rockstaryuzu

I dunno. Raf is gruff and gives a bad impression in interviews, but from what I've read that he's said, his coaching technique/ philosophy isn't all that bad. But he seems more like a swimming coach than a skating coach to me. I think you'd have to be a pretty mentally tough individual to thrive under a coach like Raf.

Dai is actually one of a very few skaters that can bring the drama to a program and make it work. And it's because he shares one important quality with Yuzu - he's a dancer and a performer, not just an athlete. It makes for some great skates.

Puts a whole new spin on the nobility, doesn't it?

I believe this is the reason why he can do all the things he does and none of it falls flat. Sakura fairy or primordial Origin, it's all authentic to him and that's the key.

Yes, but it doesn't read as 'feminine' to me, even so. At least on the ice. I agree that there are times off the ice when he affects a stereotypically effeminate demeanor, but to my eye it looks like a role he enjoys playing, as opposed to how he'd act when he's, say, relaxing at home. Maybe it's a matter of what a person sees first when looking at a skate. For me, the athleticism and artistry is what I see first, before I register who might be skating. I see the jump or the spin, the lines of the body, the quality and energy of the movement, and then I notice man or woman, style of skating, music etc. And that being said, my style prefs: Just take Yuzu as a given. Obviously I love his style or I wouldn't be here. After Yuzu, and in no particular order: 1. Aymoz for sure. 2. Keegan's snap and energy is like watching a ball of fire bounce around. 3. Roman Sadovsky really caught my eye at ACI. He's a graceful bird. 4. Scott Moir. Talk about someone who oozes masculinity in all the right ways. I know he's an ice dancer but I can't help but feel he'd have been great at singles too. Brezina has the same quality to me. 5. Jun. He's just fresh. I like so many more too. It's probably easier to talk about the ones I don't like. I'm not a big fan of Bychenko or Samohin, or any of the guys that really go for the heavy serious drama in their music and programs. Likewise I hate it when you can tell a skater is just doing a program their coach handed to them, that they don't feel attached to themselves. That's kind of my complaint about all the Eteri skaters actually. I guess you could say that I like skaters who can make their programs into personal expressions through their artistic and athletic capabilities.

I think it really depends on what your own movement vocabulary is. HYK might not seem 'masculine', but nothing about it reads as 'girly' to me. Innocence and joy are not limited to femininity. Anyone who's watched a two year old boy run around outdoors on a puddle-jumping day will know exactly what I mean. Yuzu retains that quality of accepting wonder in his performances.

Also, sanitation wasn't the same then as it is now. High heels were a practical way to keep your hems out of the questionable muck in the streets of those times.

Isn't that what Raf is going to have? He just got a new rink/facility too. Anyway, you can't replicate personalities and a big part of TCC's success is Brian's and Tracy's ways of being. So trying to copy them is a doomed effort.

Most Canadian universities, the regular course load is five courses per. At my school, engineers were just expected to do more because engineering.

Maybe. Reality is that Johnny was that good, and Scott didn't support him even though he was American. Also, Adam has never seemed particularly unmacho to me. Someone's sexuality has almost nothing to do with their competitiveness, assertiveness, protectiveness, or any other so-called 'masculine' trait, in my experience. But I come from a land where dainty-looking moms play hockey as roughly and aggressively as Hextall and Domi, so maybe my perception of gender norms is slightly skewed.

Agreed. IMO this is the thing that deserves hype about Nathan - and Raf. They've figured out something good it seems.

It's the way they're doing it. Otherwise it wouldn't be so noticeable.

Hmm....maybe my memory is faulty, but back when I was a kid and watched figure skating, Scotty Hamilton never struck me as projecting all that masculine of an aura himself. Yuzu as Sakura fairy is still 100% more masculine-looking than Scott in his zip-up blue one piece jumpsuit with rainbows across his shoulders.

If this going to be a thing, I favor the Red Cross, just because it's a known entity. They're also the ones most likely to be able to handle donations from outside Japan.

According to an article I found on Google, Nathan's course load is four per semester. Normal complement at most North American schools would be five. And if you went to my alma mater for engineering (like I did) you took six per semester and liked it that way. So yes, while it's obviously challenging to do a competitive sport and go to a famous school at the same time, Nathan's not killing himself at it. The media could drop the hype.

He's not even the first to do that. Sara Hughes, 2002 Olympic champion, did it first. And according to Google, he's only taking four courses a semester anyway. As a one-time engineering student, this amuses me greatly...my school required engineers to take six courses per semester. which I did while working 30 hours a week. Don't brag to me about time management at university.

The telling point here is that even Nathan doesn't believe this level of hype about himself ( and Raf certainly doesn't if his comments are anything to go by) so I'm thinking we can safely ignore what Scott says. Also remember that Scott is the man who originated Stars On Ice, so he's not someone skaters can really afford to call out or offend, I'd guess. That being said, some of these comments go way beyond rah-rah-rah-America's-great patriotism and sound more personal, like Scott just dislikes Yuzu, full stop. Which is kind of incredible in its own way. It's not like Scott has to compete against Yuzu or anything.

Can't help but wonder if Scott actually watched the same World's as the rest of us.

Sad, but also weird when you consider that the US is the ground zero of the whole LGBQT rights movement, going all the way back to the 60s, long before any other country was open to it. America definitely has a bit of a schizophrenic attitude in this regard. That being said, I take issue with Scott's comments from a different perspective. Saying anyone is 'unbeatable' is always demonstrably false ( even saying it about Yuzu...reality is that this is figure skating and winning or losing is the judge's hands, not the skater's.). And to say that Nathan's doing things that have never been done...what, exactly, might that be? 4Lo? No, Yuzu was the first one to land it. 4F? I do believe that was Shoma. 4Lz? That was Brandon Mroz back in 2011. 4S? Timothy Goebel, 2002. And the first 4T was landed before Nathan was even born, by Kurt Browning in the 90's. If he wants to talk about the number of quads in a program, yes, Nathan is the only man to have attempted 6 and it was a spectacular failure. And under the new rules, such an attempt would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Nathan hasn't invented any signature moves either. So no 'things that have never been done' for Nathan. Nathan's very, very good and getting better all the time. But he's no innovator and he's as human as anyone else so I don't really understand Scott's comments. They're unrealistic at best and jingoistic at worst.

Well, that post from Javi Raya showed Yuzu on the ice already so I think you're right. I still hate his injuries anyway.

Head's Up for those who have access: CBC's Road to the Olympic Games is re-broadcasting the Worlds Gala starting an hour from now. ( At 4pm EST)  They're airing it on their regular TV channel as well as on the CBC.ca /sports site. Unfortunately, I'm all thumbs technologically, so I don't know how to share it other than suggest trying to watch from the web if you have a VPN with a Canadian address. 

And if he'd been healthy all season, he might have got there...he'd have had at least two more competitions (GPF and Japanese Nats) to perfect it with. As positive as I try to stay here, I effing hate his injuries....

I wonder where the heck the photographer was, that they managed to capture him at such an angle!!!

Ohhhh yeahhhhh... definitely!