The just-lit Pershing Square Christmas Tree. Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this page.

I had been to a few previous opening days of the Holiday Ice Rink at downtown LA’s Pershing Square, and enjoyed them all. But this was my first time attending the event in the evening. (The event was changed to this later time last year, but I could not go then.) It was interesting in a different way because this time, since it got dark out while we were there, we also got to be privy to the Pershing Square Christmas tree lighting!

The event was full of great camaraderie among guests who love skating and holiday fun in general. Roz and I bumped into several people we know and haven’t seen in a while, including Willy Bietek, who produces the rink every year.

As we entered the rink area, we were offered chocolate chip and sugar cookies, (which my friend Roz declared “are basically a meal!”,) along with the hottest hot chocolate and hot apple cider ever! It was all perfect for the late November evening. (It was also very soothing for my klutzy self who had a bad fall on the way up to the rink from the parking lot—I fell so hard that my thumb ring flew off!)

Tiffany Ho. Photo by Karen Salkin.

Then the festivities began. There were a few brief greetings from various officials and people associated with bringing this fun activity to us. And then we were treated to several incredible performances. The first was the National Anthem sung beautifully by Tiffany Ho. She hit one astonishing note that even made people snap their heads up from their phones!!! That’s hard to achieve in this age of tech addictions!

Then came the first group of ice skaters, which was five young ladies in very sparkly skirts, from LA Ice Theater. They were followed by beautiful Yaroslav Paniot, who is my new favorite male skater. He’s actually the first *European skater to have completed a quad flip in international competition! *(He skated for Ukraine at the time, but he now lives in, and competes for, America.)

Yaroslav Paniot. Photo by Karen Salkin.

The final performance of the evening made me uber-jealous because it was comprised of the two main things in life that I wish I could do, but definitely cannot—*skate and sing! Natalia Vivino, (who has the super-interesting career of traveling between productions of Wicked to play Elphaba whenever needed,) sang a gorgeous version of one of the songs from that musical, (those Wicked songs all sound alike to me, so I don’t remember which one it was,) backed by yet another quintet of fabulous female skaters from L.A. Ice Theater. *(My favorite story about my non-skating situation is at the end of this article.)

When the pros got off the ice, that’s when the real fun began for all the kids in attendance, (and some of the grown-ups, as well,) because…they all got to skate themselves! They must have loved being the first guests on that gorgeous sparkling virgin ice!

Since as I mentioned, I can’t skate, (and also because we bon vivettes had to move on to our next event that night,) we couldn’t stay to join the happy skaters.

Natalia Vivino and LA Ice Theater. Photo by Karen Salkin.

But all of us will have plenty of opportunities to join in the fun because the Holiday Rink will be open until two days before the most important holiday of any year—my January 14th birthday! Be sure to check-out their website below for all the info, including the special nights they have planned.

Happy skating, everybody!

Holiday Ice Rink open through January 12, 2025
Pershing Square 532 South Olive Street
213-624-4289 www.holidayicerinkdowntownla.com

*Okay, here’s that story about my non-skating: Because my parents were teachers, and therefore in academia instead of athletics, my whole young life was based around being the smartest in the class, or close to it. (One of my now-grown-up friends from way back then, told her daughter, “Karen was a brain! A fat, ugly little brain!” Charming, but I’m at least proud of the “brain” part!) I never even learned to ride a bike. But when I was six, out of the whole school that went up to 14-year-olds, the Principal sent a twelve-year-old foreign student to me to teach her English! He thought I was the correct one for the assignment, which I now think was really strange, especially considering that my much smarter older sister was still in the school. But I thought that was normal back then.

The LA Ice Theater girls in sparkly skirts! Photo by Karen Salkin.

So I never went ice-skating until the one time my friends took me when I was thirteen. And then I never went again until I had lived in LA for a while, and was already twenty. And then not again until just a couple of times in my thirties. But I absolutely adored everything about watching ice-skating my whole life. Later on, I became friendly with a couple of the famous skaters and the people who ran the pro shows about a decade and a half ago. My mother knew I was friends with them, and that I went to all their shows, and how much I loved it all. Plus I had always been a dancer since I was a little girl. So one day she said, “Karen, I’m so surprised that you didn’t become a figure skater!” I was a bit shocked by that statement. So I asked her, “Ma, what would I need to figure skate, besides being a dancer and having love of watching and knowing the skaters?” She was dumbfounded, so I answered for her, “Parents who let me go ice-skating when I was a little!!!” We had a good laugh over it.

But now, I can pretend to be a skater with my next visit to the Pershing Square Holiday Ice Rink! (As long as I don’t take a fall until I’m on the ice, not on my way to it!)

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the Holiday Ice Rink, (which is the city’s largest outdoor rink,) at Pershing Square, is back, big-time. And the Opening Celebration seemed to have even more joy for the guests than ever!

The Holiday Ice Rink ribbon-cutting ceremony. Photo by Karen Salkin.

I brought two young pals with me, twelve-year-old Leon and nine-year-old Lula, because I wanted to share their perspectives with you. And I’m happy to say they loved the whole experience. So did their mom, none-of-your-business-years-old Laura.

And, of course, I did, as well, even though I was the only one in our group who passed on skating after all the presentations, luckily for everyone else on the ice!

Speaking of the presentations, a few local dignitaries gave lovely and brief speeches, interspersed with performances, both skating and singing. The program was actually perfectly-paced.

Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer singing the National Anthem. Photo by Karen Salkin.

To kick it all off, the National Anthem was beautifully sung by Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, who’s currently starring in the National Tour of Moulin Rouge. And later on, she treated us to a Katy Perry song. That girl has some pipes on her! And was rocking my usual wardrobe, previous great body, and current long straight hair with bangs. So of course I loved her! (When Mr. X saw the pix I took of her that day, he actually thought it was me at first! And then we realized he was just having a flashback.)

This was actually the third or fourth time I’ve seen her perform in person over the years, the most memorable one being her portrayal of the Wicked Witch in a holiday panto, The Wonderful Winter of Oz, three years ago. Mr. X was very impressed with her in that show because she even accompanied herself on violin at one point! He made the great observation back then that she gives the audience confidence, which she did again to open the Holiday Ice Rink.

Karen Salkin and Willy Bietak. Photo by Karen Salkin.

The speakers all lauded Willy Bietak, (a man I’ve known for years,) who’s been producing ice skating shows since before many of the guests were even born! The skaters all appeared courtesy of his company. He brought along three acts from LA Ice Theater: a sextet of young ladies, singles skater Elaine Chu, and a trio of one girl and two guys, (the latter duo in their tight pants, so maybe they can be in Jimmy Fallon’s popular ongoing musical skit on that topic one day!) You could tell they all loved performing on the professional-quality ice.

The event was so casual that guests were allowed to stand right up at the rink railing to watch the show. Both of my kid pals told me they loved seeing the skaters that up-close. It was really a treat for the entire assemblage.

The skating trio. Photo by Karen Salkin.

And when the pros got off the ice, that’s when the real fun began for the kids, (and some of the grown-ups,) in attendance because…they all got to skate themselves! Leon and Lula said that was “the most fun” with Lula telling me, “It’s just my style!” I love those words.

Instead of taking my broken back out for a whirl, I took advantage of that down time for myself to finally partake of their brunch buffet! I was thrilled that in addition to the obligatory e-words, there was seasoned ground sausage and potatoes, which I actually loved. And we all appreciated that they had cute little boxed lunches for the children on the way out, which made the food portion of the event so much easier to deal with, especially because there were so many kids there this year!

The assemblage, enjoying taking a spin on the ice. Photo by Karen Salkin.

There were actually more people, in general, than I’ve ever seen there! That all made for a really festive event; Laura deemed the whole event “amazing.”

To make sure the guests had a special commemoration of the opening, they had a company there who took black and white pix of anyone who wanted to participate, which we could then download for ourselves on-line. Part of the fun, (for me, anyway,) was getting to look at the display of everyone else’s goofy images while we waited our turn. And the nice guy in charge even encouraged every group to take multiple pictures, which is rare at events such as this one.

The fun on-site pix. (L-R) Lula, Laura, a nutty interloper, and Leon. But where’s Karen? Can you find her?

Now that the Holiday Ice Rink is open, in addition to just basic skating sessions throughout the day and evening, (which makes for a great romantic date, by the way, just like in almost every Hallmark holiday movie,) they have some special events planned, such as a DJ on Wednesday nights. Just check the website below for their entire line-up.

There’s Karen! Did you find her in the picture above?

As we left, Leon told me to tell all of you that “your family and friends will love it—you should definitely go!” I concur!

Holiday Ice Rink Pershing Square open through January 8, 2023
532 South Olive Street, Los Angeles
www.holidayicerinkdowntownla.com

For the people who read just the headlines, I’m here to tell you that every aspect of what happened with the ladies’ Figure Skating competition at the recent Olympics is heartbreaking. And strange.

I’ve had extra time to ponder it since the beginning of that debacle because just as I started writing this article, Russia invaded Ukraine, and my heart went out of writing anything at all. And now that I’m back working, my opinion of what happened at the Olympics has not changed in all this time.

So here’s the quick story, and all its ramifications:

How Kamila Valieva’s Long Programs usually go…

Fifteen-year-old Russian, Kamila Valieva, the best and loveliest female skater I’ve ever seen, (John Curry is the greatest, period,) had won every competition she entered this season, so therefore, she was more than expected to win the Olympics, as well. Her beautiful quadruple jumps paired with her stunning artistry is a combination no one else comes close to. (Her two seventeen-year-old countrywomen, more aptly country-girls, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, come the closest, but always fall many points short of Kamila.)

So at the Olympics, the new-ish Team Event was up first. Kamila skated beautiful short and long programs to help Team ROC (Russian Olympics Committee*) take the gold. No surprise there. *[Note.: The Russian athletes have to be known as the “Russian Olympic Committee,” as opposed to “Russia,” due to a ban on the country for their shameful state-sponsored doping program that was discovered about five years ago.]

…and how it went at the 2022 Winter Olympics. My heart goes out to that poor young lady.

Then, a few days before the ladies’ competition was due to begin, it was announced that on Christmas Day, right after the Russian Nationals, Kamila had tested positive for a banned heart medication. The testing results had been delayed because of a backlog, so it was just discovered at that late date, in February.

The debate about whether or not she should be banned from competing at the Olympics went on for days, with different governing bodies going back and forth on how to handle the situation. But in the end, since there was no time for the young girl to mount a defense for an official hearing, it was decided to let her go on and compete.

Despite being only fifteen, with the weight of the world, (and her evil country,) on her young shoulders, she was somehow able to perform perfectly, and she won the Short Program. That only made some people’s outrage increase.

The boneheads at the Olympics, not really knowing how to handle this un-precedented dilemma, announced there would be no medal ceremony if Kamila came in first, second, or third, thinking this stupid decision would help anything or anyone, when, in actuality, it would only hurt everyone involved.

Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir trying to make sure we all know how disapproving of Kamila Valieva they are.

Meanwhile, the horrific commentators, former skaters Johnny Weir, (of whom I had always been a fan up until then,) and Tara Lipinski, (who had competed on the senior level for only three years before she retired from competition at just age fifteen!, so she was barely ever in this particular rat race to be able to comment on it,) were absolutely repugnant. They went on every Olympics broadcast, with holier-than-thou attitudes and faces that were trying very hard to show disappointment, to register their disgust. With a fifteen-year-old girl who most likely had no idea what “supplements” she was taking!!!

Johnny Weir commenting on the Olympics. Should this person really be allowed to give his opinion on other people doing anything??? (And it’s not even his worst look!)

Johnny deemed it “a tragedy” that Kamila was allowed to compete. I hope that he never finds out what a tragedy really is, but this was not even close. (He loves to tout his close ties to everything Russian, so I wonder what he has to say now!) I really wanted to tweet at him, “No, a tragedy is your unfortunate outfits and fake hair-dos, that’s what a tragedy is,” but I held back because, especially with the impending Russian evil against Ukraine, I didn’t want to use the word “tragedy” in vain.

But the worst part of their odious words was their answer when NBC host Mike Tirico asked them if a fifteen-year-old girl would really even be aware of the exact substances she was ingesting. And they both very stupidly answered with words to this effect: “Of course! Whenever I was sick, my mother would call my coaches or a hotline to find-out what I could take.” So the answer is not yes, it’s a definite no! They said it themselves—they had their mothers call someone else to get the okay on medications!!! That makes the responsibility fall at least twice removed from themselves!!! They asked their moms who asked the coaches or an obscure someone at a hotline, and who knows where any of those grown-ups got the final word from!!! Johnny and Tara basically admitted that they themselves as skaters had to trust the adults in the room! All the while blaming young Kamila Valieva for doing exactly what they did when they were competing!!!

So their entire premise was wrong! Idiots. They should have stuck up for her, and explained how it is for adolescent skaters, instead of getting on their high horses against her personally.

They must have gotten a lot of flak for their high-handedness because, after multiple interviews with them acting like that, a few days later, all of a sudden, and with absolutely zero apologies, they started saying the fault may have lain with her coaches or sports federation or some other Russian entity. They had to state that because…her coaches were being investigated for the offense!!!

Also all of a sudden, Johnny, who had been proudly, and often, broadcasting his friendship with Kamila’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, (who coaches just about all the Russian young ladies,) began ragging on her. That’s what he should have done to begin with!!!

Kamila Valieva at the end of her Short Program, which went perfectly, but her emotions from the entire week came pouring out.

My feeling on the entire situation is that Kamila Valieva was a pawn, of the coaches and Russia, where everyone’s very lives seem incumbent on succeeding. (By the way—the meds may have aided her stamina, but not her grace nor athletic ability.) And everyone should have been sympathetic to her, rather than vilifying a teen-age star, and a very young teen at that! It did turn-out to be a tragedy of sorts, but for only her!

That’s because, after nary a bobble in her skating for at least six months, she fell all over the place in her Long Program, which is what almost always decides the medalists. She stumbled or fell outright around four times! (My hands were over my face after the first one, so I didn’t count. And I can’t bear to watch it again.) I can just about guarantee that that never would have happened if she had not had all that pressure on her. (And, by the way, I don’t know what the right thing for the Olympics to do was in this case. I tend to agree that yes, she should have been allowed to skate, and decide the issue later, but for once, I don’t feel strongly one way or the other. But I do think that every statement about the possible ban should have included that Kamila is a minor, in Russia, too boot, so she should not be the one blamed for the drug(s) in her system.)

Kamila Valieva the second she finished her disastrous Olympics Long Program. Notice how even her pain is elegant. She actually looks like an aggrieved character in a ballet!

Because of that calamitous skate, she went from first place to fourth, and came away with no medal. And creepy Johnny Weir actually said “thank God” that now there would be a medal ceremony because Kamila didn’t make the top three, with nitwit Tara echoing “thank goodness.” Morons.

But there are at least two more super-sad things that happened after her skate. One would think that after such a shocking and devastating performance, her coaches would immediately take their skater in their arms and comfort her, correct?

Well, we’d all be absolutely wrong! Eteri Tutberidze not only did not hug her, but she berated Kamila and demanded to know why she “didn’t keep fighting!” I’m sickened by that woman. Maybe if she felt better about herself, by fixing her dreadful over-dried straw-like tresses, she would be nicer to others. Her behavior was sooo shameful that even International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach made a rare statement about it, saying that he was “very, very disturbed” by the “chilling atmosphere” of Kamila’s coaches when she came off the ice. I promise, in all my years of watching every second of every Olympics since I was a kid, I’ve never, ever heard a higher-up say anything like that about a coach!

Eteri Tutberidze, (and her dreadful hair,) on the left, finally putting an arm around Kamila Valieva after the most traumatic experience of the young girl’s life. Photo by Karen Salkin.

And, for the record, Bach also intimated that her coaches are probably the ones responsible, at least in part, for the banned substances in Kamila’s system. He said that “doping is very rarely done alone with the athletes” and that the “ones who have administered this drug in her body, these are the ones who are guilty.”

Perhaps even sadder was that absolutely no one—I repeat, no one!–was celebrating the seventeen-year-old girl who won the competition, fair and square, current World Champion Anna Shcherbakova! That poor girl stood in the backstage room, where the current top three sit during the competition, by herself, for at least ten minutes after winning! No one said a word to her. She just first sat there and then stood there, clutching a teddy bear tissue box, (so not even a real stuffed animal!,) looking confused. She never even smiled. After winning the Olympics! The team of the bronze medal winner, Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, were all over their girl, hugging and celebrating her, but not one person was there for Anna. I was really sick to my stomach over it. I kept screaming at the TV, “Hug her, somebody!!!”

Olympic Champion Anna Shcherbakova, all by herself, right after she had won, which should have been a jubilant time for her! Photo by Karen Salkin.

And then Anna’s terrible sportswoman Russian training mate, Alexandra Trusova, (who was carrying on because she erroneously thought that she should have won because she did more quadruple jumps, even though she has barely any artistry at all,) finally went back to that room, (where she was supposed to be sitting all along,) to congratulate Kaori, while totally snubbing Anna! So Anna had to go looking for someone with whom to celebrate the biggest win of her young life! It was all so incredibly sad. My heart broke for both Anna and Kamila. The only one who appeared happy at all was Kaori, (though from her pained “crying face,” we at first had no idea what she was feeling.)

Siver Medalist, (and awful sport,) Alexandra Trusova, crying and carrying-on after the results, and being talked into going out to accept her medal because she felt she deserved the gold. Photo by Karen Salkin.

One final note about Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze: It’s interesting that she made her only child, daughter Diana Davis, compete in Ice Dance rather than in singles skating, in which she was originally coaching the girl. Either Eteri knew Diana would never have that crazy level of athletic ability she forces her charges into, or she didn’t have the heart to torture her own flesh and blood, or she wanted her offspring to be away from the crooked, scandalous system she was using on her students. We’ll never know the answer, but it’s an intriguing little sidebar on the whole Russian problem.

Now it’s on to the upcoming World Championships, which take place in France during the week of March 21, 2022. As I had a feeling would happen, none of the skaters from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete there because most sports right now seem to think that cutting that country’s athletes out of competition will somehow negatively affect their country, forcing them to stop the heinous attacks on Ukraine.

But does anyone really think that Putin will care? He cares about only his insane, tyrannical, evil self!!! I feel terrible for all those poor kids who have trained their whole lives, and had to deal with Covid for two years of their young lives, and now this, all through no fault of their own. Every aspect of this situation is sickening to me.

By the way, in an interview in 2021, Kamila Valieva said that she hopes to become a psychologist after retiring from figure skating. Perhaps she should get a jump on that right now. She, and all of us, are in some need of the help at this terrible moment in time.

I think that you all know by now just how ice-skating-obsessed I am. So I was happy to be invited to the opening of the Pershing Square Holiday Ice Rink. I hadn’t attended it in several years, (because of my back issues; I didn’t want to be tempted to get out on the ice,) and this ceremony was even more fun than previous ones.

The official opening day welcoming. Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this page.

I loved seeing the virgin ice sparkling in the sun like that! The entire area is gorgeous!

And the program had so many wonderful surprises! There was one right after the other.

The children’s choir. Photo by Karen Salkin.

First of all, we were greeted by an attractive colorful buffet. Being fed is always appreciated by the guests at events such as this one. I’m not a morning food person, (or morning anything person, actually,) so fresh fruit and pastries were welcome treats. (I passed on the hot e-word dish, of course.)

The breakfast buffet. Photo by Karen Salkin.

Even better than the repast were the many entertainers. First there was a choir of underserved area school children, and then Sarah Salazar, (from the fabulous local Verdi Chorus,) sang a beautiful National Anthem.

Next came Cornell Freeney doing his tricks on a German wheel; I totally get why he’s been National Champion on that apparatus four times!

Cornell Freeney. Photo by Karen Salkin.

A big surprise for me was seeing two-time United States Pairs Champions, and married couple, Alexa and Chris Knierim, perform so up-close and personal. What a gift that was! Skaters, especially pairs, are like magic to me.

The Knierims. Photo by Karen Salkin.

Then a quintet of ladies took the ice for a lovely group performance to Let It Go, sung by Alyssa Fox from the Broadway company of Frozen. That was a beautiful moment, all the way around. [That’s the skaters in the photo at the top of this page, taken by Karen Salkin.]

And who better to close the show than everyone’s favorite beagle, Snoopy? Who knew that guy can skate? Is there nothing he can’t do?! (Except speak, of course.)

Snoopy and friend. Photo by Karen Salkin.

But what I enjoyed seeing most that day was the smiles on the faces of the non-performing guests who were invited to skate when the show portion of the “icebreaking” was over. Hardly any of them can really skate, and most were doing what I always do—just going along at a snail’s pace, holding on to the railing. (At least I do an arm flourish, though, every time I pass the “audience!”) But every single one of them was having a blast! I really wish I could have joined them.

But all of you can have that same fun right now! The Holiday Ice Rink will be open for almost another two whole months!

Some of the guests skating. Photo by Karen Salkin.

In addition to enjoying just skating, there are many special events planned at this downtown LA rink. There are Learn to Curl nights, a DJ on most Thursdays, and even one Silent Skate Party! (Mr. X invented the “Silent Dance Party” about two decades ago, so I love seeing others keep up that tradition.)

Tuesdays will be dedicated to Frozen, with its music, and colors in lights, (and maybe even what the skaters will become while out there on the upcoming chilly nights!) There will also be free Winter Music Concerts in the surrounding park, and a Winter Holiday Festival on December 7th and 8th, (two nights that I’m, unfortunately for my skating-and-festival-loving self, already quadruple-booked!)

Ice skating is the perfect holiday activity. So get out there and spin already!

Holiday Ice Rink open through January 20, 2020
Pershing Square 532 South Olive Street 213-624-4289 www.holidayicerinkdowntownla.com

I had all this to say by Sunday, but needed some time to calm myself down, or else this whole column would have looked like this:  *&%^$#*

Ross Miner, whose misfortune inspred me to write this entire rant. Pictured at the top of this page are the 2018 Men’s medalists. (L-R) Siver medalist Ross Miner, Champion Nathan Chen, Bronze medalist Vincent Zhou, and Pewter medalist, (yes, that IS a thing!,) Adam Rippon.

Because I’m the busiest girl in the world, I’m a bit behind in watching all of the US Figure Skating Nationals that took place last week.  But I did see every second of the Men’s and Ladies competitions. And there was controversy in both of them. [Note: I had to look this up because I thought I had it wrong—the competitions are listed as “Men’s” and “Ladies,” which are inconsistent. “Men’s” is possessive while “Ladies” is just a plural! How has no one in sports fixed this before??? But I’ll just have to go with it…for now.]

But what happened on Sunday, the day after the Men’s, is so disgusting that I almost can’t even spit it out.

This is an Olympic year, so the results are more important than in the previous three years.  For those of you who are not familiar with how this sport works, here’s a super-short primer:

In most of the past years, throughout history, the skaters who place as the top three, in all four disciplines, are the ones who get to compete at the World Championships that year and, more importantly, the Olympics.  [Note: Sometimes, it’s only the top two, or, in horrible cases, as with this year’s Pairs, only one team who gets to go. But three is the most from any one country.]

Ashley Wagner.

Some other countries decide who get to go not by who are the top three at their country’s Nationals; instead, a committee looks at their body of work.  That way, if their real top skater screws-up at this one competition, he or she is not penalized for it.  But America has always made it the top three, except in cases of temporary injury.

That all changed four years ago when the United States Figure Skating Association wanted fourth place Ashley Wagner to go to the Olympics, feeling that she’d have the best chance to wind-up on that podium, which is all they care about.  Medaling on the world stage is much more important to the committee than individuals’ feelings or fairness.

Mirai Nagasu.

It’s always been a shame to me that one competition can crush a person. But conversely, it can make someone’s life complete.  It’s up to each competitor to do his or her best.

So background over, and now the saga begins. Four years ago, in 2014, (the previous Olympics year,) semi-newcomer Gracie Gold won the Nationals, and the powers-that-be loved her, so of course she was chosen.  Ashley Wagner, who had been expected to win, fell to fourth.  My favorite current skater, Mirai Nagasu, (who has been competing on the senior level for a decade now, and who always seems to be expected to fail,) did great, but not great enough, because she wound-up in third place, with super-young newbie, Polina Edmonds, as the surprise silver medalist.  So, that’s the trio who should have been appointed to the three-skater Ladies Olympic team.

The 2018 Ladies medalists. (L-R) Silver medalist Mirai Nagasu, Champion Bradie Tennell, Bronze medalist Karen Chen, and Pewter medalist (yes, there IS such a thing,) Ashley Wagner.

But no—they really wanted Ashley on there!  Mirai had come in fourth at the previous Olympics, at just fifteen years of age, so she should have been rewarded with a berth this time, especially since she earned it in the Nationals!  They could not replace the Champion, so, if it had to be anybody who was left off the team for Ashley, it should have been inexperienced Polina.  But they wanted the young ‘un to gain the experience for the future, and it really would not have been right to kick the second place finisher down, anyway, so it was lovely Mirai who was sacrificed for Ashley.  It was a truly horrible, painful time for Mirai.

But she hung-in there for this entire Olympics cycle, and won the silver medal this year, while Ashley, once again, came in fourth.  Thank goodness they didn’t screw Mirai again, or there would have been a revolt by all American skating fans.  So, they did the right thing, and the Ladies results stayed the way they were, with the top three going to the Olympics.  I’m really so happy for this totally deserving trio. (Last year’s Champ, Karen Chen, is the third place girl.)

The incredible Nathan Chen.

I told you all that as a prelude to the horror show that was the Mens competition this year.  So, we have the incredible Nathan Chen, who would have won his Olympics spot even if he had pulled-out of the Nationals—he’s that good.  But, even with a cold, which forced him to water-down his programs, he blew everyone away, and just may be the favorite to win Olympic Gold.

But the rest of the competition was a mess.  Very young Vincent Zhou was expected to come in second, with two former National Champions, senior citizen Adam Rippon and crowd favorite Jason Brown, duking it out for third.  But that’s not even close to what happened.

Vincent Zhou.

Vincent was fifth in the short program, but pulled-up to third in the long program, due to his many triple jumps combined with less-than-stellar performances by the other guys.  Adam and Jason fell on the ice multiple times each, and “popped” jumps, (which means they did singles or doubles rather than planned triples,) and fell to fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Adam Rippon.

Jason had been to the Olympics before, and he’s still young, and has no quad jumps, so he’s not a contender on the world scene, anyway.  But, at twenty-eight, this is basically Adam’s last chance.  He’s a gorgeous skater, who’s very confident, (bordering on cocky this year,) so it was sad and shocking to witness his problem-plagued program.  In all his pre-competition interviews, he made it quite clear that he was expecting to be on the Olympics team.  (He went so far as to say that the only way he would not make the team is if the other skater’s “mothers are on the selection committee.”  But that isn’t really as obnoxious as it sounds; it’s just Adam.) [Sidebar: He cracked me up when he tweeted that being a gay athlete in sports is “exactly like being a straight athlete. Lots of hard work but usually done with better eyebrows.”]

Ross Miner praying the Selection Committee doesn’t screw him. (But, alas, his prayers went unanswered.)

But the shock of all shocks is that perennial also-ran, Ross Miner, had the skate of his life!  It was amazing, and he won the silver medal.  Which meant that even if the committee decided to move Adam up, how could they leave the third place finisher, Vincent, on the team, and screw the second place guy, Ross, right?  But guess what?  That’s exactly what they did!!!  How terrible of them!  Ross earned his spot, yet was totally screwed!

And adding insult to injury is this—they didn’t even make Ross the first alternate (which means he’d get a trip to the Olympics if one of the top three drop-out.) They gave that spot to Jason!!!  That means that two of the top three would have to drop-out for Ross to get to go.  That is just unconscionable of them to do to someone who’s put his heart and soul into skating for all these years, and had the second best performance of the competition! What do these athletes work for their whole lives if their accomplishments wind-up meaning nothing to these decision-makers??? I’m so outraged that my head is pounding just writing this! [Note: Jason Brown is lovely and kind and totally beloved by all who know him. But this is a professional skating competiton–his goodness as a person should have no bearing on his selection or not. Although he does have the most gorgeous posture I’ve ever seen!]

Jason Brown.

Of course they want Vincent to be the one to go to the Olympics, because they want the seventeen-year-old to gain experience for the next Olympics, just as with Polina Edmonds four years ago.  (Yeah, look how well that worked out!)  But fair is fair.  He’s who should have been scrapped for Adam, not Ross.  And, at the very least, Ross should be the first alternate, not Jason.  My heart just breaks for the poor guy.

By the way, I love Adam Rippon’s skating, and I feel he has not been marked high enough in the past.  So I’m thrilled that he’s getting to finally live his Olympic dream.  I’m just saying he should have replaced third place Vincent, not second place Ross.

I still wish them all the best in Pyeongchang, Korea next month.  And I hope that Mirai Nagasu and Nathan Chen come out of there as new Olympics Champions.  But I also hope that the selection committee gets no sleep ever again for the wrong they’ve done to Ross Miner.  I’m just saying.

While most of the sports world’s recent focus has been on the NCAA Championship, baseball’s opening days, and the play-off races in the NBA and NHL, the Figure Skating World Championships have seemed to slip through the cracks. That’s such a shame, not just because skating is my personal favorite sport, but also because this year’s competitions were the most exciting since the days of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding! And, for the first time in a very long time, three Americans took medals!!! Yay!

So, let’s get started on what I’m sure most (if not all) of you missed! [Note: I’m doing it in sections, to make it easy for those of you who are interested in only certain disciplines.]

The overall great thing is that most of the Americans, (outside of Gracie Gold and the two pairs,) skated their absolute best. Even better is that most of the top skaters from all the countries did the same. These were four beautiful competitions, all the way around. Even most of the commentators didn’t annoy me this time! (Except that usual wonderful Tracy Wilson made so many mistakes, more than a few being major ones, that I’m a bit worried that something’s wrong with her.)

Speaking of the commentators, (before we move on to the actual skating,) the best one was newcomer to the broadcast biz, Ben Agosto, who was a medal-winning ice dancer with his partner Tanith Belbin. I’ve met him several times throughout his competing years, and he was always the nicest, most pleasant one. So, I’m very happy to see him have success in his new field.

ICE DANCE

Champions Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillame Cizeron. (The two American team medalists are flanking them in the big picture at the top.)

First up was the Ice Dance competition, which could not have been tighter. To the naked eye, each couple’s program looked gorgeous and fabulous, and it’s hard to see just who is actually the best. But the judges got the top three correct. The American siblings, the Shibutanis, would have definitely won it, had it not been for the French team, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, whose major surge through the ranks last year made shockwaves in the sport. Their skating is among the most gorgeous of all time! So, they took the gold, the Shibs the silver, and the bronze went to a second American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates. I don’t think this country has had two medalists at the same World Championships in a very, very long time, so this result was wonderful. Congrats to them all.

PAIRS

The Pairs podium.

The pairs was nothing to write home about for the Americans, but, again, the top three were a joy to watch. They were all exciting, especially the gold and bronze medalists, who were all in their thirties! That’s amazing since ice skating is primarily a young person’s game. This was the first time all year that defending champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford had done perfect programs. They, once again, deserved their gold.

But I was most interested to see thirty-two-year-old former World Champion, Aliona Savchenko, who returned to competition for the first time in a year and half…with a new partner! And, in only their second real contest together, she and Bruno Massot took the bronze. That girl is a little powerhouse!

One of the things that made her return so interesting is this: Years ago, she was brought to Germany, from her native Russia, to skate with a German guy, Robin Szolkowy, for that country. After five World Championships and two Olympic bronzes together, Robin decided to retire in 2014, and became a coach…for Russia! Now real Russian Aliona is left competing for Germany! And her new partner is full-on French! It’s all so weird.

MEN

Javier Fernandez’s Long Program.

The Men’s competition seemed all but decided after the Short Programs. Olympic Champion, Yuzuru Hanyu, of Japan, was twelve points ahead of defending champion, Spain’s Javier Fernandez. For you nescients, that’s an impossible lead to overcome, especially against Yuzuru, who set all world records this season with those programs. On top of it, the two guys are training partners and good friends. They see each other every day!

The Men’s podium.

So, Yuzuru skated a superior long program, but with a few glitches. Still, he had a lead of a dozen points! In skating, that’s like a fifty point lead in basketball! And Javi had to skate after him. To win, he’d have to skate the absolute most incredible program ever. And guess what? That’s just what he did!!! It was truly amazing to watch. He did a trio of spot-on quads, and the showmanship of his Guys and Dolls-themed skate was just perfect. The crowd, (and I, too, of course,) went wild. I really don’t remember seeing anything like it before. Javi must be the most mentally stable guy in sports to have accomplished the impossible like that.

Max Aaron congratulating teammate Adam Rippon on a wonderful skate.

And, along the way, the top two American men, Adam Rippon and Max Aaron, skated their lifetime best long programs, as well. The whole thing was a joy to behold. (And the genuine happiness those two had for each other made me cry, of course. That camaraderie is so different from that of the girls.)

But I do have a major bone to pick with the NBC coverage. I really appreciate that they went deep into each discipline, showing us more than just the top six or so skaters. So, we got to see most of the Americans, even if they were far down the results list. If we were viewing the latter parts of the competitions live, they even went back to show us the lower-ranked Americans on tape. Except in one case.

Grant Hochstein.

They never once showed the third guy, Grant Hochstein! How rude of them! They didn’t even mention him until one brief sentence at the end, to tell us he had come in tenth, which is more than respectable, especially in his first Worlds, and as an alternate! They showed us the skates of the tenth place American girl, Mirai Nagasu, (whom I love, by the way,) the ninth place American pair, and even our thirteenth ranked pair!!! So, why no Grant Hochstein??? That doesn’t even make sense!

They never even showed a picture of him! (So I am!) He’s actually the luckiest one there, anyway, because just two days ago, he got engaged to fellow skater, the adorable Caroline Zhang. I’m wishing that couple every happiness

LADIES

The Ladies podium.

Ah, we finally come to the discipline I most want to discuss! It’s always the last one contested because it’s the glamour event, and this year, it was also the most exciting. The US had not won any color medal at the Worlds in ten years! And the commentators always make like our girls really have a chance, when in fact, they really don’t. Years ago, it was the Japanese girls taking over, and in the past couple, it’s been the little Russian phenoms. That team is so deep that the biggest deal Russian girls, including last year’s World Champion and the most recent Olympics one, didn’t even make their country’s top three this year!!!

So, after the Short Programs, it was a shock to see America’s Gracie Gold in the top spot. The idiot commentators made such a fuss over it. Tara Lipinski even declared the gold medal hers!!! Before she even skated the Long Program! How moronic. Not to mention misleading. That was just stupid of them. Gracie had not skated both programs well at any competition in years, outside of the recent National Championship, which she did deservedly win.

So, after the Shorts here, she was in first, followed by a trio of the young Russians and then another American, Ashley Wagner, Gracie’s arch-nemesis. But all the TV peeps talked about was Gracie.

The two Russians skated great. They were temporarily holding the top two spots, with only the two Americans to go. First up was Gracie, whom Tara and Johnny Weir had all but anointed the Champion. And then—she was a mess. Not only did she flop right at the beginning, but her whole presentation was slow and lackluster, (as her talking is, too. That girl has the personality of an off-white piece of paper, because even a white sheet would be more exciting than she.) So, of course, she fell to third, temporarily. But, if she had received even the bronze medal, she would have been hailed as a hero. Remember—no medals for the US women in a decade!

The reaction of Ashley Wagner and her coaches, upon learning she won the silver medal.

So, the all-but-forgotten, always-falling Ashley Wagner finally got her turn as the very last skater of the entire week. What a spot to be in. Oysh. And guess what? She skated her absolute best ever!!! Mr. X and I don’t like her, either, but we were totally rooting for her. And she wound-up with a much-deserved silver medal! After never even coming away with a bronze! It was really wonderful to witness.

And the two Russians were great, as well. The bronze medalist, Anna Pogorilaya, is usually an also-ran, but she, too, skated her best ever. And the new Champion, Evgenia Medvedeva, is an absolutely stunning little skater. She came out of nowhere this year, at just sixteen. (But—don’t get used to her. Remember what I told you happened to the two previous Russian Champs. We never know just which girls will make it to their top three in any given year.)

So, there you have it! I had really planned on writing just a couple of paragraphs on the proceedings, but it was all just so exciting that I could not help myself. I wanted those of you who had missed the broadcasts to experience even a little bit of the drama though me.

Now, if only Champions On Ice was still in existence, we could see all this brilliance live. Hopefully, in the next few years, there will come another showcase for these amateur skaters. Maybe if we collectively wish for it, they will come.

This was surprisingly, (especially because of the dearth of real international-caliber stars,) the most exciting figure skating National Championships in a very long time.

brother-and sister team of Maia and Alex Shibutani, flanked by their ecstatic coaches.

I hadn’t even planned on writing about them this year! Part of that is because I rarely watch skating live (or even when the-powers-that-be deign to broadcast the competitions, after they’ve already been held) anymore; until recently, I was almost a year behind! No lie. And because few outlets report on the sport these days, I had never even heard who won…last March!!! (When I was looking for pictures of this recent competition to share here, I couldn’t even find stories about it! I even went to the Huffington Post Sports Page, and it was nowhere to be found. But there were articles about people diving into snow like it was water! Shameful.)

Also, I got caught up in the football play-offs yesterday, so I didn’t think I’d finish watching the skating on time to report on it. But, mostly, I had planned on a different topic column today because not many people seem to care about skating nowadays. Truth be told, even I’m a little bored with it. (Bite my tongue!)

But I awoke at the crack of dawn thinking about all that had happened for the skaters this past week, (despite the fact that I had watched the also-exciting football games and three awards-contenders films yesterday,) and I just knew that I had to weigh-in on the wonderful achievements of these beautiful athletes.

Every single discipline had surprise performances, several of which left me in tears, which was a regular occurrence for me in the days of Michelle Kwan and Todd Eldridge, but had not happened to me in recent times. Many of them were glorious to behold.

Let’s discuss the Ladies first. The only girl I’m a fan of is Mirai Nagasu, who always gets screwed, but she keeps on keepin’ on. She did great, and came in fourth, (although I feel she really should have been third.) The contest is usually between recent former champs, Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold. I dislike both girls intensely. They’re just not likable, on any level. They both never seem like nice people, they appear to care about only themselves, and neither one has ever displayed good sportsmanship, that I have witnessed, anyway. Poor funny-looking Ashley fancies herself to be sexy, and Gracie thinks she’s one of the top skaters in the world, while neither has had much success on the intentional stage.

Polina Edmunds and her happy coach, Rudy Galindo.

And the young ‘un, who’s been near the top for the past two seasons, Polina Edmunds, has no personality to recommend her, either. She just looks totally blank all the time.

So, in the Short Programs, Ashley fell and Gracie “popped” a jump. (That basically means she did a single twist, instead of a triple.) And Polina skated a beautiful, graceful program, choreographed by one of my all-time favorite American champions, Rudy Galindo, and as a result, she was in first place going into the Longs.

So, Polina was eight points ahead of everyone, which is almost impossible for the others to overcome, and Gracie and Ashley were almost tied for the next spot, along with a third girl who would wind-up not factoring in. I had no one to root for, because I knew Mirai would get screwed, as she always does. But it’s a judged sport, so what can you do.

They skate in random order for the finals. So, Ashley went first, and did a great job, save for one fall. Her coach was such a d-bag to her after that I was embarrassed for both of them. She needs to change coaches for next season. She still got good marks, and held the lead for a little while.

Then Polina went, with a Gone With The Wind-themed program, and it was again graceful and flawless. There was almost no way she could lose. Gracie, who never skates clean programs, (meaning, she always falls, or pops a jump, or suffers some other disastrous occurrence,) would have to earn five points over the score she received two years ago, when she won it all! It was close to impossible.

Gracie Gold, learning she had won.

As she took the ice, even whiter in the face than she usually is with her awful kabuki make-up that no one corrects her on, Mr. X observed that she just wanted to leave the building, and go straight into retirement from the sport. We both thought there was no chance in hell she’d do even a good performance.

She was skating to Firebird, which is wonderful music, with great choreographic potential. But she started off a bit shakily. And then, she hit her first difficult jumps. And that was it. She, (excuse the pun,) was on fire! It was wonderful! Not a mistake anywhere, and she skated the heck out of it. Even her bows, with her fingers fluttering like a bird’s wings, were great.

But she needed marks that were off the chart. And guess what? She received them!!! She won! Even stranger than that is that Mr. X and I were happy about it. We believe in fairness, and Gracie totally deserved that title. So, good for her.

The Mens’ competition was quite the opposite for me, with me rooting for just about every one of them. And it was more exciting and crazy than the Ladies. What a wild ride.

Powerhouse skater, Max Aaron.

The defending Champion, Jason Brown, was out with an injury, which meant a chance for all the others. Max Aaron, the 2013 Champ, was the one to beat. He’s a little firecracker, who was also a recent hockey player (and could have gone pro in that discipline!)

Several of the lower-ranked guys went first, and two in particular, Grant Hochstein and Alexander Johnson, had wonderful programs, and finished their best ever. (Grant wound-up in fourth, and Alexander in sixth.) I’m so happy for them.

And then it was time for the final quartet. The teen-age Nathan Chen went first, and performed four perfect quads! For you nescients, that’s a major feat. One quad is hard enough, so nobody does four! His artistic skills are somewhat lacking, though, and both scores count. But his technical marks were off the charts. So, even though he was fourth after the short, it looked like he just might win.

Then Max went, and did great. He had two quads, and even though the artistic side is not his strong suit, with his Black Swan program, he did beat Nathan, so he was in first, with just two men to go. I was pretty much rooting for him.

Adam Rippon, realizing he was finally the Champ.

The next to go was the most graceful, artistic skater in a long while, Adam Rippon, who should have won last year, but the judges screwed him, big time, in the short. So, this time, he fell right off the bat, on his only attempted quad, and I thought that was all she wrote. But he kept his wits about him, and skated beautifully from then on, including all the rest of his jumps.

Even the commentators thought he still didn’t have a chance at the title, but guess what? He did! He won the whole thing! And the other guys seemed genuinely happy for him, which was lovely to see. Quite the opposite of the girls, let me tell you.

The poor last guy to go, Ross Miner, (who had been a close second after the short,) just missed the podium, coming in fifth. I’m so sad about that because it was his birthday that day. And the World Championships are in his hometown of Boston this year, and he was desperate to compete there. So, he and I are both trying to get over that disappointment. (I hope he’ll do better at that task than empathetic I will.)

Last word on the Men: I don’t know if the judging panel would have taken such a big chance on awarding Adam Rippon the title if it were an Olympics year, rather than just a World Championship one, but I’m glad they did.

Pairs winners Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea.

But the most emotional wins for me were in the Pairs and Ice Dance. In both cases, the duo expected to come in second had absolutely brilliant performances, and rose to the top. We all though the judges would keep the teams status quo, so I’m thrilled they rewarded the correct couples.

So, major congrats to Pairs winners Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea and the Dance brother-and sister team of Maia and Alex Shibutani. They both made me really cry, which isn’t a good thing in sport—it’s a great thing!!!

I wish them all the best of luck at the World Championships in March. You go, skating boys and girls!!!

New Mens Champion, Jason Brown, getting the news that he had most likely won.

I’ve noticed over the last few seasons that I’ve begun to have to force myself to watch my beloved ice skating shows. I don’t know why that is; I still love the sport, but I somehow find it fatiguing to watch.

But that was not the case with last week-end’s National Championships. I put the TV on with gusto, and even Mr. X joined me to watch the competitions as they aired. I was actually so enthralled that I didn’t even take notes!

So, here’s my very brief rundown on the proceedings:

I was a bit disappointed in some of the outcomes, but this time, it was nothing I couldn’t handle.

And I laud NBC this time, for showing us not only the top long programs, but also many of the short ones. I missed seeing them the entire season, (which was the seven competitions in the Grand Prix Series.)

So, here are my brief notes, (with accompanying photos always in this medal-winner order: Silver, Gold, Bronze, Pewter.):

LADIES COMPETITION

(Lto R) Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner, Karen Chen, Polina Edmunds.

How much do I dislike Gracie Gold to have rooted so hard for Ashley Wagner, whom I’ve also never liked? I was praying that cute, nice Mirai Nagasu, (whom I met several times when she was younger, so I know how sweet she is,) would pull it out, especially because she got so screwed last year. [Note: If you’re not as obsessive about skating as I am, (and really, who is?,) she finished third last year, to Ashley’s fourth place, but the committee sent Ashley to the Olympics instead of Mirai! Shame on them!] But she had a rough long program this year and finished in tenth. Sad. I hope she’ll be back, strong and confidant, next year.

So, yay for Ashley to have pulled it out with perhaps the best long program she’s even done in public!

And it was so interesting to discover tiny fifteen-year-old Karen Chen. (And what a great first name she has!) Her fabulous performance brought her all the way up from sixth to third, garnering her the bronze medal. Fun for her! (But it’s sad that she’s too young to go to the Worlds in March.)

MENS COMPETITION

(L to R) Adam Rippon, Jason Brown, Joshua Farris, Max Aaron.

As happy as I was for new champion, Jason Brown, I thought that former champion, Jeremy Abbott, and new silver medalist, Adam Rippon, got screwed in the short program. Jeremy Abbott wound-up third in that portion, when he should have been first. It didn’t matter in the long run, because he messed-up his long program too much (he had just lost his father,) to make the podium, anyway.

But Adam got marked way too low in the short; if the judges had given him even a few more of the points he truly deserved, he would have won the whole competition! He did the hardest quad ever in the history of America, and was gorgeous throughout. He wound-up with a record score in the long, but Jason still wound-up winning the whole shebang because he was so far ahead in the short, which should not have been the case.

But they’re both due to go the Worlds, so I have to get over the order they came in.

By the way—I am a fan of Jason’s, especially because he has the most gorgeous posture. And he always seems like the nicest kid in the world. I just want it all to be so fair. I knew the judges would help him win a bit, because he’s exactly who anyone would want to represent America.

And kudos to bronze medalist Joshua Farris, who skated beautifully, as well.

Good team.

PAIRS COMPETITION

(L to R) Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim, Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea, Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage.

I’m afraid I’m going to emulate NBC now, and give these two final disciplines a bit of short shrift, as well. Since all the pairs teams were new-ish ones, (maybe just to the national television audience, but still…,) I had nothing invested in them. This is the discipline the US is weakest in, and even though, because of such young guys and girls trying to skate together with raging hormones, it’s also the most dramatic, people in this country just don’t seem to care much about.

But they rarely share the real deets with us, and just allude to what’s going on. I have no dish for you, though, because I’ve just had no time recently to check-in with my skating spies.

But, I am really happy for all three top teams: Champs Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim, followed by Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, and third place Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea.

DANCE COMPETITION

(L to R) Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Maia and Alex Shibutani, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-luc Baker.

Even though Ice Dance is notoriously slow with change (you sort of need to ease up the ladder, and wait your turn,) this year’s competition was pretty exciting. But once the top team of Charlie White and Meryl Davis retired this season after winning last year’s Olympics, it was (almost) anybody’s game. There have been two top US duos for the past four years, and they duked it out to be on the top step of the podium.

I love all great ice dancing, but they get marked on tons of nuances that are almost too small for the untrained naked eye to pick-up, so it’s hard to judge just which team is really the best. But I do think they came in the correct order this time, which was, (from first to third,): Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the sister and brother team of Maia and Alex Shibutani (also known as the “Shib Sibs,”) and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

Congrats to all the skaters, winning and not. This was one of the best Nationals I’ve seen in a long while! Go get ‘em at the Worlds!

The inimitable Toller Cranston.

I hate ending on a sad note, but on the last day of the US Nationals, wonderful former Canadian Champion, the great Toller Cranston, passed away at his home in Mexico. He was one of the most special skaters ever, (and the most innovative, with moves nobody had ever before seen,) and I think his leaving us reminded us all what skating can, and should, be. RIP, Toller.

With the 2015 Figure Skating National Championships taking place this week, (and being televised this week-end,) I’m finally forcing myself to make some time to weigh-in on what everyone who knows how involved I am with ice skating keeps asking me for all season—my opinions on Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski replacing the former NBC analysts, Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic (who is, in actuality, my cousin-in-law, although we’ve met each other just a couple of times.) They worked on most of the seven competitions in this season’s Grand Pix Series, so I got that many chances to see what they brought to the table. (Or the rink, as the case may be.)

First of all, sadly, I’m not as into the sport as I was before Champions On Ice folded a few years ago, when I knew so many people on that tour. I just don’t have the time anymore. (And Stars On Ice is simply not the fun show that Champions was.)

So, I almost had to force myself to watch this year’s Grand Prix series. I still love watching skating, but it seems that a lot of the competitors are virtual strangers. No one seems to have that spark that drew us to them in years (and decades) past.

Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.

Perhaps the popular duo of Johnny and Tara can somewhat remedy that situation.

So, here are my scoops on them: I was really sick of Scott and Sandra, who are always biased, so this new team is a big improvement to me. Even though I’m not a fan of Tara, I love Johnny, personally and professionally. (More on the personal side in a minute.)  I love his basic intellect, even if every now and then he misuses a word, like saying the skater’s arms are “astute.” [Note: I guess, in a weird way, you could say that, but you’d have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. I’m sure that was not the word he meant.]

But Tracy Wilson, who called this season’s Cup of China, is better than all of them!  She’s peaceful and calm about it, with no superfluous words, which the rest do for the sake of talking.  She hangs back, speaks low, (as it should be,) and doesn’t make it about her.  No jokes nor personal stories. She’s the perfect commentator.

I do appreciate that Johnny is pretty honest. He pointed-out that one Japanese girl “wears her shoulders as earrings,” which is horrible posture. He also said that somebody’s jumps (or something) were dreadful. And he was correct. So, good for him. He’s like an openly gay Dick Button. (But, Johnny does dial it down for his broadcast career, which is good.)

Tara is only along because Johnny brought her along. He would’ve been just as good with any other partner…especially moi!

So, speaking of both of us, here’s our connection. I met Johnny Weir several times when he was skating with Champions On Ice. He was always nice, but on one occasion, (which turned-put to be the last ever year of that tour,) I was cracking him up with some of Mr. X’s bon mots. He asked for my card, which made me happy enough to begin with. But then he called me a few days later!!! Johnny Weir called me! I could not believe it! I really wish I had been home to receive the call, and get to talk to him, but sadly I was not. And by the time I had time to call him back, I figured he wouldn’t remember, so we just never connected.

But we ran into each other at the big Macy’s fashion show here in LA a few years ago, and he was the same as ever, even though he was much more famous at that point. It was fun to see him again.

So, back to my critique of this crew. Tara Lipinski, while improving, doesn’t really bring much to the equation. She’s kind of like Johnny Weir’s little puppet. She’s the second luckiest girl in the sports world right now, right after the creepy Erin Andrews.

But, when she had to do the analysis by herself on the penultimate competition of the series, (they didn’t tell us why, but Johnny was MIA that week,) she handled it better than in tandem! I was actually sort-of impressed. (That happened to me once. I was doing a new radio show with a partner who, though being an equal host with me, was the main guy, so I hung back a bit, and let him do the heavy lifting. But when he got suddenly sick a week into the broadcasts, I had to step up to the plate and do the whole show on my own. Frightened at first, the experience gave me wings. That may be Tara’s sitch, as well.)

One thing that Mr. X actually pointed-out is: How much does Tara even know about skating?  She won once, when she was fifteen!!!  That was almost two decades ago! And she’s been out of the sport since then! So, I feel that she’s not so much of an up-to-date expert now.

And, when they appear on camera for a minute or two on each show, Tara looks like just a giant head.

SOME OTHER NEW-SEASON NOTES

I hate that those NBC broadcasts showed us just the singles competitions. They barely even mentioned the pairs and dancers!!!  Shame on them!

And they needed to bring us up to date on the first show of season.  I always feel that I’m behind in my knowledge because the broadcast team (no matter who they are each season) act like we all know what’s happened since the Spring contests! And even die-hard fans, such as I, don’t know about piddling little competitions, or coaching changes, etc.

I absolutely hate lyrics being allowed this season, in all four disciplines. (Last year, the ice dancers were allowed to use them.) It’s so distracting. I know the sport is trying to attract younger audiences, but this is crazy.  People are so moved, both ways, by music, and when you add lyrics into the mix, it’s even more swaying of opinions. If a judge dislikes someone’s voice, or the message in the song, it’s easier to hold that against the skater, without even realizing it.

And lastly, here’s a thought that occurred to me this season, (I don’t know why) that I hope is okay to share with you: Some of these girls were just really off their game in this series of competitions, and it got me to thinking of something, that I’m shocked never, ever occurred to me before! Here it is: is it possible that being a woman at that time of month could have something to do with it? I know that I could barely do my show under those monthly conditions, and I was just talking! So, shouldn’t these young ladies be affected by cramps, bloating, mood swings, etc., like the rest of us?

Great note to leave you on, eh? But I have a feeling Johnny would appreciate it.

[Note: I hope that Mirai Nagasu and Jeremy Abbott win the Nationals.]