Beautiful Men Skating

Here is a Washington Post article that gives a little shout out to the premiere event at this year's U.S. Nationals - the men's event! It actually groups Jeremy Abbott with the favorites instead of only writing about Lysacek and Weir as some other articles I've seen have insisted on doing (they often mention Abbott as an afterthought). So, I refuse to make any sort of prediction, but here's what you need to know: Lysacek generally scores better with these judges than he does with the international ones, but as I could tell during yesterday's ladies short program, they are not above being sticklers. So it will be interesting to see if the problems he's been having on the international stage are going to continue with this event. I'm eager to see a healthy Johnny Weir, since he has apparently been battling boot problems and illness essentially all season. Abbott has a lot of momentum and is not intimidated by a big stage, although he's never come into a nationals as one of the favorites (thank you, Grand Prix victory!), so let's see how he handles it. And don't forget about Ryan Bradley, who has beaten Lysacek this season. And Stephen Carriere, who had some impressive Grand Prix performances (and apparently walked away from a totaled car last week, thank goodness he was ok!). Adam Rippon is out there as well, but I don't see him winning this season. I hope this competition is as good and exciting as it has the potential to be!