GRAND PRIX ASSIGNMENTS

[parcferme]

DISCUSS

Comments

[parcferme]

my thoughts~

menz:
- Not sure if I want Menshov or Artur to get the Russia TBA spot.
- it's really a shame Menshov only has one spot since he did so well on the last GP (two 4th places).
- finally BBs like Josh, Jason, and Han.
- NOOOOOOO!!!! Brian will never win Cup of China! And I can't believe he's not going to be at TEB. He's never not been assigned TEB. But he has 4 Golds between his 6 appearances at Skate American and Cup of Russia so I hope this is lucky!
- really RIP Tomas' career.
- so Skate Chanada and TEB are pretty much the same with PChan, the Brez, Yuzuru, and Boss Miner.
- how far is Misha Ge down the substitute list? I really hope he gets an assignment this year since he got so close w/other skaters' withdrawals last year.

ladies:
- NO GOSVIANI sob.
- I don't mind Radionova moving up, but did they have to move Pogorilaya up and give her two events? ZZZZZZ
- Alissa will get the SA TBA spot, probably. Hometown hero and all...but I would love to see a new face or something. Sad none of the American juniors moved up.
- I can't believe Adelina wasn't assigned Cup of Russia. I'm so glad my bbs Liza and Julia get to skate at home for once! never thought that would happen since Adelina is Putin's fave.
- mad that Christina has to compete against Ashley and Gracie while Agnes gets to be top American girl at both her events.

dance:
- this is actually better than last year when there were only 3 events each run twice.
- France TBA spot is probably for Papadakis/Cizeron, so why not announce it already.
- I hate that France being a gp host means Carron/Jones gets two spots while better teams like Zlobina/Sitnikov and Coomes/Buckland only get one.
- weaver/poje might actually have a chance of making gpf!

pairs:
- V/T not at Cup of Russia and S/S competing there...I know this happened in 2011 too, but this is Olympic season and Russia loves its pairs...I guess V/T chose Skate America first so S/S claimed Russia lol.

[bananrama]

Carron/Jones having 2 spots has nothing to do with host picks, they were top 12 at Worlds, beating Z/S and C/B and so are entitled to two assignments.

[parcferme]

oops I keep forgetting the order of 12-13-14
prob since I'm still stuck in 2012 when C/J were terrible

[nonexistentlj]

I really hope Alissa gets that spot b/c I'd love to see her at a GP again.

[ausweis_lost]

Voronov may also get Russian TBA.

Why do you think Adelina is Putin's fave?))

[parcferme]

And she's usually sitting near him when he attends skating events.

[ausweis_lost]

Putin might have a picture taken with some promising young skater and forget about her completely, and last time he attended skating was Worlds 2011... but TAT is a sort of his consultant (idk how her title is translated), maybe she's trying to get her sportsmen closer to authority. This may bring them some benefits, but I doubt that really affects the GP assignments.
I guess they gave Liza RC because she's in the same group with Plush, and he couldn't get any other spot but host pick.

[ausweis_lost]

- how far is Misha Ge down the substitute list?

One assignment by SB
22 224.15 Jason BROWN USA
23 223.72 Konstantin MENSHOV RUS
25 217.61 Sergei VORONOV RUS
27 216.60 Andrei ROGOZINE CAN
28 211.88 Alexander MAJOROV SWE
29 210.47 Adam RIPPON USA
30 209.84 Artur GACHINSKI RUS

Without assignments
31 207.50 Misha GE UZB
32 204.34 Shotaro OMORI USA
33 203.65 Armin MAHBANOOZADEH USA
34 199.94 Elladj BALDE CAN (1 assignment, but host pick, not SB)
35 199.37 Zhan BUSH RUS
36 198.92 Ryuju HINO JPN

[jedinic]

mad that Christina has to compete against Ashley and Gracie while Agnes gets to be top American girl at both her events.

This. Totally this. I was hoping this would be her season!

Also, I am still LOL at how Evan keeps showing up on assignments. Is that just a ploy to sell tickets because people remember his name?

[eaweek]

Is that just a ploy to sell tickets because people remember his name?

If yes, it's a sad statement that the USFSA has so little faith in its current crop of skaters. : (

[parcferme]

I think Evan actually believes that he'll be ready/uninjured, he's that into himself

[elevatorshaker]

Is that just a ploy to sell tickets because people remember his name?

Nah, they couldn't be that stupid. ¬_¬

What USFSA needs to do is plant/bribe someone to attack skaters again. Only way at this point to make figure skating popular and relevant in the US again.

[eaweek]

What USFSA needs to do is plant/bribe someone to attack skaters again. Only way at this point to make figure skating popular and relevant in the US again.

LOL, well I don't think the USFSA has the ability to revive the US economy so that ordinary people can afford to attend competitions and shows, to say nothing of reviving the sadly dead pro-competitive circuit. Honestly, there are a number of skaters who probably would have turned pro 4 or 8 years ago if the competitive and touring opportunities had been there.

I wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt, but maybe there could be more open bitchiness between VM and DW? Really, they're just too nice to each other. ; ) Yeah, Moir shoots off his mouth sometimes, but it doesn't get picked up by the media too much. Maybe he just gets overshadowed by "Chanflation." ; )

Of course, the USFSA is too stupid apparently to do two things that might immediately revive interest in the sport: 1) put more skating BACK ON FRIGGING TV, and 2) hire skating commentators who competed more recently than Sandra Bezic (1970s) and Scott Hamilton (1980s). Honestly, they're turning into the Peggy Flemming/ Dick Button of this era. And I used to enjoy Hamilton's commentary! > : - {

[jedinic]

I think there's a good chance we could start to see more rivalry between VM and DW. Okay, Meryl and Charlie are far too nice to EVER say anything in public, but neither side has really said much about the "we're all friends" schtick the past year.

[eaweek]

I think it was easier for the two teams to be friends back when they were both up-and-coming. I was looking back over some competitive results and You Tube videos the other day (goofing off at work, LOL), and it struck me that in terms of competitive development, it was like VM were older skaters or something--they seemed more mature and polished than DW (who actually had a couple of seasons as the 3rd and 2nd ranked US team, and then a year-ish when they were co-favorites with BA). So they weren't really "in the same place" competitively for their first 2-3 years as seniors. But after 2010, VM and DW were going after the same thing--namely the #1 spot in the world--and I suspect that has caused some tension, whether any of them would admit it or not.

I don't think the whole brouhaha with Igor last year has helped any, either.

Still, whatever tensions might be there, it's still not the kind of thing NBC can turn into a big drama llama and use to rope in more potential viewers.

I would not mind seeing both teams in an ice show some day! : )

[elevatorshaker]

I'm assuming you mean "ordinary" as not skating lunatics like us who gets up at all hours of the night to watch grainy Latvian streams. I don't know where you live, but I haven't heard anyone saying they wanted to go to a skating competition, but had to pay rent and buy groceries instead. I've been in NorCal for the past few years and just got back down to SoCal, but no one in either place ever talks about skating. It's not the economy.

Consider the Skaters Care show in 2011. It was $35 for a ticket, had Olympians in it, and was held in a heavily populated area (Los Angeles) and those seats were empty as hell. Hell, I went to All That Skate in LA in 2010 and even it wasn't full on the Sunday show, and the reason why it was even that successful is the huge Korean population. I agree that NBC needs to show more of it to keep it in people's consciousness, but I really think it's the idea that it's a "sissy" sport for girls and gays. Add in that there's no dominating force from the US like Kwan and, of course, the (true to some extent) perception that skating is rigged and you have a massive hole for figure skating to crawl out of in terms of gaining popularity.