:
Plushenko
Lysacek
Joubert
Weir
Jahnke
Griacez
Then came the exhibitions. Inuae (sp?) and Baldwin did a show-type number to vocals. I was wondering how the heck they'd be able to skate with no warm up. Their program was fun, but not particularly challenging - in other words, the perfect show program. Then came Tanith and Ben. They did their free dance, and it was wonderful. The one thing I noticed, that you will never be able to notice on tv, is that all of those gold coins on their costume jingle against each other when they dance. It's kind of cool - makes it more gypsy-like.
They had the men signing autographs during intermission, so I wandered up to see if I could get one. Yeah, right. What seemed like 9 million screaming girls were milling around. They had a lot of fun, though (the girls, I don't know about skaters ;) ), although there were a lot of long faces when the men rushed back to the elevator prior to the start on the ladies event.
On to the ladies.
I was very, very disappointed in Michelle's Bolero (I did not get to see it at Campbell's). We were talking about it on the way back, and we decided that maybe Bolero just isn't suited to freestyle. Because the music builds and builds, you expect the skating to build too (like T&D's dance). But freestyle has natural ups and downs, which doesn't lend itself to that kind of music. Technically, she was good, but you know how her programs usually build until she does that wonderful footwork at the end? In this program, the footwork was more like a fizzle - a let down. Also, the entire program had too many crossovers and basic skating back and forth. I really do not think it will fare well under CoP.
Sasha was up next, and like some of the men she started out strong. I though she looked kind of worried in the warm up, and before she went out. Kind of like she wasn't 100%. Well, she proceeded to fall three times. Nice program, though (first time I've seen this one, too). She wore her Swan Lake white dress, though, so we were wondering before she started if she had gone back to the old program. I think Jenny was next. She skated a wonderful program - and falls into the wuz robbed category. I definitely had her above Sasha - she fell once on a 3 sal, but everything else was picture perfect. I was shocked when her ordinals came up in 3rd place. (To be honest, I'd have put her above Michelle, even with the fall, based on her choreography, which was much more difficult.)
Then came Alyssa. She was wonderful. I saw this program at Skate Detroit, and was not impressed. I thought she looked like a Sasha wannabe. Well, I take back my words. Although she did have the flexibility moves, she does have a style all her own. She had jumping problems, though, which hurt her alot. Irina was next, and she skated a terrific program. I think she nailed everything - to be honest, it didn't really matter if she missed something or not. The program was technically difficult, and fun and entertaining. A well deserved win for her.
Finally came Angela. I didn't envy her skating after Irena. She did well until about 1/2 way, when she started popping into doubles. She singled her axel. She does have, without a doubt, the best layback of any of the ladies, including Sasha (and I love Sasha's layback).
Results:
Slutskaya
Kwan
Cohen
Kirk
Cysney
Nikodinov (I may have the last two places mixed up)
Did I miss someone? It's getting late.
Then they did the check awards, and had the skaters do a "Victory" lap. All of the skaters did a move or element as they were called out (in reverse order of finish) except for Weir and Kwan. Weir looked downright grumpy, and Kwan looked her usual gracious self. Don't know why they didn't do an element.
It was a nice night. Hope I didn't mangle anything up too much.