Olympics Mens Short Program ***SPOILERS****

[AgnesNitt]

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/02/13/sochi-winter-olympics-2014-evgeny-plushenko-out/

Okay, men's singles is up for grabs.

Go team USA!


****NOTE SPOILER WARNINGS****

[FigureSpins]

That's a shame.  They shouldn't have put the Team event first or Russian should have placed their #2 on the team event to protect his health.

[Loops]

Wow, I'm watching the mens short right now, but missed the warm-ups.   What I expect is the final or next-to final flight just started theirs. I was wondering where he was. I won't spoil anything since it's not over.  But the outcome will certainly be very interesting.

I am so sorry for Plushenko though.  It must be heart-wrenching for him but it would be worse if he suffered a life-altering injury. 

[FigureSpins]

I'm hoping for a dark horse medalist this year.  I like rooting for underdogs, like Majorov.

[AgnesNitt]

I'm digging out and have no TV.

I'm rooting for Jason Brown. I'd like to see another good skating over the quad triumph like Jeffrey Buttle at Worlds in 2008

[rachelplotkin]

I'm also rooting for Jason Browne for the same reasons as Agnes.  It doesn't hurt that he's a local either.

[Loops]

Again, I don't know what you guys have seen yet, so I will try hard not to spoil.  I agree that it would be very nice to see this competition be not just about the quad.  There is so much more to skating than jumping.

There was not a whole lot of clean skating in the men's short.  I had seen both the American men skate before, and my favorite is still Jason Brown.  I really would like to see him on the podium, would love him to take the top spot.  I am eagerly awaiting his long.  He seems like he's just on right now.

I did, in the final flight(s) see some clean programs, including some quads (that were so big and "easy" I thought they were triples until I saw the replays).  I agree on Majorov (he's the Swede, right?)- fun to watch, also I like the Japanese kid- his program was fantastic, his 4toe in particular was just so solid I didn't realise it was a 4.  And I gotta root for my new home country- Brian Joubert from France skated beautifully and is a medal contender too.   

Oh this is going to be a fun competiton.  I hope our cable works tomorrow (it's in and out right now- got lucky today) so I can watch the Men's long.  It's so very exciting!!!

But while we're at it....what's this spin so many of them (mostly the Northern/Eastern Europeans) are doing- where they lean down and hold their foot with their bum high in the air.  Do they not watch themselves on video doing that?  It doesn't look good.  I realise there aren't many spin options for less-flexible men out there, but please....there are better options!

[Isk8NYC]

But while we're at it....what's this spin so many of them (mostly the Northern/Eastern Europeans) are doing- where they lean down and hold their foot with their bum high in the air.  Do they not watch themselves on video doing that?  It doesn't look good.  I realise there aren't many spin options for less-flexible men out there, but please....there are better options!

The polite (IJS) name is the "A-Frame" spin but most people call it the "Butt Spin."  ;-)  It's not done for aesthetics; it's a difficult position that garners a higher level if they can hold it long enough.  I hate trying it - makes me really, really dizzy and I don't usually have a problem with dizziness in spins.

[Loops]

The polite (IJS) name is the "A-Frame" spin but most people call it the "Butt Spin."  ;-)  It's not done for aesthetics; it's a difficult position that garners a higher level if they can hold it long enough.  I hate trying it - makes me really, really dizzy and I don't usually have a problem with dizziness in spins.

Hmmm, I see your point.  I'm not sure I'd want to even try that though- simply because there's your butt on display for everyone to behold.  Aren't there other difficult positions they could do?  Part of this sport, a big part, is aesthetics!

[icedancer]

Can we change the title of this thread for those who want to watch it on regular TV in prime time in the a certain time zone?

[Isk8NYC]

Can we change the title of this thread for those who want to watch it on regular TV in prime time in the a certain time zone?

Change it to what?  (I assume the plushy spoiler is the issue?)

[AgnesNitt]

Can we change the title of this thread for those who want to watch it on regular TV in prime time in the a certain time zone?

Change it to what?  (I assume the plushy spoiler is the issue?)

The Plushenko announcement is on the front page of a lot of news sites. It's hardly a spoiler.

[icedancer]

Yes. I thought anything to do with the competition would be considered a spoiler.
Must be my "West Coast people find out things later than everyone else and don't like to see any spoilers" mentality.

It could be changed to Olympics Mens Short Program ***SPOILERS****

[Isk8NYC]

Okey dokey!

[icedancer]

I thought this was HILARIOUS!!  But don't watch it if you care about swear-words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmrLnq6mUWs&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdmrLnq6mUWs%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&app=desktop

[sarahspins]

OMG that was a riot

I have to say watching that second group this morning, all I could think was "WTF, this is INSANE!!!!"... it was like watching the twilight zone, and not in a good way!

[skategeek]

My daughter got scared yesterday watching the pairs- she was afraid they'd get hurt.  Today she wasn't all that interested so I watched on my own but then called her over to see one of "our" guys skate... just in time for poor Jeremy Abbott to slam into the ice and the boards and then lie there in apparent agony.  She ran off crying but I called her back to watch when it was clear that not only was he going to go on to finish, but that he was doing a great job.  A good lesson for her, and a very impressive moment for him.

[FigureSpins]

You should find Max Aaron's US Nats performance from 2013 - he slammed into the boards, saved himself and kept on going, winning the Gold medal.  Tough as nails.

I really think the Team competition took a lot out of the Men.  I still say it should be a technical event with uniforms rather than their solo competition performance.


Can I just say that Skeleton terrifies me, even more than Pairs show routines?

[AgnesNitt]

I covered Men's short on my blog
http://icedoesntcare.blogspot.com/2014/02/upset-in-mens-short-program-sochi.html

[AgnesNitt]

Just found video of Plushenko's withdrawal. As my mother would say, "His color wasn't good." You could see it in his face.

[taka]

I absolutely loved watching the Mens short yesterday! So many men still in medal contention is unreal! I'm frantically rushing around trying to get my non office based work finished in time so I can retreat to my office and do lots of paperwork / computer based things between mens LP programs! The Women's skeleton event (which has a Brit in the lead!!) is on at that same time as the Mens LP so I have a feeling my attempts at recording the skating on my PVR may actually be a recording of skeleton instead so I'm trying to watch the skating live!

Skeleton does indeed look absolutely terrifying! We had a recent reality TV show here called "The Jump" (on Channel 4 - there are some clips on youtube but they may be geoblocked) where various celebs had to do assorted winter olympics events... one of which was skeleton! They looked more petrified doing that than anything else.

Mind you the winter olympics in general does seem to involve 1001 ways to throw yourself off / down (up?) a mountain on snow / ice or going terrifyingly fast / launching yourself into the air with skis / snowboard / skates on etc. Not many non-daredevil sports involved!

[4711]

Just found video of Plushenko's withdrawal. As my mother would say, "His color wasn't good." You could see it in his face.

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/russia-figure-skater-evgeni-plushenko-on-thin-ice-after-olympic-dropout-sochi-games-021414

Harsh words for him...

[Loops]

I just need to say that Mischa Ge (or however they're spelling it in English) is cute!  In the way that my son is.....  He had so much fun doing his Short, I hope his long goes well.  It's fun to see skaters just have a great time.

[Isk8NYC]

This is really interesting: I'm streaming the Men's LP via my computer and the camera angle/announcers match NBC.  Over my iPad via the NBC Live app, it's a different angle and a set of UK-sounding announcers. 

[AgnesNitt]

This is really interesting: I'm streaming the Men's LP via my computer and the camera angle/announcers match NBC.  Over my iPad via the NBC Live app, it's a different angle and a set of UK-sounding announcers.

The NBC live seems to be streaming Eurosport.