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

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Since you name checked me. I feel I have write a long post now.

Missed Bradon Overett the-guy-who-skates-like-Jack-Sparrow stop
Too bad. He's pretty entertaining. But I thought the opening footwork was better at Sectional.

Saw Rohene Ward the-skater-who-looks-like-Ronon in elevator stop
How was Rohene's skate in person? I've been told that live, he's electrifying. But I was less impressed by what I saw on the web.

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
I love Ryan Bradley. I agree with you, I don't think he was goofing off in the SP. There was no falls, and he hit all of his jumps. The hand gestures in his SP was also great, and he stayed in character the entire way through the LP. But if he didn't try the quad, he might have had a better result.
This sounds kind of silly, but if Charlie Chaplin did jumps, I think he jumps like Ryan. B/c Ryan doesn't look very stable in the air.

Loved Jeremy Abbott stop
I'm so glad he didn't fall on the quad. It hurt to watch him this entire GP series. Every time he attempted the quad, he fell.

Neither of us are impressed by Carriere stop
I like the different arm position his uses in the jumps. Somehow his style reminds me of an older generation of skaters.

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
Yeah, but Evan has the harder entrances to his jumps. The lunge into his sal, the spiral into his flip, and the wally, reverse wally into his Lutz.
I really love the reverse wally entrance to his Lutz. Because there isn't a step in between, he jumps off the land edge of the wally into his Lutz. I also like it, b/c the rotation on the second wally is done against his natural rotation. (I hope you will have John do that entrance. B/c it's hard, and really cool looking.)

I have video of Evan's warm-up stop
Please post it, if you can. I love to see the in-betweens. All the stuff an athlete have to do to get prepared, but you don't get to see on TV. That why I love the practice stuff in Out of Bound.

Johnny Weir is like liquid beauty poured on the ice stop
He is very fluid, and soft on the ice. I saw him live on COI, he draws you in.

At the end they were tied stop
But Evan won stop

I was so shocked to see the scores. I actually went and look at the Protocol. It looks like Lysacek did 3 jumps in combination, and Weir only did 2 jumps in combination. He got lucky on the technical score. If Weir tack a single toe behind any of his jumps, Weir would have won.

The women's skate was a total upset stop
Talk about an upset. Except for the bronze medalist, none of them are old enough to go to Worlds. And two of them are skating as seniors for the first time.

Evan Lysacek did flamenco music and was energetic and a powerful presence stop
That was actually his short program. So you got to see both SP and LP live. Which one did you think was better? (I know it's not a fair comparison, since the SP was done as exhibition, but I'm still curious.)

Belbin and Agosto (sp?) melted the ice stop
They are hot. I love their Chopin FD this year. But did they do the horrid Justin Timberlake exhibition number?

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
Awwwww. I feel sorry for all the guys that made top five. B/c it's horrible schedule for them. They basically have to skate in the exhibition a few hours after the LP. For the medalist, it's even worse, since they have to do press conferences right after the LP.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Haven't had a chance to read all of this yet, but just wanted to say that we were there Friday night for the SP and Sunday for both the LP and the gala. I didn't recognize that he skated his SP at the gala -- I don't think he did. But I'll check.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

When we saw Lysacek's Friday night I'd have to say that that was a far better performance. WG -- a total non-skating fan at his first competition -- stood with the crowd and gave him an enthusiastic standing ovation, saying, "That was amazing!"

Seriously, the intensity of the end of his SP was something to see. It grabbed you. He fell several times in the warm-up but when he hit the ice for the SP, he was On. Fire.

Thanks to Evan, WG is now a skating fan, but he's only interested in seeing skating in person. Television just doesn't capture it for him.

But did they do the horrid Justin Timberlake exhibition number?

Yep. I rather like it, actually. But the funny part was that three skaters did the same Justin Tiberlake song, so by the time B&A got to it, the audience was heartily sick of it. *g* The best gala performance by far was the Junior Men's champion, Adam Rippon. He did opera, and... you could tell he loved it. It's Pavarotti's finest performance, the one that makes your hair stand on end.

Please post it, if you can.

I will. Let me edit out some of clumsy camera work first. This was my first time with a digital camera.

Neither of us are impressed by Carriere stop
I like the different arm position his uses in the jumps. Somehow his style reminds me of an older generation of skaters.

Yes! He looks like Brian Boitano when he jumps (only not quite that high).

Missed Bradon Overett the-guy-who-skates-like-Jack-Sparrow stop
Too bad. He's pretty entertaining. But I thought the opening footwork was better at Sectional.

Did you get to see him at Sectional? *wide eyes*

Saw Rohene Ward the-skater-who-looks-like-Ronon in elevator stop
How was Rohene's skate in person? I've been told that live, he's electrifying. But I was less impressed by what I saw on the web.

He was skating in front of his home crowd in St. Paul, and I got the feeling that the pressure broke open every seam in his program. He was much better even at the Regional. In person, he skated the way I packed for this trip: like it was all thrown together haphazardly. His short program was better, much more together, and his music fits him like a glove or he fits the music, I can't tell which. I'd like to see him skate when he's under less pressure. His movements were still arching and elegant, even when he was falling apart.

Icarus

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Yep. I rather like it, actually. But the funny part was that three skaters did the same Justin Tiberlake song, so by the time B&A got to it, the audience was heartily sick of it.

LOL, the same thing happened at Skate America. I watched it on the web, so I can just skip through a few of them. But it must be annoying for the audience.

Did you get to see him at Sectional? *wide eyes*

No, I watched it on the web. I wish I can go, but there is none near my area.

His movements were still arching and elegant, even when he was falling apart.

Poor guy. Beautiful layback, and ambitions too. There was no reason for him to try a quad, but he went for it anyways.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I take it back. That was his short program at the gala. It didn't look the same at all. At the gala it was a fun program that suited him. At the SP it was just... different.

Okay, I'm a writer, I can do better than that.

Evan Lysacek attacked that program in the SP like a bullfighter facing his first fight. He entered it vulnerable, not counting on anything (Weir beat him in Russia and China) -- wanting it sooo badly. Then, once he knew he had it, he turned up the heat, skating faster and faster, with more intensity, like... he'd beaten the enemy back and was now chasing them with everything he had, victorious, but not letting go for a second.

That's what earned the "amazing!" from wildernessguru.

Then the music stopped, his head fell back, and the crowd roared to its feet.

Weir beat him with perfection in the SP, but Evan's performance was the one to see.

Icarus

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Wow, I like your descriptions. This season I liked Lysacek's short program a lot better than his long program. Too bad NBC is not airing the gala until next weekend. It'll be interesting to see the difference between the two.

I'm glad WG enjoyed figure skating.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

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
Yeah, but Evan has the harder entrances to his jumps. The lunge into his sal, the spiral into his flip, and the wally, reverse wally into his Lutz.
I really love the reverse wally entrance to his Lutz. Because there isn't a step in between, he jumps off the land edge of the wally into his Lutz. I also like it, b/c the rotation on the second wally is done against his natural rotation. (I hope you will have John do that entrance. B/c it's hard, and really cool looking.)

All my betas are intimidated by the technical aspects of the skating. Transitions and footwork are two things I'm researching now. I also just received Rickie Harris' book on choreography for coaches (yay, Amazon) to help me write both Rodney and Sonja's hard work with John this summer.

True, that reverse wally would look cool on John. Hmm... You know what I'd love to do? To work with you on the technical aspects John's final freeskate. If you're interested, email me at icarus.ancalion at gmail.

Icarus