Current Skate of Mind

by Jocelyn Jane Cox

(Best read from the bottom. )

12pm: Virtue and Moir: Dreamy. Floating. Strong but graceful. She has gorgeous posture and he compliments her perfectly. I am enchanted.  Not at all surprised that they are winning. Surprised only by the point spread.

Belbin and Agosto: Demonstrating that it’s tough at the top – it’s so much easier to be the underdog. (Or I guess that’s kind of what they are tonight….) Beautiful performance! Hope they can hold off DomShab.

Tanith was born and raised in Canada and has dual citizenship. Can’t help wondering if it’s awkward to perform in front of her home crowd representing the U.S.  Also wondering if they’ll go to Worlds and if not, my fingers are crossed that Kim and Brent a.k.a. NavBom will.

DomShab: Looked a little forced and lethargic. And the ropes on the costumes do seem a bit unfair. And…they’re on the podium.

Wishing it had been Tanith and Ben in that third spot…but kudos to them for a long and great career.

And it was was another awesome night of skating.

Good night.

(I think my coaching schedule i.e. late lessons/early lessons will prevent me from insta-blogging for Ladies Short Program, but maybe I’ll do a post-game analysis, or get insta again for the Freeskate…)

________________________________________________

11:20 ish. Charlie and Meryl! Twizzletastic! Way to throw down! Couldn’t take my eyes off them, same as in the OD. I think they may have brought me back onboard the Phantom train (in previous posts I have lamented its overuse). Nuanced and Mesmerizing. And talk about complicated lifts.

One of many the things I love about Charlie White is that he continued to play hockey for a long time while also competing in ice dance. In fact, he and Meryl had to sit out much of 2004 season because he broke his ankle playing. Loved the footage of young Charlie getting interviewed in his hockey gear and the anecdote of he and Moir playing against each other in a game when they were kids.

________________________________________________

11pm. Great showing from Samuelson and Bates. Very solid and technical. Looking forward to them pushing the artistic envelope more over the years.

Love that the Kerrs skated to Linkin Park. A little off on their twizzles and had one or two other wrinkles. But the fact that she lifted him delights me, to say the least (and obviously thrilled the live audience as well.)

Pechalat and Bourzat: Excellent “Time” theme. Never seen anything like that before. The tick-tock motions with their arms worked well. And I liked the twizzle entrance into the spin and the split-twist-like entrance into one of their lifts.  Unfortunately, I looked down at my laptop when they did their “signature lift”. Will have to catch that On Demand.

Delobel and Schoenfelder: They once again win the award for most elaborate/theatrical entrance onto the ice. Very playful. Costume tricks! I’m noticing these more, lately. This team keeps their free legs confusingly low on their first twizzle. Sounds like this is it for them. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Thumbs up to Tracy Wilson’s explanation of how lilting knees create flow, and, earlier, noting how good footwork curves in and out with edges.

Firebird! Khoklova and Novitski. Exciting and exotic but died a bit around the 3/4 mark.

Let me just take this moment to exclaim: Dance Lifts have come a long way, baby! Pair overhead lifts are risky and daring, but these are equally so.  All these complex position changes make them like gliding games of Twister. Some think IJS lift requirements have made lifts crazy to the point of spastic/frantic, but they sure are fun to watch (glad I don’t have to do them…)

Looking forward to the final group…but it’s getting late…slipping further and further down on the futon. Hoping I can make it.

________________________________________________

9:35 Crone and Poirier of Canada: Nice straight line lift in the middle – perfectly timed to the music for maximum impact. These two should get extra points for also competing in Singles. This kind of multitasking is rare and admirable.

Speaking of multitasking, I’m not going to “Be The Judge” tonight. I can only do so much. Already have about 45 tabs open in my browser…

Must say, this aerial ski jumping mystifies me! How do they do that? I like how the coach yells out instructions right before the landing.

________________________________________________

9:20. Waiting patiently and eating salad.  Arugula and Ice Dance: can’t ask for much more on a Monday night.

________________________________________________

Free Dance is tonight. Will we have a North-American sweep? Frankly, I think it’s unlikely, but it’s certainly never been more possible. I’ll start posting my two-cents as soon as the festivities get started.

Whatever happens, it’s pretty cool how figure skating is on the tip of everyone’s tongues and splashed across websites and print publications around the world, “eh?” It’s downright impossible to keep up. Here’s one blurb that caught my eye today. On yahoo, there’s an article called, “Big Hockey Win Inspires Davis, White” To read, click here. It’s mostly inoffensive, but one part….stood out to me (read: rankled, angered, annoyed, entertained.):

“The American duo of Meryl Davis and Charlie White, along with the USA’s Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, will never have a fraction of the aggression possessed by a prized bunch of U.S. hockey heroes, yet this pleasant bunch of fresh-faced toe-tappers have the ability to inflict even more punishment on a battered Canadian national psyche.”

A fraction of the aggression? Toe-tappers?  Ouch.  This makes me feel the same way I did back when hockey players used to line up at the rink door, waiting for their practice, snickering at my brother and I: “I’d like to see you try this!” (Of course, most male skaters unfortunately have to contend with this silliness…my brother was a champ at ignoring it.)  Anyway, I know first-hand that skating is a ridiculously challenging sport and have the utmost respect for it. Of course, at the end of the day, it serves as a form of entertainment for viewers (just like hockey and basketball and all other sports.) And skating is highly entertaining.

I contribute in my own way to all the skating brew-ha-ha on Slate.com. I think I have outdone myself with self-deprecation and sarcasm on this one. Intended to be funny so please read with a grain of salt. And for the record, I don’t even own yellow socks, ha! To read, click down here:

To see Timothy Goebel’s fantastic response to Elvis’s Quad rant, scroll down or find it under “recent posts” off to the right.

As always, thanks for reading.