Dancing with the Stars

[SportsFan68]

Holy cow!

They might as well start engraving "Kristi Yamaguchi" on that mirror ball trophy right now.

For a change, I channeled-surfed in on something at exactly the right time -- to watch Kristi and her partner do a fabulous Paso Doble for an almost-perfect score of 29.

Then to watch Priscilla Presley and her partner do a wonderful Viennese Waltz, but a technical difficulty busted them down to a 22, something about a lift, which is against the rules.

Then I was reminded of Skoop's women and girls sports thread. Jason Taylor walked across the stage a lot and sometime didn't quite keep up with his very talented and graceful partner in a Viennese Waltz and even stumbled, and he still earned a 29 despite being light years behind Yamaguchi and partner. Taylor had it right -- "This is a one-horse race right now." But the network will find a way to keep it close.

Shannon Elizabeth and her partner danced a really great dance, again IMHO light years ahead of Taylor, yet they scored behind him with a 28.

I was able to log in as SportsFan68 and vote for Yamaguchi and will do the same next week.

I loved watching Marlee Matlin and Marissa Jaret Winokur -- they acted like great dancers and pulled it off.

Then I watched the last of the Kansas-Memphis game.

GO LADY VOLS!!

And Kristy.

[kayrharris]

Kristi may be the best, but I feel like she has a definite advantage with her skating background. I'm voting for Jason.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

From what I have read, women have a disadvantage in the contest because most women who vote, vote for the guys.

[dimmzy]

From what I have read, women have a disadvantage in the contest because most women who vote, vote for the guys.

I agree. After the ONE woman won, the public demanded a dance-off.

I DO think Kristi is a ringer. She danced to CARMEN during her Olympic performance and talked about her dance training in SPAIN at the time to improve her skating. She also was a PAIRS skater, so she had the advantage of dance training with her then-partner Rudy Galindo.

Still, I think the show felt that they had to bring in a popular woman who COULD conceivably win.

Next year, look for Mary Lou Retton!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

From what I have read, women have a disadvantage in the contest because most women who vote, vote for the guys.

I agree. After the ONE woman won, the public demanded a dance-off.

I DO think Kristi is a ringer. She danced to CARMEN during her Olympic performance and talked about her dance training in SPAIN at the time to improve her skating. She also was a PAIRS skater, so she had the advantage of dance training with her then-partner Rudy Galindo.

Still, I think the show felt that they had to bring in a popular woman who COULD conceivably win.

Next year, look for Mary Lou Retton!

Maybe Katarina Witt, though she isn't as well-beloved.

[dimmzy]

Maybe Katarina Witt, though she isn't as well-beloved.

She'd definitely get the male votes!

[minimetoo26]

Maybe Katarina Witt, though she isn't as well-beloved.

She'd definitely get the male votes!

Gah. I think she's growing into the stereotypical Brunhilda German, anyway. Maybe she used steroids. But she's got some shoulders on her.

[dimmzy]

Gah. I think she's growing into the stereotypical Brunhilda German, anyway.

Or dominatrix.

[tanstaafl2]

Maybe Katarina Witt, though she isn't as well-beloved.

She'd definitely get the male votes!

Most likely so. Kati was always a rather healthy lass and a combination of a youth spent training as a skater and a little East German sports "medicine" no doubt contributed to that.



But she has held up reasonably well. Doesn't look like any Brunhilda's I remember...

[a1mamacat]

I have not been able to get into the show this time. No one really grabs my interest, like Helio did last time.

Same really, with Idol. I don't find any of them really grab my attention, save the poor Rocker Nurse that already left.

[SportsFan68]

Kristi may be the best, but I feel like she has a definite advantage with her skating background. I'm voting for Jason.

I look at her skating background advantage as coming from weeks of 10 hour days culminating in two or five minutes on the ice.

I'm with this guy, somebody named Hal Boedeker at the Orlando Sentinel:

What will it take to beat Kristi Yamaguchi on "Dancing With the Stars"?

"An asteroid hits," Marlee Matlin suggested Monday night.

Yamaguchi's opponents identified her as the front-runner. Priscilla Presley warned that she and her partner, Louis van Amstel, were coming for Kristi. Jason Taylor said it was a one-horse race -- and he meant Kristi.

But by evening's end, Taylor was tied for the lead with Yamaguchi with 29 points apiece. Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba handed out 10s to Taylor -- even though the NFL star stumbled in his waltz. Taylor did well. But perfection? No way.

. . .

Yamaguchi was splendid on her paso doble -- and she didn't stumble. She had to open the show, which put her at a disadvantage.

Still, Tonioli told her admiringly: "You were Jezebel out there."

And a champion, too.

I realize the show needs competition. It doesn't need contrived competition or inflated, baffling scores when there's a front-runner as fine as Kristi. She should win, asteroid or not.

[tanstaafl2]

Kristi may be the best, but I feel like she has a definite advantage with her skating background. I'm voting for Jason.

I look at her skating background advantage as coming from weeks of 10 hour days culminating in two or five minutes on the ice.

I'm with this guy, somebody named Hal Boedeker at the Orlando Sentinel:

What will it take to beat Kristi Yamaguchi on "Dancing With the Stars"?

"An asteroid hits," Marlee Matlin suggested Monday night.

Yamaguchi's opponents identified her as the front-runner. Priscilla Presley warned that she and her partner, Louis van Amstel, were coming for Kristi. Jason Taylor said it was a one-horse race -- and he meant Kristi.

But by evening's end, Taylor was tied for the lead with Yamaguchi with 29 points apiece. Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba handed out 10s to Taylor -- even though the NFL star stumbled in his waltz. Taylor did well. But perfection? No way.

. . .

Yamaguchi was splendid on her paso doble -- and she didn't stumble. She had to open the show, which put her at a disadvantage.

Still, Tonioli told her admiringly: "You were Jezebel out there."

And a champion, too.

I realize the show needs competition. It doesn't need contrived competition or inflated, baffling scores when there's a front-runner as fine as Kristi. She should win, asteroid or not.

What it will take to derail Kristi is the public. She is by far the most technically talented, whether it be her skating background, her own competitive nature or some combination thereof.

But the best technical dancer has not always won. Charisma and an as yet undefined appeal to the masses is still critical. Just ask Stacey Kiebler who was technically far superior to Jerry Rice but went home ahead of him (although the poor freestyle didn't help her). Or Mario Lopez who was technically miles beyond Emmet Smith but lacked that undefined appeal that put Smith over the top. Or the seemingly shockingly early exit of that "Cheetah" girl whose name I can't recall. She was technically much better than most of the people who remained on the show last season after her.

One bad night on the show for Kristi that leads to a relatively low score from the judges and if she doesn't have the votes of the public she could be out of there faster than you can say "cha cha cha"!