Thursday, March 24, 2011

Act Surprised!



The 2011 World Figure Skating Championships will be held in Moscow, April 24 - May 1.

Get ready for some bullshit judging like this.

Phil Hersh's Update

20 comments:

  1. I am not surprised it is Moscow and I am also not surprised to see this unnecessary disrespectful comment from you.

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  2. AJ, you mean they are going to award Ksenia Makarova with worlds gold medal this time?
    Somehow I doubt it :))

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  3. Eh, these days I'd say Russia about needs all the help it can get in figure skating. I highly doubt B&S are going to magically win in dance, and Plushenko isn't going. I guess this could help V&T, but I don't think it would be an insult if they vaulted over the pink panther this year.

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  4. One of the reasons I have a love/hate relationship with skating. If I were Japan I would have demanded that the comp be on neutral ground..not in N America or Russia and I'm from US. I hope S & S are ready to get silver even if they are clean.

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  5. Um, S&S may DESERVE silver even if they skate clean. It will be a close battle between those teams.

    Worlds in Finland in 1999 were absolutely awesome and I hope they bid again for a future Worlds. The skaters will be thrilled with the chance to sightsee in Moscow this time around.

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  6. And Russian World Domination commences, score!

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  7. S/S are the beneficiaries of some of the most egregious score inflation this side of kostner, which I know for a fact pisses off the russians. I'm not looking for V/T K/S, or B/L's scores to go up as much as for S/S's scores to go down. I have a feeling P/T are gonna pull it out though; none of the russian pairs are especially good with pressure. I would really just like a good pairs competition with everyone there. Olympics and worlds last year were tough to watch.

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  8. I'm Russian, I don't agree with 'the most egregious score inflation' bs. I hope Pink Panther wins.

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  9. How do we know V/T are not good with pressure if they haven't competed internationally so far? At their biggest competition of the year so far (Russian Nats) they were clean.

    P/T haven't had a clean LP all year and I'm not expecting that to change.

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  10. @Anon 12:28: awkward
    @Anon 12:29: very true, but Trankov is notoriously dramatic and it has a history of catching up with him - that might have gone out with Mukhortova though - he's been the model of equanimity alongside Volosozhar so far. P/T are a perennial dark horse, that's why my gut is with them. In either case none of this is as predictable as pairs has been lately, I think we can all agree on that.

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  11. V/T weren't clean... Almost but no. It is insulting to compare S/S to Kostner. They have some of the most technically difficult programs, and while they may have their issues, they are never as much of a mess as Kaka Kostner. I can't wait to see V/T vs S/S. They are different, and I appreciate them both for different reasons (both will get overscored though.. so will P/T... the winners often get overscored for some reason).

    PS, AJ, now I'm watching the Ladies SP from '05 Worlds thanks to you!! hahhha

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  12. Relax! What's done's done, and what'll happen'll happen. Let's bicker when all's done and over with and we actually have something concrete to bitch over.

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  13. The Russians have hosted 5 count them 5 world championships, in skating throughout skating's history. Considering their stature in this sport, do you think this is a fair allotment? In comparision to how often Canada and the US and now Japan get them?

    And this will be Russia's 1st Winter Olympics. This is the largest nation on earth we are talking about, a nation that has been a HUGE force in winter Olympic sports but until recently they didn't even get one.

    Putin and the Russians are doing an extremely nice thing.

    [Quote] If I were Japan I would have demanded that the comp be on neutral ground..not in N America or Russia [/Quote]

    How from the Japanese perspective is Russia NOT neutral ground? The Japanese medal contenders are in singles, The Russians in pairs and outside shot in dance. Maybe if there's a meltdown they might get something in ladies- MAYBE.

    If I'm Japan I want Russia to host now, because it makes them less likely to host worlds 4 years from now when the Russians WILL have contenders in ladies.

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  14. Even if the judging is a disaster, cheater-worlds is better than no worlds or October worlds and we'll have something to talk about all summer.

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  15. I didn't even have to click on that link to know the video had to be of Irina. Those worlds were a joke.

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  16. Who exactly do the Russians have to cheat for. K/S and V/T were medal contendors anyways. B/S couldn't bet P/B at home at Cup of Russia.

    Their men are a disaster and their leaders would need a lot of luck to medal.

    Even Putin himself said most of their team was Junior level skaters.

    Seriously this is one worlds where Russia doesn't have a lot of people 2 cheat for.

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  17. Are the Russians pro Chan?? I hope not!

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  18. ROFL @anon at 7:37. "Feel good tsunami bonus"--LOVE IT. Also, I sincerely how that Mao gets that particular bonus and not Miki...

    I was just thinking that it's a shame Johnny Weir didn't compete this season. Just think how excited he would've been to have competed in Mother Russia!

    On a more serious note, I was really hoping the competition would've been canceled all together. Now, we're back to having Ryan Bradley & the 2 young'un wonders ruin USA's 3 men's spots. YAY!

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  19. Russia has a great interest in going from one spot in mens to two spots in mens . I hope Gachinski can get in the top 10 to get 2 spots for Russia next year. If Gachinksi does place outside the top 10 that means in 2012 RUssia will still only have one spot in mens. Gachinski has practiced quad loops and maybe it is possible he will try one to try to place in the top 10 to get Russia two spots next year. One for him and one for Plushenko so they could try for 3 spots for 2013 and in 2013 three Russian men try to get three spots for 2014 olympics. Now if Plushenko did come back and go to worlds next year then Gachinski placing in the top 10 is not so important but Plushenko may not compete again.

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  20. Oh c'mon. I'm really happy Slutskaya won '05 worlds after, you know, that time she almost died. She even deserved it: her LP there is one of my favorite programs, so full of life and joy, great music. As far as the SP, she did have bobbles, but they were both situations where the COP underscores their negative effect on the program - that wasn't so much bs judging as bs judging system. S/Sz aren't Kostner, they're the P.Chen of pairs - everything is forgiven them.

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