Nail Biting Over Michelle/retraction of ice-dance defense

[moongirlk]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> I have to share my angst over Michelle Kwan.  I saw the short 
> programs, and Michelle finished first.  But, uh, I love Michelle 
and 
> all, but I really don't see how she could be ranked first based on 
> how everyone skated.  Michelle seemed very slow.  Her spins were 
> slow, her jumps were low, her footwork seemed slow.  Was it just 
me?  
> I would have placed Slutskaya first, Cohen second, Kwan third.

It's not just you.  I was a little worried about it too, especially 
since Slutskaya's program was more technically difficult.  To be 
honest I don't enjoy Slutskaya's skating - it always seems a little 
clunky to me - just not as graceful and smooth as it ought to be, but 
in the short program it seems like technical merit ought to be the 
most important thing.  I do hope that Michelle does well, but I hope 
she doesn't win on past achievements, as has happened in the past.  
If she's going to win, I want her to earn it.  Cohen has impressed me 
like crazy, and I won't be surprised to see her pushing Kwan and 
Slutskaya out of contention soon enough.  I like Hughes's skating, 
but I think she's a little overwhelmed by the olympic thing, and her 
short program was pretty shakey.  

I now have to retract about half of what I said in defense of ice 
dancing based on the fact that I saw almost *all* of our taste rules 
broken and now they're falling down, too.  It's a shame, really, 
because the Canadians' program was going so well.  And the French 
pair who won - they stank up the place compared to what I've seen 
them do before.  Their choreography is usually fun and innovative.  
This time it just seemed gimmicky to me, and the whole costume/theme 
thing seemed very calculated for emotional manipulation.  I thought 
it was funny that the commentator kicked off their routine by saying 
it was in poor taste.  Especially when the Lithuanians' didn't bother 
him at all, and was basically the same kind of thing, if more 
subtle.  I've decided I'd like to add a mandatory .2 deduction for 
hair so unnatural and bright that it requires the viewer to wear 
sunglasses.

kimberly
disappointed, but looking forward to the ladies' finals tonight.

> 
> Well, I hope it goes well for Michelle on Thursday.  I get the 
> feeling that the sport is passing her by and this might be her last 
> chance.
> 
> Cindy (who initially thought Michelle had lost her mind when she 
> fired her coach, choreographer and costumer, but now figures it was 
> kinda gutsy)