Yatagarasu

This is not Brian's first rodeo so I am sure they expected this and honestly, I believe the reaction will be complete non-reaction, which is probably the best way to play this game right now. Also, I would not expect scores that are similar to Lombardia. Just looking at USI too, I think the scores at ACI, and other challengers are going to be something different. Yes, Olympic season alone means elevated scores but considering the mess of the current system they will break it before we reach the GPs, never mind the Olympics, if they don't depress the Lombardia ones and even ISU wouldn't want that. Now how that all plays out in the media potentially, that's another matter but I like my blood pressure where it is, so all I am hoping for are a couple of solid performances come next week and we'll have a lot of fun and enjoyment on our hands! Fingers and toes crossed.

Yet.

You are awfully optimistic tonight. Though of course, some of the men would go to the happy hunting grounds along with the ladies. Newspaper headlines the next day would be fab!

He actually would, I am not sure we should jinx this! There. Fixed it.

Doesn't matter really, just mark them as unlikely to happen because actually some of those in the IN article weren't that far-fetched. Unless you want more of a joke thing? In which case, just start a new one, Knickknacks is the place!

Well, we already have a thread for Olympic predictions in Knicknacks, so you can use that one?

I am not sure one can be ready for this .. well apart from buying sufficient hair tonic quantities in advance

Hello peeps! Just a quick note that we have now opened the ACI discussion thread in advance, and that Lombardia and USI are also open, considering they are coming up tomorrow, onward. This is it, we're finally starting the season fully! May it be prosperous and grand, as an Olympic season should! And may we all keep at least some hair on our lovely heads

Nah, no need. It should be used for a giggle or two, and that's that. Ignoring stuff like this is the best, they don't get the attention or clicks which is what they're after.

It wasn't on PH at all, we didn't exist at the time About the ~ predictions ~ it's IN plus long-shots. It's just good for a nice giggle.

We'd have to go look but I do remember last season someone went through the PCS scores and the person who had the highest ones even with mistakes, was actually Javier Fernandez. He's probably the most overscored top skater in PCS that we have. As for the second, I'd bet it's on all of them. And we cannot, not really. I mean ID used to be pretty popular but that popularity went lower and lower and one of the principal reasons was the whole subjectivity in scoring. I am for example completely burned out on it; I still watch the top six but I have no attachment to any ID pairs because it's a recipe for heart-ache. To add this component to all the disciplines will just make me go lol no. I love skating but suffering through politicking to this extent in all events is simply not going to happen as a case of self-preservation.

There actually is a solution to the issue - remove PE, IN from the PCS, and make stricter rules for the CO component if you end up keeping it, then up the factors for PCS. The programs can still be presented in the same way, but the most subjective scores would go. It is not ideal but it is one way to remove the subjectivity even further. Instead, they increase the subjective factor by ten. Mind-boggling. Which is why yes, I can actually see the BV of it being the crux of the matter and the rest just a smoke screen.

Exactly. Plus I don't see how they can even hope that IOC accepts this as part of the Olympics. ISU actually had to work really hard on ID rules, in order to have it as part of the sport. Anything like this just makes it ten times worse and I just don't see how it would ever remain, especially considering the "maybe" overall medal. All of this is handing all the control to the judges, in an even worse way than 6.0 was and basically, RIP sport. Unless, as someone (my apologies, forgot who) mentioned before, all of this is a giant smoke-screen so that the outrage goes here, instead of the BV changes which they actually want to push through. Also I cannot stop laughing at Theatre on Ice. Yeah, sure. That'll be an Olympic sport when pigs fly.

Or you know ... let me do less quads with more content so by the time I put in all these quads, the judges will give me the same PCS I had with that content instead of what I deserve for my empty program ... yes, I'm a cynic.

Currently not possible. IOC agreed with NBC the broadcast rights for the USA until 2032 for the whopping amount of 7.65 billion plus the signing bonus. There is the additional deal that the IOC made with Discovery, ie the owner of Eurosport for the four Olympic Games between 2018–2024 for a nice chunk of change, 1.44 billion dollars, to cover Europe. So there is so much money in play here that really, it makes your head hurt. But this is why it is unlikely that there is any change possible until 2032 - the contracts are already in place. The only possibility is that I guess Discovery pays up for post 2024 but that's just an if game.

I am so nervous, to be honest. From the snippets we have, that FS looks smashing but I think she'll need to go clean to make it all work. Hopefully her season starts well, so she can just build her confidence throughout!

Men Ladies Ice Dance Pairs Roman SAVOSIN (RUS) 22 Alexei KRASNOZHON (USA) 15 Camden PULKINEN (USA) 15 Mitsuki SUMOTO (JPN) 15 Makar IGNATOV (RUS) 13 Luc ECONOMIDES (FRA) 13 Tomoki HIWATASHI (USA) 11 Egor MURASHOV (RUS) 11 Egor RUKHIN (RUS) 11 Yuto KISHINA (JPN) 11 Alexandra TRUSOVA (RUS) 15 Anastasia TARAKANOVA (RUS) 15 Daria PANENKOVA (RUS) 15 Eunsoo LIM (KOR) 13 Anastasiia GULIAKOVA (RUS) 13 Rika KIHIRA (JPN) 13 Mako YAMASHITA (JPN) 11 Riko TAKINO (JPN) 11 Emmy MA (USA) 9 Alisa FEDICHKINA (RUS) 9 Akari MATSUOKA (JPN) 9 Anastasiia GUBANOVA (RUS) 9 Sofia POLISHCHUK / Alexander VAKHNOV (RUS) 15 Christina CARREIRA / Anthony PONOMARENKO (USA) 15 Sofia SHEVCHENKO / Igor EREMENKO (RUS) 15 Shira ICHILOV / Vadim DAVIDOVICH (ISR) 14 Anastasia SHPILEVAYA / Grigory SMIRNOV (RUS) 13 Ksenia KONKINA / Grigory YAKUSHEV (RUS) 13 Marjorie LAJOIE / Zachary LAGHA (CAN) 13 Elizaveta KHUDAIBERDIEVA / Nikita NAZAROV (RUS) 11 Natacha LAGOUGE / Corentin RAHIER (FRA) 11 Caroline GREEN / Gordon GREEN (USA) 11 Apollinariia PANFILOVA / Dmitry RYLOV (RUS) 15 Aleksandra BOIKOVA / Dmitrii KOZLOVSKII (RUS) 13 Evelyn WALSH / Trennt MICHAUD (CAN) 11 Ekaterina ALEXANDROVSKAYA / Harley WINDSOR (AUS) 9 Laiken LOCKLEY / Keenan PROCHNOW (USA) 7 Kseniia AKHANTEVA / Valerii KOLESOV (RUS) 5 Chloe CHOINARD / Mathieu OSTIGUY (CAN) 4 Cleo HAMON / Denys STREKALIN (FRA) 3

ISU has always been incompetent. And corrupt. It's just a question on how much can they mess something up. For this newest "gem" of an idea, well it'd finally kill figure skating. It is a sport, and in order to be recognized as one, it cannot have an "artistic" program that is going to be pure subjectivity in judging. IOC is going to kick them out really quickly. I mean it's obvious the point of this is to allow medals to those skaters who cannot cope with the technical at the level of the current top 6-8 but the solution is to rework how PCS is awarded and raise the ceiling, not this nonsense. It'd essentially turn half of the sport into ice-dance with even less rules. And while I love the blending of artistry with athleticism, lets be real here, people like those jumps. So in the end we'd end up with - less rounded skaters who wouldn't bother with one or the other, less interest in the sport that may not even remain a part of the Olympcis and it'd be thrown even further onto the margins to slowly dwindle away. One thing that gives me hope this won't pass is that it will most likely jeopardize the money they get.

The FS unfortunately. I am not that bothered about the jumps; he had trouble at the start of last season and then it all worked out just fine in the end so while this is an unusual number of falls, it doesn't worry me at the moment. The program though, I really do not like that sudden switch in the middle. It's totally random and doesn't fit at all, there is no cohesion in this program. Not to mention that I think that as a skater, he's surpassed this and I don't think this is in any way allowing him to display that. It feels empty and shallow and uhhh. Boyang is a skater who doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anyway when it comes to his components and this, this won't help one bit. I admit to being very disappointed and yes, this does worry me because I think it's a very bad vehicle for the Olympics. I think Lori did a terrible job here.

Boyang's FS Me -- >

As much as I love Kolyada's SP, I do not in any way love the FS.

From what I understand, her soul leaves her body and roams freely, then comes the moment when you hear the words in the program - come back - and at the very end, it returns to her body so we see her "inhale" to show this. If it must stay, I would prefer if it were done more subtly but overall I love the program so I am not too bothered. I also really want to know how Zhenya spent her summer because there is a lot of improvement there. I have a feeling Zagi isn't the only person who took ballet lessons. Her hands, lines, posture, all better. She's maturing really nicely into a good skater.

I will never understand stuff like this. He's never going to score that internationally so isn't it better to give your skater realistic feedback so that he/they can improve even further on? I mean they're hardly the first who did this, lots of 'funny' local comps this off-season but the same thing holds.

Awww *pats* Have more. Best Zhenya probably.