Pred's Fantasy Football Forums - View Single Post - Brian Boitano

Ypsilanti Undead · July 6th, 2005, 05:27 PM

Okay, here's the whole story.

It's the winter of 1998/99. I have a fiance (Catherine) and I'm crazy about her and she's really into figure skating (she even did a lot of it growing up, and is still a very good skater). I had never really watched it, but she would watch football with me, so I watched a little figure skating with her. It didn't do much for me, but it was fun to listen to her get excited when talking about the different personalities. She was really into Michelle Kwan, Rudy Galindo ("The only gay male figure skater," she would quip), and Scotty Hamilton.

Her birthday was coming up, when what did I see but a commercial for Champions on Ice, coming to Chicago, with all of her favorites in attendance. Oh yes, when you make your fiance very happy, you know you're gonna get very happy.

So I got 5th row tickets.

The show starts, and it's a little cheezy but all right. Music plays, and the skaters come out one by one, do some kind of jump, then start circling around the perimeter. One thing that immediately impresses me is the strength and power required for these jumps. It somehow just doesn't translate to TV. Maybe it was because I could hear them grunting, I don't know. But the difficulty of these maneuvers, and the strength and control required to pull them off, was much more apparent. It's like gymnastics, but faster and on a slippery surface (and you have to smile convincingly the whole time).

So this was all interesting, I was enjoying it more than I thought I would, but I could take it or leave it. Then Brian Boitano comes out.

Now keep in mind, out on the ice already are about 10 world champions, at least one future champion, and a handful of Olympic gold medalists. The very elite of the entire world. And Brian Boitano f**king blew them away. He came out and made those other skaters look like chumps; he was like a god among men. The power in his jumps was incomparable; Elvis Strojko, known as a power-jumping specialist, didn't come close. And here's the thing: he made it look completely effortless. The combination of power and grace was, in all honesty, moving. He was the Majestic Eagle.

All that, and he was one of the oldest people on the program (I think only Scotty Hamilton was older).

Go ahead, mock me if you want; if you had experienced what I experienced, you would say the same, if you had the sack.

July 6th, 2005, 05:27 PM	#3
Ypsilanti Undead Feeding Frenzy Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ypsilanti, MI Posts: 840	Re: Brian Boitano - The Magestic Eagle Okay, here's the whole story. It's the winter of 1998/99. I have a fiance (Catherine) and I'm crazy about her and she's really into figure skating (she even did a lot of it growing up, and is still a very good skater). I had never really watched it, but she would watch football with me, so I watched a little figure skating with her. It didn't do much for me, but it was fun to listen to her get excited when talking about the different personalities. She was really into Michelle Kwan, Rudy Galindo ("The only gay male figure skater," she would quip), and Scotty Hamilton. Her birthday was coming up, when what did I see but a commercial for Champions on Ice, coming to Chicago, with all of her favorites in attendance. Oh yes, when you make your fiance very happy, you know you're gonna get very happy. So I got 5th row tickets. The show starts, and it's a little cheezy but all right. Music plays, and the skaters come out one by one, do some kind of jump, then start circling around the perimeter. One thing that immediately impresses me is the strength and power required for these jumps. It somehow just doesn't translate to TV. Maybe it was because I could hear them grunting, I don't know. But the difficulty of these maneuvers, and the strength and control required to pull them off, was much more apparent. It's like gymnastics, but faster and on a slippery surface (and you have to smile convincingly the whole time). So this was all interesting, I was enjoying it more than I thought I would, but I could take it or leave it. Then Brian Boitano comes out. Now keep in mind, out on the ice already are about 10 world champions, at least one future champion, and a handful of Olympic gold medalists. The very elite of the entire world. And Brian Boitano f**king blew them away. He came out and made those other skaters look like chumps; he was like a god among men. The power in his jumps was incomparable; Elvis Strojko, known as a power-jumping specialist, didn't come close. And here's the thing: he made it look completely effortless. The combination of power and grace was, in all honesty, moving. He was the Majestic Eagle. All that, and he was one of the oldest people on the program (I think only Scotty Hamilton was older). Go ahead, mock me if you want; if you had experienced what I experienced, you would say the same, if you had the sack.