Old Cat Lady

For me, realistically, I think I will go back to being a casual viewer until someone really grabs my attention again. I'll still check this board regularly and a couple others casually, but most of my time on skating is spent on finding more about Yuzu so I don't see how I could be nearly as interested in the sport once he's gone. With Japanese fans filling the arena, I'm curious how much of it is specifically devotion to Yuzu or it's more a matter of they only have so much money to spend on skating so they're spending it on their favorite skater (i.e. once Yuzu is gone, they'll just spend the money on their next favorite). Hopefully for the ISU, the situation is the latter because if it's not, they, and skating viewers, are in real trouble if they can't create another star.

This is a 2 part question. Been thinking of the crazy fandoms of Yuna and Yuzu and the waning interest in figure skating in general. I read that even in Japan skating shows don't always sell out when Yuzu isn't involved. Let's say Yuzu had decided to retire. 1. How do you think you would have responded 2. And what impact do you think it would have had on skating in general?

Did this seminar happen yet? Curious what the ISU will do with the information. A couple more questions. For "very good body position from take-off to landing" does this include the tilt of the body? Does a skater lose credit for that bullet if he is otherwise well positioned but is in an angle while in the air? Are variations of position and delayed rotation completely disregarded in the new system? If a skater does get credit for these things, for which bullet do they get the credit? If it's in the body position bullet, then how are they differentiated from skaters with good body position but don't do these things?

He's talked a lot about how he either makes mistakes in the short or the long and how he wants to be a "real champion like Plushenko" that skates cleanly in both. I think when he talks about the perfect skate he means a perfect competition in a major competition, which I think means either worlds or Olympics. At the 2018 Olympics, even though he was happy with his skate and said that he skated as well as he could have under the circumstances, he still had regrets that there were mistakes. And pretty much every time he talked about Sochi he mentioned how only the short program was good.

That's so hilarious. I've only ever seen the little bit after Patrick shakes his hand and Yuzu makes that face after he realizes he lost. Is he always that demonstrative back stage? Patrick seemed amused. I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from laughing if I were him.

oops, wrong video.

I think I wrote this before the rule changes were finalized or before I saw all the details - I remember griping that there weren't as many GOE bullets required and thought they were overly vague. As far as taking away the advantage of the exits/delayed rotation/and air position, it took away the positive bullets for those specific aspects while, at the time, I thought it required less to get higher scores. Actually, now that I see the final version of the system, +5 is much more difficult to get than +3 because of the requirement for the core elements.

Can you redo the singles webinar to show a range of examples that would and would not qualify for each bullet as well as explanations for why those examples were chosen. Showing only the gold standard does not explain much of anything. Can you also show/explain examples of deductions and what would get a minimal deduction versus a maximum deduction. I think the best way would be to show elements that represent each GOE rating and explain the reasoning behind getting those GOE scores. Is there a guideline for PCS deductions for "serious errors" for skaters that DON'T normally get higher than 9's or 9.5's? If not, then why did you make a guideline that only hurts about 5 skaters per discipline? What are examples of skating that represent each level of PCS score and why? What are examples of "serious errors" Why are component scores that have nothing to do with jumps affected by the difficulty and success of jumps? By this, I mean not only for the "serious errors" that result in not getting maximum scores, but in the general trend with components going up with the TES BV? When deciding if an element should get credit for "element matches the music", especially for jumps and spins, do you give skaters credit for just placing the element during a nuance of the music or does there have to be a quality to the element itself that reflects the character of the music? When deciding this for spins, do they credit if a change of position happens when the music changes or does their have to be a characteristic of the spin itself that reflects the music. The new wording for jump height/distance bullet is "very" good while for spins it is only "good". Does this mean that a jump's height/distance needs to be superior to get credit while a spin merely needs to be "not slow" to get the credit? When deciding "creativity and originality", do skaters get credit if they, themselves, have done it previously but no one else in the field currently does it?

Oh dear. Yuzu might have some costume misses but they all at least work well with his proportions. This thing doesn't do anything for Carolina. Just a guess, but I'm thinking it's because a child is seen as sexless so it's not as relevant. Does Yuzu's face look completely different from picture to picture to you guys? I'm thinking it's mostly because his hair styles change his look so much but it seems like it's more than that. Even if he wears makeup to shows and competitions, it can't be that much since his skin always looks the same. His cheek bones look extra sharp in this picture.

Lol, not sure if I'm misunderstanding you or if you're misunderstanding me. That chart doesn't show the final GOE. It's what's subtracted after the positive aspects are added up. So, if a jump has very good height/distance and steps before the jump, it would start at +2. Then, if nothing else is wrong with the jump, you subtract 5 for the fall, ending in -3. However, a skater never has a perfect jump then falls over for no reason so normally there's going to be additional deductions - that, and judges don't seem to follow the bullets strictly when it comes to falls. The only deduction which is listed explicitly as "final GOE must be" -5 is the SP:not according to requirements. In this case, even if the element is spectacular in every way, you're supposed to give it a final GOE of -5 because it didn't follow the SP requirement for that element. eta: need to make this Yuzu related... that's part of the reason it was so galling that judges never enforced the steps before jump. He should have had an additional 3+ point advantage over most of the field since almost no one did steps directly before the solo jump but judges never gave them the automatic -3.

Was just wondering if donations have been covering or at least getting close to covering the cost of running this site. Also if there's any way to donate where a third party doesn't get a cut.

eta: nevermind. I was looking at the wrong thread

hmm, I didn't get that at all. Unless I missed something, all they did was show the negative features and comment that there were a lot more reductions than before. The only automatic -5 is the SP: Jump element not according to requirement, not that they ever adhered to the auto max deduction rule before . Judges don't want to follow the guideline... I know, we'll just get rid of the requirement for steps before the jumps rather than actually sanctioning the judges! As far as I can tell, in both the old and the new system you're supposed to deduct for falls like normal errrs, by adding positives then subtracting the negatives. That's why Kolyada often gets -2's for falls on his quad lutz from judges. But judges rarely give less than the maximum for a fall and don't recall them ever giving the automatic -3 for no steps before a jump in the short program.

My principled side says that it was a major faux pas to use current skaters - it will cause greater likelihood of pre-judging. I admit, even when I was judging to learn the system, I pretty much gave Patrick +5 for his step sequences without really looking at what he was doing and I often subtracted from +5 rather than adding then subtracting when judging Yuzu's jumps. With them having to make snap judgement, the skaters being used in the examples are much more likely to get that bullet. My selfish side is ecstatic that Yuzu got used for one of the core bullets, especially since I think it's the vaguest of the elements. one of my 2 biggest fears with the judging is that skaters won't get credit for +4/5 no matter how much they deserve it. Maybe he'll actually get some +5's next season after all. I'm also cackling a little on the inside that some skaters got used twice while others didn't get used at all. Really, they should have used multiple examples with a variety of skaters, but I suppose that emphasizes even more who DOESN'T fulfill these bullets. So fun watching that axel just get bigger and bigger!

Ahh. thanks. I suppose I'll just copy and past once that thread gets active again

haha. Sorry for the confusion! I imagine the earliest we'll ever see a 4 axel by Yuzu is in a competition for practice and the general chat thread will go up by at least 50 pages in one day.

How do you guys make these banners? What materials do you use? Or is there some company where you can get them made?

Skate America Men: 1. Chen 2. Zhou 3. Voronov Ladies: 1. Miyahara 2. Sakamoto 3. Tennel Dance: 1. Hubbel/Donohue 2. Zagorski/Guerreiro 3. still thinking about it Pairs: 1. Tarasova/Morozov 2. Yu/Zhang 3. Knierems Skate Canada Men: 1. Uno 2. Brown 3. Messing Ladies: 1. Medvedeva 2. Higuchi 3. Daelman Dance: 1. Hubbel/Donohue 2. Gilles/Poirier 3. Smart/Diaz Pairs: 1. James/Cipres 2. Moore-Towers/Marinaro 3. Peng/Jin Helsinki Men: 1. Hanyu 2. Jin 3. Kolyada Ladies: 1. Zagitova 2. Kostner 3. Sakamoto Dance: 1. Chock/Bates 2. Stepanova/Bukin 3. TBD Pairs: 1. Sui/Han 2. Zabiako/Enbert 3. Della Monica/Guarise NHK Men: 1. Uno 2. Zhou 3. Aliev Ladies: 1. Miyahara 2. Sotskova 3. Daleman Dance: 1. Papadakis/Cizeron 2. Stepanova/Bukin 3. TBD Pairs: 1. Sui/Han 2. Zabiako/Enbert 3. Moore-Towers/Marinaro Rostelecom Men: 1. Hanyu 2. Kolyada 3. Messing Ladies: 1. Zagitova 2. Higuchi 3. Tsurskaya Dance: 1. Chock/Bates 2. Stepanova/Bukin 3. Muramoto/Reed Pairs: 1. Tarasova/Morozov 2. Della Monica/Guarise 3. TBD France Men: 1. Chen 2. Jin 3. Brown Ladies: 1. Medvedeva 2. Kostner 3. Sotskova Dance: 1. Papadakis/Cizeron 2. Gilles/Poires 3. Hawayek/Baker Pairs: 1. James/Cipres 2. Yu/Zhang 3. TBD GPF Qualifiers Men: 1. Hanyu 2. Chen 3. Uno 4. Jin 5. Zhou 6. Kolyada 1st Alt: Brown Ladies: 1. Zagitova 2. Medvedeva 3. Miyahara 4. Higuchi 5. Kostner 6. Sotskova 1st alt: Sakamoto Dance: 1. Papadakis/Cizeron 2. Hubbel/Donohue 3. Chock/Bates 4. Gilles/Poirier 5. Stepanova/Bukin 6. Muramoto/Reed 1st alt: Hawayek/Baker Pairs: 1. Han/Cong 2. Tarasova/Morozov 3. James/Cipres 4. Zabiako/Enbert 5. Yu/Zhan 6. Moore-Towers/Marinaro 1st alt: Monica/Guarise GPF Podiums Men: 1. Hanyu 2. Uno 3. Chen 4. Kolyada 5. Jin 6. Zhou Ladies: 1. Zagitova 2. Medvedeva 3. Higuchi 4. Kostner 5. Miyahara 6. Sotskova Dance: 1. Papadakis/Cizeron 2. Hubbel/Donohue 3. Chock/Bates Pairs: 1. Han/Cong 2. Tarasova/Morozov 3. James/Cipres Kolyada got so screwed. He can skate above average and still be on the bubble while Chen and Uno can have mini melt downs and still comfortably make the final. If he skates at least average, I still expect Kolyada to make the final based on tie breakers. Had a hard time deciding between him and Jin for silver at Helsinki.

I was thinking it would be fun to have a game for the off season. Maybe we can even have a prize; My first thought was everyone put in a small amount of money to a paypal account for a prize but with how international membership is that might be difficult and is probably considered gambling, though in the US fantasy sports are legal on the basis that it's a skill based activity so not sure. My 2nd thought for a prize would be buying some sort of membership perk, which would have the added benefit of helping fund the site, but as far as I can tell there aren't different membership levels or anything. Until someone can think of something feasible, right now prize will just have to be bragging rights Rules (we can alter if people have better ideas) 1. For purposes of fairness and giving me time to collect them, predictions are due by October 12th. (aww man, just occurred to me now that we still have to wait 3 months ) 2. 1 point for every correct podium guess. If you predict beyond the podium and someone withdraws, all places below the withdrawn skater will automatically move up so it is recommended. Only 1 guess per placement; multiple guesses for the same placement will be worth 0. 3. 2 additional points for guessing all 4 gold medalists. 4. 3 additional points for guessing all skaters that podium (in any order) 5. 5 additional points for guessing all medal winners in correct order. 6. 1 point for each GPF qualifier (alternates will be used if a skater withdraws from any competition, list alternates in order that you think they'll qualify) 7. 3 additional points per discipline if you guess all qualifiers in the order that they qualified 8. 5 additional points if you guess all the qualifiers in all the segments (in any order) 9. Points awarded for GPF competition will follow the same point system as 2-5. (just realized that if a skater withdraws, it messes up GPF competition predictions. Out of fairness, if a skater's withdrawal affects anyone's finalists, then everyone can redo their predictions for the competition.) Of course, discussion is encouraged, but please keep predictions organized in 1 post. If you change your prediction, please alter your original post rather than making a new one.

Thanks for the links! It's good to know that there's at least 1 official source to point to. I came across this Plushenko article a couple months ago. When I read it, I thought, "hmmm, maybe the old sensei Yuzu keeps referring to is Plushy" (not really, but this sounds so similar to something Yuzu said in an article I can't find right now) https://healthylivingmagazine.us/Articles/419/ I am very grateful to those athletes who, after the Vancouver [Olympic Games], started to jump quads and included several...After some time they’ll learn all of the quadruple jumps; five quads in a program will become the norm, and it will be a real thing, true figure skating, as figure skating is not only an art, a ballet, not only beautiful skating; first of all, it is a sport… I think there are no limits in sports. They always move forward. First, the athletes will learn all quads, then 4.5 quads, and in some 50-70 years there will be a quintuple jump, I’m sure. Maybe in 100 years, but it will happen. There will be combinations of two quads. I know because I was training a 4.5 axel and two toe loop quad combination. If I jumped it, I think guys will jump it too—after some time maybe. There will be different athletes, different gear, lighter boots and blades. One hundred years ago folks used to jump a single jump; now a quad is a norm. Just give it time.

http://ohlovesosweet.tumblr.com/post/44974002927/ten-years-from-now-i-think-ill-have-landed-a Just found this in my bookmarks. So he's been talking about it in interviews since at least 2013

So I've slowly been going through the old posts of the general Yuzuru talk thread and I've seen references to multiple people who have claimed to have seen him actually do it. 1. Does anyone have any links to sources? 2. Have they said if they were in or out of harness? So far, I think I've seen people mention Plushenko, Arakawa, Miki Ando, Massimiliano Ambessi. For some reason I thought that either Brian Orser or the guy holding the harness said something about him landing it in harness but with no weight on the harness. Also, any idea of when Yuzu first started talking about it? I know it's been a few years but it seems like there's a lot more talk about it - I'm wondering if it's because he already has it or if it's just because he's getting asked about it more.

I feel the same way. I was hoping that was just the way he was going to do it from now on but looks like that it's this program specific judging by his H&L performance. And I'm not sure if his Ina Bauer in this program is more beautiful than ever or if I'm just falling more in love with him.

Awwwww, I'm melting Is Javi really this affectionate with all his "not friends"?

Heck, even since Semei. And it's probably just the angle or the fact that he squeezed himself into a costume from when he was 15 years old, but I could swear that he's gotten more shapely even since 2018 Olympics. He's been working hard in that gym! I've always been curious about Kikuchi. I thought I read somewhere that he moved to Toronto as well. Tracy called him a personal trainer but he seems to be something more, especially if he really does have that level of devotion.