Johnny Weir: Why his return will benefit Figure Skating

From what I've been reading on twitter and the blogosphere, most people are thrilled about the return of 3-time US Champion and World Medalist Johnny Weir to competitive figure skating. But there are also some naysayers, which is to be expected when dealing with such a polarizing figure as Johnny Weir.

Here are some of the top reasons why I'm excited about his return:

• He causes buzz: As soon as he announced his return, it caused excitement, not only among skating fans, but everywhere. Johnny is outspoken and overall he is just a great character. He emerged as one of the biggest stars of the 2010 Olympics. Average Joes who know nothing about figure skating know him. They probably wouldn't know Patrick Chan from Takahiko Kozuka, but they know Johnny. People relate to him because he is himself!
• He'll draw viewers for Nationals: You can look at Johnny's announcement the week before Nationals as tacky and an attempt to draw attention away from the skaters competing at Nationals, but I think it's actually the opposite. There are a lot of "Johnny fans" who have lapsed as figure skating fans since he stopped competing. Since he is calling the men's event in San Jose next week and he'll surely be a talked about character, he'll certainly draw viewers to Nationals that wouldn't watch otherwise.
• He is supremely talented: I have heard experts say time and time again that Johnny is one of the best natural talents the sport has ever seen. Most skaters start before the age of 5, but Johnny started at age 11 or 12 and everything came naturally. What is often in question is his work ethic and his competitive fire. Those are two things he'll have to address if he wants to come back and be competitive with the best in the World.
• He had the technical content to win in Vancouver: Many think that Johnny's 2012 programs were watered down technically, but he performed nearly identical elements to Evan Lysacek, he just didn't get the levels or the GOEs that Evan got. And that is mostly because Johnny is an individual and wants to perform programs the way HE wants, no the way the ISU wants him to. I hate to say it, but under the International Judging System, individuality is cursed, so Johnny will really have to conform to the code of points if he wants to get the best results in competition. Here are the protocols from the Men's free skate in Vancouver, if you don't believe me, look at it for yourself. The base value of Johnny's elements was only 1.72 below that of Evan Lysacek.
• http://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2010/owg10_Men_FS_Scores.pdf

2011 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Assignments

Skate America (Oct 21-23)

Ladies:
Elene Gedevanishvili, GEO
Carolina Kostner, ITA
Valentina Marchei, ITA
Haruka Imai, JPN
Ksenia Makarova, RUS
Joshi Helgesson, SWE
Viktoria Helgesson, SWE
Alissa Czisny, USA
Caroline Zhang, USA
Joelle Forte, USA
Mens: 
Kevin van der Perren, BEL
Michal Brezina, CZE
Florent Amodio, FRA
Samuel Contesti, ITA
Takahiko Kozuka, JPN
Daisuke Murakami, JPN
Denis Ten, KAZ
Richard Dornbush, USA
Armin Mahbanoozadeh, USA
Douglas Razzanno, USA
Pairs:
Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN
Zhang/Zhang, CHN
Hausch/Wende, GER
Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER
Bazarova/Larionov, RUS
Marley/Brubaker, USA
Vise/Baldwin, USA
Denney/Coughlin, USA
Dance:
Paul/Islam, CAN
Ralph/Hill, CAN
Pechalat/Bourzat, FRA
Zhiganshina/Gazsi, GER
Tobias/Stagniunas, LTU
Davis/White, USA
Hubbell/Donohoe, USA
Cannuscio/Lorello, USA

Skate Canada (Oct 28-30)

Ladies:
Amelie Lacoste, CAN
Cynthia Phaneuf, CAN
Adriana DeSanctis, CAN
Sarah Hecken, GER
Akiko Suzuki, JPN
Alena Leonova, RUS
Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, RUS
Rachael Flatt, USA
Mirai Nagasu, USA
Ashley Wagner, USA
Mens: 
Kevin Van Der Perren, BEL
Patrick Chan, CAN
Andrei Rogozine, CAN
Elladj Balde, CAN
Daisuke Takahashi, JPN
Denis Ten, KAZ
Javier Fernandez, ESP
Alexander Majorov, SWE
Ross Miner, USA
Adam Rippon, USA
Pairs:
Duhamel/Radford, CAN
Lawrence/Swiegers, CAN
Dube/Wolfe, CAN
Sui/Han, CHN
Yu/Jin, CHN
Takahashi/Tran, JPN
Iliushechkina/Maisuradze, RUS
Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS
Dance:
Virtue/Moir, CAN
Weaver/Poje, CAN
Harvey/Gagnon, CAN
Pechalat/Bourzat, FRA
Cappelini/Lanotte, ITA
Pushkash/Guerreiro, RUS
Riazanova/Tkachenko, RUS
Chock/Bates, USA

Cup of China (Nov 4-6)

Ladies:
Bingwa Geng, CHN
Kexin Zhang, CHN
Qiuying Zhu, CHN
Carolina Kostner, ITA
Valentina Marchei, ITA
Kanako Murakmi, JPN
Ksenia Makarova, RUS
Adelina Sotnikova, RUS
Christina Gao, USA
Mirai Nagasu, USA
Mens:
Kevin Reynolds, CAN
Jinlin Guan, CHN
Jialing Wu, CHN
Nan Song, CHN
Brian Joubert, FRA
Yuzuru Hanya, JPN
Nobunari Oda, JPN
Artur Gachinski, RUS
Jeremy Abbott, USA
Richard Dornbush, USA
Pairs:
Moore-Towers/Moscovitch, CAN
Steele/Schultz, CAN
Sui/Han, CHN
Zhang/Wang, CHN
Zhang/Zhang, CHN
Kadlecova/Bidar, CZE
Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS
Evora/Ladwig, USA
Dance:
Yu/Wang, CHN
Huang/Zheng, CHN
Carron/Jones, FRA
Coomes/Buckland, GBR
Bobrova/Soloviev, RUS
TBD
Lichtman/Copely, USA
Shibutani/Shibutani, USA

NHK Trophy (Nov 11-13)

Ladies:
Cynthia Phaneuf, CAN
Kiira Korpi, FIN
Mae Berenice Meite, FRA
Elene Gedevanishvili, GEO
Mao Asada, JPN
Akiko Suzuki, JPN
Shoko Ishikawa, JPN
Alena Leonova, RUS
Ashley Wagner, USA
Agnes Zawadzki, USA
Mens: 
Tomas Verner, CZE
Samuel Contesti, ITA
Takahiko Kozuka, JPN
Daisuke Takahashi, JPN
Tatsuki Machida, JPN
Konstantin Menshov, RUS
Adrian Schultheiss, SWE
Armin Mahbanoozadeh, USA
Ross Miner, USA
Brandon Mroz, USA
Pairs:
Purich/Schultz, CAN
Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER
Berton/Hotarek, ITA
Takahashi/Tran, JPN
Iliushechkina/Maisuradze, RUS
Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS
Castelli/Shnapir, USA
Denney/Coughlin, USA
Dance:
Paul/Islam, CAN
Weaver/Poje, CAN
Zhiganshina/Gazsi, GER
Alessandrini/Vaturi, ITA
Reed/Reed, JPN
Ilinykh/Katsalapov, RUS
Kriengkrairut/Giuletti-Schmitt, USA
Shibutani/Shibutani, USA

Trophee Eric Bompard (Nov 18-20)

Ladies:
Yrethe Silete, FRA
Lena Marrocco, FRA
Mae Berenic Meite, FRA
Sarah Hecken, GER
Carolina Kostner, ITA
Kanako Murakami, JPN
Elizaveta Tuktamisheva, RUS
Sonia LaFuente, USA
Victoria Helgesson, SWE
Alissa Czisny, USA
Mens:
Patrick Chan, CAN
Kevin Reynolds, CAN
Nan Song, CHN
Michal Brezina, CZE
Florent Amodio, FRA
Chaffik Besseghier, FRA
Brian Joubert, FRA
Nobunari Oda, JPN
TBD
Adam Rippon, USA
Pairs:
Duhamel/Radford, CAN
Dong/Wu, CHN
James/Cipres, FRA
Bazarova/Larionov, RUS
Stolbova/Klimov, RUS
Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS
Evora/Ladwig, USA
Dance:
Virtue/Moir, CAN
Huang/Zheng, CHN
Pechalat/Bourzat, FRA
Zahorski/Miart, FRA
Cappellini/Lanotte, ITA
Gorshkova/Butikov, RUS
Ilinykh/Katsalapov, RUS
Hurtado/Diaz, ESP

Rostelecom Cup (Dec 8-11)

Ladies:
Amelie Lacoste, CAN
Kiira Korpi, FIN
Mao Asada, JPN
Haruka Imai, JPN
Sofia Biryukova, RUS
Alena Leonova, RUS
Adelina Sotnikova, RUS
Rachael Flatt, USA
Christina Gao, USA
Agnes Zawadzki, USA
Mens: 
Andrei Rogozine, CAN
Michal Brezina, CZE
Tomas Verner, CZE
Yuzuru Hanyu, JPN
Artur Gachinski, RUS
Sergei Voronov, RUS
Konstantin Menshov, RUS
Javier Fernandez, ESP
Jeremy Abbott, USA
Brandon Mroz, USA
Pairs:
Jones/Gaskell, CAN
Hausch/Wende, GER
Savchenko/Szolkowy, GER
Berton/Hotarek, ITA
Gerboldt/Enbert, RUS
Kavaguti/Smirnov, RUS
Stolbova/Klimov, RUS
Cain/Reagan, USA
Dance:
Weaver/Poje, CAN
Carron/Jones, FRA
Reed/Reed, JPN
Tobias/Stagniunas, LTU
Bobrova/Soloviev, RUS
Riazanova/Tkachenko, RUS
Pushkash/Guerreiro, RUS
Davis/White, USA

Countdown to US Figure Skating Championships: 23 Days!

Brandon Mroz (Broadmoor SC)

• 2006-07 Junior Grand Prix Final Silver Medalist
• 2007-08 US Junior Silver Medalist
• 2009 US Silver Medalist
• 2010 US Nationals 6th
• 2010 Cup of China Silver Medalist
• 2010 Trophee Eric Bompard Silver Medalist

Though Brandon stood on the podium at the 2009 Senior Nationals between Jeremy Abbott and Evan Lysacek, I still consider him among the "next generation" of US male figure skaters along with Adam Rippon, etc. At only 20 years old, he is still a baby in terms of internationally successful male figure skaters. With Lysacek and Weir sitting this season out, the 2011 Nationals will be a great opportunity for the younger skaters, like Brandon, to move up and make the world team. Based on his Grand Prix scores, Brandon should have no trouble finishing in the top 6 or 7 at worlds, though he must make the world team before he can compete there. I still think the mens podium will be Abbott, Rippon, and Mroz, not necessarily in that order, but Armin Mahbanoozadeh or returning veteran Ryan Bradley could easily throw a wrench into that plan. Brandon's highest total score this season was a 216.80 at Cup of China which puts him about 2 points below Jeremy Abbott and about 17 below Adam Rippon. However, Mroz has arguably been the most consistent of the three as Rippon had somewhat of a meltdown at Skate America and Abbott struggled to put together two clean programs at either of his events. Mroz has also shown that he can do the quad which Rippon has yet to show us in competition and Abbott has not done consistently. He has come into his own this season in terms of presentation with his debonair Bernstein free skate, but look for that quad to be a major factor that just may catapult Brandon Mroz to the top this year at Nationals.