Skates (was Re: corked bats)

[Cindy C.]

Ah, another figure skating fan!  <waves to Jodi>

Hey, answer me this, Jodi.  Any opinions on the new scoring rules in 
the wake of the pairs scandal?

And didn't Michelle Kwan get robbed of a gold medal by Tara 
Lipinski?  I was never happy with that result.

Cindy


> 
> > 
> > How many skates do skaters need, I wonder?  
> 
> Ooh, figure skating! My obsession (though sadly only as a fan). 
It's 
> figure skating forums that are to blame for eating up all my online 
> time so I can't keep up with HPFGU properly. Anyway, most skaters 
> only have one pair of skates. When you're coming down from three or 
> four revolutions in the air to land on a tiny sliver of steel 
> everything has to be so precisely right in order to pull off the 
jump 
> that even the tiniest thing can make a difference - like the very 
> slight variations between two pairs of skates. It would just be too 
> difficult to get sufficiently familiar with more than one pair of 
> skates to be able to have full confidence in them. Also, breaking 
in 
> skates can take months, and it can be pretty painful, so skaters 
> generally don't like to have to do it any more often than is 
> absolutely necessary. And then there's the cost; very few skaters 
> actually make any money from their sport and it's an expensive one 
to 
> pursue. For most skaters, even ones competing on the world level, 
> it's a huge struggle to get together enough money to continue from 
> year to year and they simply can't afford more than one pair at a 
> time.
> 
> And actually this question comes up quite often as it's not all 
that 
> uncommon for skaters to have to withdraw from a competition because 
a 
> blade breaks or a boot gives way and they don't have any spares. 
It's 
> also fairly common for skaters to be taken out with injuries from 
> problems with new boots which is another reason they don't like to 
> have to break new ones in too often. So all my supposed knowledge 
on 
> this is basically just repeating the answers I've read before ;o)
> 
> > Cindy -- who would *love* to rifle through Michelle Kwan's 
> collection 
> > of skating costumes, and who would promise not to try to wedge 
> > herself into any of them
> 
> Jodi, who found the greatest revelation in seeing skating live for 
> the first time was not the speed or the power or the sound of the 
> edges but how much prettier and sparklier the dresses are than on 
TV. 
> 
> (And I'm posting from the web for the first time so I hope this 
> works.)