Thursday, September 2, 2010

This and That

Sexy Andy Roddick mocked the line judge after disagreeing with a call at the US Open.

Kathy Johnson Clarke spoke to Gymnastike about USAG finally honoring the 1980 Olympic Team. She was quite classy by assuming her role as an ambassador for the less heralded American gymnasts and kept the focus on them during the interview. Given that she is never at a loss for words, one can see how my interview with her lasted 4 1/2 hours.

Johnny Weir is now landing triple lutzes in practice and may do one in China. No word on the triple loop ;)

Serena Williams spoke to Christine Brennan about the injury keeping her out of the US Open.

PJ Kwong spoke with Tessa Virtue about the new skating season and her new programs.

Word is circulating that Sam Shapiro decided to verbal to Stanford.

The fix may be in on DWTS again. Derek Hough will be partnered with Jennifer Grey and Mark Ballas will be partnered with Bristol Palin. Both are given rather able partners yet again. Florence Henderson will be dancing with Corky Ballas. Edyta quit the show after being partnered with David Hasselhoff. Maxsim has another good partner in Brandy, but it remains to be seen how the public will respond to her after all of the suspicion surrounding her car accident and personal life. Readers of Perez will remember how relentless he was going after her.

Lizzy LeDuc is rumored to be injured.

The USFSA officially announced the team for JGP Japan.

Several additions to the Skate America roster have been made: Alexe Gilles (waste), Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Castelli and Shnapir, and Kriengkrairut and Giuletti-Schmitt.

There is a video of Evgeny Plushenko discussing his amateur ineligibility. Recently, fans of Evgeny's have rallied saying that this is somehow a conspiracy against him and that they can't believe the ISU would "suspend him" for longer than a drug charge.

Naturally, the craziness of the argument has my head spinning. Let's discuss:

1. The ISU rules of eligibility have not changed. Evgeny had to follow them in order to be eligible for 2010. Every other skater on planet Earth has follow them as well. Recently, we have seen fewer and fewer skaters definitively turn professional, but this used to be exceedingly common.

2. Skaters are not "suspended" by the ISU. It is not a punishment. It is being declared ineligible and it is and has always been for life. After extreme arguing, Boitano got his wish for amateurs to be allowed to be reinstated for '93-94 and professionals were given through '95 to declare their future eligibility options with the ISU. The ISU allowed the reinstatement in order to milk TV ratings given that the Olympics were moving up two years and would otherwise be seen as less prestigious given that it was mid-cycle.

3. Plushenko did not attend worlds, nor did he find it necessary to file an appeal in the alloted time. Why should anyone be crying for this man? He has a complete disregard for rules that every figure skater takes pains to follow in order to make a living and continue competing.

4. Whether or not it is a political fight between Plushenko and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia, he chose to say F.U. to the rules. He also said F.U. to the ISU (who gave him a European Title and Olympic Silver Medal...when they could've rallied against him for the inadequacies of his footwork, spins and transitions) when he decided to skip worlds but skate in exhibitions. Mishin's reason was that he couldn't do the quad but could do everything else. It is obviously questionable logic as the previous two World Champions and the Olympic Champion won without quads.

5. The new generation of hysterical fans makes my head hurt.

13 comments:

  1. You're getting old, AJ. New generation, guffaw.

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  2. Brandy was involved in a fatal accident, but it was never a hit and run. The accident was almost 5 years ago, I hope that the voters won't still hold it over Brandy.

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  3. No reason to call anyone a "waste". Classless comment. If she earned the spot, she earned the spot.

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  4. Um I am pretty sure Aunt Joyce meant IT IS A WASTE OF A SPOT. Alexe Gilles ain't goin nowhere, hun. Her skating peaked at Junior Nationals when she won and now she's just a shadow of her former self.

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  5. and even her former self was never all that.

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  6. I think Jennifer Grey has a better shot than Bristol Palin. Bristol doesn't look exactly light on her feet to me. Frankly, it appears DWTS has jumped the shark with this season's cast.

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  7. Wanna be on DWTS? Well, nowadays, if your parents are famous, get pregnant! If your parents aren't famous, then get pregnant... with tons of kids! Seriously, I won't be surprised if the 19 kids and counting mom will be a contestant next season.

    As for U.S. ladies that might have some sort of potential, is there any news on Angela Maxwell?

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  8. How does a reality dancing competition jump the shark?

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  9. Angela Maxwell is not competing this season. She's been removed from the USFS international selection pool.

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  10. Plushenko has fans???? lol

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  11. Who else could consistently do quad triples last season. Only Plushenko. And he could do triple axels. Spin levels and footwork levels were all 3's. I guess AJ thinks he deserved only ones. Well he got 3's so deal with it! The doctors said he should not do quads but rest and then gave the ok for triple show performances. That is what the ISU was so mad about it threatened the Russian federation. OUTRAGEOUS! THey wanted Plushenko to have a COP quadless backloaded program at worlds just like the Olympic champion did but he said no and they punished him. I respect his not competing without quads even though it was cool and popular for mens champions to win without quads to lots.

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  12. Lizzie is injured?? Ugggh, what is the injury? Even though she didn't make the National Team, she is still my favorite jr.

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  13. "Who else could consistently do quad triples last season. Only Plushenko." - Plushenko wasn't even around the WHOLE SEASON, he only came back to do TWO competitions, one of which was the Russian Nationals which he's handed the medal for every year. And he can't CONSISTENTLY do anything so you may want to get your eyes checked. "And he could do triple axels." - WOW, BIG DEAL - every single well-known male skater can do those. But how many of the Puss' triple axels are off-axis or landed on the toe-pick? About 85% so there's no big deal there either. "Spin levels and footwork levels were all 3's." - No they weren't moron, go back and actually READ instead of making up shit (like Plushenko fans typically do). "I guess AJ thinks he deserved only ones. Well he got 3's so deal with it!" - Again, NO HE DIDN'T. "The doctors said he should not do quads but rest and then gave the ok for triple show performances." No, the doctors said he was INJURED AND THEN CHANGED THEIR TUNE WHEN IT WAS CONVENIENT FOR THE PUSS, he's getting what's coming to him. He KNEW he was breaking the rules and said as much to someone in the audience, so he dug his own grave. "That is what the ISU was so mad about it threatened the Russian federation." - The ISU is pissed because he LIED to get out of doing a competition, to try and act like once again he's above everyone else. They didn't threaten anyone, that's another made up lie by you Pussyfans to make him look the victim, it's pathetic. "THey wanted Plushenko to have a COP quadless backloaded program at worlds just like the Olympic champion did but he said no and they punished him." - Get a new effing excuse dolt, that one is tired just like Pussy's half-assed jumps. He didn't SAY anything to any exec, he doesn't have the balls. The Puss made his two bitches do it for him because he's too much of a wuss (His manager and cyclops - his coach). "I respect his not competing without quads even though it was cool and popular for mens champions to win without quads to lots." - You're also stupid enough to believe that is what it's about so your "respect" doesn't mean a whole lot. BTW, it's clear that you're not native to the English language so the next time that you try SO HARD to make fun of someone with more talent than your punk-bitch, you might want to actually try to learn English or people will continue to laugh at YOU instead of your target.

    And just to piss you off, uneducated twit: consistency=Alexei Yagudin - the name hurts ya don't it? Good! He STILL has more major competition Golds than Puss and he left eligibility 7 years ago; guess that tells you where you favorite ranks in the scheme of things.

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