Our parting take on the competition.
Bravo to the judges for marking them like they skated (for the most part), and being willing to dump a few "name" skaters when they deserved it. Bravo also for their taking a "dark horse" skater like Galindo with no recent International experience and placing him where he deserved.
Two wonderful long programs from Kwan and Chen.
A technically awesome Eldredge.
Stojko's quad.
Two good programs from Wotzel and Steuer for a long awaited medal.
Bourne and Kraatz in breaking the Russian monopoly in dance.
Two nice programs from Tonia Kwiatkowski, and a fine long program from Lipinski after having a tough time in the short program.
A strong effort from Punsalan and Swallow in dance to give the US its best result in that event since Wynne and Druar in 1990.
Overall, an outstanding team result from the US team.
Impressive results from the Russian skaters who now show strength in all four events.
A clean arena with good ice and nice seats.
The friendly and helpful arena staff who handled difficult situations with ease and grace. The contrast with the gorillas from San Jose could not have been more extreme.
Enthusiastic spectators.
Peripheral events (trade show, autograph booths, sports bar with live music) that made for one grand party atmosphere.
A potentially disastrous situation involving facilities for the photographers handled on site with skill and common sense.
Thanks to Fuji Film for providing on site film processing free of charge to the photographers.
Overall a generally well run and organized event, free of major turmoil or angst.
Running out of pins the first weekend, something that normally only happens when Worlds is held in Europe. [Always remember, whenever you go to Worlds, the first thing you do after checking in to your hotel is find the pins.]
No souvenir clothing in children's sizes, and such ugly colors - are my nieces pissed, or what!
Some strange concepts of "food" in the arena.
Too few skating specific vendors in the trade show.
No press room in the main arena. The average person probably doesn't care, but it sure made covering the event a lot more difficult.
The organizers "misplacing" the protocols for a day when they were sorely needed, and not finding them until after most people had left the event.
Rudy's exhibition costume. Too "in your face" for me.
Stojko's choreography.
Kurtgate. Except for the skaters who were pawns, there were no saints in this one, and plenty for everyone involved to be embarrassed about, from the CFSA and the ISU to the spectators and the hometown press.
TV driving everyone crazy to get nonexistent perfect site lines into the extreme corners of the ice where you can't see the skaters up against the boards anyway. If it were up to TV, competitions would consist of no one but skaters and TV cameras in the arena, inflatable dummies in the seats, and the commentators judging the event.
It was soooo... cold.