There
were so many things to ruminate on in the wake of US Nationals it’s hard to
know where to start (especially when you blog about skating but somehow haven’t
done more than previews & predictions of events for quite a while).
I
started writing this just a few days after Nats ended to see where it would
take me, and lots of Top Thoughts bubbled
to the surface: Ashley not making the team. Adam almost not making the
team. Mirai’s triumph. Bradie’s unflappability. Madison and Zach’s redemption.
Chris Knierim’s baffling inability to land jumps. The initial decision to put
Max Aaron on the 4CC team over Grant Hochstein (a moot point now, as Hochstein
is going anyway… in place of Ross. Oh, good gracious, what to say about ROSS…)
I
never quite know what to make of Christine Brennan when she says figure skating
“never, ever disappoints” in terms of intrigue and drama. It feels like she’s simultaneously
mocking and adoring it at the same time, like a cute nerdy little sister that
will absolutely outearn her when she grows up. Both she and Phil The Harsh (aka Phil Hersh) were
understandably vocal (or Twitteriffic?) about US Nationals this time, even
simultaneously tweeting out frustration about the transparency (or lack
thereof) of USFS when asked about the names of the people on that infamous
13-member selection committee. More on that later…
But
as everyone’s favorite “level-headed” skating journalist Jackie Wong reminded
us a couple days back, the cup for figure skating fans is surely runneth-ing
over right now:
1/12-1/13
brought us Canadian Nationals
1/17-1/20
brought the European Championships
1/24-1/27
is about to bring us the Four Continents Championships
2/9-2/12
is the Olympic Team Event
2/14-2/23
are the Olympic individual events
SO,
without further adieu I’d better get to it digging just a little deeper into
those first two bubbles that surfaced for me…
ASHLEY WAGNER.
I admit I thought her presence on this year’s Olympic team was a bygone
conclusion… that even if she didn’t skate completely clean, her artistic scores
would suffice. (Not saying “hold her up” because that implies those scores
would be unearned.) I think most of us did. Obviously SHE did.
But
as this Christine Brennan article illustrates, something seemed amiss
from the moment Wagner’s SP scores went up. By the time all was said and done
her total, pewter medal-winning score was less than 2.5 points behind Karen
Chen… a deficit a more typical(again, see Brennan’s article) PCS would cover,
under previous circumstances.
Phil Hersh’s Icenetwork piece about Wagner indicated—with help from Scott Hamilton
and Sandra Bezic, both of whom were quoted extensively—that the blame rests
squarely on the 2016 World Silver Medalist’s own shoulders. That whether it was
her decision to ditch her planned La La Land FS until Nationals (a move
Bezic said suggested complacency), or a sense that the quality of her skating
has been on the decline since taking that Worlds stage in Boston nearly two
years ago (“everyone has a shelf life,” Hamilton said matter-of-factly), or the
simple truth that she has never skated her technical best at an Olympic-year
nationals… Ash should have read her situation better, prepared better, taken
absolutely nothing for granted, including component scores.
But
as Michelle Kennedy opined in her Centered Spin blog post about
Nationals, it was like USFS broke up with Ashley without telling her. That’s
such a great metaphor that I can only try to add this: not having USFS and the
ISU on the same PCS page this season is like having a long-term, high-profile
boyfriend that treats you great when you’re out in public (and you’re out in
public A LOT), but inexplicably reads you the riot act the minute you finally
get home. You’re left with a whole lot of the what the hell did I do to
deserve THIS? Feeling. Which is a lousy way to feel in a romantic
partnership, to say nothing of a sport and career you’ve poured your life into
as long as you can remember.
The
Epilogue, for now: Wagner fought off one more round of social media
slams, gave the perfect “no regrets” interview on the TODAY show a few
days later, and scratched from 4CC. Apparently she’s not only training as the 1st
alternate for the Olympics and Worlds, but some other media-related PyeongChangwork TBA. So maybe we’ll see her again this
season, maybe not. Beyond that…?
During
the Ladies Free Skate at I Tweeted about how strange it would be next
year at this time when Ash, Mirai Nagasu and Caroline Zhang—all of whom made their
senior debut in 2008-- might be gone from the competitive scene altogether. But
is Wagner really done? Did a single performance of La La Land turn out to be her swan song?
ADAM RIPPON:
I’m gonna bring my husband’s comments in for this one (as I do occasionally on
Twitter) because he’s an all-around sports fan and huge Olympics aficionado… in
other words, a probable viewer of Olympic figure skating.
He
knows who Rippon is; could probably pick him out of a skating lineup,
especially if his SP or FS music was playing in the background. (I’m not as
sure he’d recognize “embryo Adam”, aka one where he still has his curly locks,
but it’s possible.)
Anyway,
He was aware of the cocky things Rippon said in the days leading up to
Nationals, like “I consider this to be my coronation” and “The
only way I don’t make this Olympic team is if another skater’s mother is on the
selection committee.”
I
was watching Rippon’s FS on the upstairs TV because Husband was flipping
channels downstairs. He DID flip to NBC SN (where the Men’s Final played out)…
just in time to catch Rippon’s last minute or so. Pop #1, followed by pop #2.
That was all he saw of The Fourth Place Guy To Later Be Named To The Team.
So
when we met up in the hallway afterwards, I said something like “wow, that was
rough”—thinking of not only Adam's FS but Jason (Brown)’s, and Grant (Hochstein)’s… and Husband
responded with something like “I know. I saw it.” Followed by an irritated look
that said Wellll…??? What does Mr. Coronation have to say for himself
NOW??
Once
I knew the answer, I filled him in on that too: Mr. Coronation accepted full
responsibility for the pair of popped jumps, and said in the press conference
that he “would be fine” with whatever decision was made by the Selection
Committee (I have to note he didn’t say “I AM fine”… hinting he might not be OK
with it outright if it did not play in his favor).
“He
could use a dose of humility right about now,” Husband retorted, unimpressed.
And
I’ll be honest… I tend to agree. While I am part of the camp that thinks
the US Men’s Team should’ve been Chen/Miner/Rippon (on the argument that Vincent Zhou
has thus far proven unreliable to medal in international senior competition and has
“plenty of time” to be part of a future Olympic team), I truly/madly/deeply
wish Rippon had either a) been on the podium and/or b) skated cleanly (with the
possible exception of his 4lz) and still ended up in 4th. As it
stands, he’s got an Olympic-sized uphill battle for redemption not unlike his
BFF had four years ago in Sochi
So
let’s just say I think it would be a FABULOUS time for Adam Rippon to somehow
be able to convince himself it’s still Grand Prix Season, and the Final just
happens to be in a MUCH. BIGGER. VENUE. This time.
I
need to wrap this up… but not before including this article that ran in Forbes
with Ross Miner’s photo front and center. What a pair of performances he
had in San Jose USA
We’ll
likely know more about what is and isn’t continuing with Mitchell and Miner
sometime in the next few months, after PyeongChang is in the rear view mirror
and all the dust from this long season settles with Worlds in Milano, Italy
(March 19-25). But one big difference between Miner’s snub and that of Mirai
Nagasu in 2014: the latter was only 20 when it happened, and (thank goodness)
had the means to “stay in” for another Olympic cycle. Ross turns 27 this week.
What are the odds…
So
much has happened since then, and so much is obviously still to come! I’ll drop
in with posts like this as much as I can.
1 comment:
Lovelly post
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