If you know me at all.... you know I have ALWAYS been one who loves great racing!!! Even if it gets a little bit physical, especially in the Pro divisions (Men or Women), I am o.k. with that. We have to remember that these skaters are skating high to mid 8 second laps! That's right folks... for laps on end the men were hitting eight second laps while the women were skating faster than I have ever seen them skate. Emily Scott and Brianna Kramer (who led most of the 30 lap elimination race) were in the high to mid 9 second laps.When you have that much speed, that many skaters that are equally as good, there is going to be some bumping and grinding when skaters go to pass each other. BUT.... it is when you have skaters who purposely put two hands on the hips in front of them and then pull hips or try and "swim" through other skaters (this is where two skaters are shoulder to shoulder and a third skater puts his or her arms in between skater one and two and pulls them apart so that they can get through). This type of skating is TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!!
This scenario actually happened last night. While the skater in question was finally disqualified on another call, I was unable to get it on my small camera (my small camera is really my 35mm digital camera that does video as a side feature so my filming is a little shaky). This is the camera that I take video on and post on here or YouTube because I can upload it instantly. My real video camera is the one that we make all of our DVD's from. Now on that camera, we DID get that skater and several others doing ridiculous shenanigans!
There was much controversy over the Pro Men's 1500 meter final as well. I would like to say that my husband and I watched that race at least 15-20 times in slow motion. We even plugged our camera into the t.v. in our hotel room so that we could view it at a larger size. I have to say that in order for me to see everything that went on, we played it forward and backward many times. I have to give KUDOS to the referee's this year! They didn't catch all of the fouls, nor did they always foul the right skater..... but whatever they did do, they did because in that MICRO SPLIT SECOND, that is what they felt they saw.
I only have the last 4 minutes and maybe 30 seconds of the Pro Men's 5000 meter race that skated last night. You will hear cheering and you will hear booing. Even after watching the race over and over and off of two different camera angles, the only reason I can think of that the crowd booed was because Team ANSWER took 1st, 2nd and 3rd. BUT as you watch this race..... 1st place is a lap ahead and he moves over and allows 2nd-5th to race it out the last two laps (which in my opinion shows class). My own son is in the race and I can honestly say that again in my opinion every single skater raced it out till the end. It just so happens that the top 3 guys skate for the top team. That's why they are sponsored, because they are so good! So if you want to cheer skaters on... do so because they are the best and if you are going to boo someone... don't do it because they skated well or represent a team that seems to take all of the top honors.... do it because they tried to cheat someone else and let them know we won't ACCEPT that, no matter WHAT uniform they have on!!
By the way.. I know the HYPER BOARD is down. In the meantime, you can write replies on here... I want you to express your opinion, I want you to ask questions and you can even disagree with me or your fellow writer, but absolutely under no uncertain terms will I allow someone to put others down or use foul language. Save that for your OWN blog! Respectfully, Linda Wood
HERE IT IS!!
