Michelle Kwan is engaged!

[olivia]

Of course, Irina had the artistry of an epileptic St. Bernard, but man, she was in shape.

Oh GOD! I hate you for that (perfect) imagery.

Remember her 04-05 short program? She's like, supposed to be a fortune teller, and she's dealing cards, but since she's so fucking artless, she looked like she was feeding chickens??!!

Yep (again with the perfect imagery), I remember that. Somehow, I still loved artless Irina, plowing through her routines.

Plushenko's coach Alexei Mishin said, "Russian women - make better truck drivers than skaters!".

BAD! I'm not going to acknowledge any truth in that...especially since Plushy looks like he's having seizures on ice when he skates (but man can he jump.)

[BITTER]

BAD! I'm not going to acknowledge any truth in that...especially since Plushy looks like he's having seizures on ice when he skates (but man can he jump.)

Truth. He can jump on a dime.

Plushy reminds me of Fred Flinstone when Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty went to that Boy Scouts campground and Fred did that rain dance and he started spazzing all over the place, and the lightning bolt struck him right in his ass. That is what Plushy's skating has always reminded me of. The stroke-like hand movements and spastic footwork. I can't stand watching him skate at all. Except for laughs.

[Slushie]

Plushenko's jumping went to shit in Vancouver. Everything went way off-tilt in his LP there, I'm still kind of impressed he skated it clean.

[snoopqueen]

Big old money. Nuala Pell, the late senator's wife, was the daughter of Jo Hartford Bryce, the A&P Heiress.

Senator Pell was also responsible for the Pell Grant! Important legacy.

Congratulations to them both.

Plushenko's jumping went to shit in Vancouver. Everything went way off-tilt in his LP there, I'm still kind of impressed he skated it clean.

I always preferred Alexei Yagudin.

Alexey Yagudin 2002 Olympics, SP Winter - YouTube

In High Definition
Alexei Yagudin 2002 Olympics HDTV SP Winter - YouTube
Their rivalry was the best, loved this snippet

[snoopqueen]

I always thought that Cohen simply wasn't strong enough to be a the best skater. Though her body could do amazing things, she never had the sheer strength to consistently jump, spin and hold her edges. Her legs and her back just couldn't handle it.

That's what Kwan had over so many other skaters, the girl was STRONG. So was Irina Slutskaya. At the end of the day, all the prettiness in the world can't compete with the consistency of strength and good training.

True true but I can watch Sasha Cohen all day long she was so graceful...

Sasha Cohen (USA) - 2002 Salt Lake City, Figure Skating, Ladies' Short Program - YouTube

Falls and all ;-)

Sasha Cohen 2006 LP Romeo & Juliet [HD] - YouTube


I loved Michelle in Nagano too...sad she didn't get gold
Michelle Kwan - 1998 Olympic Games - Long Program - YouTube


Seriously the Japanese have had HDTV a lot longer than we have per my youtube searches...

[BITTER]

Plushenko's jumping went to shit in Vancouver. Everything went way off-tilt in his LP there, I'm still kind of impressed he skated it clean.

And I'm surprised he got such high scores, as front loaded as his programs could be. He wanted to save that spastic footwork for last. And his spins were nothing to write home about either.