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

[crazed_delusion]

I really think I'm like the only one who absolutely hate Johnny Weir. I think he's an egotistical whiny little bottom boy. You see him talking about Evan through all the interviews and saying such bad things about him. Then you could see when he lost he was like WTF I was robbed. I used to really like him but overall he just has no presence anymore and while he can skate it's just blah. On top of that he's a total media whore and is a complete jerk to his fans. Well...at least Evan won...So YAY!!!

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

What you hate about Johnny, I like. He's not fake. He's totally honest, although he's learned to be more political lately.

With other skaters, they're all like, to the press, "Oh, I'm so glad that Michelle did well. I'm happy with second..." when you know in their hearts that they are competitive athletes and they wish, wish, wish they hadn't come in second to her.

But with Johnny, you know how he feels.

And Evan hasn't always been quite so... Well, let's just say that he and Johnny are not friends.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I like Johnny, too.

I could tell the two of them didn't get along at the end of the exhibition: body language turned away from each other and as much space as was seemly between them.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

And Evan hasn't always been quite so... Well, let's just say that he and Johnny are not friends.

They've been competing against each other since 2001, haven't they?

I'm curious. It was obvious Evan didn't like Johnny from his body language when they were standing next to each other at the gala. I'm curious though. Has Evan ever said that he doesn't care for Johnny?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I can't get on board with the Evan verses Johnny opinion train. For me, it would ruin my enjoyment of the skating to place personalities first. (I feel the same about fanfiction writers. I may dislike the writer, but I will still read and rec their fics.) I don't like to judge people I haven't personally met.

I distrust blanket statements about people. I'll buy a specific statement backed by verifiable fact -- say, "Johnny was egotistical when he said he was better than blahblahblah." I just don't buy broad statements such as "Johnny is egotistical." I haven't met anyone who is always egotistical, at all times, under all circumstances. I've found Johnny Weir's frankness to be anything but egotistical. He seemed determined to be himself and not a packaged product.

The trouble is, the USFA wanted a packaged product and Johnny being himself was bad for business.

In reaction, a spokesman for the USFA slandered Johnny, deliberately and publicly, in a television interview. (Nancy Kerrigan was also there but she didn't comment much.) I watched a YouTube video of the interview. It was character assassination, pure and simple. He made it clear did not appreciate how Johnny's coy-almost-but-not-quite-out gayness (pointing out Johnny appearing in fishnet stockings, going to Elton John's glitzy party, wanting to be a fashion designer) and effeminate figure skating style effected the image of figure skating. He then proceeded to praise Evan in comparison to Johnny as being "more masculine."

The skating world picked up his lines like a bunch of trained seals.

It was just spin. But Johnny went from being a skating superstar to persona non grata. He was abandoned by many of his fans. Research has shown that even when people know a bit of slander is false it will still effect how they feel. When the slander is salted with partial truths it's almost impossible to counter.

I refuse to cooperate with the UFSA spin. Though Johnny seems to have learned about what he called in recent interviews "the business end of figure skating." His style is being carefully repackaged as "Russian" rather than "feminine." He did a wholesome piece on going home for the holidays for icenetwork. The USFA has brought him in line.

I find it discouraging. He tried to be natural and he was beaten down.

[moojja.livejournal.com]

I can't get on board with the Evan verses Johnny opinion train. For me, it would ruin my enjoyment of the skating to place personalities first.

In that case, stay away from the skate boards. At the moment, it's all about the Evan verses Johnny opinion train, non-stop express to Deadlockville.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

I have been ignoring all that. Best not to get all blah blah blah...

[crazed_delusion]

Teah I was overly harsh that night I know. *spanks hand for reply while still mad*

I think my main problem that day is what he said in all the pre-game yadda yadda they did on tv. Which if I had a clip I'd put up lol

It just pissed me off, I never like when one competitor bad mouths their main competition before, well a competition.

On a normal day, I try to ignore everything when watching skaters. Ignore country, past history, any of that and just watch them skate. And I will admit Johnny's long program was really good, you could tell he was doing everything he could to win it.

I think it was all the non-stop Evan vs. Johnny hubbub they did for an hour of the show. I'm guessing that if I had been able to just watch them skate. I wouldn't have been nearly as pissed off as I was.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I muted all that. Anything that wasn't actually skating or immediate recap I slammed the button for.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and we didn't hear any of that up in the stands. From there it was all -- okay, mostly -- skating.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

No one in media has forgotten the tons of viewers they got over Nancy Kerrigan's knee, so they definitely went for the "rivalry" angle. After the fact, I watched Johnny's catty comments and Lysacek's "It's war."

I thought there was quite a bit of selective editing going on by NBC to play up the nastiness between the two of them. Why else do we have a three-second interview clip from Evan (the only nasty comment they could get out of him, I bet) and Johnny going on for five minutes (Johnny is chatty).

Weir was asked about those comments later and he blinked. "I said that?"

Yes, Johnny, you did.

I showed wildernessguru the clip and surprisingly, he really liked Johnny. "The guy's blunt," he nodded. WG hates B.S. and likes that Johnny says what he thinks.