OK... who are your top 3 AMERICAN pairs teams of all time?

[aftershocks]

The more I look at the stats, I have to say that Evora/Ladwig seemingly should have won at least one or two U.S. championships. It's probably partly due to politics and bad luck with miscues mainly on sbs jumps. They had wonderful speed, lovely lines and spirals, and extraordinary lifts. And Evora/Ladwig were certainly lowballed at the 2010 Olympics. E/L should have been in at least 6th place based on their superior performances over a number of other teams, including Canadians Dube/Davison, and Langlois/Hay.

How soon we forget!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOFGsvDrZc E/L 2010 Olympics sp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77HweD5sGg E/L 2010 Olympics fp
vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYtLOQr0c30 Mukhorta/Trankov sp
no chemistry, a big fall and lack of unison on sbs spins; not well-matched despite some gorgeous looking moves and flow over the ice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tazfZyu-JMA M/T fp -- another fall on sbs jump, and struggling through, again with nice flow and some nice Russian aesthetic, but no chemistry or excitement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxOsB-N3fGo Volosozhar/Morosov sp
Ye gods, even worse (another splat) -- they look like they are trying to channel Savchenko/Szolkowy egregiously! Not an ounce of chemistry & totally forgettable! Volosozhar has exquisite moves, but she's clearly with the very wrong partner. Paired sooner with Trankov for Russia, they may even have placed 4th at 2010 Olympics instead of Kavaguti/Smirnov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj4Ww9deA78 V/M fp -- another fall on opening sbs jump, loss of unison on sbs spins NOT well-matched -- political scoring. A good 3-twist and Volosozhar is a diamond in the rough here, but this team was not better than Evora/Ladwig who generated much more excitement and chemistry.

Clearly, the Canadian teams were positioned as they were politically because the Olympics took place in Vancouver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8hZJa0g6Z4 Langlois/Hay sp
Not bad, but not significantly better than Evora/Ladwig either (except a bit stronger on the jumps)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHYUpOUA7BE full pairs fs 2010 scroll to 2:01:12 for Langlois/Hay fp -- it looks like they completed a 2-twist, and then a fall on opening sbs jump; bad landing on second throw jump; too tentative with lackluster music and just not a good fp for them at all. They were certainly not 3 positions better than E/L. Too much blade-grabbing during the death spiral sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwoMqyytjME Dube/Davison sp -- they had star power and reputation, and they were skating in Canada, so if they'd not made any mistakes perhaps they could have moved up to 4th or 5th. As it is, even with the fall, and botched unison on final spin, it appears to have been decided to keep D/D in 6th place, just as it was decided to keep E/L in 10th place regardless that E/L skated both programs without the errors teams in front of them had (aside from L/H skating fairly decently in the sp in home country).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQiiVVwdLQ Dube/Davison -- nice music and choreo, but another fall on sbs salchow, botched unison on sbs spin, botched landing on throw jump, a bit labored and tentative on spiral sequence, forward landing on another throw (THEY DID NOT DESERVE 6th place!). How did they remain in 6th? They should have fell to 8th and L/H to 10th, with Evora Ladwig placing at least 6th overall.

Bottom line: U.S. pairs get no respect even when they perform above expectations. The judges were determined to be dismissive toward E/L, and U.S. fed knows NOT how to politick.

 

[aftershocks]

E/L placed 10th at the 2010 Olympics as U.S. silver medalists, while Denney/Barrett, the 2010 U.S. champions were 14th in the sp, 12th in the fp, and 13th overall at those Olympics. Denney/Barrett were stronger jumpers than E/L, and they had a great performance at U.S. Nationals, but didn't perform as well at the Olympics. Although somewhat rough around the edges, still, this Caydee Denney is the one they should have allowed to be herself when she was paired with John Coughlin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4KOlVSoRGE U.S. championship win: at 5:01 notice the abbreviated leap by Caydee into Jeremy's arms; similar to the leap of faith that Jeremy suggested for French champions James/Cipres in their boffo sp this past season

Denney/Barrett were more bravura excitement than they were fully developed and refined skaters though. There was a lot of potential there. Once Denney paired with Coughlin, they should not have tried to make her into another version of Yankowskas though. I understand that inclination, but they went down the wrong path by not remaining true to Caydee's personality.

2010 Olympics sp D/B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmFMZG4iBfw Not bad; doubling by Caydee on sbs jump, but they were considered young newbies and perhaps not as refined as E/L? They didn't skate poorly, just low-balled a slight bit; not held up with mistakes like all the other 2nd tier pairs placed ahead of E/L

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gLs5yVdnWs A very good skate that only pulled D/B up two spots to 12th in fp and 13th overall. They were lowballed; the only small glitch was a forward landing by Barrett on one of sbs jumps, plus they lacked of bit of polish. Seemingly, they were dismissed by the judges and held down for political reasons; they skated with much more verve and excitement than Langlois/Hay who apparently benefited from skating in their home country.

 

[Seerek]

Cynthia and Ron Kauffman.

 

[DreamSkates]

I started watching during the time of Jenni Meno & Todd Sand so had to vote for them. They were so graceful and smooth - and fast - across the ice.