Skating Pairs on Valentine's Day

The pairs' short program kicks off this evening. This event has been dominated by Russia & the former Soviet Union. Since Torino, there has not been a dominating Russian team. The World Championship podium has included a Russian pair here and there, but the winners have come from China and Germany.

European Championship Pairs Podium

AP

Russian Outlook:
Kavaguti & Smirnoff skated into the European Championship and left with a golden ticket to Vancouver. They represent the artistic, circus-artist side of Russian skating which generally stems from training in St. Petersburg. Mukhortova & Trankov represent the more powerful, athletic Moscow school of skating. This team has had its ups and downs in their relationship, let's hope they can come together competing on a Valentines's Day.

Chinese Outlook:
China has been the most serious threat to Russia's pairs dominance since the turn of the century. They have never claimed gold, but Shen & Zhao have taken the bronze in the past two Olympics. They retired in 2007, but came back for one more try. They also have two other pairs to watch: Pang & Tong and the Zhangs.

German Outlook:
Savchenko & Szolkowy are the two time defending world champions. They've had a wacky season. After a poor showing at Trophee Eric Bompard they changed their free skate to music from Out of Africa which was well received the rest of the season. They bobbled at Europeans however.

Honorable Mentions:
Canada has the home crowd advantage and Dube & Davison have a sweet freeskate to The Way We Were. It will send memories of Sale & Pelletier's Love Story through the crowd. They've medaled at worlds and you can never count out a team with home field advantage.

The US is sending two pairs, Denney & Barrett and Evora & Ladwig. NBC has been trumping the relationship between the two competitive teams, Jeremy Barrett is dating Amanda Evora. I'm sure it's hard to compete on the Olympics against your significant other of Valentine's Day.

Great Posts on Pairs:
Aaron's thoughts: Axels, Loops, and Spins - Pairs Preview
Kelli's thoughts: State of the Skate - Every Four Year Fan's Guide
Susan's thoughts: Lifeskate - Predictions and Start Order
NBC Olympics: Shen/Zhao Search For Pairs Gold

Weather Be Damned!

Seeing tweets from skaters (@TanithJLB, @Ben_Agosto) that they are getting worried that the snowstorm expected for the East Coast may hamper their travel plans to Vancouver. Some think the worst-case scenario will lead to missing the Opening Ceremonies.

There's also tweets from journalists like Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) and Phil Hersh (@olyphil) that they beat the storms and have landed in a spring-like setting. It's been so warm the Vancouver organizers are having to haul in snow for the alpine events. At least the rinks are indoors. Although the humidity poses its own challenges for maintaining the ice.

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Late Night Host Smackdown... On Ice (Viva Coco!)

Coco

Jilted late-night host, Conan O'Brien, said farewell to "The Tonight Show" Friday. On March 1st, Jay Leno is coming back to host the show. It's been a debacle of ratings, egos and Jeff Zucker's management. (Amazingly, the network associated with the tagline, "You're Fired" as said by Donald Trump hasn't delivered that line to Zucker after seeing their ratings over the past few years. I guess Comcast will get the pleasure.)

Finger Pointing

Back Story:

NBC has three shows that make their late night comedy lineup, The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and a show that has gone through various names and hosts, currently called Last Call with Carson Daly. The network made a plan over five years ago to build a younger audience into Jay Leno's Tonight Show by replacing him with Conan O'Brien, host of the Late Show. As the transition took place in 2009, Jay Leno was a ratings king at 11:30, so NBC decided they wanted to keep him and try new and cheaper programming with him at 10:00. Meanwhile Jimmy Fallon entered the picture as host of Late Night. Got it? Ratings started going downhill at 10:00, kept plummeting during the news at 11:00, and went further south at 11:30. By 12:30, seventeen people were watching Jimmy Fallon, mostly because they are fans of The Roots. Somehow, Carson Daly stayed on the air, continuing to have five viewers at 1:30. NBC had a problem, and various shuffles in hosts and programming have been discussed and debated in the NBC boardroom, blogs, and competitive late night shows. Conan's now out and Jay's back at 11:30, Jimmy and Carson still have their shows.

OK, this relates to skating because.....

The Peacock network being the home of the Olympics, I think NBC could have had more fun with their late night shuffle. They should have had a competition held during the Olympics to prove who can spin comedy gold, captivate an audience and make a great host. They could totally give Tom Hammond, Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton a break every now and then by providing color commentary during the figure skating events.

Wouldn't it be great for Conan O'Brien to sit with Triumph, the Insult Comedy Dog, in the broadcast booth and cover the men's skating event? How about a look into the judging scandals of the future with a little 'In the Year 3000'? Jay Leno can replicate his Jaywalking bits during the ladies event asking the homeschooled girls about current events. Jimmy Fallon can impersonate a conversation between Dick Button and Scott Hamilton to make skating fans feel at home. I'm sure they would all have great fun with skating lingo, from Axels, haircutters, twizzles and Zambonis. Whoever gets the most laughs and buzz wins the coveted hosting gig of The Tonight Show when it's back after the Olympics!

Am I crazy? When CBS had the Olympics in 1994, David Letterman used it to his advantage coming on later with Olympic bits. He even sent his mom to Lillehammer. He dominated the ratings then.

Who do you think would be the best in covering skating? I'd love to hear your ideas for Conan, Jay, Jimmy or Carson to do in the NBC broadcast booth.

Oh yes, Viva Coco!