Old Cat Lady

can I please get some good, clear picture of Yuzu's face while wearing both Olympic gold medals?

@yuzuangel what printing company are you using that's so cheap and would it make sense for the US? I was thinking of making Yuzu tee shirts through Vistaprint but a cheaper option means I can make more. I was also thinking of throwing the tee shirts on the ice instead of plushies since whatever we throw on the ice is really a donation to local children's charities and I figured clothes is practical.

Does google sheets work? I'm pretty busy over the next couple months so I'm not sure how prompt I'll be with it, but I'm also doing a lot of testing at work so I'm sure I can help somewhat. Do you have a template for it? We should make a group to keep each other updated on progress.

But it's good to see a variety of media outlets criticize the tech calls. I haven't seen any media try to defend the calls (though most merely acknowledge that they happened rather than take a stance on them) and the few that have expressed an opinion have said they were wrong.

tbh, I only heard that from other posters so I could be wrong. I never saw it in a rule book. I'm thinking that the ISU needs to start limiting region members in the tech panel. They have a lot more power over the score than the judges and having every single one as well as the referee from N. America was too much. But just because it didn't work this weekend (if I'm correct about ISU choosing them), doesn't mean that the judges/tech panel wouldn't benefit from being appointed by independent organization rather than federations. Though it would be nice if a whole third party chose the judges/tech panel so there's no special interest from anyone at play. What really needs to happen is direct and severe consequences but I'm not sure how to do that without also further encouraging lemming judging. Sometimes the judge that's completely out of line with the panel has completely valid reasons

I used to think that way too but the tech panel is independent of federations and look what happened this weekend

You can't repeat an element so I think you might be able to do it if you only do a 2axel as your axel type jump but it wouldn't be worth it.

Judging by recent interviews, it seems that we were optimistic about the status of the quad axel if it's still in harness. anyone have any stories of how long it takes to get a jump from harness to securely landed without it? I actually think it makes more sense to put the 4 axel in the SP than the LP. Now that there's no footwork requirement, it seems like it would be easier than doing it in the long. Yuzu says that it takes so much of his energy - as Shanshani says, it might be smarter to do it when there's less stamina requirement. I hope he's not serious about skating Origin until he lands the 4 axel on the gong.

Judging from practices and interviews, the realistic upgraded layout looks like FS: 4lz, 4lo, 4s, 4t, 4t-e-3f*, 3a/3t*, 3a/2t* = 98.58 SP: 4s, 3a, 4t/3t* = 46.37 BV = 95.84 + 46.37 = 144.95 Note that he continues to give up .2 in BV for one of his spins. I know it's not much but I have to think that it wouldn't be hard for him to fix without resorting to the Biellman, which I realize he wants to do but since he normally doesn't, maybe have a back up spin that's worth full bv. Who knows if 5 quad fs with upgraded jump content is realistic but that's what he's going for. Not sure what will get dropped if he does 4A. I'm guessing second 4t - that way he can do a second 3a/3t instead of the 3a/2t. FS: 4a, 4lz, 4lo, 4s, 4t-e-3f*, 3a/3t*, 3a/3t* = 104.77 SP: 4s, 3a, 4t/3t* = 46.37 Total BV= 151.14 Autumn Classic attempted BV = 138.25. FS: 4lo, 4s, 3lz, 4t, 4t-e-3s*, 3a/3t*, 3a/2t* = 91.9 If he skated it clean and called correctly, estimated total is 328.04, assuming average PCS of 9.6 and a GOE of 4 on the jumps he missed (all other elements with GOE as scored) Note: I changed all the "under rotated" to GOE 4 Note 2: If he scored GOE of 4 on that Salchow and got PCS of 9.6, he would have gotten 111.73, breaking his own record eta: just realized it makes more sense to add +2 GOE to all the under rotation calls since the guidelines say to deduct 1 to 2. That makes it 322.99 if clean and average PCS of 9.6

I think it's because of the ice spray at landing.

I keep thinking about what he'll do after he's done with competitive skating. I'm worried that he'll stick to Japan and the rest of the world will never get to see him again except on TV. Wondering how inappropriate it is to send a letter begging him to consider doing a day of Ciontu in NA or even Europe after retirement and point out that it's nearly impossible for non-Japanese fans to see him. I'm sure he'll be able to sell out shows anywhere. Pretty sure even Japanese fans will fly out since it's so hard even for the Japanese to get tickets. As a loner myself, I get this. For a while, I did get depressed that I missed out on things, but then I started doing them and quickly found out that I got tired of them. People can't believe when I say that I only socialize every other weekend and often get tired of it by the end of the weekend. And this is actually an increase in social time because I decided last year that I need to do a better job of developing relationships. If nothing else, there's nothing we can do about it so it's better to just think the best and enjoy our time with him.

Answer Key List the top 3 in each discipline. Men: 1. Yuzu, 2. Kevin Aymoz, 3. Keegan Messing Ladies: 1. Rika, 2. Evgenia, 3. Eunsoo Lim Dance: 1. Piper/Paul, 2. Fear/Gibson, 3.Lauriault/Le Gac Bonus Questions 2. Will Yuzu skate a new program? No 3. Will Yuzu land either a 4 axel, 4 lutz, or 4 flip? (eta: this is a yes or no question. If he lands any of these but you guess the wrong jump, you still get the 2 points) No 4. Will a lady land a quad (as called by Tech panel - i.e. for purposes of the game, Liu’s lutz would be counted as a yes)? No 5. Who will get the highest raw pcs score across all disciplines? Yuzu - 46.35 - SP Results 1. LadyLou = 28 2. Henni = 27 3. SallyCinnamon = 25 4. River = 21, Old Cat Lady = 21 6. Airi = 20 7. Paskud = 15 8. Mercedes = 10

1. List the top 3 in each discipline. 2. Will Yuzu skate a new program? 3. Will Yuzu land either a 4 axel, 4 lutz, or 4 flip? 4. Will a lady land a quad (as called by Tech panel - i.e. for purposes of the game, Liu’s lutz would be counted as a yes)? 5. Who will get the highest raw pcs score across all disciplines?

Just made a game if anyone is interested.

Just occurred to me to play a game for AC. I’ll be at the event so I might be slow in getting results. Someone else can do results if people don’t want to wait for me. Rules If you make any changes to your predictions, please edit your original reply rather than posting an additional one. I suggest predicting a top 4. If someone withdraws, I’ll bump everyone you predicted below that person up a spot. Scoring 1 point if your skater ends up within 1 place of your prediction. 3 points for every correct placement 2 points for every correct answer to bonus questions These are the entrants http://www.isuresults.com/events/fsevent03111900.htm 1. List the top 3 in each discipline. Bonus Questions 2. Will Yuzu skate a new program? 3. Will Yuzu land either a 4 axel, 4 lutz, or 4 flip? (eta: this is a yes or no question. If he lands any of these but you guess the wrong jump, you still get the 2 points) 4. Will a lady land a quad (as called by Tech panel - i.e. for purposes of the game, Liu’s lutz would be counted as a yes)? 5. Who will get the highest raw pcs score across all disciplines?

@Joey Just wondering if you were planning to do a prediction game this year?

Interesting that they chose a portrait of Yuzu when there are so many famous names in her list of subjects and they don't mention him in the article. So great to see him celebrated around the world, although I personally don't like her art. In this case, I'm not sure if I would have known it was him if I didn't already know she liked to paint him and the inaccuracies in features doesn't seem to be purposeful to capture any type of abstract idea. But it does do a good job in portraying his determination.

I'm talking from a competitive perspective not fan preferences. Minimizing weaknesses until he can get them at a better skill level will do him a lot of favors competitively as it will help his scores which builds reputation and momentum which will help him skate with more confidence and more confidence will help him present his material better. That's why I mentioned the similar levels of skating skills and spins. Nates PCS skyrocketed and averaged the highest GOE's of the season for his SP step sequence in spite of having edges that are similar to Boyang's. Bourne's staccato, frantic choreography did well to hide his poor edge quality and the lack of depth in his interpretation while creating the illusion of greater skill and confidence. I'm assuming you're not arguing that Nate's programs had great expression of inherent qualities or that his programs are deep. I think Boyang's expressive abilities are better than Nate's and I'm not sure what Nate does better than Boyang artistically - maybe point his toes better? But what Nate DID have that Boyang didn't, was a confident air and that was created in part by the fact that his weaknesses were minimized. But yes, if Boyang doesn't gel well with Shae then of course, she won't be able to highlight his strengths and hide his weaknesses. But that's true of any partnership and you don't know until you try. But I'm also on the boat of not having Shae choreograph every other program in existence so I'm fine with "not Shae" choreographing for Boyang though I would be interested in seeing what "not Lori" would do now that he's further developed as a skater as I wasn't wild about his programs last year.

But I think Boyang has a lot of similar weaknesses as Nathan and Shae did a good job of hiding Nathan's weaknesses. When Boyang is on, I don't think Nathan's skating skills or spins are any better than Boyang's and Boyang has more natural personality and expression than Nathan does. Boyang just needs a bit more swagger and consistency along with the progress he's been making in the skills. Deniss is never going to be a world medal contender so I think it's smart of him to distinguish himself in other ways. He's more likely to be remembered for those show spots by making a statement than for some challenger event medal.

Huh. That never occurred to me but now that I think about it, I don’t think there’s any pictures of Nathan with curly hair as a junior The more I think about, the less I think that the ISU sways the assignments that much except in special circumstances like GP Finland. Firstly, they don’t seem to do a ton of research on anything so I doubt they have a great understanding of fan bases outside of putting hometown favorites at their event. secondly, it makes the most business sense to put yuzu at the potentially weakest event available and they haven’t seemed concerned about that in the past. I have doubts about yuzu being at COC because I got the impression from an article that the fans are extra crazy for him there and it made him uncomfortable. You guys seem to think rostelecom is unlikely because of it being clumped closely with other events. I got the impression that skaters in general don’t like idf because of the poor organization. Then the question is whether Nathan wants skate Canada. It does seem like skate Canada and idf offer the most strategic advantage if yuzu wants nhk. It’s in both jsf and isu’s interest to keep Shoma and yuzu separate as far as they can tell, though in practice, I have doubts

Lol, wow, you really did your research. I wonder if Nathan knows all this yet. Quick, we need to nudge Nathan toward Rostelecom so us N.A. have a better shot at Yuzu!

The point I was trying to make is I just don't see why the ISU would want to force Nathan to skate outside North America. There's no financial motivation to do it when every other event has a bigger local draw than Nathan and Yuzu can be placed anywhere to sell the event out. At least judging by the forums, he's the 2nd most popular active male skater - a lot of the Chan fans have switched to supporting him. From ISU perspective, it makes the most financial sense to keep Nathan in N.A., where it's easiest for American fans to travel to see him. Without ISU stepping in, it's a question of host pick + skater wishes. Then we go back to, is Skate Canada willing to fight for Yuzu? Most of the all event tickets have already sold for Skate Canada anyway.

From the ISU perspective: France has Papadakis/Cizeron and James/Cipres US has Nathan China has Sui/Han and Boyang but not sure how popular they are Japan has a lot of choices Russia has a lot of choices Canada has no strong local draws. Yuzu is easily the biggest draw internationally and is going to increase sales in every event except NHK, which will likely sell out anyway. I'm guessing even Skate America would benefit more from him than Nathan. eta: Skating is popular in Russia. Rostelecom could probably sell out without him as well. I don't know if Nathan is popular, per se, but he is a 2 time world champion now and the most hyped skater in North America. Skate America and Skate Canada are the only events that Nathan can be a somewhat decent substitute for Yuzu, especially if Shoma is sent as well. I don't think Nathan has enough drawing power to impact any other event.

But this year, Nathan's pick gets priority. Everyone seems to agree that Nathan will pick whatever works best with school. The first question is, what would Nathan consider best for his schedule? NHK is the only event other than SA that would allow him to miss fewer classes but it's also the one that will least likely want him. If Nathan does ask for NHK, how much is JSF willing to play ball? If NHK isn't an option, then you would think Nathan would pick whatever event would cause him to miss the fewest classes. That's Skate Canada. Then we have to ask, is Skate Canada willing to fight to get Yuzu? Isn't Nathan one of the most popular male skaters in Canada. If Shoma also picks Skate Canada, would they consider that enough of a draw for the event? If Yuzu really doesn't want to do back to back event, he can do any of the other events.

Did you find what you need yet? I only have NBC Gold so most of the events don't have any commentary. eta: Just realized that the videos are already in the archive. Thanks for doing this