Ice Skating robs another innocent pair

If you had asked me yesterday what I would remember about Rena Inoue and John Baldwin’s career I probably would have said who? Okay not really but in the world of international skating this pairs team has been below average.

The best of the one discipline of skating that the US has had next to no success the last ten years but after watching their Nationals LP the one thing about them that will stick out in my mind in the future is the screwing they got by the judges at the 2010 Nationals.

I am sorry but the second place team was horrible. I know their names but I am not even going to bother looking up how to spell them because they suck. They were boring, messy and just a blur of 2 minutes I can never get back. If this is what the blind judges want to send to the Olympics (and I very much think the judges did this on purpose) then we all know this sport is heading no where. Even the winners didn’t stand out but it was pretty obvious by the judging that the USFSA didn’t want to send the old photo above to another Olympics because that wouldn’t benefit the future of the sport.

This same USFSA will have NO PROBLEM holding up Sasha like they have done her entire career in a week because who cares if Sasha is only here to steal the Olympic glory from someone that gave a damn the last four years they will still send her for her name.

Don’t get me wrong if Sasha show’s up and performs like Rena Inoue and John Baldwin did then she will have earned her spot but if she Alissa Czisnys a 3 triple performance and is held up by her PCS score then all hell is going to break lose on this blog. It might mean jack shit to the world of skating what I think but that won’t stop me from writing a Nastia like blog. The gymnasts and skaters being held up these days is bordering 80’s Soviet Union.

More screwing news from Nationals is our old friend the Judge Joe Inman. (you remember the judges that admitted he put Slutskaya ahead of Michelle Kwan in the LP in 02 to keep Sarah Hughes in the lead manipulating the rules) Just call him judge number 8. Apparently he has been giving lower scores then the rest of the judges to every skater that isn’t Jeremy Abbott. Stayed tuned to see how this one works out.

I have not read the article yet but apparently Evan Lysacek and Frank Carroll have been hinting that they should have been scored higher because he is world champ. Here is the USA Today article pointing out that sometimes the US judge is harder on it’s skaters at international competitions then the foreign judges and sometimes that is true. The celebrity couple both seem to feel they deserve to win for showing up. (Nastia by the way is in Washington. I bet NBC show’s her more then the skaters) IMO Evan is very lucky they didn’t ding him further since he made a BIG mistake and Johnny Weir did not. That being said (I know I say that a lot) Evan is right. His scores are a lot lower here then they were at worlds last year and you have to wonder why the men judges wanna low ball your best skater this close to the Olympics.