U.S. Ladies [#18]: These Boots Are Made for Skating

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We're well past Helsinki and I like having a new U.S. Ladies thread for the new season. People can still post in the thread for last season if they want? (eta: never mind, #17 has since been locked)

I posted this short video in Karen Chen's fan/cheer thread yesterday...
Catching Up with Team USA - Karen says she's practicing 3A on the harness and is hoping it might be competition ready in the coming season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Pw1N43vh0
 
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It would! I get that she's BFF with Madison Chock, but why do the same program? It's cute in a sense, but ultimately (no matter what) these two programs will be compared to each other one way or another by skating fans (and people will probably prefer one to the other, even though dance and ladies are different).

I think she's capable of something that only she, and nobody else, could pull off artistically. Like many, she dislikes our president and its a message that could unite the women of the world (and once-every-four-year fans would love it and remember her) and ultimately turn her into a :kickass: :glamor:!

She wouldn't even need to speak his name all year, people would just "get it". It's a powerful theme in general.

There's already a La La Land in basically every discipline, but whatever, it's the new fad.
 
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Tavi said:

[It was published in a local paper in Illinois with circulation of less than 25,000, not in The NY Times or Skating magazine. It's nice that you find it helpful to know, but I personally think the family deserves their privacy to the extent possible.]

As it was pointed out - the article was online. It's not like the 1960s where you can hide this stuff. Of course it's not fun to have an embarrassing event published about a family member, but way more has been published about family murder/suicides for skating families. You can be sure that NBC will probably mention this at Nationals next year.

No one is saying Gracie had anything to do with this situation, and personally I am more sympathetic to her last season knowing that are family struggles.
 
Karpenko said:
It would! I get that she's BFF with Madison Chock, but why do the same program? It's cute in a sense, but ultimately (no matter what) these two programs will be compared to each other one way or another by skating fans (and people will probably prefer one to the other, even though dance and ladies are different).
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Wait, what? I hadn't heard that C/B had announced their new programs yet.
 
Oh, thanks, @Sylvia. Well, Ashley did announce it first, so it's not like she's "doing the same program" as Madison -- it's more the other way around. Also -- I know, SHOCKER -- there's more than one song in La La Land. ;) They might not do the same pieces at all.
 
skatfan said:
Tavi said:

[It was published in a local paper in Illinois with circulation of less than 25,000, not in The NY Times or Skating magazine. It's nice that you find it helpful to know, but I personally think the family deserves their privacy to the extent possible.]

As it was pointed out - the article was online. It's not like the 1960s where you can hide this stuff. Of course it's not fun to have an embarrassing event published about a family member, but way more has been published about family murder/suicides for skating families. You can be sure that NBC will probably mention this at Nationals next year.

No one is saying Gracie had anything to do with this situation, and personally I am more sympathetic to her last season knowing that are family struggles.
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I really have nothing more to say on this.
 
Karpenko said:
:lol: that's a very lonely road you're walking on.
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Yes, clearly. :lol: We may as well give it up. Musical taste is what it is, in the useful phrase. You like something, or you don't. But I'm glad I like it, because it means I'm going to have a very nice Olympic season. :D (As long as the skaters using it don't cut it up like Edward Scissorhands, as skaters so often do. :scream: )
 
I feel like the only reason Wagner is skating to LaLa Land is for the small chance that she might get her Ryan Gosling moment a la That one guy/Simone Biles in Rio. I mean I can't complain about the music but I feel like it's too "small" for her.

If it were up to me she'd just complete her greatest hits with a Black Swan rehash. I feel like it'd be interesting to see how her interpretation of the music would compare then and now, like Mao and her Nocturne SP.
 
If she's doing it so that she can have a moment with Ryan Gosling :rofl:, I've already found my reason to love Ashley's version. :judge::cheer:

But I agree she can do much better, at least for her. I think she needs something with more spark and confidence.
 
Huh? :huh:
I'm so crazy about the La La Land soundtrack, I can't believe everyone doesn't love it too. I even made Another Day of Sun my iPhone ringtone :D Got the music loaded on my iPod Nano so I can skate to it myself. Really looking forward to all the Olympic programs using the music next year. (Though I do agree a boots number would also be fab by Ashley).
 
So far I think that peanut butter is the closest I've ever seen FSU as united, and headbands. Maybe Pasha's ass on a pillow, but that's it. It's a rare occurrence that something else ever breaks through.

I can see why people love LLL, but I don't love it for Ashley Wagner. I don't necessarily like it for skating either, but there's going to be a lot of it so I'll be prepared. Ryan Gosling can cure a lot of negativity. I originally disliked Moulin Rouge! :shuffle: (I did like the music, however) see where that one went?
 
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skatfan said:
... You can be sure that NBC will probably mention this at Nationals next year.

No one is saying Gracie had anything to do with this situation, and personally I am more sympathetic to her last season knowing that are family struggles.
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Everyone experiences 'struggles' in life. And everyone has family members who may be involved in troubles that can be very upsetting but likely have little to do with their own individual challenges. Unless and until Gracie were to mention anything of a personal family nature herself as having anything to do with her emotions and setbacks in skating, I see no reason for NBC to even go there. It's pure speculation based on a news item, some of the details of which may or may not be completely accurate.

One of Nancy Kerrigan's brothers had emotional drug-related struggles which eventually led to a fight between her brother and her Dad during which her Dad suffered a heart attack and died. Kerrigan's Mom suffers from blindness; Elizabeth Punsalan's brother had a history of mental illness and was charged with stabbing and killing their father a few weeks before the 1994 Olympics. Punsalan was still able to compete at the Olympics in ice dance with her partner, Jerod Swallow. Joannie Rochette tragically lost her mother to a heart attack a few days before she competed at the 2010 Olympics. Athough it was an extremely difficult roller coaster for her emotionally, Rochette famously took home the bronze medal. Mao Asada had to deal with the loss of her mother during a difficult transitional period in her storied skating career. Around the time of his breakup with his pairs skating partner, Kristi Yamaguchi, Rudy Galindo lost his coach, and then he lost his Dad and his brother to untimely deaths. But Galindo eventually went on to win his first U.S. National Championship in 1996 at the age of 27. Check out the career of Olympic diver, Greg Louganis, and the very direct personal struggles he endured and overcame.

We all have stuff to cope with in life. Often for athletes training and competing provides focus, discipline, goal-setting and a guiding purpose that can help distract them from agonizing about life situations over which they have no control. Depending upon the individual situation, personal and family struggles can of course distract athletes from the singular focus needed to train and compete at the highest level. I do hope that Gracie's father's personal situation recently reported in a local Illinois newspaper is not the major source of her competitive struggles. It seems to me that the specific circumstances reported shouldn't have any direct bearing on the ups and downs of Gracie's competitive career. Possibly there are tangential family relationship issues that may have affected her on some level while growing up. But that's also unconfirmed speculation. :duh: Overall, to me the report in the newspaper (especially in view of the headline) seems more like salacious gossip to hem and haw over that is actually none of our business, let alone NBC's to bring up during a skating event broadcast! :drama:
 
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I've started to compile a preliminary, very partial list for 2017 Skate Detroit, July 18-22 (entry deadline has just closed but the schedule/groups won't be published online for a while yet). Senior ladies who competed at or qualified for 2017 Nationals in Sr. or Jr.:

Mirai Nagasu, Paige Rydberg S11, Brynne McIsaac J9 (latter 2 switched earlier this year to Tom Z.)
Courtney Hicks S12
Hannah Miller (as mentioned in her latest blog linked in post #2 above)
Ashley Kim (late WD from Junior Ladies due to injury)
Katie McBeath S16
Maxine Marie Bautista J7
 
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Well, I despised Moulin Rouge when it was released in 2001 and I've never liked Nicole Kidman all that much. So, the fact that I was really tuned into Ashley's LP in 2014 - 16 shows that AW is a great actress and could do the same thing to La La Land, admittedly also a movie I have no desire to see! (I'm still booty-hurt over Emma Stone over Isabelle Huppert at the Academy Awards!) :drama:
 
aftershocks said:
Everyone experiences 'struggles' in life. And everyone has family members who may be involved in troubles that can be very upsetting but likely have little to do with their own individual challenges. Unless and until Gracie were to mention anything of a personal family nature herself as having anything to do with her emotions and setbacks in skating, I see no reason for NBC to even go there. It's pure speculation based on a news item, some of the details of which may or may not be completely accurate.

One of Nancy Kerrigan's brothers had emotional struggles which eventually led to a fight between her brother and her Dad during which her Dad suffered a heart attack and died. Kerrigan's Mom suffered from blindness; Elizabeth Punsalan's brother had a history of mental illness and was charged with stabbing and killing their father a few weeks before the 1994 Olympics. Punsalan was still able to compete at the Olympics in ice dance with her partner, Jerod Swallow. Joannie Rochette tragically lost her mother to a heart attack a few days before she competed at the 2010 Olympics. Athough it was an extremely difficult roller coaster for her emotionally, Rochette famously took home the bronze medal. Mao Asada had to deal with the loss of her mother during a difficult transitional period in her storied skating career. Around the time of his breakup with his pairs skating partner, Kristi Yamaguchi, Rudy Galindo lost his coach, and then he lost his Dad and his brother to untimely deaths. But Galindo eventually went on to win his first U.S. National Championship in 1996 at the age of 27. Check out the career of Olympic diver, Greg Louganis, and the very direct personal struggles he endured and overcame.

We all have stuff to cope with in life. Often for athletes training and competing provides focus, discipline, goal-setting and a guiding purpose that can help distract them from agonizing about life situations over which they have no control. Depending upon the individual situation, personal and family struggles can of course distract athletes from the singular focus needed to train and compete at the highest level. I do hope that Gracie's father's personal situation recently reported in a local Illinois newspaper is not the major source of her competitive struggles. It seems to me that the specific circumstances reported shouldn't have any direct bearing on the ups and downs of Gracie's competitive career. Possibly there are tangential family relationship issues that may have affected her on some level while growing up. But that's also unconfirmed speculation. :duh: Overall, to me the report in the newspaper (especially in view of the headline) seems more like salacious gossip to hem and haw over that is actually none of our business, let alone NBC's to bring up during a skating event broadcast! :drama:
Click to expand...

An addicted parent, a doctor no less, engaging in criminal activity is not just family trouble. Gracie seems very sensitive to what others think of her. She is tight with her sister and mother who are left to deal with the situation when Gracie is away. Gracie is young. There are psych office waiting rooms filled with neglected and abused offspring of Alcoholics/drug addicts. If she escapes the effects of this she's a small minority. Though she hasn't spoken, it clicked in my head as some explanation for the erratic performances and strange behaviors the last year. We never really know what others are going through. Skate or no skate I only wish her luck finding a way out and back to herself. It's a very dark place of anger, guilt and low self worth.
 
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