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Soccer in the Snow, Skating On the Ice
Feb. 24th, 2014 06:24 pmSoccer on Saturday was interesting. We've had the last several weeks off due to the snow on the field and finally they deemed it okay to play again. But now we're way behind the schedule so they scheduled a bunch of doubleheaders. We had to play two games back to back--this would normally not be too terrible except that 1) I haven't done any cardio in quite a while and am not up for a lot of running, 2) a lot of our team couldn't be there so we were undermanned, and 3) there was still a lot of snow on the field. No ice at least but the snow just STOPS the ball. It's difficult to pass, it's difficult to run (you feel as if you're running underwater, plus you slip and fall a lot) and very difficult to get a good kick off (impossible to plant your foot). I was absolutely dead by the end of the first game and I am still feeling the pain in my hips and thighs today. I did score, one weird squirter of a shot that went through the goalie's arms. So I've made my quota of one goal per league season except that since I scored twice in the summer season and 3 times last fall, I need to raise my expectations! Maybe two goals per season...
So I've been gobbling up the Games naturally--mostly figure skating though. Was kind of disgusted with the men's performances--when the gold and silver medalists fall THAT many times, it's embarrassing. To put this in perspective, all 9 of the top women skaters had cleaner long programs than the men's GOLD AND SILVER medalists! I do like the team event--it's always kind of saddened me that figure skaters have only one shot at a medal, whereas in my other favorite Olympic sport, gymnastics, any one gymnasts has the potential to medal SIX times (team, all-around plus 4 event finals). All that work and only one shot at a medal, and training skating is MUCH more expensive than training gymnastics.
So the women's event was brilliant--the best women's long I can remember. Mao Asada BLEW ME AWAY. She threw her beloved triple axel and FINALLY, finally finally finally, landed it--I started crying, I was so proud of her. And the rest of her program was aces as well. Just amazing, I feel privileged to have watched it. Re: little Yulia--I was skeptical all along that she was going to medal, much less challenge for gold. There is a lot more to skating than extreme flexibility and she is very young and skates like a very young skater. Her jumps are tiny, she's kind of a bot out there, no real presence. I was dying when Sandra Bezic kept praising her "maturity beyond her years"--she's *clean,* but she's certainly not mature! Mature skaters do not portray to the GIRL in the red dress, who is very young in the movie, no older than 6-7. By definition that is a junior-ish program. Not that junior-ish skaters can't win (look at Tara Lipinski in '97-'98--her short program was very junior-ish, with her dirndl dress and skating to Anastasia the cartoon, ugh! Her long program looked much better) but it's considered kind of undesirable.
This is her "playing in the snow" choreography, UGH. STOP PORTRAYING LITTLE GIRLS.
I was disappointed that Ashley's scores were so low-balled. She skated two mostly clean (except for the UR on that jump both times) programs and she finished *behind* Yulia who fell twice? Come on, guys. Ashley was absolutely right to call that shit out. I'm glad she won a team bronze and that all 3 of her programs went well--she was under *enormous* pressure after her disastrous Nationals. (She fell a lot and finished 4th overall but the USFSA named her to the team anyway over Mirai Nagasu because this was basically the best program Mirai has skated in years and she's less consistent than Ashley. The whole thing was controversial and a lot of people who don't follow skating are weighing in with their stupid opinions and harassing Ashley. I wish both of them well but I think the USFSA made the right decision--of the 5 individual skaters (Gracie Gold, Ashley, Polina Edmonds, Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown), Ashley skated the cleanest, not one fall. ANYWAY.)
Carolina Kostner nailed the shit out of her LP--skating to Bolero takes some ovaries (since Torvill and Dean slayed with it in '84 and got straight sixes for artistry) but she made it her own. Loved her step sequence and her manifest joy and serenity sent chills down my spine! I'm just thrilled for her.
I thought Adelina skated a good program--her jumps were *excellent,* very high and she traveled quite far on them. And I liked her energy and how she worked the crowd--it was great to hear the audience roaring their approval. But it was not a perfect program with that stepout and her choreography is pretty bad. Waving to the crowd on her spirals? Miming tug of war? I can't even. I do think Yuna, who skated flawlessly, should've won and the *margin* of victory--five points which is quite large--makes me think something's up. There is just no way she deserved a victory by that much. Honestly I love Russian skating but that is some bullshit. I really doubt it was a fix, I think the explanation is simpler, it's favoritism and bias.
But frankly I doubt Yuna cares that much--girl is READY to retire and live off the buckets of money she makes for endorsements and good for her. It will be interesting to see what South Korea does though.
So I've been gobbling up the Games naturally--mostly figure skating though. Was kind of disgusted with the men's performances--when the gold and silver medalists fall THAT many times, it's embarrassing. To put this in perspective, all 9 of the top women skaters had cleaner long programs than the men's GOLD AND SILVER medalists! I do like the team event--it's always kind of saddened me that figure skaters have only one shot at a medal, whereas in my other favorite Olympic sport, gymnastics, any one gymnasts has the potential to medal SIX times (team, all-around plus 4 event finals). All that work and only one shot at a medal, and training skating is MUCH more expensive than training gymnastics.
So the women's event was brilliant--the best women's long I can remember. Mao Asada BLEW ME AWAY. She threw her beloved triple axel and FINALLY, finally finally finally, landed it--I started crying, I was so proud of her. And the rest of her program was aces as well. Just amazing, I feel privileged to have watched it. Re: little Yulia--I was skeptical all along that she was going to medal, much less challenge for gold. There is a lot more to skating than extreme flexibility and she is very young and skates like a very young skater. Her jumps are tiny, she's kind of a bot out there, no real presence. I was dying when Sandra Bezic kept praising her "maturity beyond her years"--she's *clean,* but she's certainly not mature! Mature skaters do not portray to the GIRL in the red dress, who is very young in the movie, no older than 6-7. By definition that is a junior-ish program. Not that junior-ish skaters can't win (look at Tara Lipinski in '97-'98--her short program was very junior-ish, with her dirndl dress and skating to Anastasia the cartoon, ugh! Her long program looked much better) but it's considered kind of undesirable.
This is her "playing in the snow" choreography, UGH. STOP PORTRAYING LITTLE GIRLS.
I was disappointed that Ashley's scores were so low-balled. She skated two mostly clean (except for the UR on that jump both times) programs and she finished *behind* Yulia who fell twice? Come on, guys. Ashley was absolutely right to call that shit out. I'm glad she won a team bronze and that all 3 of her programs went well--she was under *enormous* pressure after her disastrous Nationals. (She fell a lot and finished 4th overall but the USFSA named her to the team anyway over Mirai Nagasu because this was basically the best program Mirai has skated in years and she's less consistent than Ashley. The whole thing was controversial and a lot of people who don't follow skating are weighing in with their stupid opinions and harassing Ashley. I wish both of them well but I think the USFSA made the right decision--of the 5 individual skaters (Gracie Gold, Ashley, Polina Edmonds, Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown), Ashley skated the cleanest, not one fall. ANYWAY.)
Carolina Kostner nailed the shit out of her LP--skating to Bolero takes some ovaries (since Torvill and Dean slayed with it in '84 and got straight sixes for artistry) but she made it her own. Loved her step sequence and her manifest joy and serenity sent chills down my spine! I'm just thrilled for her.
I thought Adelina skated a good program--her jumps were *excellent,* very high and she traveled quite far on them. And I liked her energy and how she worked the crowd--it was great to hear the audience roaring their approval. But it was not a perfect program with that stepout and her choreography is pretty bad. Waving to the crowd on her spirals? Miming tug of war? I can't even. I do think Yuna, who skated flawlessly, should've won and the *margin* of victory--five points which is quite large--makes me think something's up. There is just no way she deserved a victory by that much. Honestly I love Russian skating but that is some bullshit. I really doubt it was a fix, I think the explanation is simpler, it's favoritism and bias.
But frankly I doubt Yuna cares that much--girl is READY to retire and live off the buckets of money she makes for endorsements and good for her. It will be interesting to see what South Korea does though.
