Wow. Nationals. The tie.

[icarus]

Second telegram from Nationals. (I'll skip the versimilitude and not do it in telegram-caps this time -- you're welcome, mooja ;)

Awful traffic to Men's Freeskate stop
Missed Bradon Overett the-guy-who-skates-like-Jack-Sparrow stop
Bradon Overett sat in front of us though so I have video stop
Also missed the-guy-who-jumps-so-high-he-needs-a-parachute stop
Saw Rohene Ward the-skater-who-looks-like-Ronon in elevator stop
He talks like Michael Jackson complete with lisp stop
He came in last oh well stop
The atmosphere was relaxed but happy for the first groups of skaters stop
They were skating to place, celebrating they made it to Nationals, but not in the running for the podium stop
Enjoyed Wesley Campbell the-gayest-skater-on-ice stop
WG liked Wesley too of course stop
Ryan Bradley aka Mr. Flirt aka last year's silver medalist blew it by goofing off at the short program and didn't make the podium stop
WG thinks he was overconfident stop
I think he couldn't balance playing to the crowd versus competing and went crowd-overboard stop
The crowd still loved him stop

With the top six skaters the excitement suddenly ratched up stop
Loved Jeremy Abbott stop
Especially the shocked blank look at the end of his program stop
Like he couldn't believe it was done and he'd done well stop
Neither of us are impressed by Carriere stop
Lots of jumps, but ho-hum skating, except the last 20 seconds of his program stop

When the top two, Lysacek and Johnny Weir, hit the ice the tension was electric stop
Evan Lysacek is amazing stop
At the end of his program WG said "Look at his face. He is driven" stop
Very intense, you can see everything he's feeling stop
WG points out that Evan skimps on the footwork leading into jumps stop
Evan takes half the rink to set up for a jump which WG feels is a shortcut stop
I have video of Evan's warm-up stop
Johnny Weir is like liquid beauty poured on the ice stop
He was exquisite stop

At the end they were tied stop
But Evan won stop

The crowd blinked and was confused WTF?! stop
The loudspeaker explained that in the event of a tie the person who won the final freeskate -- which is
longer and harder -- wins the competition stop
Wow stop

Next I have boring video of the awards ceremony stop
The skaters were still very tired stop
Skating hall-of-famer Todd Eldredge awarded one of the medals stop
After the photographers stopped posing them, everyone but Johnny Weir signed tons of autographs stop
Evan Lysacek is hard-working and generous to the fans stop
He tried to sign every request until the Arena officials shooed him off the ice so people would leave stop
I like Evan stop

Then we watched the gala of champions stop
The little teenie pairs skater oh wow she was so young and got tossed about like a doll stop
The women's skate was a total upset stop
The former champion placed seventh so all the top women's skaters were virtual unknowns stop
Then they had the Special Olympics skaters on stop
They skated better than I do let me tell you stop
Then the syncronized skating was very very cool stop
Sixteen women stop
I want to see more of that and will provide links when I get home stop
Johnny Weir's Ave Maria exhibition got a standing ovation stop
WG thinks Johnny Weir has a great ass and is a total bottom boy stop
He released his last note like setting free a dove stop
I loved the (Junior Men's champion?) who skated to Pavarotti stop
Two pairs teams and one men's singles skater used the same music oops ha it's the battle of the Carmen's all over again stop
Evan Lysacek did flamenco music and was energetic and a powerful presence stop
Belbin and Agosto (sp?) melted the ice stop
At the end everyone came out again doing their coolest moves
They bowed as a group in a circle as the crowd gave them a standing ovation stop
Then they grabbed frisbees and t-shirts, signed them, and tossed them into the crowd stop
It was chaos stop
I loved it stop
Lysacek stayed longer than anyone else to sign autographs stop
He was shooed off the ice again stop
The moment he was off the ice he slumped in exhaustion stop
Did I mention I like Lysacek?

wildernessguru says he liked the skating a lot more that he thought he would. He thinks Johnny Weir's the better all around skater but that Lysacek is "a force." He decided neither Johnny Weir nor Evan Lysacek define figure skating. They both have their own styles that are radically different.

I have, of course, many, many, many notes from Nationals and more of Out Of Bounds soon.

This was an experience.

Comments

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

We watched the broadcast of the men's tonight, and I kept saying "Are Icarus and WG in the audience? I'll bet they're in the audience," and James kept saying "Who?"

Lysacek and Weir were astounding. I was personally pulling for Weir, but I loved Lysacek skating to Tosca. The announcers were WTFing like mad at the results as well; Scott Hamilton said "It's like flipping th e coin at the Superbowl and it lands on its edge! THAT'S the probability!" Someone else asked if the announcers agreed with the judges, and Scottie shot back, "That's not our decision!" Cute.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

There have been a few other ties since the judging changed, so although it's improbable, it's not all *that* improbable, and Scott Hamilton should know that. But he's kind of, you know... excitable. He doesn't tend to explain stuff. He just goes off.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, that's Scottie for ya. *grin*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The crowd was rather quietly confused, staring at each other.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

I saw it on TV, and I sat there for a moment, confused. Then I realised that the scores were TIED. And due to the long program, Evan had just won. Very exciting, but it took me a minute.