Skate America, Part 1

Finally, some figure skating. Over the weekend, ABC/ESPN broadcast the first competition in the Grand Prix series--all disciplines except for the Women's free skate, which they'll show next Sunday. I had no taping debacles, so I watched the entire broadcast.

I've noticed that some kind soul posted some clips from Campbell's Cup over at YouTube, so I thought that I'd make some general comments until Cup of America makes it over there, then I'll make more specific comments like I'm planning to do with Campbell's. For example, I noticed that you could hear the skates on the ice more than in the past. At first, I thought it was a sound problem, but then Terry Gannon said that they had put eight separate microphones buried in the ice so that the viewers could hear what it was like to stand next to the rink, next to the boards. I don't remember ABC/ESPN doing that before, but once I realized that they were doing on purpose, I liked it. As Susie Wynn said, it's better if the sound is more "organic" and more of a "roar"; when it sounds "scratchy," it means skaters are using their toe picks more, something they want to avoid.

Speaking of sound problems, could someone please tell the folks at ESPN to stop with their score updates. Now, that's distracting, especially when they cut in the middle of a performance, with those annoying five tones. If they're gonna do that, I wish that they would mute the tones or do it at a time other than in the middle of a program.

Women's
ABC only showed the short program, but we already know how it shook out. Miki Ando, wow. I really like her. She burst upon the scene in 2004, being the only woman in competition to do a quad. I remember being very impressed with her at the time, and disappointed that her injuries took her out last season. As much as I like Kimmie Meissner, who did an excellent job but wasn't able to catch Ando, I have a great deal of respect for the Japanese skaters.

Emily Hughes trying not to smile during "Carmen" was a hoot. She's got such a cheerful personality; it must have been difficult for her. She pulled it off, even though her scores were disappointing.

According to Michelle Wojdyla on her blog on U.S.F.S.A.'s webpage, Michele Cantu of Mexico was at Hartford for the first time. Mexico is new to figure skating competition, which I found interesting. I wish that ABC had shown her skate. I'd like to hear more about the Mexican figure skating program.

Men's
A couple of the guys decided to go for humor and sillyness; for example, Ryan Bradley and Alban Preaubert. I'm not all that familiar with Preaubert, who's from France, but he's awfully cute. I loved that he had a five o'clock shadow for his short program, and then was clean-shaven for the long. More about Preaubert later.

I was characteristically happy to see Evan Lysacek again, but the way that he and Kurt Browning, who choreographed his short program, fawned all over each other was a bit embarrassing. What does it say that Evan didn't do as well in his short program? Evan, the "come-back kid," characteristically nailed it in his long program, which he knew better. I think he did even better than at the Olympics. Great, great program.

Can we talk about another Japanese skater again? I have only good things to say about Nobunari Oda. He has so much personality, with that huge smile of his and enormous talent. As I've said in the past, I adore Lysacek, but I'm glad Oda won. As Dick Button said, Oda has "the best knees in figure skating history."