Listen to the Rudy Interview

I got a new server for our podcast and uploaded our interviews.  Please know we are working hard to get this on itunes and should have the kinks worked out. We are also trying to get a youtube version of this as well. Apologies to those who were unable to listen to the podcast due to compatibility issues.

The Skating Lesson: An Interview with Rudy Galindo (Episode 3)

Episode 3: An Interview with Rudy Galindo.

Apologies in advance, but there is no video this week. We had some 'boot problems,' and were unable to have the video. We hope you will still enjoy our interview with the 1996 United States Men's Champion, 1989 and 1990 United States Pairs Champion and perennial fan favorite on Champions on Ice about overcoming struggles, repairing relationships and self acceptance.

The Skating Lesson Podcast: Interview With Tim Goebel

Listen to our interview with the 2001 United States National Champion, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time World Championship silver medalist, who shares his views on the upcoming United States National Championships and the lessons he's learned from the ups and downs of competing at the top of the sport and experiencing the physical toll of being the Quad King.

This and That

Workout Wednesday with SCEGA featuring future Bruin Sophina DeJesus.

DeadSpin: U.S. Gymnastics Turns Its Back On Chellsie Memmel.  While I believe Chellsie should be competing at Nationals, this is proof that one skips camp at their own peril.  Ask Tasha about being the alternate in 2004.  I live for being quoted by the author of Heresy on the High Beam: Confessions of an Unbalanced Jewess.

Miki Ando is going to ruin our year with her tone deaf skating skating and consistent jumps.  Sadly, we can't keep a reliable mule down.  Ask Aly Raisman.

Michelle Kwan, Dara Torres, Venus Williams, Mary Lou Retton and Fu Mingxia have been named thusfar in ESPNW's Top 40 Females Athletes of the Last 40 Years.  Does Mary Lou's two-year senior career really belong?  Who should be in the top 20?  Should Michelle Kwan have been higher on the list?

Interview with Larissa Miller



MLT has Lexie work on her Yurchenko block to get that Amanar back.

An adorable photo of Daddy Todd Eldredge to make you go awwww.

This and That

France's Balance Beam Podium Training at the European Championships



Tanith Belbin's speech at Governing Council.

The USFSA revealed its funding envelopes for the upcoming season.  Of course, the comeback kids (Weir and Lysacek) are not included in the published envelope, but you have to wonder if they are being paid a similar amount to Jeremy Abbott.

Michael Weiss is stepping away from performing and will now be the host of the Disson Skating events.

Catching up with Todd Eldredge after hip surgery.

Yu-Na Kim began her four-week teaching internship.  Her first lesson: figure skating.  Yu-Na previously failed her University courses when she was busy training and out of the country.  She currently has a bit more time on her hands when she isn't drinking Hite Beer and singing Celine Dion at karaoke.

The Men Who Ruled The World

Aleksandr Fadeev 1985

A look at the men who ruled the world.  How would you rank your favorite performances?

Favorite Things Friday: 1996 Worlds

MK's best program of '96.

Iconic Beauty.

Full-on guilty pleasure.  Oh well, the choreography is shit and only something I enjoyed at 10 years old, but I believe it may have been something to do with having a closeted Zack-Morris-like crush on the future Olympic Champion.

(Apologizes, embeds aren't working today.)

Tara Lipinski: The Interview (Part 1)

If you ask anyone in my life, they will tell you that I hated Tara Lipinski growing up.  As a young closeted boy, I had a pure love for Michelle Kwan.  Michelle was going to win the Olympics.  She was both an athlete and an artist.  Unfortunately, Tara Lipinski had other plans.

The tenacious Tara Lipinski remains one of the greatest competitors that the sport has ever seen.  My eleven-year-old self threw a remote control at the television set when Tara dethroned my personal skating savior.  I hated her because she was good.

Recently, I had a chance to chat with the charismatic Olympic Champion about her return to the skating world.  Tara Lipinski is currently commentating for Universal Sports and served as the Skating With The Stars correspondent for Inside Edition.  The Olympic Champion has also returned to the ice after six years away and still has some serious moves.  Her commentary has been met with wide acclaim and it appears that the figure skating world’s fiercest competitor and part-time villain has found her true niche. 

In Part One of our interview, I was able to get a grip of how to prepare to compete with a butcher knife.  It is my hope to be landing triple loop+triple loops by the end of Part Two.  Miss Lipinski is candid, insightful and always full of personality.

Stars On Ice: The 25th Anniversary Tour (A Review)

Last night, I attended Stars on Ice for the first time in many years.  To put it in perspective, the last time I saw the tour, I had to go to Trenton because the Izod Center was contracted solely for Champions on Ice.  I was an avid SOI fan during the Bezic/Yamaguchi years, but I lost my support when Sarah Hughes couldn't even manage to do doubles as a headliner (may the 2004-2005 season rest in peace.)

Sadly, five minutes before the show, the Izod Center looked like this.

Frau Muller came from Philadelphia to see the show with me.  Together, we likely paid Todd's appearance fee (or at least what he deserved.)  Now, I am aware that things have changed quite a bit in a decade.  Gone are the ticket sales and the production budget (and the rehearsal time), as well as the sexual overtones courtesy of the fabulous (and hormonally charged) Sandra Bezic.  Mind you, I dig Renee Roca.  That feisty Cubana and I have a love affair that dates back to the Jill Trenary Yanni program.

Still, I was apprehensive about seeing this year's production.  Last year, the tour was slapped together in alarming fashion.  This year's TV broadcast was of the Lake Placid show and the cast didn't even manage to get their crossovers and three-turns in unison during the group number.  They've been touring for a few months, so my expectation was that the cast likely improved.  Then, someone who saw the show in Long Island on Friday emailed me saying that Sasha Cohen attempted three jumps and fell on two of them.  So, we thought it would be fun to make a game of it, who would successfully complete more IJS jump content: Katia or Sasha?  (Math geeks, this one is for you.)

Once Frau and I got to the arena, we noticed that the 'so thin she's translucent' Vera Wang was sitting directly across the aisle from us.  That alone would prove to be worth the price of admission.  Mind you, we already knew that Vera was a big Evan fan to point of verging on cougar status.  What we didn't know is that Vera is such a self-important individual that she requires seven assistants to gather around her at a skating event at all time.  There was some fierce looking fashionistas who were shielding us from the lady who stuck Nancy Kerrigan in a wedding dress and draped Mr. Lysacek in phallic symbols in Vancouver.  They had reason to shield her, as Vera was slumming it and drinking beer from a plastic cup the entire night.  Given that she is former skater and appears to have kept up those eating habits, it likely doesn't take her much to get a nice buzz going.  By that criteria, it is worth noting that Vera Wang appeared to be enjoying herself immensely throughout the night.  More on that later.

I don't know why, but Renee Roca thought that it was a good idea for the cast to open the show with Enrique Iglesias' I Like It.  Given Sasha Cohen's program to Please Don't Stop The Music performed by someone other than Rihanna, Frau Muller was expecting Scott Hamilton and Kurt Browning to be providing all of the vocals for the evening.  If you recall, I Like It was catchy for a full five minutes.  Four of those minutes can be credited to the cast of Jersey Shore.  The cast of SOI keeps that spirit alive with lots of arm choreography and blatant fist pumping.  When the show opens with Todd and Michael trying to keep up with the fist pumping, you begin to think that Smucker's must REALLY love them to keep them on the tour. (More on that later too.)  It was a bit sad to see these skaters come out with their game faces on to an arena that was perhaps 1/7 full at best.  There were a few stragglers coming in, but not enough.  The cast seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they also seemed to be giggling quite a bit.  Perhaps they were laughing at their own bad performance and out-of-sync steps?

2010-2011 Stars On Ice Videos

These are videos from the Sky Sports broadcast of the show.  Sky Sports did not show Cohen's 'Nobody Knows,' but I will add it when it shows up on youtube.  I will wait to review the show until I see it in person, as it was evident that Belgosto hadn't been skating together very long after living apart.  Their number was shaky and the unison in the group numbers just didn't compare to when there was much greater rehearsal time.

This and That

Johnny Weir's album cover for 'Dirty Love.'

Viktoria Komova is out of this weekend's Voronin Cup with a sprained foot.  Total sadness.  Komova tripped while walking through the gym.  Aliya Mustafina will also sit this one out, but Tatiana Naibieva, Anastasia Sidorova and Anna Pavlova will all be competing.  Fans will be able to watch a live webcast.

PJ Kwong wrote an article about esteemed choreographers Lori Nichol and Sandra Bezic.

Jeremy Abbott told Universal Sports that he feels he is the frontrunner going into Nationals.  I'd love to see him win again with a spectacular long program, but I can't help but be a bit nervous.  Jeremy considered himself one of the favorites going into the Olympics and it didn't turn out so well.

Todd Eldredge is choreographing for Stars On Ice Mexico.

It is time for our Japanese fans to do a little translating.

Remembering The Skating Boom: Todd Eldredge

Ah, Todd Eldredge. The great ''straight'' hope. What is it that makes the USFSA pretend their main horse is hetero? It must be that if they lack any bit of nuance or artistry, they must be of the unfortunate sexual orientation for men's figure skating.

Oh yes, the boring people are just so marketable. In 2002, Todd was the National Champion. While Tim Goebel was throwing his medal in the trash (check that land fill), the USFSA was putting their bets on the wrong horse yet again. It seems they never learned with Todd.

If there is one thing about Todd, it is that he is reliable. I mean, predictable. You always knew he was going to wear some old drab costume in a dark color and skate to some generic movie soundtrack about a war. It was all part of his ''masculine'' look. One night, while lying his head on Richard's fat stomach, they came up with a way to be the USFSA's straight soldier.

"Todd, jut your arms to the side like a robot whenever the music gets suddenly louder!" It is masculine!

If there is one thing about me, it is that I will always be nice in person when first meeting someone no matter how much I want to open my mouth and say otherwise. While sitting at Liberty, these girls next to me were newer uber fans, who said that so-and-so skated very masculine, "just like Todd, Michael Weiss, Evan and Brian Boitano." Luckily, Pat Lipinski was next to me and also trying not to have go buy depends for the rest of the competition. It is okay, they were from Central PA. They clearly didn't know any better.

It is amazing that Todd ever had any difficulty beating Elvis Stojko. When your top competitor is scoring 5.9/5.4 and 5.9/5.5, it doesn't take much to seem artistic and win the tie-breaking mark. Yet, Todd always managed to fuck it up. Despite the fact that every program was the same, same jump layout, same generic music, same costume, same choreography (footwork up on the heel at the tempo change, arms out to the side for the first 90 seconds, long edge curves into jumps, forward spiral with his right arm leading the way at the 3 minute mark), Todd just never could seem to nail it. No matter what, Todd put his second triple axel near the end of the program, as though he had the Asian concentration and discipline of Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan. Todd's programs may have said it was 'a walk on the wide side,' but it sure as hell never felt like it.

The American ladies ice queens had come and gone, yet Todd was still missing that second triple axel. Why, you ask? According to Margaret Thatcher, "Todd always needed to have the proper crescendo of disappointment." Todd was a solid all-around skater, so we were willing to feign that he was some artistic master. Mind you, Todd looked and acted like a 40 year-old his entire career. He always looked serious, stressed and one could see where the botox was needed. You just knew he'd miss that axel yet again and then go kick the boards. During Todd's big moment, the 1998 Olympics, it was a miracle that he didn't skate to the side of the rink and try to kick a hole in the boards just like every day in practice (thank you for confirming it, those who trained with him.)

Todd was allowed to veer from the norm once in his career, but the program was about as convincing as his marriage to the bimbo in that pink castle. It got a big giant, "oh honey, no!"

If there is one Todd move that beats all others, it is when he starts his slow section by putting his arms to the side and pivoting on his bent leg in a circle, as though he is conquering the world. Or at least, winning the political game of the USFSA.

Looking back on the Nagano era of men's figure skating, aside from Kulik's jumps, it truly was the worst of times.

There may be just one word to sum up Todd's skating and career: beige.

The midwestern women loved Todd. Though he had the sex appeal of a fifty-year old ''confirmed bachelor' accountant, they hoped and prayed he would marry their daughters. Just once, they hoped the National Champion would bat for their team. Just like the commentators said after each and every Todd long program at a Worlds or Olympics, "Maybe, next year!"