The View from Rinkside (At Least The Rinksides I'm Familiar With)




Masculinity reigns. Even if you're gay, you're still masculine. Even if you're pretty, you're still masculine. This is the hero, the dreamer, the one who makes things happen. You should be able to feel that you can rely on this man. He should be strong.

We have one examplar of the above skating ideal: Elvis.

Men's skating is not as rigorous as the ladies', although the physical tests are there. There doesn't seem to be the same cultural pressure. Watch all the short program, forgiving a few bobbles (Elvis has this bad habit of sliding his footwork at the worst times, dragging his blade along the ice so that it looks like it's really moving when it's just hanging out drinking a lemonade), and pick up on the first 3-4 minutes of the long program. Watch for height of jumps and connectivity of footwork -- in other words, everything should look like it comes smoothly, one after the other, even landings on triple axels going into the next move. they only have 2-3 seconds. After that, they're stalling. You get the idea. Keep it moving, and keep it moving fast. So that it looks like they just thought of it at the moment. That's the good stuff. And then if they hit great positions here and there, great. That's the hallmark of the sport. "Who, me? Aw, that ain't nothing. See, I can even do this!" Right, Chris?





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