U.S. Men 2012-13 news, updates & general discussion

[victoriaheidi]

I'd love to know he's okay, though I must giggle a little at Chen being discussed in a US Men's thread.

Lol, I know. :p His brother and I go to the same school, and I remember once having a conversation like this in our class FB group (before I knew they were brothers):

Guy we go to school with named Nathan Chen: something random
His brother: Woah, that's my little bro's name!
Me: It's also the name of a US Men's skater I love.
His Brother: Dude, that's my brother...but he's not a man!

LOL

ETA: I haven't crossed paths with the elder Chen (aside from facebook), so I couldn't just ask him for an update on his brother.

[aftershocks]

Granted, I am a frustrated Jeremy über, but that SP is freakin' AMAZING -- if he hits cleanly, he will demolish the competition.

...
ETA: Just watched Abbot's FS for the first time -- absolutely gorgeous and sublime , but he's GOT to land the jumps in order to win .

He also gets massive props for continuing to use music that is not overused and creating programs that push the artistic level.

*********

Benji Schwimmer has the potential to become a kickass choreographer for figure skating -- he's two-for-two now with Abbott....I would like to see what he can do for Ice Dance (if he's already choreographed for anyone else, I'm not aware of it ).

ITA! The more I watch both of Jeremy's new programs, the more mesmerized I become. Very cool sp -- love that kickin' hip hop dance move he does close to the end ... and the ending itself is classic and iconic, but still unexpected! And remember, he's performing under show lights on crappy ice. Can't wait to see these programs in competition. Stay cool and in the zone, Jeremy. Find a way to make nerves work for you. Release, and let go while maintaining balance and edge. Go into the gap between thoughts and rock it. You are the bomb!

There's so much to be revealed in his fp with repeat viewings. Looking forward to seeing the full version in competition.

[Jaana]

Okay, I'll play -- What a beautiful Rippon Lutz-Dornbush Toe!

Shouldn´t that be called Tano lutz after Boitano?

[Skittl1321]

Shouldn´t that be called Tano lutz after Boitano?

Tano is one hand overhead, Rippon two. He was doing a Rippon.

[Ziggy]

How about calling the jumps with two arms overhead jumps with two arms overhead?

I don't think Evan's 3A is under rotated. It won't get any + GOE but don't see any reason why it would get - GOE.

It's always been clearly and significantly pre-rotated.

[aftershocks]

How about calling the jumps with two arms overhead jumps with two arms overhead?

...

I can just hear Boitano and Rippon scathingly declaring: NO WAY, Zigs!!!

[Mrs. P]

Evan Lysacek is out of Skate America, Armin Mahbanoozadeh takes his spot.

http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=48513&type=media

[aftershocks]

^^ Being discussed also in the Lysacek comeback thread. I'm glad Armin gets a GP spot.

Oh well, no Abbott vs Lysacek just yet.

[dots]

Well this blows!

[Sylvia]

aftershocks, can you please take any re-hashing of past seasons' U.S. men's competitions to the Trash Can? Thanks in advance.

It's always good to come across local coverage of figure skating, especially of U.S. men - here's a blog article about Dornbush's silver in Finland and coach Tammy Gambill's hectic travel schedule (Shotaro Omori is the correct spelling of the junior man she accompanied to Germany this week): http://blog.pe.com/gregg-patton/2012...nd-in-finland/

[aftershocks]

Look okay, Sylvia, but you will also need to monitor and enforce others' former season and out of place commentary in GSD as well, don't you think?

[Sylvia]

ETA: aftershocks, I'm not a moderator here and I can't tell you or anyone else what or where to post. I was just making a request, that's all. Feel free to start a new thread in the Trash Can to re-hash past competition results.

[aftershocks]

Sigh. So much for my pre-emptive request.

Ditto. So much for my failure to see your pre-emptive request initially, much less for my overall presumptuousness!

ETA: aftershocks, I'm not a moderator here and I can't tell you or anyone else what or where to post. I was just making a request, that's all. Feel free to start a new thread in the Trash Can to re-hash past competition results.

Dear Sylvia, my aim was to respond to other posters' equally out of place comments in the Evan thread, not to get into a back and forth with you. In any case, since I respect you very much, I've acquiesced already across the board to your requests/ suggestions/ advice not to post rehash comments in the GSD threads in question. Thanks for all you do.

As to starting a series of U.S. men's rehash threads in Trash, at the moment, NEVERMIND.

[Ziggy]

aftershocks can you kindly stop spewing pointless and senseless bullshit all the time and then on top of that flip when somebody tells you nicely to cut it? I mean one only can take as much of your verbal diarrhoea...

[aftershocks]

aftershocks can you kindly stop spewing pointless and senseless bullshit all the time and then on top of that flip when somebody tells you nicely to cut it? I mean one only can take as much of your verbal diarrhoea...

One person's flip is another's flap. Ah, and you might want to look up the proper spelling for that very uncomfortable condition, of which you might also be in the running (no pun intended) for as well.

[Sylvia]

It's the British spelling of the word.

BTW, I believe you when you said you didn't see my initial request before posting here, and I appreciate that you've since moved your post to the Weir thread in the Trash Can.

Keegan Messing has received a second Senior B assignment following his bronze at Nebelhorn -- he will join Max Aaron at Cup of Nice in France later this month (Oct. 24-28).

[jlai]

Aahh, so basically the first senior B sort of acted as a skateoff--the podium finishers among the US men get another assignment. That's pretty fair.

[aftershocks]

It's the British spelling of the word.

BTW, I believe you when you said you didn't see my initial request before posting here, and I appreciate that you've since moved your post to the Weir thread in the Trash Can.
...

Thanks as always, Sylvia! Brit spelling of that "burning sensation" is news to me, and I didn't know Ziggy's a Brit.

In any case, I'm not flipped out re your requests/ suggestions. It definitely can be annoying when GSD threads stray too far OT (not that many of them don't quite often).

Off to take my probiotics, but doubt I'll ever learn how to edit myself, much less quit "spewing" to Ziggy's satisfaction.

[museksk8r]

Truly, I think Jeremy Abbott is better than everyone. I wish he could internalize that truth and rise to the top on the strength of belief in himself and his extraordinary talent.

I've never gotten the sense that Abbott has a confidence problem. He has openly admitted though that he has a problem staying focused in competition. I really wish he could get a handle on that once and for all.

[aftershocks]

I've never gotten the sense that Abbott has a confidence problem. He has openly admitted though that he has a problem staying focused in competition. I really wish he could get a handle on that once and for all.

^^ Yeah, I wouldn't describe Jeremy as necessarily having a confidence problem. But, e.g., last season, he reacted with surprise a few times in the kiss 'n cry re high scores from the international judges. Perhaps understandable because he has been low-balled at times, especially in PCS. I think Jeremy needs to work on feeling good about himself and his abilities, particularly when he skates well, and try not to over-react to the judges' scores, good or bad.

I also think Jeremy may be someone who tends to "think too much" during competition, or perhaps "overthink" beforehand. He did say that he has worked with a sports psychologist. If I were him, I would explore working with someone different, experiment with pre-competition preparation and take whatever approach to competition that is going to work best for him individually. It's not enough to do the training and prepare the programs and go out there hit or miss re the mental aspect of his skating. If nothing changes in that habitual mental sphere, then nothing will change re his overall results in big moments.

Not saying I'm a psychologist, but I did some reading about the psychological aspects of athletes' performances as a direct consequence of watching Abbott's and Rippon's 2012 Worlds performances. As I said previously, I think part of the difficulty has to do with U.S. Nationals being so major and intense, unlike the Nationals that many non-U.S. competitors experience. It takes such a battle to make the U.S. team. How do U.S. medalists pace and prepare themselves in the aftermath of Nationals in order to be at their best for Worlds?