Another Blade
Okay, there is another young thing I find adorable. I don't have a crush or anything--but I think Johnny Weir is....adorable. For those who don't know--he is an American Ice Skater who has won the National Championship for the last three years. He's outspoken and unconventional, and skates like a ballerina. His skating is about artistry more than about just the jumps. He has quite an avid following--and yet there are also many people who are very uncomfortable with his personal style. The press loved him going into the Olympics because he promised to be their interesting story--he is likable and funny, and also says the unpredictable. However when he did poorly on his long program at the Olympics, those in the press who didn't like his style (not very typically manly) just skewered him--he was outed in the Chicago Tribune the same night he messed up, and he faced all sorts of hostile questions and speculation. Hostile viewers wrote to him to saying had failed for America and he had shamed the country, as well as far more obscene things. Lots of people have been pretty cruel to him. But he sure has his fans--a great many of them. He is a self-titled "princess"--but by all accounts he is very kind. His interviews are honest and thoughtful--and he has said he thinks it very important to treat people well. I like him.
In any case--a community called Sports Squee just named him Favorite Man Alive.
Here is a link to a very cute vid (in my opinion), if you want to check it out.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7nCy7dK4m0A
Johnny goes into the nationals again at the end of this month with a bit of a handicap as he was injured in his last competition and had to withdraw. He has had little time to work on his new program.
*grin* Who would have suspected I would know anything about sports??? That's about the limit of my knowledge, however.