Hidden Talents of Yu-na Kim

According to Dramabeans.com, Yu-na Kim recently showcased her little known singing talents on the Korean show "The Star Show" the other day. You can find a clip on the web site if you would like to hear. Here is the site's review:

Granted, it’s not exactly a perfect performance, and she chose a difficult song to perform live — but dude, I’m not going to rip on the singing skills of anyone who can propel themselves more than their own body length through the air while spinning multiple times and landing upright on the edge of a blade. Mad respect to skaters (figure and otherwise).

I know nothing about this show. I wonder if it's the equivalent of Mirai Nagasu singing on American Idol? I don't know.

...and more Kristi

Kristi Yamaguchi threw out the first pitch at Dodgers Stadium on Friday. And since I love baseball almost as much as figure skating I felt the need to share. Unfortunately, I could not find a like to the video - I'd love to see how Kristi did. She doesn't appear a natural ballplayer, she's so petite! Anyway, it was apparently the first trip to Dodger Stadium for the native Californian. She spoke with MLB.com about her busy schedule:

"I came from a wardrobe fitting, then to rehearsal, then to a television shoot and now I'm here, and I probably won't be able to stay for the whole game, because we are rehearsing tonight as well," Yamaguchi said. "So it's a pretty busy schedule."

But the chance to throw out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game was an extraordinary opportunity that most people would not pass up.

"It's not something you get asked to do every day," said Yamaguchi. "It's definitely a special occasion ... and hopefully I can get some more people here to vote for us and get their support behind us.

Kristi could not name any favorite baseball players from growing up (obviously the lovely skater is not a baseball watcher, but, hey, she probably watches enough hockey to make up for it), but it appears she is a closeted Mets fan. (I have some friends who will be excited by that):

She couldn't remember her favorite players growing up, but when she was one of the recipients of the Thurman Munson Award for her community work last February, she got to meet a fellow recipient who really impressed her.

"I met David Wright, and he's an amazing guy," said Yamaguchi. "I was so impressed with him, his attitude and what he does in the community and, obviously, his career, and he's just a great guy."

Oh, David Wright, even Kristi Yamaguchi loves you.

Calling Kristi Fans

USA Today's Feedroom has a short video interview of Kristi Yamaguchi with her adorable family. Her daughters are so cute and I loved hearing from her husband as well.

Dice-K Splits with Coach

Japanese figure skater Daisuke Takahashi has split with coach and choreographer Nikolai Morozov. The move comes after Morozov's decision to coach Japanese rival Nobunari Oda, according to The Japan Times.

"It's a bit awkward to have the same coach with my rival. I had expected Nikolai to concentrate on me toward the (2010 Vancouver) Olympics," Takahashi said.

Takahashi, a 2007 world silver medalist, is also coached by Utako Nagamitsu and will continue to work with him, but will need a new choreographer.

For his part, Morozov will not be hurting for students as he has other skaters like Miki Ando under his wing.

I tried to do a search on this, but does anyone remember if Morozov choreographed Takahashi's recent "cyber swan" short program, or perhaps if the skater did it himself?

Most Likely To Succeed

U.S. National Champion Mirai Nagasu has been named one of America's "most promising athletes" by Forbes magazine, according to an International Figure Skating forum. The posting says Nagasu was the only figure skater to be selected by the mag, which is trying to pinpoint the next big thing in sports.

Also, congratulations are due to our favorite dancing queen, Kristi Yamaguchi. Sports Illustrated reports that she will be honored with the Sonya Henie award. The IFS forum also reports that:

Yamaguchi was selected as the winner of the Sonya Henie award this year because she has brought recognition to the sport of figure skating in a positive and favorable manner. The award is presented to a female, professional skater.

Nobody Puts Kristi Yamaguchi in the Corner

To start today's "Dancing with the Stars" recap, I have to admit I was not sorry to see Derek and Shannon go last week. I'm not usually rooting against people, but those two were getting pretty distracting, what with the crying, and the ranting, and the not so candid kissing, and the fake butts even.

Now, I will try to be a little bit more positive (even though there was no figure skating on the show tonight - boo!). I'll start with Kristi. I thought her first dance, the quick step, was good, but I looooved the samba! Of course, it did not appear the judges agreed with me, but it was just so impressive. Unfortunately, Kristi also performed the dance dressed like a chicken, which may have been distracting to the viewers/judges. She was good though. I thought maybe the lift would be better because of all of her pairs experience, but that was like twenty years ago, I suppose.

This is the first week I enjoyed another performer just as much as I enjoyed Kristi. I thought Mario was amazing (also, Karina, way to steal Johnny Castle's lift training strategies by making Mario practice in the water)! I could have watched the dances over and over. His lift was the only one that really made sense to me and it was very good. I hope he sticks around.

I only got to see Tracy Turnblad's first dance, but I am just so impressed by her. She did do choreography on broadway but from the beginning of the show it was obvious she was not a natural, and she has improved so much. She's delightful.

Jason Taylor is very nice to watch but I'm back to not being very impressed. The tango was just alright for me. And the samba was annoyingly easy - I realized about halfway through that he must have spent all week practicing the lift. It was a great lift, but it didn't really go with the rest of the dance.

Cristian was very impressive - he was obviously not doing anything with his left arm (which he apparently needs surgery on) but the amount that he can with his right arm left me in awe. Not as good a performance as the rest of the contestants, but I thought it was a valiant effort.

Breaking!

According to KHQ in Spokane, Washington: At 5 p.m. Eastern there is apparently a live announcement regarding the 2010 U.S. Nationals....I may not be able to update so I wanted to let you all know to look for it.

UPDATE: Well, as expected, the announcement was that the 2010 U.S. figure skating championships will be returning to Spokane, Washington. Congratulations Spokane!!!