rockstaryuzu

What better way to set the spirit free when your body is caged in?

SSsssssurrrreeee, Roman, stick to that story. No one can resist the allure of The Waist.

To be smothered in fanyu love and drowned in Poohs, of course! How else do you put a fire out?

So that's that for Autumn Classic then. Logically this means they won't be sending Yuzu. Makes me wonder when Yuzu will be leaving Japan now. Also, what does it mean for Japanese skaters already training in the countries in question, like Satoko?

Here I was getting so excited for him...but maybe Yuzu is one of those perma-student types who just keep going back to study more.

There's that. To my eyes, the article reads like an opinion piece, so I personally wouldn't take it as fact, because opinions aren't facts, but there might be readers who would see it that way.

I didn't get that. More like they were implying that Yuzu only got MVS because of fanyus, and that Nathan was somehow above the fray b/c he concentrates on skating. I wouldn't get too hung up on it - the whole thing reads like the kind of journalism that tries to make one thing seem like another by careful re-arrangement of words and facts.

Epic burn.

What? have we? I feel like we should do something appropriately Darth in return I find their lack of faith in Yuzuru...disturbing.

We can take it in turns to be The Fanyu - a different one of us each day. Or maybe it's like being Tribute? Someone has to 'volunteer'? Oh Katniss Everfanyu, wherefore art thou?

I read that article, and it doesn't seem like it was written by our usual Oly-chan. Reads more like it was written one of the NBC hacks.

Which speaks even more to my original point: don't sell the tickets until the event is properly planned, with all the scheduling and content details nailed down and set in cement.

Yes, exactly. pitchforks, indeed!! And there's also torches:

Okay, here are my two cents about the awards. I was going to post this in General Skating Chat but since everyone seems to be talking about it here: My main takeaway from this: the Awards would be best done as a stand-alone event. Even doing it virtually, getting through the six awards took more than an hour. I can't picture grafting that onto any arena event such as a Gala or even ice-show type performance that came at the end of a week of competition, when everyone's weary and their butts are sore from stadium seats and their hands are sore from clapping and skaters just want to get home . If it has to be held in any way that's connected to a competition, such as Worlds, then it should still be a separate event from the Gala. For the skaters' and audience sakes, both. Literally schedule it apart from the other stuff, and sell separate tickets to it. Or, keep it virtual. The format works pretty well and probably costs less to stage. It should NOT replace a Gala exhibition. Why? Because the Gala exhibition is an important opportunity for skaters to show their stuff in a non-competitive setting, as performers. It's a stepping stone to landing professional ice show contracts as far as I can tell. Especially for non-medal winners, this could be key to their future careers. Don't take it away. On top of that, every year skaters retire, and the Worlds Gala is the swansong for some of them...they and their fans deserve that opportunity to say goodbye. Now, as for the awards themselves, I agree with everyone else that the lack of transparency around the nomination process, voting, criteria for the awards etc are problems. To that I would add that costume designers should be getting equal billing for the Best Costume award (and maybe this award isn't really all that appropriate anyway? seems a bit like an elementary school Halloween party idea to me. 'Achievement in Costume Design' would be a better approach), that they need to have awards categories for every discipline (pairs being left out of the nominees is a problem!), and that 'Best Coach' seems like a nightmare to judge (another award that would be best switched to the 'Achievement in' approach instead). I am very pleased that Yuzu got MVS, he's put more bums in seats at competitions for the last ten years than any five of his competitors combined. And I feel mildly ashamed that as his fan, I haven't been able to live up to his level of class and graciousness in regards to these awards. On the other hand, unlike some of us, Yuzu didn't spend $1300 dollars (or more) on an all-event ticket only to find out six months later that he wasn't going to be getting what he paid for. So while I will try to emulate his wonderful manners in future, I still will give voice to my reality here. Which brings me to the crux of the problem: the reason we all hated the very thought of these awards is because they were introduced to us by means of a trick. Worlds 2020 all-event tickets were sold including a traditional two-hour gala. Long after the deadline for purchasing and paying for the tickets has passed, we were then told we would not be getting the Gala but something entirely different. It doesn't matter one iota that the 'something entirely different' turned out to be something sort-of okay. What matters is that we were tricked initially and will not forget it. I ask one thing of the ISU and all future Worlds organizing committees, and one thing only, from here on out: Be upfront about what you're selling us. Every time. When people are investing the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment in the ticket price, it is the rock-bottom least you can do.

Absolutely! Save the Yuzu files! Joking apart, I hope the rains let up and the floods subside soon, Japan has been hit with an awful lot of that lately. Stay safe!

I think this is the chief problem for every skating federation on the planet right now. Even if things are good locally, how do you go about holding a competition with skaters from other places? Not to sound too wildly paranoid, but I'm not too keen on people travelling from city to city within Canada right now, let alone coming here from overseas. So how does a sports organization ensure useful competitions can happen? It's as unrealistic to cancel the entire season as it is to try and host major international events. Not going to lie, I'm concerned that if the entire 20/21 season gets cancelled, a lot of skaters just aren't going to come back at all and the sport itself will be hamstrung. Yet I also don't want to see rinks packed full of fans and skaters right now either. So some way forward needs to be found.

Looks like he got a haircut...and this video cracks me up

If there's one thing that never changes, it's the age recognition app getting Yuzu all wrong

So pleased that Yuzu won! And oh my goodness, his English was practically perfect! You can tell he worked so hard on it...good man himself. Yuzu..always a champion. I have other thoughts about the awards, since I did watch a bit, but I will post them later in General Skating Chat.

I don't know... It might work. Maybe.

Probably this

Best idea I've heard all year

The craziest part of that whole thing is where someone said the mom was an adult figure skater who didn't take up the sport until very late in life. So she literally has no idea what she's asking of her daughter. The mind boggles.

I know. His German sounds so pleasant, too! @sallycinnamon Thank you!

Is Stephane saying 'why not?" for Alexia to get a quad, or just 'why not?' to women's quads in general? My German ist keine gut, ja.