Hicks Out for Skating's Season... Which is About to Launch on NBC in a Week!

I’ll be out of town for the next couple of days, but in the meantime I’ve got something for you that I haven’t had in a while: skating news that has little to do with JGP results!

EXCEPT FOR THIS PART: Courtney Hicks, last year’s U.S. junior ladies’ champ who won gold early in the JGP season but was forced to withdraw from last week’s event, has now been sidelined for the entire season. Apparently a piece of bone detached from her right tibia when she launched into her triple flip at the JGP Milan free skate last week… or, something could have started going awry when she took those two bad falls in the SP in Milan, as I reported a few days ago. In any case, this article from Philip Hersh includes quotes from John Nicks (Hicks’ coach) which confirm that she has already had surgery, is back in the States, and is expected to be off the ice for at least 4 months (read: in time to miss everything important, including U.S. Nationals). Godspeed to Hicks; at age 15 she seemingly has plenty of time to recover and reassert herself, but it obviously has to be a traumatic and frustrating time for her.

TV SCHEDULING: This might be redundant with a post I made a couple months back, but since the press release came out last week I’ll go ahead and give you this link to the USFS announcement of the “finalized” schedule for broadcasting ISU GP events on NBC, as well as the extended coverage offered on Universal Sports. I think the coverage is similar to last year, and like last year, one event appears to be getting “hosed” (aka no coverage provided) from the NBC side of things… this year the unlucky event is Cup of China. I tend to think this is because NBC has one weekend in early November that is already booked solid with other sports. (Maybe this year I’ll pay attention and try to figure out what those other sports are.) The link/press release also mentions the broadcast team for the various events to be similar to last year; it includes Terry Gannon, Andrea Joyce, Scott Hamilton (I’m guessing Skate America and MAYBE the GP Final only), Tanith Belbin, Peter Carruthers, Michael Weiss, and Tracy Wilson. First up is Skate America, airing live a week from this Saturday…

AND FINALLY, if you have a minute or two to give for the sake of reading an article that can renew your love for figure skating (or pump it up if you’re already in a happy relationship with it) do me a favor and read Ryan Jahnke’s new piece. You won’t be disappointed!