Attn: Figure Skating Fans: The US Nationals are on this week

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

in Portland, OR. Here's the TV schedule, all times are EST.

Today: 9:00 pm-12:00 am - Men's and Ladies Short Programs - ESPN 2

Tomorrow: 11:30 pm-2:00 am - Pairs Long and Free Dance - ESPN 2

Saturday: 4:00 pm-6:00 pm - Ladies Long Program Live - ABC

Saturday: 11:00 pm-1:00 am - Mens Long Program Live - ESPN 2

Could be a very interesting Nationals, especially in the Mens competition and the Pairs. I'm kinda upset that there's not more live coverage, but since the ratings for figure skating competition have gone way down in recent years, I shouldn't be complaining at all.

In the next few years, it's a real possibility that figure skating will not be shown anywhere except cable and pay per view.

[Awsi Dooger]

1. High quality tonight

With Sasha Cohen gone the top women weren't falling on their ass.

Emily Hughes seems to have lost some weight, which helps with the height and explosiveness of her jumps.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

2. Yeah, the ladies SP was great tonight.

Emily Hughes is probably kicking herself now that she didn't try a triple toe loop on the back of her combination instead of a double. Her triple lutz was great and she had plenty of air and time to attempt a triple toe. I've never been particularly enamored of her, but she was great tonight.

Kimmie Meissner was gifted on her combination tonight. Her second jump was definitely cheated but because she's the World Champion, the judges overlooked it. There is no way that jump was a true triple toe loop, it was a toe axel.

I was thrilled for Bebe Liang though. It was great to see her finally put it all together. I loved the music, her costume and she skated brilliantly. She definitely deserved 2nd place.

Katy Taylor was a surprise tonight as well. She had a horrible Grand Prix season but she skated extremely well tonight. As she was skating her program, I kept saying to her in my mind "keep concentrating and slow down." Katy aka "Pink Hummer" has a tendency to "rush" things, but fair play to her tonight she didn't.

I think a lot of people that follow figure skating thought that the US women wouldn't be able to compete against the rest of the world. After tonight, I doubt that.

While I wish ESPN had cut down on the "fluff" pieces, I mean did we really have to see Katie Couric interviewing a six year old Emily Hughes; the coverage of the ladies short was above average. At least I got to see some of the ladies senior skaters that usually get "chacked" from their coverage. It's not too often that ESPN shows almost the entire final flight of skaters from any SP.

However, I do wish they had shown more of the Men's SP. Only showing Evan Lyascek and Johnny Weir really was quite bad.

Also fair play to "Uncle" Dick Button for pointing out that Rachel Flatt got robbed on her combination jump. It's not too often that Uncle Dick will disagree with the judges at the US Nationals, but what he said tonight was the absolute truth. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this "controversy".

Looking forward to watching tomorrow night. There's a real fight going on in the pairs for the gold medal and as far as the ice dancing goes the fight is for silver and bronze. B&A have the gold medal sewn up but it will be very interesting to see who gets the second and third spot.

[VelmaD]

3. I am LIVID

over the lack of coverage. NO coverage AT ALL of the Pairs' short program or the Original Dance. And they're doing the same fucking thing for World's coverage...last time I looked at the schedule ESPN didn't have any times listed for the Mens' or Pairs' short programs. ARGH!!!!!

And the part that truly infuriates me is reading an article a couple of weeks ago that talked about how it doesn't matter that figure skating pulls in viewers...because those viewers are not young men, the networks don't really care. When did men aged 18-35 become the only demographic advertisers care about?