Thursday, December 13, 2007

So long, farewell COI

It has been reported that the Champions on Ice tour has been cancelled. It will effectively be merging with the rival tour, Stars on Ice. I have attended a number of Champions on Ice (formerly Tour of Champions) shows in Chicago and enjoyed seeing the top "eligibles" perform alongside seasoned pros, and I typically preferred the simpler style of COI to the more theme-y SOI. Alas! To be honest I haven't been as into the figure skating scene the past couple of seasons, but it still saddens me that interest in the sport has dropped so much from its heyday just a decade ago. Hopefully some new stars will emerge by the time the next Olympics rolls around, to draw audiences back to the sport.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

NBC to broadcast USFS events

U.S. Figure Skating has signed a three-year deal with NBC to broadcast the national championships and Skate America.

Chicago Tribune article
L.A. Times article

I suppose I'm glad that at least *someone* has picked up the rights to broadcast U.S. figure skating events for the next few seasons. For a while after ABC/ESPN didn't renew their agreement, it was looking like skating would be relegated to webcasts (or YouTube, heh). I wonder if NBC or another major network is thinking of picking up the broadcast rights for ISU events as well, after that contract with ABC expires next year.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

2007 Worlds

Well, the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships have come and gone. Some new stars emerged in the post-Olympic year, such as Mao Asada (JPN) and Yu-na Kim (KOR) in ladies' singles, and Virtue & Moir (CAN) and Davis & White (USA) in dance. Belbin & Agosto captured the bronze again at this Worlds... who'd have thought that the USA would get its only medal in *ice dance*?! Kimmie Meissner performed fairly well but couldn't keep up with new champ Miki Ando, Mao, and Yu-Na. Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir, and Ryan Bradley all had problems in the men's event, and Inoue & Baldwin and Castile & Okolski struggled in pairs. Hopefully the USA will have better luck at next year's Worlds!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

2007 U.S. Nationals

The 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships are underway! I didn't make plans to attend this event in person like I did last time, so I'll have to settle for watching it on tv. :-)

I'll make some early predix for the outcome of the senior events:
Men:
1) Evan Lysacek
2) Johnny Weir
3) Scott Smith

Dance:
1) Belbin/Agosto
2) Gregory/Petukhov
3) Matthews/Zavozin

Pairs:
1) Inoue/Baldwin
2) Nam/Leftheris
3) Evora/Ladwig

Ladies:
1) Kimmie Meissner
2) Emily Hughes
3) Rachel Flatt

Not particularly daring predictions, but there they are. :-) We'll see how many I get right by next weekend!