Is this season driving anybody else crazy?

[rack]

The level of news (and news coverage) has been extraordinary. There's been judging changes and coaching changes and injuries and people hopping out and in of Olympic eligibility and drug suspensions and upsets.

But the skating hasn't begun to live up to the news. The head-to-head competitions aren't there because the Grand Prix field is so diluted, in some cases because people are simply choosing not to compete, in other cases because of injuries. I look back to Skate Canada last year- Sarah, Irina, and Michelle all competed. I know this year it should have been Sarah-Sasha-Fumie, and maybe four years from now that's the equivilent of Sarah, Irina, Michelle, but it sure doesn't feel like it. We've yet to see Plushenko or Irina or Shen and Zhao or Lobacheva and Averbukh because they're doing later Grand Prix events. Some of the postings about ladies skating make it sound like people forget Irina even exists.

I'm happy for Louis that he's found a new Italian dance team, but ESPN didn't choose to show their OD, and I'm doubtful I'll get to see their freedance (forget which station and time it would be on- it takes a PhD to keep track of which events are on which stations and when). I'm delighted that Skate America had the largest turnout of all Skate Americas, because the only people who got to see Michelle's new short program are the ones who saw it live and in person- the vast Disney empire having decided it would be of no interest to the rest of us.

I know post Olympic seasons are rough, but this one wasn't supposed to be, with so many of the medalists (including Gold) staying Olympic eligible. But since the season began, from the Olympic medalists, I've seen one long (rough sketch really) from Sarah, one long from Michelle (twice), one long and one fabulous short program from Yagudin, and one disastrous long from Goebel (was Plushenko at Campbells? I admit. I've already forgotten).

Tell me things are going to get better. Tell me whatever that competition is in December is going to be well-attended and fun. Tell me US Nationals are going to be unpredictable (in a positive way- US pairs right now seems like an bottomless pit). Tell me the current crop of truly extraordinary skaters we've been blessed with are going to be healthy and in peak form for Worlds if I can just hold on. At the very least- tell me I'm not alone in my state of agitation!:cry:

[CMc]

ITA rack!
It's very much a letdown that most of the skaters are having these problems all at the same time, even the men's field.
I don't even follow pairs and dance that much, and that field even makes me feel as if people are missing.
In fact I thought Irina was taking a year off--I guess I was never really sure.
But I hope things start looking up for all these folks.

And I especially hope one particular young lady comes back with a vengeance!;)

[bunghodog]

me too(about vengeance) I hope after that fall in the short program, (which I think Sasha's program was fabulous), at cup of Russia i hope she skates it perfect and gets her 6's she will deserve!!. as for this season, I am not dissapointed so far. all except for Yag, who will be back from what articles are saying, it is not a break, he will need 4 weeks rest. and Tim will hopefully be working hard on his presentation while he is hurt, oh and Sarah will be back to compete, I havent heard any different.

[loveskating]

Not me, I'm loving it...I like seeing all the up and comers get their "races" under their belts.

I loved it when Yagudin and Plushenko were "coming up" too. Even in 98, Yags was not nearly as good as he got. Had a TERRIBLE wrap on his axel for one thing. I love seeing people progress, its like watching a flower bloom!

[adrianchew]

Its driving me crazy - but for a different reason - I can't get enough of it! :P

Highlights so far...

Sasha - she is in incredible shape and readiness for the season.

Jumps - we have two 3-axels now landed in competition by ladies. I've seen in person, quad lutz (Roman Serov) and quad flip (Takeshi Honda) attempts.

I've discovered dance - Kulikova/Markov actually had me wanting to be on my feet at the end of their freedance, cheering.

There are 2 Junior and 1 Novice ladies that I'd really like to see at Nationals and hopefully on the podium. I'm hoping Scott Smith does really well this year. There are a couple of US pairs moving up to senior ranks that I'm looking out for.

I must have seen skating live at least 1-2 times a month now since like August. The only month I don't have something planned for is Feb 2003!

[Vanilla]

Although I love newbies to get their chance - it is only fair and wonderful to get new blood on the ice!!!:) - I also hate to see that the sport has become a competition of jumps... The artistic (beauty) of it is fading. And the worst part is that our athletes carreers are not lasting as long - Kurt has been around forever and is still loved... Yags - who knows? Women doing quads - how will this effect their bodies in long run? they are overstressing their bodies and may pay dearly later on... As a fan - we may lose sight of them at a younger age.... Too many injuries! And probably many more to come....:idea:

[Rachel]

Post-Olympic skating seasons are usually something of a mess while the skaters regroup. It's also very early yet and most of the skaters are coming off long, Olympic-year tours. I don't think this is going to be a year filled with stellar performances, but I expect that the skating will be better by Worlds, at the very least. Yags and Sarah will heal, Michelle will have time to rest a bit and get her programs together and Irina can do the same, Shen and Zhao and Plushy are skating at Bofrost right now.

I don't think this year's TV schedule is any worse than last year's and we haven't seen the ladies' SPs from Skate America for years. THere's nothing unique in that.

Give it a chance. The season just officially started three weeks ago or so with SA.

[amethyst]

ITA, so far it has been kind of blah. But the 98/99 GPX season was the same way, so I am hoping that as the season goes on things will pick up a bit. It's always like that after an Olympic year, it seems.

[Arsenette]

For those who came post '94 I can understand your frustration.. imagine us who have been in this for over 20 years.. At least we HAVE more competitions besides Worlds to look forward to! :twisted:

[Toepoint]

I find this season's skating to be a little boring. I miss seeing Sarah skate. She has a very competitive spirit that I love to see. I hope to see her soon. Also the programs this year are not that impressive. They seem kind of rushed and thrown together.8O

[roogu]

Maybe we're expecting too much from the skaters ... they already have a tough enough job to do out there without us complaining about the level of skating. They're human too so they're entitled to mistakes or rough skates. That's why it's called sport, you win some, and you lose some. Let's not forget it's also early in the year. No one's perfect allllllllllll the time.

[Mistyeyed]

Yes Rack, I hear you. Starting with the bad news about Yags hip problems and still little Jenny K., has not been able to pull herself into a top contender position thus far and I really wanted her to do well this season. Also, Angela N., has not been able to skate yet and I was also hoping that she would really shine. Although, I like Sasha C., she is just for some reason not my fav., yet! Although she is growing on me and I can honestly say she is a very lovely skater to watch. Perhaps one day soon she will become my fav in the ladies to watch but it seems I always go for the underdogs. I was also hoping that Victoria V., would be able to do well. It is sad to see such a skater not be able time and again to grab a certain spot. She is very beautiful and elegant and she looks so disappointed in herself it is heartbreaking to watch. I guess that is why whenever one of these skaters does manage to nail everything in a competition, I want to jump and cheer right along with them.

Here's hoping the season gets brighter for everyone!

[haribobo]

Well I for one am glad we have gotten to see more of skaters like Derrick Delmore, Stanick Jeannette, Emanuel Sandhu, and also a little of Jeff Buttle and Ryan Bradley this season. I am not at all upset that some of the top men from last season are not competing, because the new faces we are seeing are cool!

Besides AP, Michelle, and Sasha, the ladies field has been kind of sad so far, but perhaps seeing Yoshie Onda, Sarah Meier, and Kristina Oblasova, Shizuka Arakawa, and Susanna Poykio will raise our spirits a little bit in the later events. I think it has been too many years in a row of seeing the same skaters over and over, so even if we do have to deal with a few poor performances, overall I am thrilled that some new skaters are finally getting a little exposure! :)

[kimkom]

I love seeing the new upcoming skaters to, but I'm FINALLY attending my first Worlds this year and I'm feeling a bit let down...I know in the end I'll have a blast but I just pray we'll see some "big names" there too!

I just hope everyone heals in time!!

[Josef]

I'm tired of all the complaining about the US coverage of Grand Prix events. What we are getting this year is FAR BETTER than anything we've gone pre-1999/2000 season. You should be writing "thank you" letters to Lifetime and ESPN for continuing to air the same amount of figure skating as ratings have been in a bit of a dwindling state. Yes, sometimes the hours are odd, but at least its on! Back when FOX was televising the Grand Prix we got between 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours of coverage per event, with events sometimes sharing broadcasts. Let's stop the whining and be grateful for what we *are* able to see.. which is probably the highest total Grand Prix coverage of any country.

That said, I have been somewhat disappointed by the skating in the Grand Prix this fall. Even compared with the Grand Prix events of two or three years earlier, the programs have far many more falls at attempted jumps out of the skaters' range of abilities. Also, the choreography is unimaginative and simple if present at all with only a few exceptions. Watching events like 1999 Skate Canada and Nations Cup the past few days, I watched in amazement while skaters like Laurent Tobel, Elena Sokolova, Brittany McConn, Zhengxin Guo, Trifun Zivanovic, Matt Savoie, etc. all turned in interesting and exciting programs. It must be that the top choreographers are running out of ideas, the judging has become so jump-focused, or a combination of both.

Kudos to skaters including Langlois/Archetto, Alexei Yagudin, Brian Joubert, Derrick Delmore, Denkova/Staviyski, and Sasha Cohen to providing the few moments of excitement to an otherwise bleak start to the season!

[duane]

the problem i'm having with this season is the not knowing of who will actually compete this season. everything is so iffy. will tim, or wont tim? will yagudin, or wont yagudin? will michelle, or wont michelle? will sarah, or wont sarah? and what is the situation with irina? to me, so far there is no feeling of true competitiveness this season.

[CMc]

Is it just because it's still just after the Olys perhaps? Was it like this in the '98-'99 season too?

[michele]

I can guarantee that the ladies skated just as poorly (and probably worse) on the 98-99 GP, but am blanking on how the men did (I do recall Yags, Plushy and Urmanov sweeping the series though).