Skating

[bigboobedcanuck]

Haters are gonna hate, but I was so proud of Patrick Chan this weekend at Nationals. He not only did a gorgeous quad in the short program, but two in the long (one in combination with a triple). He really has stepped up and is delivering. You just know that every beautiful quad Patrick does sticks in Evgeni Plushenko's craw, because Patrick shows

Comments

[rhiannonhero]

I don't really think he should give up his media whoring, etc, in order to train again. I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell of being competitive. As you say, stranger things have happened, but, personally, I think he should let that part of it go, and move on with his life. I think he'd be better off being a housewife than going that route. Right now, everyone loves him, and so many people (whether true or not) think he was shafted at the Olympics that I think he could ride the goodwill for awhile longer until he found something for himself. But what do I know???? Very little! :P

[bigboobedcanuck]

Oh, I don't think he should either! But he has made a few comments about it from time to time. I don't think he's really serious about it (Johnny tends to say a lot of things, LOL), but you never know. I do think it would be a mistake, because it would really be a fight just to make the US team, let alone compete with the world. I do think he was undermarked in Vancouver, although his program wasn't as hard as it could have been. He skated his best, and I really don't see him improving, at least not technically. Media whoring is something he excels at, and I'm sure he'll be much happier without competing. He's better off.

[rhiannonhero]

Johnny tends to say a lot of things, LOL

Most of the time, I love how Johnny runs his mouth. Sometimes I cringe, though. :(

[bigboobedcanuck]

Heh. Yeah, it's a fine line. Generally speaking I enjoy the outspoken athletes, because they're more fun than the ones who always say the right thing. With Johnny, my issue was always that he didn't put his money where his mouth was and do the work required to really excel. (Until he went to Galina.) Johnny just never did himself any favours. It's not fair, but skating is extremely political, and he burned far too many bridges with the US federation over the years.

I remember at Nationals a couple of years ago, he did an interview with NBC for their fluff pieces and talked about what a boring person Evan Lysacek is. He may be right (and I'm certainly no fan of Evan nowadays), but it was just tacky and classless to say that on TV. There's being cocky and outspoken, and then there's being petty and mean to your competitors. Which is just so unnecessary. Always better to beat them on the ice with your skating.

[highd]

I cried. The music and the passion he put on the ice was such a magical combination. Good lord. Sometimes when the world feels less then perfect, seeing something like this makes all the imperfections ok.

[bigboobedcanuck]

It really was a great skate! So wonderful to see. :)

[nutmeg3]

That was just stunning! And I've said it before and I'll say it again, for the skaters who think all that matters is doing jumps, they should lobby for a new category of competition when they come out just to jump and the jumps are all that matters, kind of like the puissance class in show jumping.

[bigboobedcanuck]

Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, ITA. The jumps are obviously important, but so are the spins and the footwork and the transitions. What they call "skating skills." Skaters such as Patrick show that you can have it all and not just be jumpers.

[snowmore]

I hope you're feeling better.

I was thrilled to pieces for Shawn!! And I was still smiling from ear to ear when Patrick was skating. Patrick's quad is so beautiful!! I think it's stunning how well he executes it.

It was good to see Cynthia conquer all that has happened since her first championships win. I hope she has a good Worlds competition. She certainly is a top five finisher if her programs are performed to her capability.

I love the top three ice dance teams. It's quite fabulous how deep we are ice dance. I was going to say amazing, but there is no surprise that we are. I truly believe that Shae and Vic's success helped to spawn the talent pool Skate Canada has to draw from now.

I'm very keen to see how well Moslovitch and Moore-Tower and Duhamel and Radford do at the Worlds. They all have talent. I hope Bryce recovers 100% from his injury and surgery and that Jessica takes her singles experience from Canadians into a new season with Bryce.

Getting anxious to see Tessa and Scott. I hope Tessa is doing very well!

[bigboobedcanuck]

I really am shocked at how proficient Patrick has become with the quad so quickly. He's clearly been working really, really hard on it. Obviously the 3A is still his nemesis, and I think it's a great idea to only do one in the long, and add in the quad combo. If he hits those jumps at Worlds, he'll be unbeatable. With his footwork and skating skills, if he has the jumps, too, no one else can come close to him. Takahashi could, but his quad is iffy.

ITA about Shae and Vic paving the way for this new crop of ice dancers.

Tessa and Scott are competing at 4C and Worlds, so we'll soon see how they're doing! Fingers are crossed for them.

[summerfire]

I was super impressed with Patrick's skate. I love how he makes such a difficult program look so easy - those jumps seem to come out of nowhere and yet have so much flow! The only things I think he needs to improve are his starfish hands (TM Johnny) and his facial expressions. He skates with his mouth hanging open and it's soooo distracting sometimes, haha. At any rate, I'm just glad he finally EARNED his scores! Here's hoping he can repeat this at Worlds!

[bigboobedcanuck]

It really is an incredibly hard program, especially when you compare it to say, Florent Amodio's Morozov special, with all the standing around and posing. Patrick skates from beginning to end. ITA that he needs to improve his expression, although funnily enough I've never really noticed the hands! I keep meaning to pay attention to the hands. He totally has so much room to grow still. Which is exciting.

I was glad to see that a lot of his detractors are admitting that it was a great skate. And yeah, he's totally been overmarked before (which isn't his fault), and I'm thrilled to see him really earn the scores. So hoping he can do it again at Worlds! *knocks on wood*