Cup or China: The Tricks, the Treats, and the Just Plain Spooky

No dial tone.

Since Saturday morning, when I came down to see which free skate was on Ice Network… no dial tone. Which means no Internet, no posting, and of course… no Cup of China. At least, not on the computer. SPOOKY.

All I can say is… Universal Sports to the rescue! With the exception of a local high school football game that apparently gets to pre-empt dang near anything, I managed to catch wall-to-wall finals with the exception of the first 15 minutes of whatever they showed for dance. So now that I’ve got my phone line back, I’m able to make the following “Trick or Treat” observations, with a few "SPOOKYs" thrown in for good measure (it’s not to late for Halloween references, is it??):

1) TREAT: I’m rather stunned by this, but somehow I managed to be 9-for-12 this week, correctly guessing the pairs, dance, and men’s results. (Call this spooky too...?)

2) TRICK: And with the ladies, I was 2-for-3 but had the order all messed up (as I suspect most of us predictors did on that one)! Underestimated Suzuki… overestimated Rochette.

3) TRICK: As for Korpi in second—wow. Not that I can readily name who I’d give it to instead, but she hardly seemed to have silver-medal caliber performances.

4) TREAT: Fumie Suguri’s SP dress looks like it’s lifted straight off a cell from Disney’s Snow White. I half-expected her music to be a mash-up of High-Ho and Someday My Prince Will Come. (But seriously, I thought it was lovely on her. Can’t say I’m as crazy about Rachael Flatt’s pink SP dress, though… or the way either of them skated. Sell, sell, sell that Sing Sing Sing, Flatt!)

5) SPOOKY: While we’re talking costumes, did anyone else see the Ukranian couple in the OD? He was sporting a fake mustache that made the fake one worn by Peter on a later episode of The Brady Bunch look real. Criminy!

6) TREAT: Not as many stupid camera shots of stuffed animals on the ice this year.

7) SPOOKY: That blasted overhead camera. While I applaud the attempt to do something different… unless they happened to go to it during a certain type of spin, or an interesting pairs step sequence, it just seemed bizarre and distracting.

8) TREAT: Frank Carroll, AKA The Busiest Coach at Cup of China. With Lysacek, Kostner, Liang and Nagasu all at the same event, he needed a Carroll Clone to keep up. Did you see him sitting with Nagasu after the SP, then as soon as the score was posted, said “OK, bye, I’ve go see Carolina”-! No wonder he’s so thin. When does he have time to eat?

9) TRICK: Lysacek’s shoulder thingies on both costumes. What is that, feathers? Fringe? Tassles? a Parrot? Get ‘em off. Yuck.

10) TREAT: Lysacek’s programs in general. I’m not madly in love with either one of them, but I think they suit him well and will serve him well this season.

11) TRICK: Misfit programs. Exhibit A: Zhang & Zhang doing Sing Sing Sing in the SP. Exhibit B: Suguri doing Spartacus in the FS. The former isn’t lighthearted enough; the latter, not powerful enough.

12) TREAT: Shen & Zhao. Just because.

13) TRICK: That thing in Belbin & Agosto’s FD where does a 360 (or close to it) on her way up to a stunning lift. This time I mean “trick” in a good way. That was pretty cool.

14) TREAT: Their whole FD. They’re taking something fresh and making it their own without going over the top, much as Virtue & Moir are doing with the Mahler piece.


For the Clip of the Day here’s Akiko Suzuki’s exhibition piece from over the weekend. I hope this event wasn’t a fluke—really liking what I see here…