Since the performances were shown on live TV and since I'm feeling quite scatterbrained, this is a collection of random thoughts rather than an actual review.

I arrived at the arena about 45 minutes before showtime and got to see a few of the guys practice. Michael Weiss was looking quite good, landing an easy triple axel- triple toe among other things. Todd Eldredge actually landed a quad toe on the small ice. Almost everyone in the arena burst out laughing when Todd's music came on. I'm watching (well, listening to) a tape of the USA broadcast as I write them, and I can't believe Roz and Al spoiled the music so early on. When my friends arrived after the practice, I refused to let the cat out of the bag. Needless to say, we were all in need of oxygen after Todd had finished skating because we had been laughing so hard. He's a good sport.

My friends and I had a bet about who Oksana Baiul would take out during the finale, and when Oksana was the one to get knocked over (by Jenni Meno) instead of the one doing the knocking over, I nearly fell out of my seat with laughter. Momentarily switching from "show mode" into "mock-judging mode," I wish there were some way to clone Oksana Baiul's flying camel entry. She "flies" into the spin like no other lady I've seen.

Speaking of flying spins that really "flew," Sasha Cohen did a very good job with hers-- at least by American lady standards :-). Cohen is a trip and a half; coaching her must be so much fun. During the ladies' group numbers with Patti LaBelle, she was nervously looking over at the director for a cue. Then, when she got on the ice, her costume came unfastened. Unfazed, Cohen skated back to the stage and had Tara Lipinski refasten it. When Maria Butyrskaya came off the ice and asked Cohen what happened, she apparently didn't understand Sasha's answer, so Sasha provided a hilarious visual. During the warmup for the group number, Sasha was the first one on the ice, organizing everyone. Terry Pagano called her the "assistant captain" in an on-stage interview. During one of the commercial breaks, Nicky Slater did an interview with Sasha, and halfway through she commentated "this mic sounds weird" because of the echo. What a kid! She is too much (in a good way). :-)

As one of those hopeless Nicole Bobek fans, I can't help but get my hopes up for World Pros. The triples in warmup and in the performance were so solid. She warmed up a double lutz/flutz/flip/ whatever she's calling it these days, and I think she might have tried the triple if there had been one more minute in the warmup.

Maria Butyrskaya is queen of ladies figure skating. Her skating does nothing for me on TV, but I never fail to be floored in person. Even with some of the stupid mistakes, she has such a commanding presence and wonderful, fast, soft stroking. The herky-jerky jumps belie the overall smoothness of her skating.

If Maria is the queen, Alexei Yagudin is the king. I could not and cannot for the life of me believe that this program was improvised. The way the choreography flowed in and out of the jumps, down to even the smallest details, was amazing. I am still awe-struck by this performance and consider it one of the most impressive skates I've ever seen. The rest of men paled in comparison.

Any conspiracy theorists who thought that the music was given to the skaters well in advance had second thoughts after watching Meno and Sand's performance ;-). They had high-quality elements, but could they have possibly been more *off* the music?

Sato and Dungjen's back outside death spiral is probably the best in the world... well, the best done by a non-Canadian team. :-)

In the competition of group numbers, I would have gone with the Blue Team because the intersecting double axels won me over, but the Gold Team was certainly more comical. Watching Philippe Candeloro and Nicole Bobek attempting to do a pairs spiral was one of the funnier things I've seen on the ice.

Though I was somewhat dismayed at the numbers of hokey programs from the men, Robin Cousins has done another great job with Improv-Ice. Interesting music selections, live music from someone who can actually sing (miracle of all miracles!), and interviews and other audience entertainment during the commercial breaks made the show extremely enjoyable. And, now, after sitting through approximately half an hour of the USA broadcast, I'm glad that I went if for no other reason than to avoid Al Trautwig's commentary.

Louis