Twitter vs. Streaming To Catch Worlds

I rocked my rockers and choctaws this morning. That was a great way to start the day.

At work, I typically have Twitter up as I follow other online education professionals and some of my clients. It gives me some great ideas throughout the day seeing what others are doing with learning management systems, K-12 and higher education challenges and innovations.

I also follow several skaters and skating fans. It was most fun during the Olympics, like having a group of die-hard fans conversing about the events as they happened in my living room, however they were tweeting on my laptop. Not as many people were tweeting today while the men's short program took place in Torino during workday hours in the States.

I did check in on Universal Sports for the live feed and saw Ryan Bradley, Samuel Contesti, Jeremy Abbott, and Brian Joubert when I didn't have a meeting or call scheduled. I felt a little guilty streaming, but remembered how slow the network got last Friday in the thick of March Madness and left my guilt behind.

Jeremy Abbott was great and is in medal position going into the free skate. The old, dominating Brian Joubert showed up for the short program and is also in medal position. Ryan Bradley has had better skates and there was some debate on Twitter about the US men being able to earn 3 spots to Worlds next year with his placement. I lean towards Jeremy and Adam Rippon sealing the maximum spots for 2011.

I didn't see it, but I saw tweets about Nobunari Oda's skate. It must have been a splatfest, and he didn't make the cut to the free skate? Can anyone explain? Searching for Daisuke Takahashi's short program next, glad he's in first! I've always been a fan of his skating.

2010 Torino Worlds Men's Preview

The men's event kicks off today. The men are divided into two sections as all of the skaters complete their short and then the top 24 go on to compete in the free skate portion of the event. It makes for a long day. If you watch early on Universal Sports, you'll see skaters from countires and territories like Puerto Rico, Brasil, Mexico, Montenegro, Australia, etc. Not your typical skating powerhouses.

The heavier hitters in the mens event start to appear later in the day as warm-up groups 7 & 8 take the ice. With several skaters electing not to skate at worlds after the Olympics, this is an event where skaters get a chance for repeats and redemption to cap off the season.

I'm most excited to see the US skaters, Jeremy Abbott, Ryan Bradley and Adam Rippon. The worlds have not brought out the best in Jeremy, but the 3rd time may be a charm here. Ryan is skating on *gasp* a broken toe. He's planning to go after his quads anyways as he has nothing to lose here at the end of season and in what may be his last competition. Adam very much has the "next big thing" vibe going for him and comes into this event as the two-time junior champ.

The Japanese team should give the US guys some heavy competition and I'm excited to see who will come out on top. Daisuke Takahashi is the only Olympic medalist competing. Outside of Jeremy Abbott, he's probably the best skater to combine artistry, audience command and quads in the competition.

Here's further previews:
Aaron's take at Axels, Loops and Spins

Goldenskate

The Past 24 Hours In Skating

About this time last night, Evan Lysacek made his DWTS debut with a Viennese Waltz. Watching him, I was reminded that he's never been that artistic of a skater, and his on artistry mostly consists of arms up, arms out straight and jazz hands around the face. I thought he looked a tiny bit nervous and stiff but overall he did a good job. He's in 2nd with the judges marks, but we'll see how the audience reacts a week from today.

During the rehearsal piece prior to his performance, he mentioned he was spinning the wrong way in the dance. I don't know if viewers picked up on that. In ice skating, skaters typically spin in a counter-clockwise direction. Perimeter skating is generally done counter-clockwise as well. Skaters who spin and rotate their jumps clockwise are often referred to as "opposite skaters". I would say for Evan, it's somewhat like driving on the right side of the road and then driving on the left side in Great Britain for a few days. It's executing similar movements to what moves are done everyday, but it feels way different. So different it makes you hesitate and hyper-aware of the awkwardness.

After enjoying the rest of DWTS, I nestled into bed until my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I stretched and found myself so at peace in dark and quiet with my dog and husband snuggled up to me. My brain hasn't felt that clear for awhile, I've been over thinking project plans at home and work so it was nice. Unfortunately, I kept too much of that quiet stillness with me at the rink. I could never really get warmed up so I ditched my plan to emulate the lovely Shae-Lynn Bourne with her ice dancer's Axel.

I got frustrated with the outside rockers in my junior moves instead. After checking the rocker, the hips are supposed to rotate underneath the shoulders to deepen the edge and cross in front. I've created an exercise of simply gliding on a back outside edge and rotating my hips. It's a good exercise for double loops too. I always feel a little stuck after the check - that my check isn't a true check, just a person stuck! I'm either good at rotating the hips or good at maintaining speed, I can't seem to combine both.

Much better skaters than I took to the ice in Torino, Italy today. I didn't get to watch any of the skaters who can properly check and skate with outside rockers. I followed the event via Twitter. (Most of the tweets related to the compulsory dance were "Woohoo! I skated my last compulsory!" I'll be so sad if the ISU votes compulsories out. That's another post.)

The ice dance event followed the Olympic results pretty closely. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are leading Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The Italians are in 3rd.

The US skaters did great in the short program, earning season's best scores. The leaders are Pang & Tong, Kavaguti & Smirnov and Savchenko & Szolkowy.

World Championship Pairs Preview

I'm not as excited about the pairs event as I am the ice dancing event. My interest in the event is the US teams doing well at their first championships and possibly earning three spots for next year.

The podium is hard for me to predict as the reigning champions have had such an up and down season. I think they'll come out swinging, but they been lacking spark and spunk this season. There is another Chinese pair in the wings, Pang & Tong who have never fully capitalized on their talent and seem to always be 2nd or 3rd to the pair of the moment. Finally, the Russians may want to lick their Olympic wounds and skate away with a championship.

Here are more detailed previews:
Aaron's Axels, Loops & Spins

GoldenSkate

Required Elements

World Championship Ice Dance Preview

The compulsory dance gets started tomorrow in Torino, Italy. I'll try to catch some of it after my skating practice as a live stream starts on Universal Sports at 7 a.m. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are commentating; they've got to have some unique insight into the skaters and the event.

This season has been a game changer in the ice dancing world with the dominating teams coming from North America. I hope Meryl and Charlie can pull off a victory over their training mates and newly crowned Olympic champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I also excited to see who will skate away with the bronze. The Kerrs are bringing back the kilt with a Scottish themed original dance. The Italians will have homefield advantage on top of their lovely free dance called,  "The Immigrants" to Nino Rota's Godfather music.

Here are further previews:
Ice-Dance.com

Aaron's Axels, Loops and Spins

Golden Skate

Last Week of March, Last Week of Skating

Ah, March, my favorite month! The month where the grass turns green and bulbs bloom. The weekends are filled with exciting basketball games and bracket analyzing during the work day. It's also a month that features the climax of the skating season with the world championships.

This year's worlds are probably a bit anticlimatic as the Olympics occured in February. Two of the Olympic gold medalists are competing at worlds this year, Virtue & Moir and the Queen, Yu-Na Kim. Since the mid-90's the Olympic medalists, particularly the golden winners have been ducking out of worlds. It will be a treat in Torino to have two of the Olympic champions competing.

While some skating fans are bemoaning the lack of TV coverage of the event, I'm excited that the ENTIRE event will be streamed on Universal Sports' site. Generally when it's on TV, they only show the top  6 skaters and the Americans. This way skate fans will get to enjoy all the performances, observe up and coming skaters, and see how the penultimate group impacts the final standings. I love seeing Chris Anderson's long tail theory working in accessing figure skating online! I'll be going to work early and hitting the Java Brewing Co. on the corner to watch before work.

This week got started with bonus skating on TV. The finale of Thin Ice rocked on Sunday. I totally want this to become a series in the fall. It was dorky but fun. It was a great show skating talent outside of a serious competition. Shae-Lynn Bourne skated to Lady Gaga with John Zimmerman and did an Axel! She's an ice dancer and she did an Axel! I'm so getting my 30-something behind to do an Axel this week. Screw the Junior Moves, it's all about Axels.

Tonight has skating related TV too, with Dancing With The Stars premiering with Evan Lysacek. I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy skating references and "pressure" hyped up with Kristi Yamaguchi's win. As long as Evan can balance DWTS and touring with Stars On Ice so he doesn't suffer a career-blowing injury more power to him. I just want to Buzz Aldrin do his version of a moonwalk and the original Octo-Mom, Kate Gosselin gone.

#2

Craziness... Kristi Yamaguchi is trending #2 on Yahoo!'s Trending Now tab on their homepage. Right in between Medicare and Spring Equinox. I guess Thin Ice created some buzz. Does this mean more professional skating shows in the future? I'm sure Kristi will move down shortly.... I'm thinking Northern Iowa University will be a big search topic in about 10 minutes!

Draw the World's Only Platinum Medalist in Five Steps!

Just had to share this blog post featuring the world's only "Platinum" Olympic Medalist:

How to Draw Plushenko from Aunt Joyce's Ice Cream Stand

1. Big Nose

2. Little Eyes

3. V-shaped Mouth

4. Pointy Face

5. Mullet

The how to sketch is priceless!

Not enough Thin Ice

After taking advantage of the warm weather and late sunset for some spring yard work, I checked into ABC's Thin Ice. The show pairs skaters who have never skated together to well, skate together. It has a judging panel made up of Kristi Yamaguchi, Dick Button and Katarina Witt.

I was sad it was only an hour of skating! I thought it was going to be dorky show, possibly worse than the pitiful Skating with Celebrities of a few years ago and that's why it was only slotted for two shows. Instead, I was enthralled watching the programs. The judges commentary was great, especially from Mr. Button!

Loved Stephane Lambiel and Shizuka Arakawa skating together. Good use of showing off their singles skills in a fun program and not attempting to get into dance positions or lifts. Stephane brought in a quad! Little hand touch but that was cool.

I wonder if this is successful in the ratings if this become a short series in the fall? While I love my skating on webcasts and I know I get more coverage of skaters online, I miss the cheesefests of professional skating on TV. All that's on now are the icky Disson skating shows that pair an old band performing with some skaters. Thin Ice was all about fun, upbeat and current music paired with great skaters. The show actually showed skating without cutting away to a band or audience. Super sweet!

Wrong Turns

I've had two good pre-dawn skating sessions in a row this week. My Junior Moves are coming along. My coach told me this morning that I keep leaning back too much on the rockers and choctaws. I heard her, and thought I adjusted accordingly. However, she finally held my hand and repositioned my shoulders in the inside rocker and again for the choctaws. I felt the difference then; sometimes you have to have your muscles put in the proper position. I had to laugh, as I thought I had been extended my arms. Instead my shoulders have been creeping up to my ears and raising my arms up! I wonder when that habit started, probably after years of occassional skating during grad school. This has gradually caused me to lean back a bit during forward stroking since I'm still gracefully arching my back.

It's weird as I'm turning through the rockers now and I catch my hands out of the corner of my eye. I keep thinking to lift my arms higher as I must look like a hockey player with my arms down. I guess that's how it started. Apparently, it looks way better and shows the nice arched back position. It's made the rockers smoother too.

US Synchro Master Championship

I love the masters event because this event consists of people who love skating more than I do. The masters event involves teams between 12-20 skaters who are older than 25. Some of the skaters took up skating as adults and others started at younger ages and have found skating on a master level synchro team as a way to stay involved in the sport.

Skating is so expensive and requires so much time to perfect the moves it is hard to stay competitive or find practice worth it once a skater goes to college. Sure, there are going to be Rachel Flatts and Emily Hughes in the world who go the Olympics and continue to skate somewhat competitively in college. The reality is most skaters reach 17-18 and have not reached a competitive senior level at the same time. This is an age when most skaters put skating in the past and look ahead to new friends and careers while finances shift to school. I think adult synchro skating is really allowing individuals like that to come back to the sport after college and while getting settled into a career and family. It's fun to keep working on skating skills and skate on a team!

I also enjoy meeting the competitors in this event who were always at the rink due to their son's hockey or daughter skating and decided to learn to skate while they are there. Others simply had a lifelong admiration for skating and decided to see what it's all about and got hooked on learning new skills. I think skating on a team makes competitions easier for an older skater. It allows skaters to work on skills together and be inspired by each other.

The masters event had 10 teams this year. Two from Colorado, four from the Midwest, and four from the Northeast.


Complete Results for the Masters Championship:
1. Allegro!, Independent 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 4 3 5/1

2. DC EDGE, Washington FSC 7 4 2 2 4 1 1 1 2 6/2

3. Denver Synchronicity, Denver FSC 2 2 4 3 2 3 5 2 1 5/2

4. Louisville River Stars, Louisville Skating Ac... 3 3 6 5 3 7 2 5 4 5/4

5. Esprit de Corps, Hayden Recreation Cen... 5 7 5 7 5 2 3 3 5 7/5

6. Cleveland Edges, Cleveland Edges SC 4 6 3 4 7 6 6 6 6 8/6

7. La Furia, Rocky Mountain FSC 6 5 7 6 6 5 7 7 7 5/6

8. Essex Blades, Essex SC of NJ 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8/8

9. Ice Magic, Hickory Hill FSC 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 7/9

10. Team Glace, DuPage FSC 8 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9/10

My Take: Johnny Weir & Stars On Ice - Much Ado About Nothing

The skating blogosphere has had some heavy traffic this weekend. Unfortunately, the comments and searches haven't been totally related to the World Junior Championships or Junior Synchro Championships and the future of the sport. It's focused on the present, with GLAAD condemning Stars On Ice (SOI) for not selecting Johnny Weir on the 2010 tour. GLAAD says the reason for denying Johnny a spot in the cast is because the tour deems him "not family friendly."

I think the story is ludicrous. First, GLAAD is getting this from an anonymous source. Why did an anonymous person go to GLAAD? Did the source also go to PETA, thinking SOI doesn't want a skater who may offend vegan families by wearing fur? Why is family friendly interpreted to mean straight? Doesn't GLAAD promote families made up of same gender parents? Second, I really don't think the typical audience of SOI really cares about any skater's orientation; they are there to be entertained and watch the best skaters in the world let loose. Third, I think Johnny is better off without SOI as it's not the premier tour it used to be.

I do not know Johnny Weir and I don't know much about his personal life. From what I've read and watched, he enjoys fashion, fur, Russian culture, and neatness. He's a skating purist and crazily talented. He started skating when he was like 12 and won Junior Worlds within four years and was in his first Olympics ten years after taking up the sport. I don't know who he's dating as I've never observed him flaunting that aspect of his life. I seem to always know who Evan Lysacek is dating as he seems to be OK with sharing that side of his personal life. I actually think Evan sometimes goes out of his way to promote whomever he is with. I actually think it's nice to have a celebrity who doesn't flaunt his love life. There are tons of celebrities who seem to keep their careers running by keeping their personal lives in the tabloids or Twitter. I don't think Evan will totally go the tabloid or Twitter route, but in contrast, Johnny keeps this side of his life to himself and I find it refreshing. Plus, since I don't know who Johnny is dating, I can't speak to any orientation, family friendly or not.

I've often heard others talk about Johnny's orientation, speculating that he is gay. Who really cares anyway? Johnny doesn't promote his orientation. Maybe he's protecting a great little wife and their three kids that have supported him since Torino. When asked about his sexuality and speculation that he is gay, he usually responds that it doesn't matter. People should be individuals and not let one aspect of their personality define them. Isn't it family friendly to promote what's unique about an individual while fitting in an ensemble cast? SOI is all about bringing together great individual skaters to create a unique and fun show.

SOI already signed several of this year's cast members prior to the Olympics. This included Olympians Evan Lysacek, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto. Since the Olympics, they have signed the majority of the medalists and some fan favorites. I'm not sure why they didn't sign Johnny, but he only recently dropped out of Worlds. Perhaps he was signaling he really wanted to stay focused on training and continue his reality series while SOI was making casting decisions post-Olympics. Maybe SOI couldn't deal with a reality series crew on the tour.

I actually think more doors will open for Johnny away from Stars On Ice. The bigger skating markets are in Asia these days and he has already skated in Yuna Kim's shows in Korea on several occassions. He'll have more time to skate in Asia and not be locked into a North American touring schedule. He also loves Russia, and I'm sure he'll have a similar benefit of skating in Russian shows.

Stars On Ice is a great skating institution created by Scott Hamilton. It's the only skating tour around. Of course there's Disney On Ice, but that's more of way for Disney to promote its brand instead of showcasing skating. Then there are the old and packaged Disson Shows that are on TV on winter weekends with  has-been bands and has-been skaters. I think Johnny could fill a void in skating entertainment by creating his own shows. Johnny is becoming a brand himself and has his own style. I think he could attach his name to a new, yet undreamed of show or tour that could pull in new fans to skating. I hope this new world of skating shows comes out this fall - Lady Gaga On Ice anyone? I'm thinking a rock opera with skaters in a frozen world trying to break free....

Let Johnny be.... don't try to box him into a package to push an agenda... when you let Johnny be magic will happen.

US Synchro Senior Short

The gorgeous spring weather inspired me to start spring cleaning. I watched the synchro championships on Icenetwork.com last weekend, but I didn't get into sharing my thoughts. Rainy weekends are much better for blogging! The webcast showed a lot of empty seats in Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, I hope skating fans weren't staying at home waiting for my expert commentary. An exciting event was missed with teams making strong moves to cap off their seasons and be teams to watch next year. The senior event included a spoiler on the path to the World Championships. 

Starlights - The party got started with the newest senior team, the Starlights of the Skokie Valley Skating Club in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. I always made a point to watch their freeskate in competitions where they competed as juniors last year. If Oscars were given for skating, the Starlights would have received a costume award. They skated to Enya's Sail Away in various shades of blue and green. As they made their formations, they created this unique sense of ocean waves coming together.

This season they made their international debut as seniors, at the French Cup placing 9th with 147.20 points. It was a bit controversial for a team that had just moved up from juniors to be named as part of Team USA, especially as the ICE'Kateers made the same move and were not selected.

Their short program here was highlighted by quick and seamless transitions from element to element. I particularly liked their triangle intersection that transitioned into a straight line intersection. It was good choreography using the music and positions. 58.59

Western Michigan University - WMU won the Midwestern Sectionals last year and was 2nd this year to Miami Senior Varsity. They competed at the Spring Cup in Milano, finishing 6th with 120.32 points.

I enjoyed their parallel wheel into a 3-spoke wheel. I also enjoyed their transition into their triangle intersection. 54.78

ICE'Kateers - This team hails from the OC. (Always liked the Disney reference in their name, so appropriate for Anaheim). They are the 2nd Pacific Coast team to compete at Nationals at the senior level. I've always wondered why synchro isn't as big there considering how many great singles skaters have come out of California, especially SoCal: Michelle Kwan, Mirai Nagasu, Rachel Flatt, & Debi Thomas to name a few.
They did not compete internationally, but did win the Pacific Coast Sectionals.

They skated a smooth program in in stunning and cool toned, sea green dresses. The highlight of their short skate for me was their moves-in-th-field sequence. Gorgeous spirals to the crescendo of the music into spread eagles and then into 135 spirals. 56.04

Haydenettes - The Haydenettes are coming into this event primed to avenge their 2nd place finish to Miami Senior Varsity last year. Not only did they win all of their domestic events, they skated to above 200 points in all of their competitions. They skated to 3rd at Cup of Berlin with 202.36 points. They won Eastern Sectionals this year after generally having a bye to Nationals due to international competition conflicts.

I don't think their speed translates well on the webcast, but they skated a strong and precise short. I liked their deep blue dresses with the butterfly design across the chest. A program highlight was the block; just beautiful skating with speed and deep edges going in and out of turns. 85.92 blew the field away!

Crystallettes - The Crystallettes of Dearborn, Michigan have been the bridesmaid of Nationals by finishing 3rd five times in a row. They like the Haydenettes have seemed to skate on the attack ready to stake their claim to greatness. They skated to gold at the Cup of Prague, but their final score was much lower than what most top teams win with at 151.16 points.

In Minneapolis, the skated snazzy and fun short to Sammy Davis. They also showed skating is "green" by recycling their freeskate dresses from last year. I really liked this program, even more than the Haydenettes'. There were two highlights for me: their no hold block showed synchro style in their togetherness plus their knee action was smooth and made them look like they were dancing on air. Their spiral sequence was super sweet as well. 73.86

California Gold - The O.G. of Pacific Coast Synchro and the first Pac-team to earn an international medal, used to be thought of as a possible spoiler to the established favorite eastern and midwestern teams at nationals. This year has seemed to be a bit of rebuilding season with a new members skating on the team. They placed 10th at the French Cup with 141.06 points.

Hey Big Spender! Oooh, there's no amount of money that take away that splat. Too bad, they had good choreography and elements. However, I think they looked a bit stiff and some of the lines didn't link up right away after transitioning. I did like their spirals into their circle. 54.02

Miami Senior Varsity - The defending champions have also had a rebuilding season with a new head coach and several new skaters on the senior team. They won a silver at Neuchatel Trophy in Switzerland with 177.18 points. They won Midwestern Sectionals this year after generally having a bye to Nationals due to international competition conflicts.

I love their music choices from various Romeo and Juliet themes. My favorite element is their transition from a 3 spoke wheel to the parallel wheel. They have a nice ending section as they transition from a block into Ina Bauers. The Ina Bauers have good flow from four lines to two. 73.63 which puts them in 3rd behind the Crystallettes! That was close, I would think it's a bit like apples and oranges for the judges on that one. The Crystallettes had an upbeat program while Miami was more dramatic. I think Cyrstallettes program just showed stronger skating skills throughout, but I agree their skates deserved the similar scores.

Evolution - This team from Detroit, Michigan has had an up and down season. At the Porter Classic, their music stopped twice. The crowd cheered them through after the music went out the second time. They then  finished sixth at Cup of Berlin with 134.35 points. They finished 3rd at Midwestern Sectionals.

The final team skated to West Story. I liked their sky blue dresses and their flow from the parallel wheel into an intersection. 58.13

Photos by me, 1. Starlights at 2009 Nationals 2. Miami at Fall Exhibition

Complete Senior Short Results:

1 Haydenettes, Hayden Recreation Centre FSC 85.92 50.16 35.76 8.89 8.71 9.07 9.14 8.89 0.00 #4

2 Crystallettes, Dearborn FSC 73.86 43.28 30.58 7.57 7.36 7.79 7.82 7.68 0.00 #5

3 Miami Univ Sr Varsity, Miami University 73.63 43.06 30.57 7.64 7.36 7.79 7.79 7.64 0.00 #7

4 Starlights, Skokie Valley SC 58.59 35.82 23.77 5.89 5.68 6.07 6.07 6.00 1.00 #1

5 Evolution, Detroit SC 58.13 35.19 22.94 5.75 5.54 5.93 5.79 5.68 0.00 #8

6 ICE'Kateers, Glacier Falls FSC 56.04 34.10 21.94 5.32 5.21 5.68 5.75 5.46 0.00 #3

7 Western Michigan University, Western Michigan University SC 54.78 32.41 22.37 5.61 5.25 5.75 5.71 5.64 0.00 #2

8 California Gold, All Year FSC 54.02 31.45 23.57 5.96 5.57 5.89 6.04 6.00 1.00 #6

US Synchro Championship Live Streaming Schedule

Icenetwork will be providing a live stream of the US Synchronized Skating Championship for subscribers over the weekend. I highly recommend a subscription to Icenetwork even if you're a casual fan of ice skating. The annual subscription is $30 and provides live coverage and archives of major skating events. Icenetwork takes you from grassroot skating to the big time every day!

If you're not familiar with synchronized skating, you're in for a treat. 16 skaters on the ice, 32 blades, high speeds and sequins!

Here are the broadcast times. Subscribe and log in to icenetwork.com today!

Friday, March 5


All Times Eastern

4:15 p.m.: Novice free skate

7:10 p.m.: Senior short program

8:40 p.m.: Junior free skate

Saturday, March 6

1:30 p.m.: Masters free skate

3:20 p.m.: Adult free skate

6:30 p.m.: Collegiate free skate

9:25 p.m.: Senior free skate

Top Ten Ways To Make The Most Of A Gold Medal

So Evan continues to milk that gold medal for all it's worth. Monday was the Dancing With The Stars announcement, Tuesday he showed up on Letterman and did the Top Ten. Good for him, he's a cutey and it's got to be hard for a male figure skating medalist to get long lasting endorsements outside skating.

Weeeee!!!!!!! Don't pull your Lutz!

Ballroom Dancing = No Quad Zone

Evan Lysacek announced last week that he will not be competing at the World Championships in Torino to defend his title. He will instead spend his spring dancing, with stars.

Evan will be one of the "stars" on ABC's 10th season of Dancing With The Stars. Is there a mirrorball trophy in Evan's future ala other Olympic gold medalists Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno? Will Vera Wang continue to design his performance wear? How will he wear his hair?

Disappointed the Olympics aren't on TV tonight? Going through Olympic skating withdrawal? If you loved the figure skating and were riveted by the teamwork in final US vs. Canada hockey match then I've got a sport for you: Synchronized Skating.

Synchronized Skating, or synchro, is the fastest growing discipline in figure skating and the youngest ISU sanctioned sport. Synchro combines the speed and strength of skating with intricate moves and artistry on a team of 8 - 20 skaters.

The 2010 U.S. Synchronized Skating Nationals take place this weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Unlike the U.S. championship in Spokane, the synchro event will include all the competitive levels: juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, senior, adult, masters. The top finishers at the senior level move on to the world synchro champs in April.

If you need a skating fix, check out Icenetwork's live coverage of the event this weekend. Subscribers can watch online and then enjoy the archives on demand.

photo: Team Evolution; freeskate 2009 US Nationals; taken by me.