This week, Korean Figure Skating Federation announced that three of its top skaters are facing a reprimand and two are facing suspensions after an incident at a training camp in Italy. Miki Ando is involved in a scandal of her own after she was spotted holding hands with her sixteen-year-old student. We discuss how different the response has been compared to recent situations in the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, Madison Chock and Evan Bates were married in Hawaii, Mirai Nagasu announced she had a son and has been engaged for a year, and U.S. Figure Skating caused chaos by announcing a new music policy without a providing a sufficient FAQ. The Olympic Trials for gymnastics are this week and we discuss our excitement for the event. TSL Live legend Nolan Carney joins me to break it all down on the latest edition of ‘This and That’.
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hello and welcome to the skating lesson I’m Dave lease and today I’m thrilled to welcome our TSL live favorite Twitter Legend Nolan noan cardi welcome to this and that thank you so much for having me Dave it’s it’s an honor to be here today oh oh please you’ve only been on TS 11 million times yeah yeah it’s it’s great to be here it’s some of the situations are unfortunate that we’re going to talk about and then some of the situations you know are interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the future so so for those of people who don’t know we met you and I don’t remember exactly how we became it was around around Co around Co I just remember that we had been Instagram friends and I saw that you were teaching a yoga class yes I was I was like mock like mock teaching yoga like you know I feel like during Co it was like a fake world like you don’t really know what you did in Co but like it happened and you kind of blocked it out and I I used to teach these yoga classes to like keep myself self grounded during that time and I remember one time you came on and I was likeing my head like oh like this is like a little much like I’m not like a like I was like I’m not a great yoga instructor but you know it it just our relationship kind of flourished from there and we’ve been great friends ever since so yes and now you’re in a group text with me and Jenny where the two of you just go on about we talk about tennis for like 50 I feel like Dave Le will get like in the next month like when wibbled then happens you’re going to get like 600 texts about like random tennis players and you’re just be like and then dve will send a text to be like Sunni Lee is like on bars right now and then like Jenny and I are like crickets hey but that’s like not fair because three years ago you were very into the Olympic trials for gymnastics you were following it right I was I was I don’t know it’s just I’m not as interested in it this time but I’m going to watch this week you were really Leanne and Riley I’m GNA have to I have to support my like Alum my like G like we had because during Co on TSL on Sunday nights like clockwork we had a gift from above which was Chelsea MLS adult comeback yeah those are really good and we miss it Michaela Skinner but she was the bigger gift I think the biger the gift right the bigger gift for me we discussed it honestly not in a way that people discuss things now right we enjoy her Champion I don’t think the I don’t think the Twitter fans could really handle like how we discussed the gymnastics and skating back then now like I don’t think it would be I don’t think we said anything bad but we no we weren’t rude we were just very honest about this is what I was thinking about situation because all of that was so important and we had golden right so we had all of this stuff leading in the documentaries right you are watching tennis you’ve watched the show about I’ve even put on the one about golf on Netflix I watched cheer watched that like got all into cheerleading because of that like it’s interesting because skating has like a market where they really could use the platform that these athletes have and maybe get them connected with like an Olympic Channel or Netflix and or a peacock and get them some sort of show because those shows that we’ve seen for other sports have like drawn me into watching like other sports like tennis like um Jenny and I watched that um Match Point show or breakpoint and we’re now like Avid tennis fans like it they I think they’re really missing the mark on being able to draw in a certain audience um new a newer audience for you know the Olympics and the grand PRI and the the World Championships so yeah what I was thinking is that basically the job of us figure skating is to have these Series right so that we can connect viewers so that they watch the competitions and then have people go watch them in shows right I mean and I think there’s enough happening right in these shows like imagine if the documentary cameras were there when isabo lito didn’t get on the ice at four continents right like that would have just that would have been pure drama like like right and then she would have the Redemption Arc of coming back and meddling and the UPS of the Downs you don’t even have to invent the drama right and you could you could even do it with like Amber Glenn you know like this year like you could show her like having to withdraw from you know the 2020 Olympic or 2022 Olympic cycle and coming back this year and winning a national championship you know might have not been the best performance but just that Redemption Arc of her you know coming out also as pansexual like that that maybe that stigma or flak that she got from some fans you know she has that overall Arc of adversity that allows her to kind of have this Redemption Arc to create you know a beautiful story and I think they’re kind of missing a big mark on a big Mark I was thinking like they could follow Deanna who I’m sure would just be non nonstop right I mean she would really be bringing us a lot of I think like di could get her own show like she doesn’t even need to be like a part like uh like her own um like a segue of a character of the show she could be her own show she knows it right like she’s aware when yeah yes her whole like quest for citizenship just any competition and you have that um that one adult skater that was really helping her you know get um okay having that the adult skaters have been behind long before right of course because she kind I feel like they kind of claim they claim a sense of ownership over her you know we knew she was old in one of us long before I mean she was our first on TSL live right mean she she watched remember she we were watching um the Grand Pre final Junior Grand Pre final she is like throwing up on the the practice or she and her coach comes up to her and says Deanna no one cares go to your Triple S you ever SE so de original coach Cindy looks like the woman Something About Mary who’s like tanning all the time like this is like that origin story of dienna we really need right and remember the Canadians are just bandwagon her like they took whatever they jumped on they didn’t really like her at the beginning at all they were getting behind Evelyn Walsh and dying on that hill before the last Olympics okay sorry no if we cast this show because we can’t let the ISU do it on their Channel or the Olympics and like I don’t think it’ll be good you need the cheer documentary people okay the ones that just did the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders that basically basically told us like that girl is engaged to who right like th that that production team they need to follow Roman sidowski Kevin with Sylvia and your boy Adam cohena right like this I love him IL m in as long as we get the parents and the agent right like as long as you get Ari’s aaran and you go through AR’s back story I mean the fact that Oxana bayul was driving in a car with Ari zakaran after they were partying with the cast of Disney on Ice this that is how the DUI happened like we just we could do so much with it like skating could be huge right you don’t have to it is there yeah I agree you do I think you would need like a woman a female skater too I think that would kind of draw a little bit more interest also probably isabo Alysa L too isabo and Alysa L and we could just list the coaching changes yeah for is Alysa Alissa yes and the father’s backstory yeah that would be I think that would be good right like we it would draw the people to it right we just you just put it out there right you just yes you could let Adam commentate like all the different people Adam and Ashley I think could be a part of the show in some capacity too with like a commentating like maybe giving like a skater background um because their podcast is has been real successful I think a lot of people have really found their wittiness good I think they they have a second coming in this Sport and I think they’re coming and getting for terara and Johnny’s jobs too there’s another podcast that you’re into and I want to know if you think that they should merge and be like a trio together oh okay you have an up and down relationship with Paulina Edmonds and I I said this to her when I saw her I did show the text she enjoyed them she tried to act like she was above it and then she was smirking so listen I I really enjoy Pina I’m a little disappointed in her the past couple months like I think you know when we said Mariah Bell like relies on being like pretty I think Pina is relying a little bit too much on like her twizzle her lines and like a sexy scratch Spin and I really would just like to her to like mix it up a little more diversity in the post you know she’s using the Ariana Grande music like for a twizzle post but like is she really giving the Ariana Grande sass like and I’d love to see maybe like a high bun like a high pony like a long ponytail like Deana when she was in um The Experience po or program the year that we said it might have looked like something I think I just need her to step it up a little bit and bring a little bit more sass I think we need like you know how Skinner vlogged I want I think we need a Pina Vlog a vlog of her life right where she’s posing in Bora Bora skating with Brian boyo I think we could have Renee Roa visit her and choreograph some of these programs because what I noticed when I saw her in the show is listen Paulina Edmond stunning stunning right we love I mean did you see her outfit we absolutely love her love her with the leg warmers yes yeah yeah like she knows how to deliver right she knows she knows what she’s working and I appreciate that like the self-confidence and self-awareness is impressive no but when you see her in the iow she’s playing the good girl right a Maria why a Maria I want seven rings I want yes didn’t um medva do seven rings and I I think there’s a part of I feel like they’re kind of the same person I think she could outdo Billy ey like out she she could do a billy eish program or you know what Paulina could do on her Instagram okay should recreate the choreography of the really tacky Russian programs but like do it up like if she could do coaster Nia is like you could see me in a crown when she does the when she does the bracket like right in of the judges I believe that poina could outdo that right like she would know what to do and what the people want to see right I think Pina could just you know what also she should start doing do you remember when Adam rapon was remember when he was like recreating like Tara’s long Michelle’s long like that one summer maybe it’s during Co or something why doesn’t she just like recreate like iconic skating programs like Brian boano or like Paul wy’s and just really just emphasize like how much of a a diva she is how much inner Diva she has within herself and I think she just relying a little bit too much on being pretty right now and I wish I wish she would broaden out a bit a strug like I find the fake positivity that people exude on Twitter where like they apologize for everyone right like you everyone is very positive but it’s not genuine right we did hear the first season of paulina’s podcast which was basically I amazing I was robbed and there was a girl named Julia lnit right could get there drawing a heart on the ice and improve her program with her proper technique right and I think that she could correct Julio’s program like no one else right she really I mean she’d point out the let’s edges for sure oh my God I was talking to Paul wildly to him in L plasted we were talking about proper edges on Lut has an opinion he can’t even joke about a fluts he’s so serious like I think like I just don’t know if he’s like a like a goof person from like just from what I’ve heard about like him from you and just you know what I’ve seen in interviews I just don’t think he he definitely has like wit but I don’t think he like I think he’s a little like uptight and rigid a bit with like certain things in skating like remember when you were trying to correct your LS last summer we were doing this today yes okay yeah and he and he like he just like kept talking on and on about the L like about you’re about to go into it you just like we’re like I need you to like stop talking I’m I’m trying to do a lot like I think he’s just like that’s like I have the ADHD with the hyperfocus right so if you g to talk to me right before I take off which is the most important part you cannot yeah you you need to focus you have to settle in and kind of get in get in gear so I work with like a coach like St at home right and he talks way too much and he gets like nervous for you so when he he would watch me go into the axle I would like see him like wanting to like know if I was going to land at and like I made him move so that I couldn’t see him in my line of sight because I have to like focus on like well you also like there’s that thing of you know you can Fe you can feel your coach’s energy too yes you know like you can tell when someone’s nervous or you can tell when someone’s like excited and that can get you pumped up or it could also like UNR you a bit you know Debbie Thomas in um 88 like the coach seemed too trying to amp her up a bit too much and she missed the high five and you know Katarina remember she said that’s when she knew it wasn’t going to go well and I think it just that’s something that you know can work for some skaters or it can be a distraction so now we know Debbie Thomas very well through the figures man Ross Yes okay so these Olympic gymnastics trials that are happening the other thing that I was thinking is they make it look enjoy right like they want to go to Olympic trials right now I get that when we were all going to Nashville last time it was covid there was a blizzard nobody knew what was going to happen right but they have the like this electric blue backdrop for TV that they’re all that to make it look really exciting and there’s a big crowd they’re all like taking photos in front of it like it’s a step and repeat the skater they need to make the Nationals for skating look exciting and I think they need to advertise it as an Olympic Tri to amp it up right we need they definitely should for um maybe not this year um just because it’s not really like an Olympic T but definitely next year um do we know where Nationals is next year or is that not I don’t think it’s released yet but um or not not this year but the Olympic year I forget I forget you know what I know this year is in is it in Kansas in witch yes yeah all I can think of is the scene in Planes Trains and Automobiles when they get to Witchita and you need I’m not gonna lie like I don’t think witcha is going to be a huge pool for Nationals but I think wherever they pick for the Olympic season I think the next year’s the Olympic season will be a lot better obviously because they won’t have to be hosting worlds so I think a lot of the budgeting is going towards that so they probably chose a site with a uh cheaper cost um so I think the Olympic trials they’ll have a bit more of a budget to spend on it and make it more of a Grand Event than I think this year’s Nationals would be and also the the gymnasts are just like bringing the drama this year right for like the olymp like let’s be real and I think um yeah sorry no no go I was just gonna say um I think also with the gymnast about how them you know when they’re at these events try know having to like act like they’re happy there I think they also have to use this as a marketing strategy too like you have to use the what is going on like in a daily life like for them like vlogging that can bring in like sponsors or you know get more people to follow them to get more and engagement rates on their Instagram um so I think they have to kind of use this as like a business trip also to like Market themselves best to the committee and also best to you know people that are watching and trying Tobe look about picking up another athlete for a couple sponsorship deals maybe like Nike or something like looking at these athletes uh as uh potential pickups so yeah I’ve actually talked to I was talking to Dean about this in the spring because her Instagram is atrocious for what a personality she is it’s rough it’s rough she needs help she can’t just be adding a hundred stories of her fans I mean clicking through her stories is a lot right it’s after worlds it was like I think it was like four or five days in a row where it was like 30 stores Sienna we know you won World We 300 stories I mean really yes we love you we didn’t need 300 stories we didn’t right it was it was she was cultivating but here’s the thing the gymnasts do something that the skaters don’t where they will post like they’ll post training Clips once in a while which everybody enjoys listen everybody side eyes them a little bit right like get interest though like when Gabby Douglas was clearly the rumor was that she wasn’t training full routines right at one point during this season okay I think that played out it was very clear you could tell by the you could by the first event that we saw even though Twitter will not tell you this it was it was clear right yeah she did a bar routine that had three skills in it and it was March late February March and one coach goes it’s eight skills Gabby not three not three yeah and I thought okay honest right but it’s it’s it’s interesting because also like you know the fans are so so quick to defend but really the people on the inside of the sports like both sports are brutal yes I mean like the skaters that like I’ve talked to like they’re honest about how how they feel about certain people and whe or not they have a legitimate chance then but then they also kind of will play the like um like a vulnerable state too to the fans also but some of the skaters are even like more ruthless than the fans it’s a little Taylor Swift right where you’re like you know the vulnerable and then yeah the aggressive hero right it’s a it’s a good it’s a weird balance to have to manage as a fan for sure when you when you seen both sides and whether or not you really want to be honest about a skater yeah um so but what I think is interesting is like only a couple of skaters who really post training Clips like we see ilam Molin has engaged it well and he doesn’t run on social media so someone posts for him like he obviously makes he should right yeah Kimmy Rond very impressive with her content every I think every day you’re seeing her like three sessions a day maybe four like she is she’s hyping up in here Coast Jia too Luna and I think someone like Deanna they need to be posting training Clips right I mean come on Di has her outfits what’s she going to wear for the day even what her workouts like come on this is a girl with personality we need to be seeing Clips yeah I need to I need to see that throw Loop how it’s doing this summer Alexa this week Alexa yeah and Al I because I was checking with Alexa asking her to come back for the millionth time okay I mean my God Alexa we will we can get like maybe some like college can give you like some of their nil deals like we’ll make it happen all right like we’ll make it happen what is she coaching the junior people at Nationals come on right she was at Pacific co- sectionals this year with a girl in like Junior women maybe or like maybe it was like novice and like the girl was with like double LS and I was just like you could be a world champion right now but I think I felt bad because but skating isn’t like lucrative enough to keep them in but this is where like you have to right and US figure skating needs to encourage you to post and have a little sass and not be afraid of it because traditionally us figure skating has been very afraid of skaters having personality right like they they don’t wanna they don’t want the ilam malinin situation where he says too much or when Nathan said yeah yeah or the Alysa L too but people love it right like we loved no we loved all of it like every single one that happened was perfect it was so it wasn’t perfect but it was it was dramatic and entertaining and you got to know the skaters more and kind of latch on to them if you are a fan you know like you got to know who you’re rooting for though I think and I think like if you look at Paulina like with her content with her posting her Clips she’s grown yeah right she’s grown a lot even with the content I mean I I love her so much just like I’m a huge fan I think her content like gets engagement every time she posts it you know it might be the same thing we seen like over the past three or four months but it’s content like IR regardless like you’re seeing it done and done and she’s going to get more viewers so I mean I want to see what she’s going to be wearing I want to see when she tells us how to have beautiful lines and uses herself an example like I’m like I it’s a you know what I do you know what I really think she should focus more on though with the beautiful lines if she’s going to do stuff like that which I know this could be a bit like this would be like super dramatic for the fans I think but do you remember this side this uh 1990 Nationals um in the women’s short program when you had Naomi Aram and Michelle layback yeah 99 when they had this the side by side on the the layback position I really wish Pina if she wanted she wanted to educate the fans more she could do more of like a um an educational maybe Instagram Real showing um examples of proper lines proper technique proper edges proper takeoff proper hair cutter and then maybe like contrast it with a position that maybe is not as aesthetic or not have good technique good form and kind of create maybe like an educational series for these skaters because I feel like that’s something that she focuses so much on but then she will sometimes forget to inform the viewer of what goes into making it a proper Edge or a proper technique for the element so sometimes you and Paulina have had issues and you’re a gan if you oh yes I was upset with her at the junior worlds um and listen I’m I’m very aware that Gia may not have the most uh elegant pointed toe um but I also stand by it that I think there were a lot of under rotations that were not called on Ma and the caller was Japanese so I’m just pointing that out there but you know I wouldn’t say I’m not arguing with her like I don’t talk to Pina Edmonds like I’ve had maybe one conversation with her on Instagram like we’re not like best friends but your mind in your mind in my in my mind like I I have such I have a vision for her of like what she could do to like improve like her marketing strategy and improve her Instagram game and improve her podcast too so I think there’s just we love her and you know what we wouldn’t we wouldn’t wish to live without her so you know listen I found out so like so many things when I saw her in person like she told me that her dad met her mom on a work trip and her did her dad ask her mom to be pen pals and then they got engaged over a phone call like there’s a interesting B where’s the podcast for that where’s the podcast for that I want her to debate skating with her mother at the because you know Nina’s Nina’s opinionated it yes right like that’s what we really want I don’t want to downplay the russianness I want to like and we need to know more into it yeah yeah I think there’s a lot to to be learned about Pina in the next and you know what um do you remember at Nationals this year when she was doing the practice camera with um Jackie long I think you know just there’s a prime example where I feel like she could have done a lot more you know with like that she’s watching live skating like you could point out like oh like this Jump’s a little cheated because like XYZ happened on the takeoff would have given Jackie a heart attack because they are supposed to be polite they are supposed yes I do I do understand it was a usfs broadcast but I guess that’s a that’s another era where I think you know she has to maneuver and find ways to say real comments without offending people so you weren’t around for I think you were probably maybe not even born during the Ice network era but when Nancy carrian used to commentate and that was not 2005 20065 6 78 sometimes Nancy would be on for like a long you know Nationals was on a long time right it’s a long week it’s mentally it’s a long week of skating the real opinions would come out and you know what like they just they stick in your mind forever like I don’t know that Nancy was in for Johnny’s like popping in 2009 I don’t think that that was enjoyable to her so I just there was a VI I wonder what she would have said about his uh 04 is that when he equipment program 03 yeah I mean dick was pretty kind yes yeah oh man but for him we do need more of like Paul that’s why I think we need the debate between Adam Ashley and Paulina so I and I I I tweeted the other day I said I would love to see I I saw two things tweeted two things about this and one of them Alexa kir I’m liked my post I said Alexa and Chris need to get on the Ashley and Adam podcast or the P podcast in the next like coming months like we need to hear all about like everything that’s been going on in their coaching life and then I also think that Adam and Ashley should have Pina on their podcast because I think she’ll be more open to say more honest opinions on that versus her own podcast yeah yeah but okay we’re talking about Adam Ashley oh my God I just completely blanked out we were talking about I think Mari could also like we need a panel discussion where yeah the four of them would be great marai who hid an engagement and a pregnancy and a pregnancy from public view which I mean there were we had actually seen a picture of her pregnant with Alexa but nobody really talked about it I heard I heard nothing like when I saw the real that was the first time I and she she she broadcast like announced her child through an ad on Instagram good for marai okay like I’m just I’m so impressed with her like as a Bost tour guy for a girl who’s from Los Angeles but also lived in Colorado now she’s just making Boston her own I appreciate it okay I’ve actually seen her coach there she was impressive okay I saw her practice for a Christmas show but I think you know Mariah has some sass in her that we also we we’ve known we’ve known about it it’s a little bit like Michelle Quan like when Michelle Quan gave birth and we didn’t know she was pregnant that was also iconic right people are still wanting to know you know how the details like who was the father like all of that like everyone wanted to know everything for Michelle Alexa in the coaching wouldn’t you want to see her for one year where the way I look at it she’s got three options she could haul Chris’s ass out of retirement right and listen all the adult skater women want to skate with him okay when he was at adult Nationals they were all smooting over him it was it was a thing you’re gonna bring Chris you’re gonna bring Chris kiram out of retirement no my first choice would be Timothy luk and Alexa because we haven’t seen that yet okay or we could bring Brandon back yeah I Brandon’s still with Jenny and Todd like he’s a coach at Jenny and Todds he you know she’s still probably involved with lifting probably jumping a little bit too um I’m sure he’s still in good shape could come back and get ready to skate again on if you got to see Alexa against de for an Olympic gold with Russia out of the equation it and the Japanese girl that had the drama at Worlds yeah and what I feel with that is they seem sweet but the team is not gonna give us the Rivalry of an Ashley and a Gracie or as AA and of gya right like we’re just not well you have that like USA versus like Canada thing too where like you have like the like the two countries like very similar in style and skating um like kind of duking it out against each other and you know that’s that’s something that I think a lot of North Americans would clatch on too so Alexa made one of my favorite comments ever today then just going to share it because she realized that she and Deana are intense in different ways whereas and I said yes I believe believe that Diana has secret Megan tendencies that she hides right like I think she I think we all have Megan tendencies that we don’t we don’t always like to admit right what are these Megan Tendencies so Deanna Alexa goes Deanna knows everything about everyone and what they’re comp she does she does and she makes very meal yes she makes sure that she has like a higher you know base value that right she’s calculating those points constantly which I sometimes works for and against di because she certainly gets in her head on that three jump combo right I mean and is the three jump combo still an item this year I forgot did they remember the good work um of AR zakaran and and usfs and eor lukan and you know voting down those jump changes um yeah I think it’s an emo to watch her to try to do a single axle into aren’t you just I’m worried for her next year I think I’m really worried but I think though this year might be a little messy I have a good feeling that this is going to be good for her to have her ready and prepared for the Olympic season I think if she she’ll get the Kaka out and she’ll be primed and geared and motivated because Megan and Eric remember in 2016 2017 I think they were sixth or seventh at Worlds that year after after winning you know like that’s they wer tough field they were definitely a tougher field much tougher field but people were not doing sidebyside doubles at the Nationals and making it to worlds in that day that that’s very true Megan will watch this show and she will like to point that out to you yes they had a rough year they did but I bet you Megan deiml would agree with me on this she probably left that season hungrier than ever yes come out and be very primed and think that Deanna and Megan are the same type of greata person and that’s what’s going to motivate her to be ready for the Olympic season also um we saw Audrey Shen wait wa before we go back Alexa made so Alexa my favorite comment ever that she said that she was focused on herself but she knew that her best was good enough to win and you know what like that’s a very Palina iconic statement to make and I I applauded that yes absolutely lot of the pair girls are very self-confident self Weare terane self-confident woman you know like self-confident Queen yes yeah so Audrey shin and balage are training with Bruno in they look fantastic which okay let’s be real when Delilah got banned all those teams were uh absorbed by to Drew now Drew used to be Delilah’s assistant coach but he was honest in his safe sport interview like a good skating coach who absorbed all of those teams who benefited from being honest by this right other people were less honest were more political if you read that report some some high Lev you gotta think says in the report that a coach would never make someone compete while injured that is in the report I remember certain things at Nationals or skaters being find at world I just quote I am not remember the one nationalist there might have been a certain skater that broke his foot mid program was crying in the kiss and cry like St coach might have been like aren’t you happy you did it skater said no Delila sappenfield had a photograph of all of her pair boys shirtless in the office of the coach’s room of the World Arena this means that every other coach in there saw this photo saw this and said nothing didn’t make it take it down but they all did acknowledge that it existed like a good skating coach is trained to do right like you see it but you don’t know right it’s it’s a knowing and an unknowing it’s very 1984 right it’s a little it’s just a very unfortunate situation everything that occurred there and you know you feel you feel for the the skaters that trained there and the victims that feel it and you also have to feel a little bit of Rage for them because yes if you because a system an entire system that has been like um that has that people have been a part of failed to do what the correct thing was for the safety and the safety and protection of the athletes and the health of an athlete so also like if you go back there were so many things that were known that were just toxic in that culture right the entire way that you know citan kkus was skating with John Coughlin there was a try out behind her back with her replacement right but everybody at the rink knew about it right like these kinds of things in this culture were going on for a long time us figure skating is in the same town the US OPC is in the same town as Colorado Springs Mitch Moyer was going into that ring all the time Justin Dylan is there all the time like there’s a lot of things they can’t play stupid and smart at the same time it’s difficult and I’m not gonna shift forward here to the subject but I do want to say one thing about this Korean situation that’s what I’m saying is it’s ajust Theos with how Korea is handling it’s it’s something that I think that situation that happened in Korea I don’t think it would have been a news article or would have come to light here in the US and I think it’s because that the system here has been so focused on like covering up you know like people’s heirs and skaters you know heirs um that that wouldn’t have come to light here in the US and I think that’s something that you can applaud the Korean skating Federation and their Ethics Committee although people are saying you know pther is like the argument that is three years really a lot um Equitable um offense for what happened there there’s a situation with and they’re only labeled so far as skater a b and see and I want that way as we I wrote it down if you want me to read the yes you want to read the okay I wrote the whole thing down all right so skater a invited skater C so skater a and skater B are females MH um and skater C is a male and he is a minor so skater a invited the skater C to the dorm and he was the perpetrator of sexual molestation she has a threeyear suspension she did request a retrial but one thing they did note um is that her agency could not get a hold of her for I think four or five days after the news had broke to kind of put out a statement skater b um is accused of sexual harassment by taking photos of skater a without consent and then showing it to skater C skater B faces a one-year suspension also seeking a reach trial skater C is the victim of sexual mestation by skater a he is a minor and he received a verbal rep reprimand by entering the female skater dorm and they were all drinking I don’t know if you said that yeah that I did yes they that was the first thing that came out was that they were um caught drinking and were facing suspensions and I think at that point people were just kind of like like they’re gonna face a suspension for drinking and then when this news came out the whole thing changes the whole perception of what happened changes so on TV the news agency didn’t name who the skaters were but they put photos videos up photos that were everybody could tell who they were and it’s the same people that are rumored to be skater a b and c right which is a little but there have been photos online that skater C and skater a were involved in some sort of a relationship right and I yes I had I had heard of that too and it’s it’s interesting because these are all high-profile skaters too all three of them and that goes back to that usfs thing where I think they would have tried to cover this up because of the stature that they have but I think okay on one hand everybody is going to be upset that their favorite skaters are not going to be yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s such a shame and it’s so disgusting to see you know what has happened because you know these people you you follow these skaters for years and you go to be fans of them and they just unfortunate the other thing is that by making an example of of them they are kind of putting it out there that there’s going to be a no tolerance policy for this kind of behavior I think that’s fantastic for yeah because that’s exact opposite of what other federations do I mean look at Skate Canada and how they handled you know the situation look at how you know they didn’t make any statements for for a very long time letting that you know grow and grow and grow worlds was very uncomfortable even Mark H Ready’s comments were very uncomfortable at Worlds right and I think everybody is in like a very weird you know no man’s land situation where they’re pretending that quite real but they’re doing that in a way it’s a strategy because there aren’t that many people covering skating they can kind of get away with not talking about it and they can use some of the confidentiality Clauses to try to keep things under the rug sweep things under the rug soing uh but I think that they’re showing that there’s not a tolerance for it where in the US there are skater there’s a skater right now who’s involved in a safe sport case and they’re in a you know new dance team and everybody is talking about them right and it’s just like it continues to go on and on and on and there’s just and it’s it’s a continuous cycle and the same thing with the Mond thing of like students uh skaters being in relationships with coaches and you know it’s just a cycle that continues and continues and continues and until that until there’s like a system set in place in like a zero tolerance policy you know like United with all these skating Nations I just think it’s going to continue to spiral and like move on and continue like it’s just it’s such a difficult situation to watch happen again and again and again and no one is really stepping up and taking accountability and saying like this isn’t right like you know like what’s going on here like where why is our system failing so they have the statute of limitations in sorry the age of consent in Japan is 16 so technically this situation is legal however yeah the Optics are I have been in many a compliance training at work and one of the things they always ask is is it legal and then the next question you have to ask yourself is is it ethical so yeah while it may be legal that they are together it is unethical for a coach to be with a student and unfortunately no one would understand that more than Mickey Ando because of the very damaging relationship that she had with Nikolai Mor roov which anybody who was at the ice house or anybody who is even present on any of those International trips I mean it was something that was horrific behavior that was engaged if you read Adam Ron’s book it’s very clear what was going on and if you followed skating at the time it was very obvious what happened to her and how emotionally damaging that was to her and you can see that these Cycles wind up sensibly repeating themselves which is a really and I’m not going to name any like other names of people but you know we’ve seen it in like the 90s specifically with like certain skaters like in the US that were you know involved in relationships with coaches and how that affected them as as they grew up and how now how they coach now you know it’s just it’s you know it’s super unfortunate that there’s really hasn’t been any action taken place by the you know the usfs to really shut down a lot of things situations still involved right if you even go into the history of US figure skating and some of these cases it’s really alarm it’s kind of um kind of like a mafia a bit yeah in a sence that like it’s there it’s kept normally within the same families a lot of the same families are still involved you know like a judge may have had a mother and a grandmother that you know were judges and now they’re a judge and their daughter might be a judge you know at some point like it just it’s a cycle that continues down the line of keeping it within the same like families and not really uh bringing in outside inputs to clean up the inside or shared it’s interesting because actually the the restaurant Buffalo Wild wins has ties to the Lowry and the disbro families and uh Jimmy disbro was the president of US figure skating at the time that Craig Mari originally filed against Callahan and Jimmy disbo lived in the house of the Lowry family if you go back and they want up owning that restaurant together but when Craig filed like there’s a history of which coaches lived with which people Richard Callahan over wrapped with the Lowry like there’s David Lowry is obviously ban was banned you know from us F now so it’s just very interesting to see how these things are so cyclical in nature and repeat themselves and yeah and we had um was this last summer or was this during the middle of the season this year we had that one coach from South Carolina who was with was he with a student I forgot I forgot his name um let’s yeah or we we don’t have to talk about it we can situations yes yeah and again allegedly Alle but I think it takes in any of these cases it’s incredible when you start to think about how many people actually would have had knowledge of things and maybe not report reported or yes yes how many things or people try to report and it’s just like a very uh interesting case of how many people it takes to look the other way for these things to continue to PR so yeah but there’s a culture of that so it’s a cycle it’s a cycle on a culture for sure why it’s interesting how it’s interesting how Korea is handling this situation because when John Coughlin committed suicide the names of the victims were not public at that time but Delilah was able to spin it expertly right and on social media at that time it was incredible how people had the exact opposite reaction that people did in the wake of Larry Nasser it was like skating learned nothing from it things were shifting where there had been the Supreme Court hearing of Christine bosy Ford and things were starting to just turn on the me too movement where everybody was originally you know one way and then the pendulum was going so but it was interesting that skating didn’t learn anything uh from Larry Nasser but the other thing I find interesting of this is we’re seeing the Olympic trials this week yes um gymnastics has Simone but listen they were um having to file for bankruptcy right they were uh really in very very um Dire Straits right in USA Gymnastics they had the worst abuse Scandal of all time they have been able to rebound and get Nike back and get other sponsors back and also be successful if you look at it because Russia is banned from competition us figures getting is actually winning a lot of medals at the World Championships yet they have done actually nothing with the marketing they didn’t have the skaters on The Today Show right after the World Championships right so they’re never actually showing them being successful the only news we ever get is bad news right the only news is oh these skaters now won a gold medal but they’re not awarded it right which is relatively and also you know prior to the um the US championships they had AA zler and lindse on and you know Ava Zigler wasn’t even at the Nationals she wasn’t there and then Lindsay was someone who’s been struggling at that who was struggling at that time listen they they obviously had them because they were local girls but at the same time you have to think okay those are not the stars of the event right they expected they needed they needed someone else to come out but then that also takes away a day of trading so you got to but come on we see Ilia Molin do tons of shows in I think I think Ilia would have been fine missing a day to go out it’s interesting because he we haven’t seen any big endorsements from him since winning the World Championships and they used his win um at the ISU Congress as a way of you know wanting to keep you know the rules as they are because he went viral for a couple of days right but and when we look at the music right that video was taken down right they could only show for so many hours he did have articles because he skated succession he landed those jumps but you know it takes an average of seven times to learn something is the theory right we don’t see him out that often we don’t see the Today Show visiting him Hoda is not on a firstname basis with him the way shees right she’s not yeah you know you have to inv invite Hoda to be counting the quads visiting him at home crying when he wins right she could be revisiting his mother’s Aladdin program like you know you got to get hold it to laying it on thick and I think they’re just really missing the the the marketing department is really really lacking there and it’s just it’s honestly you have to think I think they have more entertaining storylines in the skating than they do with the gymnastics right now yes because the gymnast the gymnast are I think the other thing with the gymnast is it’s very robotic with how they perform I think a lot of the problems in gymnastics comes with I think a lot of it’s just very robotic there’s not a lot of artistic movement or impression and you know and skating there obviously is that and I think with them being so robotic you don’t really get to know them much as people but they do a better job on social media they do better job better and they marketing and the social media for sure they get them out there more and they don’t do this in skating there’s traditionally been that fear right and the same people that are involved and then you know they’re not on TV enough or you know they just don’t have and they don’t have the marketing in order they have never really invested in the marketing of these athletes to figure it out and they see the numbers dwindling right and it’s becoming more and more expensive to be a coach there’s higher insurance cost with everything going going on and we see how much us figur getting is failing they had um a big uh there was a budget meeting um that happened during governing Council this year there were a lot of questions about finances not a you know there were questions about the different line items that are unclear the US figur has not been doing well financially for the last years they’ve been um borrowing from the foundation in order to make payroll and uh you know stay afloat for several years but if they’re borrowing from the foundation you would think why don’t you borrow for marketing to at least try to grow right and and hire people that are going to actually get your skaters who are your assets competing visible and get them deals right so that this can all start to take place because actually they are winning medals right now and V I think also they really should invest in the education of marketing to the skaters yeah you know when they have these like Champs Camp events and like everything that’s going on they really should maybe like have educational seminars like teaching these you know these athletes how to use Tik Tok how to use Instagram how to like get like smart and witty like on Twitter and get the the public more engaged with their their social media because they can also grow that way too by having the athletes become bigger and as long as as the athletes become bigger that’s when you will start to see the cash in for the events you you’re going to have more people that are willing to go travel to see Amber Glenn or isabo lavito or Madison chalk and Evan Bates you know but also as successful as they have been they really only have I think like a top three or four athletes and then the rest is like a big drop off in terms of talent that is in the US and maybe also developing more Talent within the country can push um for these skaters to get a bit better and and get more medals on the Grand Prix on the world and national scene so that you can continue to grow that sport as well so I think Justin Dylan is the high performance director he used to be Tammy Gamble’s assistant and there’s a feeling within us figure skating that Tammy starts to get her hands on anyone who’s talented right to work with her it’s true has yielded any tangible results so we continue to see athletes go to Tammy we don’t see them being successful and no one seems to be asking these questions right and I think that they need to really get more there are a lot of talented coaches out there are people that have been successful in the past I mean you see Brian boano is at every Nationals having his boano Lounge why is he not mentioning skaters like why is where using his brain on how to develop skaters right you see like a Paul Wy you see Rene Roga you see like very yucas like very smart people Alysa sney car Browning almost anyone who’s been successful is like sidelined into like they do seminars right and then because skating is run by committee and politics and you start to see people like tamy who’s very very successful but you’re like but what have you done Karen Chen who didn’t have successful Olympic Games either time either time she wasn’t a bad skater but she wasn’t like what she could have been yeah yeah so so yeah I think that they really do um she’s an Olympic gold medal coach technically if you think about it technically right technically although you know these so is Tom Tom Z right well or was he with was he with Vincent and he’s someone okay are you someone’s coach he worked a lot with Vincent right so I mean I would I would say that Vincent you know vacillated between Tom Tammy remember Drew would be his head coach in like June he he was in Toronto with Lee barel for a little bit and so is Alysa Leo I think one thing I want to say about Tom Wilson tell us he told us that the mom is the coach in a lot of the situations yes Nathan’s too um with Tom zek he kind of just like vanished off the face of the Earth and what happen I will say yeah I will say as much as there there were a lot of distractions with Tom as a coach he did do very he had a did a very dang good job at building a very good technique for a skater for the most part most of the jumps that those skaters had a little some of them like you know maybe not the best but I think for the most part he did a pretty good job building technique for these skater some skaters I always kind of felt like in an ideal world you would have had kind of like a head coach and yeah and he was an accessory have Tom be a jump specialist pay him a lot of money yes give him a lot of praise and attention a lot of tag them on social media give them all the credit okay that someone could want for certain skaters but have someone else in charge of the programs and the packaging and the spins and the choreography I don’t think that not every is meant to be a head coach right and and I think for him the skaters were often lacking the full picture but they could jump right they could jump they they were just one like they were just kind of one program away from being a factor they just needed I think a lot of them just needed one good packaging job and but I think also a lot of that goes back to Tom probably I think he probably stripped out a lot of the choreography to focus more on the jumps and I think also one thing that I’ve really noticed you know just watching some of the younger skaters the Juniors and the novices over the past couple years everyone is really skipping past the basics it’s really hard to watch some of these step SC quizzes now because the edges have just deteriorated so much and the turns just are not as clean or not as precise as they were even f like five six years ago it’s just the basics are really being neglected you could see it like when we see ketto at Nationals right he’s such an engaging skater but the skating skills are not going to last through senior and if you don’t have a certain level of skating skills you can’t get the higher level jumps so it remains to be seen and it hasn’t really been corrected right so you see with certain skaters like what is going to happen remember with Max Aaron that was always kind of the knock on him was that he could do jumps but he didn’t have the skating skills of the choreography and eventually and I think that also goes back to what is the usfs telling these skaters are they pointing out the basics are poor for some of these skaters or and that also maybe the skaters themselves aren’t taking that seriously because I think you know some of those coaches that we’ve seen don’t they don’t focus on it they focus on getting the jumps because the jumps are the points yeah I think the moves in the field program is you know very successful Money Maker but I don’t think that it has yielded the kind of results of you know giving the strong Foundation that the skaters need to be successful and competitive with listen the Japanese skaters have far superior skating SK I mean it’s it’s insane you watch like someone at like their juvenile level and it’s just the back and the posture are fantastic the Crossovers are great you know like the knee Bend it’s it’s stunning and it’s just that’s something that does not exist here or in um Canada North America really lacks a good basics for foundation used to have far better skating skills for several years um yeah I think Canada has just been in freef Fall since covid and maybe since you know I think their 2018 team was so successful but underneath the foundation wasn’t the depth wasn’t there but I think now I mean Canadian skating really kind of fell apart at Nationals and you know they were really shut down much more than the US was during Co and it’s really really I think you can see the effects of that for sure on the skaters now today for them for sure but I also think like the level of competition in Canada and the management of the skaters has just really really um been a struggle in certain years yeah uh do you think Canada really still has a shot at this Olympic for the team yeah okay um um if you got to be honest I think maybe I think there’s always a potential but I think one team that really has a legitimate chance is Georgia I think Georgia is like primed for maybe even the silver because what the Japanese are going to be taking a huge hit in the dance and maybe not so much the pair definitely not the pair the men and the women but Georgia could be a dark course for the silver for sure if things happen I think Georgia could be a dark horse because you’ll have Diana Davis um go Ana their man is not very great Nia with a Terry um and the pair team that’s Junior I keep waiting for a Terry to export a better man than NAA aazza because if they don’t win a it could really be on her right which in karma right for do you know who I really think they should consider importing to Georgia for for the pears our girl who is a former a Terry girl ala costonia I think I think we need to Manifest this I have felt that Maya is way too hard on Costa and the fact that she didn’t immediately win Paris listen they say it takes 5 years to make a great hair skater de to didn’t win overnight okay Deanna won in three or four years look at her go like she did it she had to switch oh actually yeah she switch country she did do a couple years with Nate so I I forget about that but you forget the years that you know she had you know the you forget you kind of trauma block Nate roal like out of your mind so I think when we look at this I think Kosta how did did you like her her new program do you love that she’s cost effective yes the listen they’re not making the big money yet okay they’re not on the national team she has to claw her way to make the test Gates again which I believe she will accomplish she got it done of course of course I believe in her and so I have a lot I have a lot of thoughts about her okay let’s so next year I think she should bring back the adios noino show program for her I think it’s all about Costa like let’s be real like accessory for the Olympic year AOS no nino for the short program don’t know the free skate yet we’ll figure it out should she go back to a Terry’s pair school to get exported to Georgia and get the I think it has to happen I think they have she should do it at the last moment though right like I did I tell you I dm’ to Terry to tell her this did she reply cause she well first off a Terry I I told um Terry a couple like eight or nine months ago that she should move to Montreal get her daughter there and she liked the message and said thank you very much and now they’re in Montreal you’re taking credit so I wanted to message her again about Costa and letting her know like listen Georgia this is about your daughter you want your daughter to get a team medal let’s make it happen all right daughter who’s doing a rhythm dance to the original lady marmalad and a free dance to Leed Zeppelin okay and they are trying to make them more Montreal right we I think we are going to I we’re going to have a very North American look we’re not going to have um we have I am 20 countries and then you have the power of at ter with Russia Georgia all the fake Russian countries that we can band together that we saw on display at the ISU Council I mean I mean if you look at it like I am is like its own Mecca right now like it’s insane how many countries they have but um with Cotera I just want to say her Instagram game she’s been stepping it up like much better than I’ve seen Pina Edmond been posting her twist has been looking huge and I think for that for a pair skater the two big elements are the Twist and the lifts and she has one of the two the lifts are horrible sorry keeping it real for her extension not good she stepped up her throw she’s doing a throw Luts or throw flip I can’t tell the difference between the two doesn’t matter um it’s a little small we at the same it’s a little small so she doesn’t have that um BTE big throw energy that dienna would like to say um and I feel like sometimes they still aren’t cohesive enough she still she it was big twist energy and that yes well now I switched it to big throw energy Vienna if you want to take big throw energy take it I love you all right but won’t you don’t you want to see Deanna post like five clean throw Loops like you know every day in a row in a row in a row days competition I don’t even want it like separate videos like I want to see this like one cohesive video of like her attempting it five times in a row I want to follow the [ __ ] out of her Maxim Jose peard and then we could just like put excerpts of Julian Sig’s book about Jose peard like um we can debate we could have Bruno marcot debating you know the merits of Jose peard oh my God we could go into the marcot family and all of that about you know that’s all that is such a messy tree that you’ve got to talk about there right come on it’s and Bruno he can laugh his way through anything if you’ve met him he knows it right and he’s coaching he’s a funny guy he’s a very funny guy and you know inv to kmt’s wedding with a plus one I really think he could have brought Megan even though kmt got Megan sidelined as a coach come on we would have liked to have seen it come on I think I think they made I think Megan did the right choice Megan was classy it was the right choice but um it was it was her it was her gift to kmt not going right it not going yeah I hope um we see Audrey Shin Glacier Falls I really hope we see her there it’s gonna be at the Tammy championships when she was coaching everyone last if if Audrey Shin’s going to the Tammy championships like can she just compete like a short program like in the singles event like it’s okay us they usually do like one of those short program only competitions like the one in Quebec like I think we’re gonna see um think and Anton spov will do that at that Quebec one yeah but I’m saying don’t you how do you feel that like okay do you notice that Montreal is getting like very Russian but what I think they’re doing is they’re collecting the strong boys because right now Montreal’s been in a low since the last Olympics like they have been on life support waiting for guom to come back but what they didn’t is they have been how long you know you can always tell like Marie France is always like stroking like the leg of her favorites in the kiss and cry like gu it was Lewis NHK yes and then um when she win Marie France’s ey teeth show like she gets away with murder when she’s pulled off something that’s like a little controversial she knows she knows she knows you can see the teeth they always they don’t always show but when she pulls off an NHK win against the Italians those ey teeth are popping okay like and you know what I hope we have some more NHK teeth this year for Marjorie and Zach I would like to see them I would like to see them on the podium at Worlds this year I think she thing is okay the truth is that usfs and Skate Canada they and ISU all have like a LoveHate relationship with IM they like how successful they are usfs has to like them because chalk and bits yeah are winning but usfs wants control right that’s typically what the federations want right they want to be able to control the narrative I am’s way too powerful there are they they are but and Canada they have you know two of their top teams there a couple other ones that they have too but then you have Piper and Paul who are their top team and they have that Dynamic of how much do we let I am push the other teams versus like how much do we need to prop up Piper and Paul you know it’s it’s it’s a tricky situation for for both they’re gonna do what they did NHK if they’re gonna make a move in Canada it’ll be an event where they can get it done right they can use the international judges to do it so that way the president has already that going into a Canadian Nationals I think it’ll be very important for people this Grand Prix season to watch who is on the technical panels for these dance events the technical panel normally is always the S the the like alarm like the alert system of what is going to happen What could happen at these events for sure like NHK you saw who was on that panel and you saw the difference in that Rhythm dance being but less than a point you knew something could happen going into that free dance so you know that one of my coaches was often on the tech panel whenever Sean red status there and what I will say is that there was often like an anti- monreal sentiment going on because one time Madison Hubble spoke up too much at the University games in 2023 they had they had a meeting about the samba and how they would have to switch the partners back and forth and she brought up that I IM had 30 teams to which case sea did not enjoy you know first of all no one enjoys being questioned in a room like that right and she be Toph for 30 teams meanwhile everyone in the room was side eying that they have 30 teams and then Sean was throwing some digs about her and Zach and when you know things in their program there were also just like a lot of side eye questions about Montreal made you know by where it’s a very up and down Dynamic that they have with them because the truth is is that IM has controlled the results of the last championships I mean chak and Bates have won two World titles with mistakes I mean world record score really controlled if you think about it they’ve controlled since probably 20 2016 a or worlds every worlds has Montreal team won oh yeah 2015 yeah because they won yeah except for 20121 when papet ains Sone didn’t compete so and then Nikita was he world champion that year yeah so and the Europeans the year prior but that was real politicking at it’s finished I think if we look forward I don’t think it’s I don’t think having these older teams on top is really like a natural I think it creates it’s really difficult because it’s hard to break the status quo in dance but if you really look at the top three I wouldn’t say any three like any like either of them any of them are special do you look at like Madison chalk Piper and the Italians do you think like they’re special when you compare them to like a marer and Zach margerie and Zach I think just have that like innate special quality to them I think margorie and Zach had the freest performance at Worlds where they skated with the most abandon right they had nothing to lose they nothing to lose too that is another thing to think about hper and Paul did a very good job but I do think beautiful right is the I think it’s the best they ever skate it makes me nervous to have those teams there and kind of like in protocol order because I think you get into conversation about our things predetermined or rigged right especially because listen chak and baits haven’t delivered clean performances either world big moment right so that makes me nervous because they’re going into a world at home where they’re obviously favored where if they have another performance with mistakes it’s going to be questioned in a Patrick Chan like way right and that’s kind of the danger of the situation that we’re heading to I think it would actually benefit the sport if they did push Marjorie and Zach and perhaps even fear and Gibson up to at least make it more competitive to have more teams in the conversation I think it would be so interesting if something switched this year because then during the um the olymp year like that Grand Prix would be grueling for those teams you know like everyone be fighting to see who’s the top three at the final to see like what’s going to pan out you know at the Europeans the four continents and the Olympic Olympic Games I think that’s definitely something that would be create more Intrigue for ice dance because it’s such a predetermined discipline do you think at Terry with Marie France even though he’s not allowed to go in the rank in Montreal I hope that we will see her being very present at Skate America as much as Montreal doesn’t want her I have two things to say do you think they the the sixth place do you think they could get her up to sixth by Worlds di stellato no sorry Dianna Dianna and Diana yeah but mean they say di in I was gonna say yeah yeah I was gonna say how hold on I’m gonna let me pull up the the world results I forget everyone I was gonna say how far up do you think they could get her because if you look at it honestly sixth place Allison Reed I’m gonna be honest they were I wasn’t they got very fake marks last year I’m sorry I’m gonna be 100% honest Christina Carrera I think they also like they didn’t ter can knock them down a Terry can knock them down they’re skating to kmen we can knock that down right that’s a one team I would really like to see move up a lot this year I think maybe seventh place will be really good for them is that uh Lera and bro they have that like benois aesthetic that I feel like is kind of Corky that I enjoy and um the other French team the larier and Deo deoo yeah okay I don’t think’s gonna have any empathy for any of those I don’t think no no I know I know I think Terry could get down in sixth place honestly I think it’s time for her she worked remember when like she had Julian in her back pocket working with that pair working with her pair team for the Olympics she had eigor Spiel Bond on her side she had the W up right like how how far do you think the Korean team will get I think she has so I think she’s special she is special the skating is not as strong they’re skating to Corella DeVille the call me Corella the are they really yes which excites me a bit Yeah I think she has the right mix for that yes Alona versus trova is water wet right I know that we’re like supposed to say no I was having this talk before like you know like reality TV like things have gotten too real on certain shows where like the shows kind of end right there’s just like it I think what happened with vola and then trusa book ending it like with skating we we can’t really come back from it even though we all like it got so dark so real so fast too but look just the camp of Coter niia and trusa and their small dogs running around and the the ever give did coaster and I ever give a Terry a small dog I don’t think she did no maybe that’s why maybe that’s why ter didn’t like her that much listen I think she gave ter a couple of gray hairs listen she gave her that fake apology with when she had to skate with the kids remember that video she really gave all of us so much right so much entertainment it was I think she should go back to her pair Camp I also like you remember like Anna shova had you know the dress switch so then trusa had to do the same thing which was yes like a competition later yeah it was like oddly reminiscent of like one team going into the boards of the judges and then everybody doing it the next season it completely Lo it’s effect and I hope that that is absolutely I hope Luna Hendrick like put the end of that put it to the end like that is we don’t need it anymore especially in ice dance so okay what I think is yellam is supposedly healthy again she obviously has a clear shot she has a fantastic chance this year and you know I was thinking I’m worried now for my daughter about them not getting three um three spots listen I know Chen and ym need to really like amp it up for Johnny we used to say he didn’t care if they had three spots as long as he was one of the spots which was you know another reason for usfs to hate him but you should feel the same way about Gia Shin she should just I think she will be absolutely fine she just works on her extension on some of those camel spins and we can I agree I agree yes yeah maybe we could bring back the birdie music we saw um we saw a ma trying to quad Lots in um the harness it it wasn’t real and then mon Chiba also tried to quad toe in the harness I wouldn’t say that one looked great either um I think it also just it stays the party line of what we think about the Hamada skaters and her coaching methods um watch out for these skaters over the next couple years and see how that will last your Korean girls to extend their legs right the twins often bent free legs even Gia sometimes but I believe quity she can do it she has the the inner inner Diva inner quality in her can we get unsu to make a dance comeback listen Tim ketto looks like he is in his feelings over the retirement of his wife yes listen I think he should either ice dance with M and Honda or UNS suim and become a legend okay Twitter will love him they will be thankful these are people that we need to see in the sport okay he could drag Menin or unsu around the ice do you think ansu can do the the singles comeback now too I mean there’s a there’s a third spot open she could do it absolutely you know triple let’s double toe like that’s fine just do it yes she should back East of Eden she could skate to Hallelujah and I Hallelujah for the the the free skate and then to love you more yes you know what I would love unsu more or Britney Spears or Britney Spears you know what yeah why not choreographed by Adam rapon also I like that you have had you’ve had your eye on Star Andrews and I said that you know you were correct yes when we saw star’s mother skate which you know many a skating mother has wanted to skate for their child but tashana did it okay and she wore she wore Stars dress and she had more star quality in some ways during that performance she kind of outperformed she outshined her daughter yeah I think um did you see that the mother did a side by-side post of her and star in the same dress for her birthday oh I did I did see that I follow the mother on Instagram and I see she is making adult skating happen and also like an adult like don’t you love that an adult skater is like wearing Alisa McKinnon for adult competitions like that’s a level of intensity that we love to see you know who are you talking to I know what you’re about to say I know what you’re about to say but I think a Lisa McKennon is more than a Matthew coron for a male like do you think like a male like Matthew coron I feel like could be like not too bad like you mean like how many beat like yeah like less expensive my shoulder in the one costume was $700 before inflation don’t you think just the shoulder not the whole costume the red shoulder that was supposed to look like blood okay don’t you think the Lisa McKinnon like crystals like don’t you think that dress cost at least like 6K maybe more no I mean there was a lot of crystals on that dress the really expensive costumes that Machu does that you can tell like Shas like Shas yes those are fantastic because you know they charge by Stone by be yeah Madison chocks snake dress like those are the ones that I want to see the invoice for yes yes yes any medicine chalk dress I feel like is is up there now there were people that debated her wedding dress law didn’t like it she wore a ver Wang which is I thought she looked gorgeous you can’t make her look bad no I don’t think you can make Madison shalk look bad at all someone pointed out to me um they didn’t like how Evan was holding the dress I think someone like I pointed that out to me was an interesting way like the the the the posing that they were doing people were just intrigued by that I liked the okay my favorite detail of the wedding was that the life coach married them and I have to say that that was the best political decision they made because obviously this is the same woman who’s the life coach to every single skater and Marie France right so and she is not under the same rules of confidentiality as other medical professionals right so I I love this right because you know skater is not the brightest she did advise Olivia smart to team up with Tim D when we interviewed Olivia she let us know that that was she is the same seen how that has out worked out listen Gabriella Papadakis it looked like DDA had done the good work to get her an Olympic gold medal until Stephanie handland sewed her into that dress that dress had been fine a million times before okay I just like we’re just like looking at the chain of custody now I know that Papadakis she’s eccentric maybe she forgot something we don’t know right she she’s earthy but Stephanie hland did sew it Stephanie henin did get them to compete for four more years she got chocked to compete for four more years and you know what I would kiss her ass too okay she could marry me she could do you think lla Fier is the next like Madison chock and Evan bades do you think they’re gonna go for another cycle after this they should at least do one more year right oh I think they’re going to go they’re going to see Olympics but do you think how much longer do you think they’ll go after that like a year after or they need to be on our show of of these skaters on Netflix like she needs to go on the Pina podcast or the Adam and Ashley podcast too okay so you know that Karen courland Kelly got me dance blades and I forgot that husbands wait do you have a second pair of skates now yes okay this is intense long story anyway the dance blades are one of the Waddles oh there and you know Sasha feir skated with him which me I’m now closer you’re closer toest L right you know like and you know that you’re tied to Sasha and Lila right now and you know that they are our favorite SK to watch at every competition so the entertainment value like what do you think they’re doing this year like what’s their next like their next move it’s gonna be something gimmicky but we’re gonna love it and I was on I heard I was on I heard a rumor of Stevie Wonder okay Superstition I would enjoy that I would enjoy that wholeheartedly I think anything she does isn’t really she never misses honestly yeah I except the Lion King that was a flop that was a flop but lwis looked great in the costume yeah I think the idea of that was good the execution and the musical selection was four did we come around on the rocky program I can’t just I I was always team Rocky from the start and you guys were never like at the beginning of the year like Dave Lee and Jenny Kirk were like they were horrified by the push-ups in the middle of the program I think I was just like eating it up like and by the by NHK when they had won I was like committed fully committed to it here’s the thing I think she needs to do Pilates with Karen courin Kelly because she can totally fix her knees and straighten them yeah she does have a nappy knee for sure you can fix that that’s a knee stabilizer issue you can totally work on that get your extension better and then nobody will care whatever marks they want to give her we could sign off we could sign off on a world title and you know what the UK would love it also we need season three of freeze okay we need to bring that show back oh yes and Billy’s in Canada now so yes yeah yes that they’ll have to send crws abroad you know I want to follow up with the skater that married her partner and they were supposed to skate for turkey didn’t they quit didn’t she quit wasn’t she the girl that was supposed to work with Billy then married the 27-year-old and they were representing aeran no I think turkey not everybody goes to aeran they they had more credibility than that yeah I think there’s a skater from aeran that quit maybe I’m wrong but there’s a nice dancer oh yes Adrien carart quit okay yeah so I was right I thought was that who Billy was with or no she’s coaching at our rank now at Monclair because all after Igor lanan told her one year that he didn’t send her to Worlds because her costumes were too ugly which she designed herself so it wasn’t a Matthew gone you know yes but apparently you think Lisa McKinnon is better which you and Tammy have a love affair I no I said I think a Lisa McKinnon dress is more expensive than a male Matthew Corone costume oh yes yes that’s what I was saying I wasn’t saying that I think Alisa McKinnon’s better okay I was saying I think Alisa McKinnon dress is more expensive here’s the thing my favorite Matthew chome costume I only wore one time was that the one um two years ago yeah yeah so yeah that one was beautiful my music doesn’t match it this year but the usfs has a new database where where music have to approved now I talked to Sandra and she said basically that everybody is freaking out and that this has always been the rule in terms of if an event wasn’t live that they have to clear it with uh BMI and ASCAP right I think people are freaking out a little bit too much I’ve seen a bunch of posts about it already I think I think it’ll all be fine for most the most part I think the problem that coaches are having is that us figure skating Communications to coaches is completely absorbing the PSA they have not done a good job of executing that and also especially with insurance and now the funniest thing to me is as soon as this emo went out everybody started panicking okay I mean I was taking a walk yesterday in Lake PL and I was gonna read my book right and I had this friend I saw the phone ring and I was like you know what you’re getting into when some of the like some people call yes you know you know right and I yeah I was like literally just like I’m reading a nice gay novel right like I just really wanted to like have a moment walking in the woods right they talking about the damn music thing I mean they made a Synchro program maybe for a prej team maybe maybe lower ranked maybe lower ranked they have three pieces of music they had color swatches I was like it’s IGS change out the music no one is gonna know no one will know the difference yeah listen nobody else cares people do the same program to different music every year the interesting thing is that is that streaming is going to be hell you are now not going to be able to really have videographers sells with the music rules that’ll be tough yeah they also can’t act so sanctimonious about people posting cell phone videos anymore because the videographer and the streaming has always been the um you know the rule there you know so um like people were getting very upset at the adult competition like they threatened the skaters that if they posted videos from adult worlds or adult International competition world right basically the videographer needed to make money in order for the event to have the free stream for everyone so madoro competed of course a million people put it online and of course all of these people panicked that there was going to be no free stream anymore by the way the fact that madora eo’s video out there gave that event so much publicity that there will be more people who enter next year just to be around yeah every year every year it gets gets huge views like they’re not they’re not thinking you know critically here I mean honestly the event should have purchased that video and just put it out for everyone right I mean well everyone always jumps to like me me I you know like everyone’s always thinking about themselves first and how this there’s not a lot of critical thinking but it’s okay I think yeah I was going to say there’s a lack of intelligence I think with the coaches and everyone with involved in the usfs for sure so yes uh so I think what we’re going to see listen will there be problems with streaming and some good fights yes but this is really the fault of oh musical artists but us figure skating said we’ll get back to you with an FAQ so they put out a gigantic announcement with no fa no follow yeah no followup which is typical because then they’re shooting themselves in the foot because they’re just getting phone call after phone call after phone call after phone call after phone call and it’s going to go onto the local organizing committee so yeah that mean it’s gonna just it’s just a lack of critical thinking like someone should have said you know like listen let’s try to have everything order in order ready to just set out one Mass information shoe yeah but you know what that’s what we like about us figure skating is it seems like it’s very messy very messy it’s it feels like we are reorganizing the deck chairs in the Titanic right we are choosing what song we are going to play we need someone to skate to the Titanic this year too like I I would love a Titanic program again is RA coming back okay oh Paulina Edmond for sure Paulina Edmonds came back and did up through triple flip like her Idol Carolina Costa I think she could she could legit do it okay can we be real Alysa jumps in that Venus program oh so cheated so cheated so small I also don’t think her skating skills are as good as people want to believe I I also agree with this I think she everyone gonna say that she’s coming back on her own terms right and I think that’s good I’m happy for her that she’s coming back and you know skating on her own terms and coming back because she wants to do it I will say though I think it’s not as good as everyone’s making it out to be what component scores would you give Paulina Edmonds skating to Titanic as long as it’s in the database right I would probably go like maybe like 8759 for like performance in composition what would you give her 9.5 minimum minimum okay yeah well I think I think it has to depend on like how she’s how the jumps are going I think if she’s like really giving it I could go up to like 95 but I think because sometimes she’s a little bit reserved in her performance aspect I think the 875 nine is little Justified because it’s a subtle Beauty I think she can do it as long as and I think I would have Alyssa at like 75 okay that’s a it’s a good margin of a good difference I think we’re sending po to the Olympics all right I think we just oh I I texted you this the other day how how do you think about Amber Glenn doing the waitress for her Olympic free skate I’m for it okay you know why I think it would be great I interviewed sorry I listened to interview with Paulina and there was so much Focus about her brain working differently and her ADHD when while it’s good that they’re working on it it felt like they’re reinforcing the problem right they’re reinforcing basically saying it didn’t feel like they were addressing it head on and didn’t feel like there was confidence right that we were better this SE said I think Paulina could get her done right I I think I too Pina just she did she does Triple Loop triple toe right now like that’s a good enough combo to like score pretty well I think she could do a triple lets like in the moment for the olymp for like three comp I think we I think here’s the thing we could just have a placeholder double lets for like a couple competitions and then Caroline didn’t even put the lets in until the Europeans before yeah helina does not have to have aets until maybe National SP confs that is a long time and you know how we’re going to get our higher scores we’re going to have Brian buano coacher and then people will say they see his technique in her they will start to say it Christy n yes chrisy Nest too listen she comments all over our Instagram and Facebook we love Christine s she always has that really strong Vibe choreography by Mary scottfold absolutely okay I I think that would be a good a great Dynamic Mary scold is such a legend that she also is a frequent commenter my favorite comment that Mary ever made was when I posted the video of ilam Allin getting to JFK and said it was an homage to Paul Mary SC left a comment saying I choreograph that program and this is nothing like that loved the honesty and you know what she was right I apologize yeah a true legend a true legend okay we were we were being polite to a world champion he skated to the same music as him we didn’t have to say it homage we could have just said channeling his inner his inner uh Paul Wy so she does not agree that’s no no I mean it’s tough to it’s tough to be to be Paul Wy especially with him and Nancy doing misson like we don’t we don’t see that anymore Mar did say that she didn’t enjoy the Russian skaters when we interviewed her she yes so I think I agree Paulina could go to her and work on some choreography also I would like to see Paulina work with Renee Roa for one of the programs Mary for the I want I want Renee for the short I want Renee to do give her something sassy like maybe like a like like some sort of like pop music and then Titanic for the free the only thing I know about Lindsay’s program from Sandra this year is that she holds a spiral for 12 counts of music oh okay Sandra had said that if the rules were changed she was not editing that out she would not move Long Hill spiral and I was like you know you go you go Sandra she said that y has blossomed you know they’ve worked together on and that she’s getting she’s on on track for this year she’s I think two things I think the ym juu mad I think could be insanely good if she could land all the jumps there’s a moment she does an Ena bow and then she comes like out of the ENA Bower and does kind of like the she does a forward spiral with her left leg up kind of like chenl in 96 when she does the spiral like hits it on the Music Stops and then like takes a like a pause like ym does something very similar to that I would like to see a little bit of a rivalry between her and cow because I think the problem in women skating at the World Championships is that we knew the cow survived she was going to win last yeah I would also like to see cow take more risks choreographically I think a lot of people were gaslighting us last year that her programs were like these like fantastic elegant like elevating programs like I felt like they were the most generic things I’ve ever seen in my life they were the snooze of all time and we do have to look at refr for giving us that free skate last year after she gave us a nice year before I don’t know what she was thinking but I like that kowe has the short hair and she’s back with roheen at least for the short program I thought both of C’s programs were a m last year and the short the short program is the Tango right yes that we saw like look isn’t Isabel giving us like liom like very expected yeah it’s very I’m not gonna lie like it’s very sleepy it’s like her coach and her grandmother choreographed them together sure will have like a really long like teal blue dress or something that just is kind of like BL but I liked her short her short program I don’t know what the music was but I like the short all right so so we’ve decided that Paulina is coming back Alexa Alexa’s obviously coming Alexa’s coming back and maybe she should skate um in Quebec with dienna they should TR at the same this what I would like to happen would like Deanna to work with Alexa Alexa not tell Deanna that she’s coming back and then make the announcement right okay that’s a little that’s a little Eric Radford when he did that with um Evelyn and Trent choreographed their program and they scrapped it and I think de would take it about as well as Kirsten mowers so I think that that would be very good for the Netflix show we have to just think outside the box do you think she’d take it like who do you think would take it worse Kirsten Mor Towers or um Caitlyn Weaver at that four continence when virt and moer came back here’s the thing that I respect about kmt Weaver acted like a victim HT was just full out mad right yeah yes yes and like like sandbagging her own career upset over it which was yeah you know what it was Co didn’t we start this episode by saying it was Co things were weird right yeah it was a weird time it was a weird time in our lives so it was a weird time but yes there’s a lot of and listen we have this MW Milwaukee competition coming up to fight for the oh and the the Broadmore like Glacier Falls next month so there’s keep keep tuning in guys there’s a lot of skating to watch coming up and a lot of drama to unfold so be exciting to see Olympic trials this weekend thank you so much for joining us no yes thank you so much for having me yes bye guys
20 Comments
Dave & Nolan, I would totally watch your reality TV show. Too bad the powers that be would never let it happen. They're really stuck in the past and want their skaters to be untouchable ice princesses and stoic gentlemen. The IAM doc they did for peacock last cycle was such a dud. I don't need to hear about Madison talk about nails or Zach talk about cars, who cares!
People want mess, grit and personality. I feel like the the PR department of USFS is soooooo incompetent, they should just fire whomever they have now and hire a bunch of college interns and they'd probably do a better job.
I blame KPOP.. I mean…the amount of money and time those people put into looking like slender, orphaned, porcelain anime , street hustler perfect doll figures is insane.
Manifesting Gracie Gold as the next US pairs figure skater 💪
Nice to see Nolan outside of the Lives – he has a lot to say. I agree heartily with his vision for Paulina – I love seeing her little drills etc but she could be so much more generous with her expertise and instruction. And I love Dave’s idea for the panel discussion. Off season is tough- thankful for TSL.
KMT got Meagan sidelined as a coach?? What have I missed? 😂👀
Happy to see Nolan here!
Is Nolan in a cubicle in his bedroom? I'm kind of digging it, to be honest.
I would 100% watch a Deanna reality show. Or something focused on all Canadian pairs and Americans who train there now that we have Balazs and Audrey there.
Either way, if Deanna did a Patreon that was about skincare with some skating gossip thrown in I would PAY for that
I think skaters on Polina’s podcast end up having to perform healing. Fairly consistently the skaters will say on the podcast – I’ve figured out how to be a competitor and then they will have a dreadful season. I know you don’t want to tear people down but I almost feel like the false positivity is not doing anyone any favors.
No more "Hold an edge and look…" at the end, Dave? 🤗
Bless 👏🏻 everything I needed on Day 1 of gymnastic trials!
Can someone who knows gymnastics explain to me why the seasons essentially consists of four national level events in the span of three months and US gymnasts avoiding the World Cup series as if it were toxic sludge. I compare this to the Meagan approach which is to compete internationally as much as you can and see how you stack up.
I hope this isn't the case, but there's probably a reasonable likelihood that skater A and skater B were also abused themselves when they were younger. It just seems to be the trend with this kind of behavior.
I came over from Facebook, because I thought it would be interesting, but it reminded me why I can’t stand podcasts. It was so long and meandering; no visuals – I just kept waiting for it to become worth my while.
35:31 situation in Korean Skating Union , skater a, skater b, skater c
Very interesting discussion regarding the marketability of gymnastics versus FS. I disagree that people can't connect with gymnasts because they are robotic. I think that competing 4 events allows viewers to connect and gymnastics is a very popular sport for summer Olympics despite the fact that it is dissimilar to ballet or figure skating. My God, track & field and swimming are the two other most widely watched summer Olympic sports and they have no choreography at all! There is also the fact that women's American gymnasts have won gold in the most prestigious event, the All-around every year since 2004 and have at least medalled in the team event since 2008. Also you see Simone or whoever are the top 2 American gymnasts in the qualifications, team, all-around and multiple individual events within each international competition so you are seeing them more frequently and getting to know them. However, I do like FS as a new viewer and am most interested in ice dance. Personally I feel Chock and Bates are the most marketable individuals American FS has now that Nathan Chen is gone. You really need more gold medals in American FS to make the sport more marketable, I think. Also a sport needs to have top athletes with longevity. It really doesn't work to come in with a new top athlete every 4 years when your country isn't winning gold consistently. It really only works if the public knows that the new athlete will likely be winning gold as well otherwise athletes should last at least 8 years. Gymnastics is improving with the college ladies coming back to elite so the gymnasts are lasting longer and building their brands through NIL while doing NCAA, getting these viral videos. Im glad to see more women in women's gymnastics, as a former gymnast now Physical Therapist myself. Some of the body mechanics have changed for the better to preserve backs and ankles. I hope the same for FS in the future.
Yey Nolan!! So fun!!
Market adult and pro skaters. It would be an adjustment but all would be better for it. For a lot of reasons that include age ethics and relatability, but also because the kind of storylines I come to expect from podium/elite figure skating are the same ones highlighting the same types of scandals again and again, which appeals puts off the general viewer off the sport eventually.
Broadly speaking, seeing only those with world championship titles as having stories worth telling is not going to win people over – there is no hero's journey in getting the story when the hero already won. Plus people these days are too discerning not to see through fluff pieces in media. People want something that is real, and unfortunately one way or another people who learn more eventually discover the exploited flaws and issues behind the curtain, so if you set up people having idealised expectations of skaters and skating then you also set up for anger, disappointment, social cancellation, losing those viewers after a few years.
Tldr; I am burnt out from watching young and still maturing skaters under enormous pressure as is to be perfect, and still being expected to go out and be performative for the media to keep the sport alive. We really don't have to copy Hollywood's treatment of child stars to save the sport.
Why is drinking alcohol punished? I dint get it.
We NEED a documentary about skating. You guys are right, there are so many incredible stories to be told in skating right now. Deanna & Max, Chock & Bates, Ilia, Amber, the list goes on!