Perhaps An Unpopular Opinion About the Comeback Kids

So it appears to be happening again, as it has several times now in these days when skaters seldom use words like retire or turn professional as much as they use terms like on a break…considering their options… or, in some cases, don’t even say that much.

I think, in my often over-cynical nature, I’m starting to think of such folks as the Ross and Rachel of the sport. Remember them? The perpetually frustrated, and frustrating, characters on NBC’s Friends (played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Anniston) whose romantic relationship for many of that show’s seasons seemed to spin back to the phrase “we were on a break”--? And what had happened and/or been decided during said break that impacted the rest of the relationship?

It was written for laughs, of course, and plenty of plot spins too. But I can’t help but wonder if there were other fans of the show like me; fans that got fed up with the pairs’ collective indecisiveness, and felt a little pity for the other women and men in Ross and Rachel’s lives… unsuspecting pawns in a game R&R insisted on playing to satisfy their own fragile egos. Is it any wonder that Chandler and Monica’s slow-budding romance became far more interesting by comparison? (To some of us, at least.)

Anyway, that’s my analogical way of saying that when I start hearing about skating comebacks, unfinished business, etc… the first thing I think of are “the others”. The ones who have been training and competing consistently since the last Olympics. The ones who, perhaps, have also been waiting for Their Turn since then as well.

What does Sasha Cohen’s intended re-entry into competition do to the mindset of an Alissa Czisny, for example? Yes, we’re all aware that it’s because of Czisny’s inability to do better than 11th at Worlds that the U.S. can only send two ladies to Vancouver. But it’s hardly her fault that, if Cohen proves to be a worthy competitor once again, the number of Vancouver openings gets cut in half (with Czisny herself an unlikely recipient of the other spot, most would say).

Likewise, it’s not Cohen’s fault if she’s deemed one of the two best that the U.S. has to offer next January. But I have two issues with her being there at all:

1) Figure skating isn’t swimming. Still-medalling-in-her-40s Dara Torres can come back to swimming year after year, so long as she’s still got the speed to succeed. When she loses the speed, she’s done; end of story. Not necessarily so with Cohen. A lot of speculation continues to buzz regarding Cohen’s ability to land the triples and triple combos necessary these days… and there are those that point to the fact that Cohen has had the unfortunate “gift” of fumbling her jumps just enough to keep her from the major titles she once sought so badly… so maybe this entire debate is moot. But in any case, there is a second score to consider with figure skating; the still-subjective artistic mark, the one that has been known to “hold up” skaters deemed brilliant, but Just Having a Bad Skate. Skaters such as Cohen are admittedly lovely artists to begin with, but to come back to amateur ranks with so much professional experience and polish… it’s just one of those unfair advantages that don’t make sense to me.

If Rachael Flatt competes next January with seven flawless triples, level 4 footwork and spins, and slightly-above-average for her age/experience artistic impression, will that be considered equal ground if Cohen pulls less technical merit but glows (as, admittedly, she always does) artistically?

My fear is that it won’t, and that ultimately, Cohen would win that battle because she’s Sasha Cohen.

2) Just about everyone I’ve heard discuss Olympics-related comebacks says the same thing—that it’s all about sending the best a country has to offer, and if one of the best turns out to be Cohen, so be it.

I know this sounds odd to say, but… is that really all it’s about?

Here’s my thought: the Olympics are about excellence—of course they are—but
best as I can tell, they are also about opportunity; a wonderful chance for athletes to represent their country in their own uniquely talented way. Those opportunities are rare enough as it is. Why must they be gobbled up by the same handful of superstars for 12 years?

I know the USFS (or the IOC, for the matter) isn’t going to put “term limits” on a competitor anytime soon…of course they shouldn’t. I guess I wish said competitors would willingly acknowledge when enough is enough, and give the chance to someone else. When IS it enough, you ask? That’s strictly a case-by-case thing. If I were Sasha Cohen, I’d like to think I’d be saying to myself right about now “Look, I’ve been in two Olympics already… I earned a silver medal at one of them… I’ve had my turn.”

(On the other hand, if I were Todd Eldredge back in 2001, I might make a very good argument for myself to do exactly as he did, and make one more run for a medal, ANY medal. As I said—case-by-case. And I still wasn’t fully supportive of his decision at the time.)

As for Evgeny Plushenko’s reported return… all I can say to that is At least I can understand Cohen’s return in the “unfinished business” sense of things. Plushy came to Torino 3 years ago with a silver medal from 2002 and something to prove. He proved it. Some would say he proved it several times over. What’s left?

Yes, it could be rooted in a concern (first heard a few years ago that Russia was starting to lack high-quality male singles skaters, and was therefore in danger of losing some of that all-important prestige… but if that was really true, wouldn’t Plushy have put his money where his mouth is by now? At this point, I cannot be convinced that it’s about anything but Plushy himself. And since when was that anything remotely close to the Olympic sprit?

As I said before… I’m aware my opinion is unlikely to be a common one. And yes, I’m in agreement with everyone that says At least it’ll make for an interesting 2009-10 season. I’m just thinking about “the others”. There may not be many of them directly affected by what might or might not happen, but in my book, there’s enough to matter.

For the Clip of the Day I’m jumping back to January 2002 to show Eldredge’s successful bid for a spot on the Salt Lake City team.

Heeeere's Johnny... the "Pop Star"

No, he’s not changing coaches again.

But Johnny Weir is in the news anyway—or more accurately, his bio/documentary is.

Pop Star on Ice made its world premiere over the weekend at the 35th annual Seattle International Film Festival, which apparently means the search is on for more festival appearances… and, the race is on to post reviews about the film. I don’t have the intense interest in Weir to read more than, oh, one of them, but here is the review I found for you. An excerpt:

Pop Star On Ice goes where cameras have not gone before and offers us a glimpse into the sometimes-frenetic, sometimes-introspective world that has given us one of the most controversial sports figures in the world. It is fascinating to hear Weir talk about his goals of Olympic gold and World Championships and then watch him systematically undermine his own goals with a lack of focus and discipline, all the while aware of what he’s doing and doing it with a smile. He is at the same time entertaining, frustrating, fun and sympathetic, and at the end of the film you understand that it’s all of those qualities that make him so special.

What interests me about this film is the timing of it. The odd thing about doing documentaries with a subject like Weir is that they (the subject) are a work in progress… not someone who has been dead for 10 years, or even retired. And with an Olympic athlete, there would seem to be a pretty clear-cut way to end Weir’s filmed life-on-ice story. So why complete and release the documentary a full year ahead of when it might make more sense to do so?

From reading an article about it over at IceNetwork.com, first-time feature filmmakers David Barba and James Pellerito were very willing to answer questions about Pop Star in Seattle… maybe this question was already addressed?

Let me know if you have the answer. It could be as simple as them not wanting to have a “logical” ending to the film; to leave it more open-ended and filled with possibility. Or, maybe they just wanted to get it done already.

It looks like this has been out for a while, but since it’s on You Tube, I’ll go ahead and make the Pop Star trailer the Clip of the Day . Watch the whole thing and you’ll hear a custom-made JohnnyRap that has passages eerily familiar to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”.

Next it's JeremEEE; Then McBru... Someone Let Me Off This Merry-Go-Round!

Are they done for this week yet?

I thought about posting the latest shuffling news yesterday, as soon as I read about it… but I didn’t want to have to keep updating it. Especially on Memorial Day weekend in the States, where no one’s probably reading this anyway.

So before I start, let me go check IceNetwork and make sure nothing has happened in the past 24 hours…OK, I think the coast is clear…

Two more “shuffles” to add to the list, and these are biggies in the U.S.:

1) National Mens Champ Jeremy (or as we say here, JeremEEEE) Abbott is leaving Colorado and Tom Zakrajsek, his coach for the past 10 years (and recent PSA Coach of the Year recipient). His new coach is none other than 1994 World Champ Yuka Sato, who now works out of Detroit. Read this article from the Detroit Free Press to get a Q & A with Abbott about the whole thing. Interesting that when I was making my guesses at other “contemporary” coach moves last week (including a guess of Tim Goebel for JeremEEE), for some reason I didn’t consider opposite-sex pairups. (Maybe because Sato never had any quads in her repertoire :-) )

Interesting to note that this will put both current U.S. singles champs in the same training camp… at least it will until/unless Alissa Czizny feels “the need for a change” too.

2) National Pairs Champs McLaughlin & Brubaker (or as we say here, McBru) are leaving Dalilah Sappenfield for someone a little more legendary rather than contemporary… John Nicks. Read this article from Sports Illustrated to read about their particular need for “a big change” this coming season. Incidentally, it’s worth noting that Nicks coached none other than Jenni Meno & Todd Sand, who just signed on as Inoue & Baldwin’s new coaching team.

Both of these particular coach switches come on the heels of skaters who had great seasons… all the way until they hit the most important international event of the year. While their respective needs for some kind of change may not be as overt as that of, say, Mirai Nagasu, they do seem to make sense on some level, particularly in an Olympic season. As usual, the proof will be in the proverbial pudding come next winter.

For the Clip of the Day here’s the exhibition skate JeremEEE gave at the ISU Team Trophy last month. By the way, it’s not a Santana song he’s skating to (as the graphic claims), but an acoustic version of Daniel Bedingfield’s “Gotta Get Though This”.

I’m going to sign off now—hopefully the shuffling will continue to take a break, at least until the long weekend is over!

Nagasu's Turn to "Shuffle"... From Wong to Carroll

If you visit USFSA.org this week—as I am prone to do every few days, even though it seems a pale shadow of information these days compared to IceNetwork—you’ll see that the latest participant in the post-season skater/coach shuffle is none other than former US National Champion Mirai Nagasu.

In this particular version of the shuffle Nagasu is leaving Charlene Wong, her coach since October 2006, for Frank Carroll. Who, as you might already know, has coached a backlist of National, World and Olympic Champions that runs as long as Evan Lysacek’s considerable wingspan (Lysacek himself is on Carroll’s current roster).

From the article:

“At the end of the season I felt like I really needed a change,” Nagasu said. “After a lot of thought and deliberation, we decided that the right choice was to begin training with Mr. Carroll.”

I’ve got to admit, I worry about moves like these. While I fully understand the desire to change something after a sub-par season, getting on the coaching-go-round right away seems like a risky choice—particularly in an Olympic year. And I can’t help but wonder if she’d have chosen Carroll in a parallel universe where, say, his student Lysacek had NOT just won Worlds.

I’m not one to begrudge an opportunity, and Nagusu freely admits that training alongside a guy like Lysacek in an Olympic year is “great motivation”... I do hope it’s a win-win situation, as they say. But for a girl who is all of 16, has already gone through the rise-and-plummet cycle in Senior Ladies, and has reportedly endured a chronic ankle injury and a four-inch growth spurt to boot in the past year (many would attribute her troubles to this last fact alone)… I can’t help but wonder if drastic change like this is really the solution.

Anyway—you can read a slightly different article about Nagasu’s decision over at IceNetwork.com. And if you go there, you might see this little blurb about some guy named Plushenko “officially” announcing his plan to compete in Vancouver much as some lady named Sasha Cohen just announced her plan to do the same. Yeah, I heard about it…I just preferred to post the USFS article so you don’t have to see the big Plushy proclamation. (But if you want to, now you know where to find it…)

As for Nagasu, here’s her FS at last year’s Nationals as the Clip of the Day.

Meno/Sand, and More "Contemporary Coaching" Ideas

When I saw this news about Rena Inoue and John Baldwin making a coaching switch, the first thought that crossed my mind for some reason was Jenni Meno and Todd Sand are coaching now? Really?

I’m not sure why that struck me as so odd, but it did. Maybe in my mind’s eye, I still don’t see them very far removed from their competitive days. This, despite the fact that they’ve been retired for over a decade and are now age 38 (Meno) and 45 (Sand).

It probably says more about me than it does about them; I’m just a little older than Jenni myself, so perhaps the idea of my “contemporaries” moving closer to that other end of the spectrum is one I don’t like to deal with. But as long as we ARE dealing with it, I got to thinking about what other fairly recent retirees could make for interesting coaches of current US skaters… let’s see if these make any sense to anyone else:

--Rachael Flatt and… Sarah Hughes: What seems to be said often about Flatt is that she’s very reliable, but when it comes to really performing her programs she comes up a little… well… flat. Enter Hughes, who obviously managed to find all the right elements at the right time in 2002 and zoom past the bigger medal contenders. Plus, she won at an age close to what Flatt will be next winter… too bad Sarah’s probably only willing to help one Olympic hopeful right now, and her name happens to end in “Hughes” too.

-- Jeremy Abbott and… Timothy Goebel: I’m really just thinking in practical terms on this one. Worlds performance aside, one of the only things missing from Abbott’s programs right now are a bevy of quadruple jumps. If he wants to beef up his repertoire in time for Vancouver, why not learn from The Quad King?

-- Davis/White and… Rahkamo/Kokko: this is tricky because it goes on the assumption that something about Davis/White’s skating is lacking something in particular. Hardly! But then I got this mental picture of the Finnish champions helping them stand out in some wide-eyed, witty way, and it stuck with me.

Here is the Rahkamo/Kokko FD from 1994 Worlds as the Clip of the Day … see if you can imagine D/W in roles like these, too.

And Now, a Few Words About Strait-Lacing Men's Skating

You know how I know when something skating-related has plopped into the mainstream media? When I get an e-mail from my dad— a football/baseball guy; anything BUT a skating fan—soliciting my opinion about it. Because it made the national nightly news, as you probably know.

Ay-yi-yi.

Yes, I knew of the Skate Canada “Macho” controversy that, at least in the beginning, was about using words like risk, speed, and power when promoting figure skating in hopes of drawing bigger audiences and wider-ranging demographics. No, I didn’t see the ABC News feature that ran a couple weeks ago… but I certainly did hear about it. And hear about it, and… HEAR… ABOUT… IT.

So! What have we learned? I’m just going to rattle off a few observations to start… sorry if you’ve heard them all already:

+ Skate Canada certainly has a way with words.

+ And a way with alienating skaters and skating fans that happen to be homosexual.

+ Because trying to strait lace a sport (pun unintended) into something it simply isn’t at this point is bound to work. Right? Well…

+ Here’s the deal: champion male skaters, both gay and straight, used to get the job done in pretty much the same manner: primarily black and white, sequin-free costumes… skating powerful, athletic, somewhat artistry-free programs. The men were long on action and short on words; stereotypical through and through. Then the men, both gay and straight, got more colorful, both literally and figuratively, by the 1970s. (And most definitely by the 80s and beyond.) The more allegedly “masculine” skaters have been there all along; you just don’t hear much from the lot of them… stereotypical through and through, remember? (Save for Stojko in this recent ABC piece, who in my opinion also chose his words less-than-wisely).

+ To me, it’s not that skating has changed… but, like life itself, skating has progressed... and I rarely take issue with progress. (Some would even say it has progressed at a much slower rate than the rest of the world.) While I can understand the frustration a governing body in figure skating must have when the sport becomes lampoonable (see Blades of Glory), publicly telling those within the sport that they should essentially take one giant step backward in order to get more of “the hockey crowd”… well, that seems more than a little lampoonable in itself.

+ Oh, and one more thing… the more skaters, or skating governing bodies, or whatever try to play up what a SPORT skating is, the sillier they sound, and the less the precious fencesitters are likely to believe them. Why must such an effort be made to show how hard skaters work anyway? Isn’t part of the magic of this sport the way in which it looks so effortless?

Please—the magic is what those of us still following skating love the most; it’s the reason we stay. I certainly hope there isn’t a PR campaign in the world that could really ruin it.

In looking for the right clip of the day to reflect what I’m trying to say, I was blessed to come across this terrific piece on Toller Cranston’s career. It’s kind of long, and looks to be about 20 years old, but it sure does cover a lot of what’s being debated right here and now…

Don’t Count Emily Hughes Out Yet; Meanwhile, Braden is Overett and Outta Here

One more set of “skater’s shuffle” tales, and then I’ll take a stab at tackling some of the bigger stories making the rounds in the rinks right now. You probably know the ones I’m talking about already…

First up is news that 2006 Olympian Emily Hughes is doing the polar opposite of Curran Oi, Brittney Rizo and Katrina Hacker: she’s reportedly taking next year off from her studies (at Harvard) so that she can focus on her skating and try for the 2010 Olympics. The only way I’ve heard about it thus far is via this mention in a roundup post at IceNetwork.com… if it turns out to be legit, I’ll be extra curious to know what will become of US Grand Prix assignments next season.

What I have more a little more info on is the retirement of U.S. Senior Mens competitor Braden Overett. Maybe, like me, you’re more familiar with the name than with the skater himself—though he competed at the Senior level for many years, his best finish at Nationals was 7th place, back in 2004. But unlike many, he chose to talk very openly and directly about what it means to leave the competitive world behind—and he did so quite nicely, in a piece that ran in the April issue of SKATING magazine. While I don’t know of an online version of the article, scans of page 1 and page 2 are available. From the second page:

All signs point to a career within skating. For many of us, that doesn’t fit the mold. We feel like we must make a definitive choice between a life in or outside skating. This awkward period is when we sit back and figure out where we fit into the world, or where we want to fit in, or where skating fits in, if at all. Is this my quarter-life crisis?

Perhaps it is, but in any case, look out if Overett ever decides to join the ranks of us skloggers (skating bloggers)—he’s quite the writer!

His 2007 Midwesterns FS is the Clip of the Day. Note how he actually opened with his straight line footwork—not sure if I’ve ever seen that done before.

More Shuffling… and Oh, One of the “Shufflees” is Named Sasha

Well the “official” announcement is apparently a week away, but it’s already been unofficially announced by the Associated Press, Phil Hersh, and now IceNetwork too…

So, no burying the lead—Sasha Cohen has decided to give it a go for Vancouver. For sure this time—so sure, in fact, that she’s also let it be known she would like some Grand Prix assignments this coming season. (Whether or not she gets them will be decided in June.) Here’s a quote from Cohen from the IceNetwork article, which currently seems the most comprehensive:

"Yes, there are a lot of great skaters right now, but this is more of a personal thing for me. I miss the challenge and I miss that part of my life."


I’m going to hold off from any commentary on Cohen’s return, and save it for after she makes her formal announcement on May 15. But if you’ve got some thoughts to share right now, by all means, post a comment!

Meanwhile, in much much smaller shuffling news came word about a week ago that the Top 10 US pairs team of Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent is no more, on account of the fact that the 29 year-old Trent is retiring.

This little bitty blurb from the AP wire also tells that Vise, 23, will now be paired with Don Baldwin (formerly with Jennifer Brunn). Will her new partner be able to toss her into that magnificent throw quad salchow that Vise/Trent landed back in 2007 at Trophee Eric Bompard? Time will tell, I guess. I’ll miss these two together—when they were “on”, I thought they were one of the better teams. But as with so many others, they just weren’t “on” nearly enough—including this year’s Nationals, which they finished down in 8th place. Can’t help but think Trent would stick around one more year if they thought they could get anywhere close to Olympic qualification…

I know I’ve probably shown it before, but here is that 2007 Vise/Trent TEB performance as the Clip of the Day …guess there won’t be much reason to show it after this :-(

The Post-Season Skater’s Shuffle: Hacker, Rizo and Oi ALL Go Collegiate in 2009-10

We’re into that time of year when the figure skating world typically goes into 52-Pickup mode… the proverbial “deck” of singles skaters, pairs/dance teams, and skater/coach partnership splatters onto the floor and we scramble to re-stack them, taking note along the way of who’s coming, who’s going, who’s splitting up… and why.

In an attempt to simplify this process, I’m just going to refer to any such coming/going/splitting news as The Skater’s Shuffle. I suspect there will be a number of “shuffle” posts over the coming weeks/months, especially with an Olympic season on the horizon…

But I have to admit, this particular “shuffle” surprises me, even though I was just wondering in a post last week about Katrina Hacker’s appearance in the USFS Team Envelopes…

For we suddenly have three senior-level skaters with the same story: According to this article at IceNetwork.com, both Hacker and Brittney Rizo are bypassing the 2009-10 competitive season in order to focus on their freshman years at Princeton (for Hacker) and Northeastern (for Rizo). And in reading the article, it’s pretty obvious that neither are likely to return to competition:

Rizo is quoted as saying “My love for the sport will always remain, so I will always be connected to the sport of figure skating. Thank you so much for everything!”

While Hacker leaves the door only slightly more ajar, saying “I'm not competing this season and I am going to focus on school, but of course, I'll keep skating, as I love to skate and you never know what will happen!"

Over on the male side of the rink, a very similar story is being told of Curran Oi. Another Ice Network article this week tells that Oi is headed to M.I.T. in the Fall, leaving his competitive career behind, probably for good:

"It has been a great ride. Mark and Peter, my coaches since I was nine years old, have inspired me daily with their passion and commitment…I will miss the challenge of training alongside my friends and the close-knit and supportive community of the Skating Club of Boston."

Oi finished sixth at 2009 US Nationals. Hacker finished fifth at the same event. Rizo finished seventh. All three seemed to be off to a very good start in Seniors; all three are young enough to still have the Olympics in their sights—if not next year, then possibly 2014. Oi, in particular, seemed to generate a lot of interest after making the final flight at Nationals and performing his free skate on NBC—and I know this blog got a whole lotta hits as a result of people discovering this post about Oi from last October.

But both higher education and figure skating require unfathomable amounts of time, energy and money in order to yield the best results. Yes, some incredibly gifted student/athletes have pulled off the delicate balance through the years, but that is a very short list of people. Maybe Oi, Hacker and Rizo each took their own hard looks at the reality of what they intended to do, and concluded Being one of the top 10 skaters in the USA is an amazing achievement, and it’s going to be good enough for me.

If so, who can really blame them? I myself am somewhat surprised that none of these three are putting off college for a year so that they can push on through and take their shot at qualifying for Vancouver’s Olympics next February. As close as they are—particularly in Oi’s case—it seems worth a shot.

Of course, that’s the difference between being in the hot seat and being someone who simply writes about being in the hot seat. They’ve all surely had this conversation—with their friends, their families, their coaches—too many times to count.

I wish them all wonderful, life-enriching experiences… and no regrets.

Incidentally, all three skaters hail from The Skating Club of Boston. Maybe it’s something in the water… or the frozen water, in this case.

Since I’m pretty certain I’ve never featured her in the Clip of the Day before, here’s Brittney Rizo in an exhibition performance from last year.

Belbin & Agosto: Guinea-Pig Time on "Rachael Ray"

You might have heard that Belbin & Agosto put in an appearance on Rachael Ray’s daytime talk show this past week—not to cook, but to participate in what was called a “Human Lab” to study the effects of different products on back pain. I don’t watch RR, but I taped Belgosto’s episode. Here’s a synopsis:

+ The subjects in the Human Lab were Laura Wilkinson (Olympic Platform Diver), Peter Vidmar (Olympic Gymnast from 1984; the oldest “subject” by far), and Belgosto.

+ All subjects discussed their chronic back pain… Belgosto mentioned they’ve been together now for 11 years. (And their backs have bothered them all along.)

+ Each subject received a product/device of some kind that they were asked to try for some undisclosed period of time. Wilkinson’s product was called the Back 2 Life Therapeutic Massager, Vidmar’s was the Dr. Bakst Magnetic Back Support, and Belgosto’s was called the StressRoller.

+ Wilkinson’s Back2Life was a motorized device that let her lay on her back while her legs were elevated and eased back and forth, gradually relaxing the lower back muscles. She said it wasn’t a cure-all, but it worked well as far as loosening her up was concerned.

+ Vidmar’s magnetic back support was a device worn under clothes; the magnets were supposed to work in a way that alleviated pain (OK, it was much more detailed than that but I wasn’t paying complete attention). He said he liked the support and the “warming sensation” he got from wearing the device… he also appreciated its convenience (claiming he even wore it when he was sleeping).

+ Belgosto’s StressRoller looked very much like two tennis balls encased in black rubber, but, um… surely there was more to it than that :-) They both thought it worked quite well—footage was shown of them rolling with it on the floor, as well as standing up against a wall. They liked that it traveled easily, was very user-friendly, and said they’d recommend it to other skaters, adding that other skaters were watching them use it at competitions.

+ Finally, they brought all the Olympians out to recap their experiences while a back pain specialist was on set with Rachael Ray to explain how each device produced its results. When it came to the StressRoller, the expert as much as said the device is essentially 2 tennis balls taped together (ha!), but it’s a strategy that seems to produce good results. For their part, Belgosto said they’d tried in the past to manipulate tennis balls in a sock, but it was very awkward compared to the StressRoller.

+ Oh, and later in the show Ms. Ray cooked up a Spanish-style meal of chicken & rice & green beans & olives. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that in an RR recap, right?)

So… operators are surely standing by somewhere if you’d like to purchase the StressRoller, for yourself or a friend, for only $19.95. Get it now, before Belgosto gets roped into an infomercial deal with them and the price shoots up as a result!

The segment hasn’t made it to You Tube yet, so instead I’ve got Belgosto’s recent Worlds FD as the Clip of the Day.