Final SKAM 2008 Thoughts... More or Less

In the bottomless pit from which I like to pull weak attempts at catchy ways to recap stuff, I’ve come up with what I’m calling the “more or less” files… which I will now apply to the SKAM ladies and pairs events. Here’s how it works:

+ MORE Yu-Na Kim victories… because every time I see her skate I’m in disbelief that the best she’s been able to get at Worlds thus far is Bronze. Twice! Just goes to show how very deep the talent pool is right now. (Or, how twisted judging continues to be…)

-- LESS (or ideally, NO MORE) throw triple axel attempts from Inoue/Baldwin. Why must Rene be subjected to this every program? Why must we, for that matter? I don’t mean to liken them to one-trick ponies, but have they even come close to landing one in competition since 2006 Worlds? I wish they could simply accept their place in history (which of course is nothing to sneeze at) and be done with it, but that would likely require them to retire completely… something they don’t yet seem ready to do. (Come on, John… you’re practically the same age as my husband, for crying out loud.)

+ MORE McLaughlin & Brubaker. Just more more more! I’m in total agreement with everyone who has mentioned them. The speed alone… my God, how much faster and more powerful they are than just about any U.S. couple in recent memory. They seem quite capable of breathing new life into the Story we know as West Side, and that’s saying something. My only complaint is that they’ll already be done with their GP assignments by this time next week. I miss them already.

--LESS of the Cutting Edge Crew, known better as Mukhortova and Trankov. If they hadn’t already mastered the love-on-ice/hate-off-ice thing, I’d be reminded of that film every time the camera gets a close-up on Mukhortova… she could be twins with Moira Kelly, were Kelly a platinum blonde. Anyway, that Lady and the Hooligan free skate was a hot mess. Even if they’d landed twice as many jumps, there’s not enough fake chemistry in the world to help them pull off something intended to be so charming. Toe-pick, indeed.

+ MORE press for Rachael Flatt. I know I’m not the first to say this, but a) she was the best U.S. lady at this event, and b) she’s the reigning U.S. silver medalist AND Junior Worlds champion. While I did notice some odd posture issues with her for the first time (did anyone else hear their mother in their head when watching her?), I was incensed to hear NBC make that “she kind of flies under the radar” comment that they did. They made the exact same comment about Savoie at the Olympics. Hey, NBC? You ARE the radar. If you want to play up Ms. Flatt, you have the power to do so. Or you did… now you’ve got to wait until Nationals. Nice work!

-- and I’ll wrap up with one more comment about NBC: LESS impromptu interviews with Andrea Joyce. Or at least cut away to a different camera while she dashes into place. We know it’s live TV… but we also know how these events go by now, don’t we? There’s no need to show Mirai Nagasu standing quietly off to the side one moment, then looking startled the next moment as Andrea descends upon her. I’d even take a close-up shot of Mukhortova and Trankov in the stands before I did that!

The Clip of the Day features Yukari Nakano’s free skate from last weekend, simply because I think she might be the Rachael Flatt of Japan. Don’t worry, Yukari… you’re on OUR radar! (And you had the better Giselle, to be certain. That’s the last time I’ll predict Ando to win an event this year…)