ksmith: (snowsuit)
[personal profile] ksmith
Light snow falling now, but that's not the issue. The issue is the upcoming Winter Storm Watch and the 10-12 inches we could get Sunday night into Monday. Of course, there is something going on at the day job Monday morning that I absolutely cannot miss. Depending on how things fall, I may bail right afterwards. One weathergeek is saying that the bulk of the snow may not hit until Monday afternoon. Here's hoping.

Snowiest February in decades. Dammit.

What else? The Tiger Woods Apology Tour--he stays in one place while his apology goes 'round the world altogether too many times. Nothing like the sounds of a multi-billion dollar empire crashing down around you to make you regret your actions, I guess. I feel sorry for his wife. Some folks are saying that she should have known what she was getting into, but somehow I don't believe it would have played out like this if she had.

What else? Oh yes, Mister Plushenko. You did not win the gold. The reason you did not win the gold is because your long skate was about as crisp and clean as bologna juice. Yes, you hit a quad, but one jump does not a routine make. Your landing was shaky. All your landings were shaky. And in between the jumps, not so much with the quality, verve and snap. When looked at side by side with Evan Lysacek's performance, the difference in energy, joy, and quality of landings is obvious. So is the way you frontloaded the jumps so you wouldn't have any in the latter part of the program. Jumps in the latter part of the program earn more points because the skaters are tired and the jumps require more effort. This is apparently one way that skaters build points, and the reason Lycasek scattered triples throughout his program--a triple near the end of a skate earns almost as many points as a quad. You could call that gaming the system, but you tried to do that as well in your own way. You gambled that the quad at the start of your skate would make up for the flatness at the end. It didn't, for the reasons cited above. You made a strategic error, and you lacked the energy to make up for it.

According to Mister Lysacek, you congratulated him for his win. Now you're trashing his performance. That's called hypocrisy, Mister Plushenko. It may win you points with the dick-wavers in your fan base, but all the rest of us see is a graceless whiner. A poor loser. A schmuck.

During a post-performance interview, Bob Costas read your comments to Lysacek, who responded to your slams with praise and good wishes. He said he liked you, iirc, and that he admired your skating and wished you only the best. I'm not enough of a fan to know which of you is the better skater overall. But I do know which of you is the better man.

Date: 2010-02-20 03:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com
My sense is that P. (and the boys back in the Kremlin) were longing for the Good Old Days when they could count on that extra tenth of a point from the East German and Czech judges . . .

Date: 2010-02-20 04:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com
Oh, for the lost days of empire...

Date: 2010-02-20 04:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com
Occurred to me, after posting, that my "tenth of a point" reference might confuse the young 'uns. That's out of a maximum of 6 or 10, depending, in the old systems . . .

Date: 2010-02-20 04:20 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Good luck with the snow. We're getting snow too, but we need every inch.

Adrianne

Date: 2010-02-20 07:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com
I'm not sure we need it. I'm willing to give ours away.

Date: 2010-02-20 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] michaeldthomas.livejournal.com
The issue is the upcoming Winter Storm Watch and the 10-12 inches we could get Sunday night into Monday.

DO NOT WANT. :(

Date: 2010-02-20 04:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com
Send it over to Maine. We've got bare snowmobile and ski trails. That snow means money, here.

Date: 2010-02-20 07:20 pm (UTC)

Date: 2010-02-21 12:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristenbritain.livejournal.com
Send the snow to Jim, but not as far as the coast, please.

Date: 2010-02-21 02:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com
I will do my best!

Date: 2010-02-21 03:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com
Some people . . .

Date: 2010-02-20 07:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kateelliott.livejournal.com
Yeah. Lysacek came off very very well in that interview. I couldn't tell if Costas was doing idiot journalism in the hopes of getting a controversy going, or if it was a venue to let Lysacek look graceful and mature and thus seal his win. . . .

Date: 2010-02-20 07:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com
I think the former. The local NBC affiliate has been leading with a story about the "controversy" and the Russians protesting Lysacek's win. That got my attention because "protest" to me means that they filed a protest, which raises the bar. But I haven't heard anything but the same old whining. Nothing official.

During the upcloseandpersonal segment about Plushenko, he talked about his enemies, the people who don't like him. He casts himself as victim in order to cope with the pressure, I guess. Or so he has an excuse.
Edited Date: 2010-02-20 07:24 pm (UTC)

Date: 2010-02-20 10:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jacardie.livejournal.com
His upcloseandpersonal interview beforehand had me laughing my head off. Dramatic much? He came off sounding like he was in the Russian Mafia. And being a whiny baby afterwards, so did not improve my opinion.

Vicki

Date: 2010-02-21 02:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com
It was dramatic, wasn't it?

Date: 2010-02-21 01:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com
Well, the Russian Mafia reference isn't too far-fetched. One other Major Skater had her car blown up . . .

There's a lot of squeeze applied to any major public face in the New Russia. But if Putin has his back, he's probably okay.

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