Notes from Tuesday, Jan 23
It’s been very warm in both venues, the complete opposite of the way St. Louis was last year. I check my Excel spreadsheet to see what today’s outfit is. (Yes, I plan my wardrobe on a spreadsheet. I have 11 days to figure out what to wear and not enough room in my suitcase to bring all unique clothing. Ergo, I have to figure out which two days I’m wearing the brown pants and which top I’m wearing on each of the days that can be recycled and changed to go with a different color pair of pants. It’s complicated. And before you snicker, I know I’m not the only one who does this.) So, today is tan pants with oversized black poncho and long-sleeve black shirt underneath. That just sounded too hot to me, so I make the decision to use my discretionary extra top, my purple silk-knit sleeveless one, under the poncho. It’s not often that I find bare-ish arms something that is ice arena-friendly, but it is a risk I think I need to take.
I’m so glad I did. The Convention Center was toasty again, so I would have melted if I had gone according to the spreadsheet.
First on today’s agenda is the junior compulsory dance. Because I heart the Silver Samba, I’m a happy camper. I chose to watch it from the backside of the rink, chatting with various people to get their take on the dance.
One photographer who had just gotten into position to shoot looked very confused as they announced the next team. I realize he has a green sheet. All the start orders and results are printed on colored paper: pink for ladies, blue for men, green for pairs and yellow for dance. It’s been that way as long as I’ve covered this sport. I told him he needed a yellow list, and he scooted off to get one.
A Spokane police officer said his reaction to watching skating live could be summed up in one word: Wow!
An ice monitor commented she had never seen a group of skaters (the junior dancers) so friendly and supportive of each other. I spent most of the midnight blues backstage, and the camaraderie was very cool. Almost everyone seemed very relaxed, some to the point of being silly. I find it very interesting to watch the different modes of preparation the athletes take. While one person might go off to focus, another would rather joke and around and be silly.
Lindsay Cohen, usually the skater with the biggest smile, looked miserable. I thought she had been crying. Turns out she woke up at 5 a.m. incredibly sick. Getting dressed was a huge challenge. Competing two compulsory dances? Pretty amazing.
I spoke with Tim McKernan and asked how his dad was doing. Lt. Colonel Timothy McKernan was recently sent to Afghanistan and had to miss coming to Spokane. Let me take this chance to send greetings to the other side of the world. Stay safe, and come back soon.
Larisa Selezneva, whom I had talked to on Saturday, was backstage and introduced me to her husband and partner, Oleg Makarov. Larisa was saying how much of a reunion the U.S. Championships are, and that she’s seen a lot of friends from their competition days. Oleg added that he and Larisa are one of the very few married couples from their era who are still together. We ran down the list, and it is very, very short.
When Pilar Bosley and John Corona came to the mixed zone, we asked her about her injury, which she described as a really bad bone bruise.
“It hurt incredibly bad, and I don’t ever hurt myself. I don’t know what that feels like. It was pretty excruciating pain. It’s better now. The medical people were really wonderful and did everything they could. Ice bath — not fun!”
My quote of the day goes to John Corona:
“I’m a samba kind of guy.”
Back to my corner of the backstage area, Meryl Davis and Charlie White were warming up for a long time. Charlie gave a little wave, but Meryl didn’t acknowledge me. Most likely, she was too focused on her practice. I hope she doesn’t hold a grudge for asking her to climb on top of Charlie in a mini-skirt during our photo shoot in Lake Placid. Meryl was wearing the mini-skirt, that is. Not Charlie. I’ve never seen Charlie in a mini-skirt. Must watch those misplaced modifiers.
Some of the pairs skaters came over to the Convention Center after their practice at the main arena. I haven’t seen Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig since St. Louis. Mark is now a married man, so congratulations to him! Amanda was telling me about a car accident she had. She flipped her car three times, but was able to crawl out on her own and only suffered what she called a bump on her head. So scary, and so lucky to be alive.
Tanith and Ben (do I need to put last names?) were backstage warming up. Tanith came over to say hi. I told her she looked different, and she said it’s probably the different hair color (a lighter, warm gold), but I think the tan is part of it. Of course, she looked good because, well, she’s Tanith. She also smelled really good, so I had to ask her what she was wearing and learned it’s Bulgari perfume.
My former favorite mixed zone skaters, Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre, spent a lot of time warming up but did take a few minutes to be sociable. They said I looked good today, which amuses me because I think, well, did I look horrible last time? I’m chalking it up to using the conditioner that the Davenport has in the shower. Instead of little bottles, it’s in a pump attached to the wall. Brent suggested I rip it off the wall and take it home with me. I’m thinking the Davenport wouldn’t appreciate that, but I thanked Brent for his suggestion.
My last stop on the backstage tour was the skater’s hospitality lounge. I was told they had Häagen-Dazs, and being that I have a wicked sore throat, thought it might help. I never made it past the entrance, however. Instead, I chatted with the two volunteers. Now, I know from personal experience that attending the U.S. Championships is very addictive. The two women are enjoying their first, and I must confess that they mentioned thinking that St. Paul might be in future plans. Excellent!
I went back to the media room to check up on the novice men’s results and was thrilled that my man Keegan rocked the free program. Go, Taz! I know talent when I see it. (Insert random happy, smiley emoticon.)
After packing up, it was time to head over to Spokane Arena for the novice ladies and men. I saw lots of nervous parents, crying parents (a very happy mom to Angela Maxwell) and spectators asking Carolyn-Ann Alba for her autograph.
During the free dance, every team except one got nailed for at least a two-point deduction. It was so weird! Daphne and I were trying to figure out why. Some were obvious, but most were not, so we assumed they were for an extended lift. The woman I had sat next to for the CDs spotted me and came over to ask what all the deductions were for, and some man went over to Daphne to ask the same. We did find out later that the International Judging System doesn’t accept a serpentine lift; however, it is acceptable in the U.S. Since most (all?) of the teams do a serpentine lift, the computer automatically hit them all with the penalty. All the teams had the points added back before the final results were certified.
Getting back to the hotel was, I have to admit, extremely annoying. Maybe it’s that Day Four Crankiness kicking in, but I seriously wanted to hurt someone. Or at least scream, if I weren’t losing my voice. Please let tomorrow be better. to top |