Joey

That bolded part is giving me weird feelings Mostly because he's right, but knowing he also thinks that is kind of making me sad but proud too - takes confidence to think that, and he really needs it. To be honest I still think this is also the main reason Chopin is back, the judges always scored that really well - and looking at ACI & CoR, they did score it higher then LGC again (if we compare those performances to some with LGC with similar level of being clean). And yeah, the scoring is really pushing him to add that 4Lz. It sucks, because by all accounts of looking at actual quality yes, last years layouts should be enough, but if we look at the actual scoring they won't be if Shoma and to a lesser extent Nathan deliver well enough. The judges are basically forcing him to risk his health there if he wants to make the OGM a sure doesn't-depend-on-others-making-mistakes thing. So I hope people will stop being angry at the 4Lz (or Yuzu himself) and direct the anger where it belongs - like always - at the judges

True, like his layout before was too. Tbh I have no idea what transitions he did before, and being too lazy to look them up now... but he never did a spread eagle into a 3Lz. But then he never did that into his 3Lo either I think and then 4Lo happened with one. Not sure if I even want to know all the crazy stuff he practices

He definitely is! And he would have the team event to test it out, if he does the SP there, so... @kiches, I bet it would be the solo jump. In the 2nd half would be crazy, and they can't switch stuff around so much given his rich choreo. So lutz spread eagle sandwich

I'm like.... not surprised. At all For now, I have no idea what to think about the SP 4Lz though. If he'd stick to that idea or not, given the injury set back. If he's in 100% form for nats, I wouldn't put it past him, but it's veeeery difficult to imagine right now. And honestly, 'our' hearts & health shouldn't be a main consideration point for him though. (Well, tbh, at this point, 4Lz doesn't make me more nervous then 4Lo anyway )

I'd have my money on him keeping it. I understand the reasoning as to why he should take it out, but... it's Yuzu. He doesn't just want to win, it's not just about the medals. He wants to win absolutely. He wants to win showing his absolute best. He wants to win having no regrets and going for everything he's capable of. CoR shows he's capable of a 4Lz. To be honest I think even if he won in PC, if it was without the 4Lz, maybe he would always have that nagging feeling of "but I could have been better"? He won in Sochi but still regrets his LP there. It's how he is. And the only thing that counts is that Yuzu needs to do what he thinks is right for him - that will be the right decision, no matter how it turns out. Don't get me wrong, IMO if he really struggles that much in practices with it, I'm sure he'll be mature enough now to take it out - but if there is a chance, and I think there will be because it's Yuzu and he's good like that, I think he'll include it.

Ah sorry, I never remembered putting them in ^^" NHK: Ladies. Will Mirai get a rotated 3A? Yes, she did. Pairs. Will we have at least one twist from any Pair with maximum GOE? No, we did not. Dance. Will Kana & Chris manage top 5? No, they did not () CoC: Men. Will the winner win both, SP & LP? No, Mika didn't, he won the SP, Max the LP. Ladies. Will the winner stay without any call from the technical panel - !, e, < or <<? No, Alina didn't, she had a 3Lz<. Pairs. How many of Sui/Hans elements will get at least a +2 on average from the judges (without factoring)? It was 13 from 19, IIRC, so the right answer was 12-15. Dance. Will the Team winning the LP have both the highest TES & PCS? Yes, P/C did. SC: Men. Will we see a 300+ score? Yes, Shoma scored 301+. Ladies. Which will be higher in the winning ladies LP, TES or PCS? Kaetlyn had higher PCS then TES. Pairs. Will the winning team manage to have 0 falls in the whole competition? Yes, D/R stayed fall-free. Dance. Will the winning team have maximum levels on all elements in at least one segment? Yes, V/M did in the SD. CoR: Men. Will we see the full set of clean quads? No, no clean 4Lo. Ladies. How big will Evgenias winning margin be? It was 15+ points, so the 10-20 margin. Pairs. Will there be synchronized side-by-side falls? No, there were not. Dance. Will we get a podium with 3 different nationalities on it? No, we did not, Russia had 2 teams on it. And btw, if you want to have the questions posted here I can also regularly post the new ones + answers. Also, playing around a bit with the flexiquiz side, if you want to see the questions there again, you can also register (with any nick) again and then just don't submit any answers. I can sort by "submitted or not", so these empty registrations wouldn't show up at the end. And again, if you don't remember what you answered anymore but want to know, write me, I can look it up and tell you

Next round of the Prediction Game, IdF, is up! Link: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/3fa9fa1d-4041-4fe6-8933-8b2440359af1 As always, you have time until the first part of the competition starts. Good luck to everyone!

Okay, let's get NHK done & over with - prediction game results are here! We had at least one person managing the full 14 points per discipline: Yata, Xen & me in ladies; Crazykuroneko, golden, Kelly, ralucutzagy, Smultron & me in Pairs; Hannah & Lily in Ice Dance. Overall, the winners list for NHK looks quite funny, because close together: 1.) Joey (yes me again, it's kind of weird to either write my nick or 'me' in these instances, must be said) - 35 points 2.) Yata - 34 points 3.) Smultron - 33 points 4.) Xen - 32 points 5.) Hannah - 31 points 6.) golden - 30 points Look at that pretty points ladder, and everything scored once to boot! And would you believe it, that's my highest point total yet, despite NHK literally missing a discipline. Lol. And I'm not alone, same for Hannah, Neenah, novana, Smultron & Xen! Updated overall standings: 1.) Yata - 135 2.) Joey - 126 (whut) 3.) Kelly - 122 4.) kitsune - 121 5.) ralucutzagy, xeyra - 120 As you can see, Yata is running away with some of us following in her foot steps, fighting more closely for 2nd place. Will any of us be able to challenge Yata in the next 3 events?

Well Olympics are still a long way (and a lot of predictions) off, thankfully xD And JNats would be before anyway too... but well, if you guys really don't want to predict the mens there (I mean the majority doesn't), then we'd leave those out I guess. We're not forced to predict after all

Sorry I didn't get around to it yet, but I'll try to put up the prediction round for IdF today in the evening (together with finishing the NHK point counting). So yeah, I'll continue with the game, and everyone is free to participate or not, for any reason (just as before). I would like to say though that really, nothing we predict here has anything to do with the troubles so many skaters - including Yuzu - have to go through this season ^^" I doubt that even if the skating gods would exist and see this, they'd think we are that important to curse so many skaters just because of us/our predictions

To the bolded part, eh-..... yeah. No it isn't, but it would only be going in circles if I tried to argue there and I'd rather skip that part. I have no idea about where or how Shoma is being "criticized at length" for it, as I have no idea what kind of twitter comments you are talking about here, I have seen all of one being critical of this on my TL, and now a bunch of people also complaining about "the extreme hate train". I'm not arguing on behalf of or against anything I didn't even see/read. If you want to think there is nothing unfair about it, go ahead. I'm not going to repeat myself here

Had the french skaters got the opportunity to train at the official comp rink, you think they would have declined? You think Mai would have? And if it isn't unfair treatment, then can you tell me when before a skater was allowed on competition ice before official practice then? (The one day aside for skaters arriving early that is often granted). AFAIK, Shoma wasn't either in Lombardia this season or Helsinki the last.He went to other rinks close by. And again, that is fine. And ofc it's on the ISU/French people side, when did I say Shoma was being unfair?

Aren't the other French skaters in that smaller rink somewhere in the same facility? No idea how that would be called, but that's the only videos I saw with them - and that isn't the competition rink itself. Shoma was there today as well AFAIK instead of on the main competition rink again. No, Shoma is not himself preventing anyone from doing the same thing. There are no rules against what he does AFAIK. And I haven't claimed either. And again, I have absolutely no issue, and I think nobody should have, with him generally getting to a city early to avoid the jet-leg problem. That one is a non-issue and if he has the resources for it, it's only smart to use it. Eh, and sorry, but I don't think I was demonizing him or hating. If you feel differently, then I'm sorry, but really I just think I called the action itself for what I think it is - unfair treatment compared to other athletes. I'm more irritated with the French rink people and his team here.

Oh I wouldn't call it cheating either - I don't think there is any rule against it. It is definitely unfair though, and does speak of some sort of favoritism, given that skaters usually aren't given that privilege.

They haven't been doing since least season what people dislike about this so much - he was early at events (Lombardia this season, Helsinki for WC), but he never practiced so much on the actual competition rink before. That is the difference, and it is a pretty big one. Shoma always practiced at other rinks in the area, not the ones where the competition would be held. That way, he had no advantage compared to other skaters in getting used to the competition rink. Now he does. Oops, I didn't know they weren't listed, I should be careful with what I say It has nothing to do with how much money Shoma gets from them though - the point is they can afford sending him a week early to a competition to get rid of the jet-lag problem (if JSF isn't paying for it), as it's big & 'wealthy' enough a sponsor.

I cannot believe Zu & Zhenya seem to have the same injury - World Champion curse or what? Hopefully Evgenia will have the time to heal for the GPF, she is a very strong competitor and I'm sure will manage well even if not 100% in top form, but hopefully it won't come to another "has to fight through" thing. All the best Evgenia!

In general, yes, likely because nobody can pay for that. But Shoma is sponsored by Toyota, the biggest money source for both JSF and even the ISU itself I think, so I guess that doesn't apply to him. In this specific case the way more unusual thing is that he is actually at the competition rink. I've never seen anyone allowed to practice in the competition rink more then maybe a day before official practices start. It's super surprising the French really let him do that. And tbh I think it's a weird move from his team - being able to get used to the specific ice on that rink for such a long period gives him an advantage over the other skaters and it's easy to see favoritism in this (again, given how being even allowed to do this is not the norm).

Well regarding the NHK round for now, I would have personally suggested that we don't count the men's event, if everyone is okay with that. If you all want it to count, I'll do so, but frankly it won't be too many points given how everyone guessed and maybe the less we all think about the men's event at NHK at all, the better.

It's too late to change the questionnaire and have everyone vote new, but since you told me I'll just edit your answers in the quiz and count it accordingly. If anyone else wants to change what they predicted as well, just let me know here/per PM and I'll count whatever new ID podium/placements you send me!

Random, but I'd sincerely be surprised if anyone could doubt that all those hours and hours of work you put into your amazing translations could come from anything else but a genuine appreciation of Yuzu and his skating, and you are not our fandom hero for nothing *pat-pat and \oo/* Just a good situation for a general thank you, so thank you Gladi! And as someone who also adores Max and his impressive knowledge of and smile causing enthusiasm for the sport, I'd like to agree that I doubt any form of appreciation he shows towards Yuzu is related to getting clicks or likes or hits. He has praised Yuzu before most of us here even knew he existed, and has continuously done so. He also often enough talks about other skating stuff, throws out a lot of non-Yuzu-related stuff and has strong and clear opinions - if you just look at what he likes in general, him being a Yuzu fan just kind of follows. And he reeeaaally seems to love Eteri and all her girls - does that also just give him clicks, given how often Evgenia & co get attacked rather then praised? So far I think I've actually seen more tweets from him focusing on the Russian junior/senior ladies then Yuzu. So as much as I believe that a big number of commentators/journalists/whatever do it with some ulterior motives, Max isn't one of them.

Alright, I'll count the new ones. Thanks for the note ^_^

Haha, okay, then I'll make the note that for starters we continue with a nationals predictions game, followed by a ISU event game that might or might not include the Olympics You could all also predict someone else to win at Olys, if you're afraid of jinxing, you know?

Oh, sorry you just saw it, maybe I should have spmamed more eh, advertised it more But as xeyra said, never too late to join in, even if just for the fun! I swear, I really do, that it is fun, despite the sheer frustration always collected in the after-event pages here And maybe, if people want it, we can keep doing the prediction game for the big events in the 2nd half of the season too (EC, 4CC, Olys, WC), or the big 4 nationals (JPN, RUS, CAN, US). But that depends on the part if people want it or not

They are actually not - just like PH as a whole, you scored less then at SC last week, but still better then in CoR! (Doesn't that make you wonder what on earth we did back in CoR? ) Anyway, well, what can I say to all the happiness and fulfillment here? It's... not thaaaat bad...? Well, at least some of you have reason to be happy, the ones that scored more then the others, of course. And for CoC, those would be: 1. ralucutzagy with 39 points 2. YuzuPon, Sally with 33 points 3. kitsune with 32 points As for the single disciplines, as always at this point, we completely failed in men, with the highest number awarded at all being 6 (to Neenah, OhYuzu, ralucutzagy, Sayu, Singcarcom, Yaminoqueen and me). In ladies, it wouldn't be that much better if not for Singcarcom to have a perfect 14 points with a perfect prediction! Nobody else even picked the right 3 girls for the podium. It gets better again with 2 perfect prediction in Pairs, by YuzuPon & kitsune (and because the bonus question had more answering choices here, it's 15 points max, not 14). The most predictable continues to be Ice Dance, with so many perfect 14's, I don't even want to list them - sorry Congrats to all the winners of the CoC round! Here's the update to the overall standings: 1. Yata with 101 points (first one to break the 100 point barrier, even with a 101, Yuzu in Sochi style!) 2. kitsune with 99 points 3. Kelly with 93 points Still the same people in the top 3, but it's getting close in the fight for that 3rd spot! For the leaders in the single disciplines: Men: LilSailor (21 points) Ladies: Kelly (25 points) Pairs: kitsune (34 points) Ice Dance: golden, Yatagarasu (42 points) And as the last part of this too-long post, the link to the next round, NHK Trophy: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/49f093ac-181c-4ed0-bf1d-417358ce89e9 This time, in honor of our favorite ice lover being there again, in a bit of a special color scheme and with a troll extra bonus question at the end (So you can all get some extra points for all the ones you've lost so far, as all your posts are telling me ) Good luck everyone!

I've actually never seen nor read Harry Potter at all, so I can't say anything about the accuracy there. I just know that I was immediately flooded with messages of people pointing out that Ron & Hermoine get married at the end (and Misha is in a relationship with another girl, so... ). I'm sure the Russian channels are damn happy with that, they are all quite opinionated on how much they'd like Yuzu to be their son in law (more or less - but it's probably the only way if you can't steal him otherwise! )