<p>Re: Canadian national anthem-I’ve been to NHL games in the states when a Canadian-based team comes to play and of course both anthems are played. I swear that more people sing the Canadian anthem, including me, because it’s such a great and “singable” anthem. :D</p>
<p>My sister has always said that the US national anthem should be Ghost Riders in the Sky because it would be so much fun to have a whole stadium full of people singing “Yippee I Aaay, Yippee I OOOoooh”.</p>
<p>I think if we changed our anthem it should be one of the two every hs and college plays.</p>
<ol>
<li>We are the Champions</li>
<li>Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye!</li>
</ol>
<p>Think about how the world would despise us even more!</p>
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<p>When I go to middle school pep rallies, I think I’m back in 1975 because the pep band is still playing the same songs the pep bands played when I was in school.</p>
<p>D1 phoned me after the anthem was over to tell me how much she liked it that they “belted it out”. Ex-H and I always sing the anthem at games, much to our Ds’ dismay at times. But D1 thought it was great. I really liked how he closed his eyes while singing some of the time. Then he would open them and look around like he just couldn’t BELIEVE that this was happening, and he didn’t want to miss a moment. Wish more of the athletes would sing from all countries!</p>
<p>Regarding whether more falls are in the future of ice dancing, I think there were more falls four years ago than this year. They showed some clips a couple of days ago (trying to liven up those compulsories!). I didn’t see any this year, although I did not watch every single second of the dance coverage. One of those from four years ago was particularly nasty, where she was in a lift (only waist high) and he was spinning around with her, and he let go…</p>
<p>I remember all those falls last time, too. Didn’t Taneth and Ben fall in the last second, and pretended it was part of their ending, but the judges knew it wasn’t?</p>
<p>Falls from these crazy lifts could be the worse falls of all because they could come down head first. I’m thinking the bungee cords are a good idea after all.</p>
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<p>Yeah, maybe they should be required instead of banned.</p>
<p>How about the woman who lifted the guy yesterday (don’t remember the name of the couple but she looked as tall and strong as he was). My DH, a reluctant watcher, said hey is that a first?". I have no idea…
BTW, I pointed out that if I can watch hockey, he can watch ice dancing, lol.</p>
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<p>I didn’t see that but I think it’s so cute that both the gold and silver medalists have been skating together for so long. Tessa and Scott have never skated with anyone else, having started together when they were 7 and 9! </p>
<p>I agree about the abundance of lifting now. I was saying to my H that it wasn’t too long ago that the rules prohibited any kind of lift above shoulder level. I understand that things change, though, which is sometimes good and sometimes not, and once a pair or two are successful with something new, others are likely to follow. I remember when Bourne and Kratz, who are one of my favorite ice dancing pairs of all time, perfected their signature move (I forget now what it was called) and it wasn’t too long afterwards that others started doing it, and of course, now every pair does it in some form.</p>
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<p>That was the Brits, brother and sister Sinead and John Kerr. I enjoyed their performances a lot!</p>
<p>I really didn’t care for the Russian ice dancers (Oksana and Maxim)–hated the costumes and hated the use of those ropes on the costumes. </p>
<p>Was it the French couple where the woman lifted the guy?</p>
<p>My favorite part of the old videos was when they were interviewing the boy in his hockey regalia and asked him which he liked better - hockey or ice dancing and he said whichever one he was doing at the moment. Good answer!</p>
<p>I thought the top four were correctly ranked as far as score. The winning couple’s routine was magic.</p>
<p>I also thought their rank mirrored the beauty, or lack thereof, of their costumes. The two Canadians chose simple, lovely costumes. I didn’t get the second-place American guy’s shirt, but all-in-all they weren’t eyesores. The Russians had that bondage look going on with the straps, and what a pity that the fourth-place Americans were TPed just before they went out on the ice.</p>
<p>In case you didn’t think Plushenko was full of himself before…[Vancouver</a> Now - Russian skater Plushenko awards himself platinum medal - Post Sports](<a href=“http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blogs/postblog/2010/02/russian-skater-plushenko-awards-himself-platinum-medal.html]Vancouver”>http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blogs/postblog/2010/02/russian-skater-plushenko-awards-himself-platinum-medal.html)</p>
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<p>The reverse life (female lifting the male) was popularized by the 2002 Olympic gold medalists Anissina and Peizerat. I don’t know if they were the first to do it, but they were doing them as early as 1998.</p>
<p>So, I’m thinking Apollo Ono is a terrific skater AND did Dancing with the Stars. So maybe he should find a pretty partner and give Ice Dancing a whirl for 2014. I know he’s a bit small but he’s strong and could find a petite partner. Or he could just stick with short track and that would be just fine too…although he might be a bit old to keep that speed going. Just a thought!</p>
<p>USA vs. Canada?
[Five</a> Harvard alumnae will play on the U.S. and Canadian Olympic ice-hockey teams | Harvard Magazine](<a href=“http://harvardmagazine.com/alumni-in-the-news/ice-hockey-2010-olympic-stars]Five”>http://harvardmagazine.com/alumni-in-the-news/ice-hockey-2010-olympic-stars)</p>
<p>Toneranger, I LIKE that Apolo idea!!!</p>
<p>^ I do, too! And he doesn’t have to be the lifter, he can be the lifted.</p>
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<p>That was the British pair, Sinead and John Kerr (brother and sister). They have been criticized for being the same height, which apparently makes the tiny errors more obvious. I absolutely loved their dance (set to Linkin Park; she was in a beautiful white dress, and he was some sort of a fallen angel punk rocker dude)</p>
<p>[Olympics</a> - John and Sinead Kerr](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100223/483/olyfs14502230337/]Olympics”>http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100223/483/olyfs14502230337/)</p>
<p>I did not like the plain bland costumes of the Canadian duo. Our pairs and the Russian pair doing the firebird dance had great costumes!</p>