Ahhhhhhhhh ...
I am still basking in the glory that is Johnny's 2010 USFSA Readers' Choice Figure Skater of the Year Award (Michelle Kwan Trophy)!
(I like giving the entire award name. It rolls off the tongue so beautifully, and lands so smoothly and perfectly, like Johnny's Fallen Angel jump combo, in the warm happy smugness that is mine today.)
Mmmmmmm ... The bliss of poetic justice, too rare a visitor in this world, but always so welcome ...
But I forgot to mention one really, really important point yesterday, and I've been kicking myself ever since. Although on the other hand, my oversight has fortunately provided me with today's topic, because otherwise we'd just have to settle for some picspam of last year's Sun Valley show which involves a number of photos of Johnny in tanktops and form-fitting black meggings ...
... I'm sorry what was I saying ...?
Oh yes. And you know, the one happy thing about this is that I can blame the USFSA again, and there's almost nothing I enjoy doing more than that, other than watching Johnny win endless awards. Or, just stand there and breathe (in a tank top and meggings). Whatever. I'm not picky.
Pardon me?
Oh. Right. Yesterday's oversight.
So after I had read the USFSA's announcement of the award, and also read and proofed the blog a billion times, and spent inordinate amounts of time squeeing on Facebook and Twitter and then re-reading the announcement and the blog again plus all the fab comments, this brief sentence from the USFSA press release suddenly leaped out at me in between perusing Sun Valley 2009 shots of Johnny like this:
Oh yes, the all-important sentence:
"Weir also won the award in 2008."
And indeed, I did mention that loudly on the blog yesterday.
But you know, my historical knowledge of the USFSA and the Readers' Choice Award and pretty much any skating news that does not contain the phrase "Johnny Weir" is woefully inadequate. (Yes, I am dimly aware of previous elite skaters, such as Dorothy Hamill, Kristi Yamaguchi, Alexei Yagudin, and of course Michelle Kwan, but beyond that my grasp of figure-skating history is rather sketchy.)
And so the thought came to me: Hey. He just won this for the second time. Has anybody else done that? (Or done this:
... la la la la la ... )
Ahem. As it turns out, there's a part the USFSA left out because they were a little too busy giving details of his 2009-2010 competitive season with just the faintest air of aggrieved condescension ("Weir's 2009-10 season included a fourth-place finish at the Rostelecom Cup, a silver medal at the NHK Trophy and a bronze medal at the 2009 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. His bronze-medal win at the 2010 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships helped qualify him for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, where he finished sixth.")
And that part is this:
Johnny now joins Michelle Kwan as one of the only two skaters to ever win the trophy more than once in the 21-year history of the Readers' Choice Award.
That little factoid seems like it might have warranted a mention in, oh, say, the first paragraph of the USFSA press release. Because not only did he win, he's the only other skater besides Michelle to ever win multiple times.
Of course, he's got a ways to go to equal Michelle's achievement. She won seven times--the last in 2003, when they just gave up and named the award for her.
But being the only other skater to win twice is surely a newsworthy point. And so I wish I had done my homework a little earlier and a little more thoroughly so I could have grasped sooner the even greater significance of this win for Johnny--and the fact that, as usual, the USFSA never misses an opportunity to slight him, just, you know, slightly.
So my apologies for not highlighting yesterday the full glory of Johnny's achievement or this photo ...
... what, dear ... ?
Oh, excuse me. Yes. But on the other hand--yay! Now we can just continue the squee-fest! Because he made figure-skating history twice over yesterday!--much to the deep chagrin, I am sure, of the USFSA, who has already pushed the article about his win further down their page, now positioning it as a lesser story underneath the truly gripping news that the Summer Team USA Camp is in Detroit this weekend.
While that certainly leaves me breathless with excitement, my heart will be in Sun Valley this weekend, where I am hoping that my fellow JWe fans lucky enough to be there in person will be twitpic'ing like crazy for the rest of us more stuff like this:
... because there really just isn't enough Sun Valley picspam to be had in this world, along with our side of poetic justice ...
Coming up:
A treasure trove of Sun Valley 2009 photos
courtesy of the amazing
Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov!
A treasure trove of Sun Valley 2009 photos
courtesy of the amazing
Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov!
Please check out Johnny's new entry
on the Sundance Channel's SUNFiltered blog!
At last the world knows why they're called "Dingles"!
on the Sundance Channel's SUNFiltered blog!
At last the world knows why they're called "Dingles"!
Hey! You can purchase a T-shirt to wear
in Sun Valley or Lake Placid
in Sun Valley or Lake Placid
in honor of our Ride for Life project!
We exceeded our $7,500 donation goal,
so now we're aiming for $10,000!
We're less than $2,000 away,
and we have until July 31 to get there!
Shirts are $20 each including shipping,
and $10 of that goes directly toward AIDS/LifeCycle!
Everything you need to know about ordering is here!
Very special thanks to Johnny's US Angels
Sue Olson and Casey Dickinson,
and Archangel Kristina Ziegler,
for these amazing photos of Sun Valley 2009
from the Johnny's Angels public forum!
Sue Olson and Casey Dickinson,
and Archangel Kristina Ziegler,
for these amazing photos of Sun Valley 2009
from the Johnny's Angels public forum!
copyright 2010 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved
9 comments:
MM-
i knew he had one the award before but didnt put together that it was just him and michele that had won twice-great work! and glad to spend another blog talking about the figure skater of the year, and really of all time! LOL
OMG, Twitpic? I haven't a clue how to do that:-( I don't even have my cell phone set up to take pics:-( But.......my dearest daughter does:-) She knows how to post pics to FB. We will figure something out.
I will definitely get pics on my camera. Maybe, hopefully, some vids, also. But I probably won't be able to post any of what I get for a few days.
I will not leave my brother & sister Kittens in the lurch, I do promise that:-)
MM, love those pics you put up. I will definitely take new ones of Johnny rehearsing this Saturday:-)
And just one MORE thing, from http://www.requiredelements.com/2010/7/22/1581957/johnny-weir-skating-magazine
"It is really a testament to Weir's popularity with fans that he was able to snag this award over the first American male Olympic gold medalist in more than 20 years."
He won over the first US man to win gold in 20 years!
You go Johnnyka!
BAM! It's a good thing I don't have children, because I probably would have given up my first born to go to Sun Valley. Twas not to be, but Lake Placid Heck Yeah!
Sun Valley should use these pics in their show advertising. :) You definitely found my weak spot.
And I think those bleachers are going to be a tad bit more crowded this year.
xoxo
And one more thing that the Required Elements post mentioned by JEKitten above added that is another "in your face", but to someone other than USFSA:
"I bet Stars on Ice is rethinking their business decisions right about now! Johnny Weir is a DRAW."
Yes, indeed. Lots of people around the world with lots of families voted for Johnny.
Now, having seen videos and photos of the SoI tour, I am glad Johnny didn't perform. Some of the costumes and routines looked pretty cheesy. Still, all along, skating fans had been pointing out that SoI, which was having trouble drawing decent sized audiences this year, would have had more people in the seats if Johnny had been part of the tour.
Look how many Johnny fans travel across the country, or indeed, sometimes across the world, to see him skate. Look how many fans are traveling long distances, paying for plane tickets and motel rooms, just to see him skate in Sun Valley or Lake Placid. How many have traveled to see him skate in his recent charity skates like Skate for Hope. How many have traveled just to meet him at non-skating charity events. How many Johnny fans paid premium prices for the chance to meet and get an autograph from Johnny.
OTOH, how many people pay money to fly long distances to venues, then pay for lodging, just to see SoI, hmmm?
No other U.S. skater can draw like Johnny can.
So, a big, "IN YOURS!" to Stars on Ice too.
I hope Johnny and his family find this Skater of the Year to be as enormously satisfying on many levels and for as many reasons as his fans have.
--Nancy K.
I actually knew he had won the award in 2008, and I actually also knew Michelle was the only other two time winner, but it didn't register with me either until I read your blog. I actually only read it just now. And I basically only reposted the Skating article, as well as a link to your original blog in my blog about Johnnny winning. I did refer to the article announcing Johnny's win as 'lame' in a couple of places, because it really did occur to me that the article was 'buried', and possibly not what it would have been had someone else won the award.
I'm sure a LOT of people are rethinking a LOT of things right about now...
I have a baseball analogy that fits this whole thing right now about the USFSA and SOI, for example, possibly regretting some of their decisions in regard to Johnny WEir. Regret and karma are like late inning walks in baseball. They have a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass. Karma indeed!
You were saying?
I wish I could teleport, apparate, do astral projection, whatever just to be in Sun Valley this weekend.
Go Johnnicka!!!
And I hope this award will pave the way to everything he wants to accomplish with this hiatus, especially, I hope, his spectacular.
Yay for Johnny! This is just another example of how loved he has been by his fans for his entire career. Only the second person in the history of this award to win it twice, twice! The USFSA needs to give Johnny the respect and recognition the he so clearly deserves. I hope that this award fuels his fire for his future ambitions.
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