If you don't have star power on the ice, bulk up off ice.

NBC is giving a sneak preview of its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage with a multi-tiered assault of anchormen, analysts and rinkside at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships here in St. Paul, Minn.

By bringing in Bob Costas and surrounding him with old standbys such as Dick Button and Scott Hamilton, the network and figure skating brass hope to hide the fact that no one these days actually cares about the sport.

The contract between the International Skating Union and ESPN to broadcast the world championships ends this year. The deal between NBC and the U.S. federation appears to involve Confederate money.

The lack of interest extends to attendance here at the Xcel Energy Center, which has plenty of seats without fans or their fannies. Attendance numbers, traditionally posted daily in the press room, have been absent, and local reporters have been unable to shake them free. Yet, a spokeswoman for the event insisted earlier this week that tickets "are selling like hot cakes."

What a waffle.

Will the championships top attendance of last week's "Pheasants Forever" national convention of 29,800? It could be close.

Into that void steps NBC.

The producer of the show, David Michaels, kid brother of announcer Al, says he wants to make figure skating "seem like a real sport," so he's created a format similar to a football halftime show.

He hopes the facelift shifts commentary and analysis away from the on-ice performances to more of a studio setting.

"It's experimental," he admits. "I hope to hell it works. We want to build a rooting interest in the audience as we get closer to Vancouver in 2010," he says.

It's tough, though, when you don't have much to work with, he says.

There is no Michelle Kwan, "and Kimmie Meissner is never going to be Michelle. She doesn't have the charisma," he says. "U.S. pairs has been at the bottom of the barrel for some time."

Ice dancing with real athletes, he said, shows some promise, is forced to compete against reality shows with none.

That leaves the men. To that end, the network is promoting the rivalry between U.S. champion Evan Lysacek and three-time winner Johnny Weir.

Although the two skaters called a truce on a war of the words--shades of Hillary and Barack--since the skirmish at last year's nationals, it appears it may flare again in a taped interview with Weir that will air tomorrow night.

"We'll be playing on that rivalry. It goes to the essence of what we're trying to do," says Michaels.

So like the U.S. team itself, the broadcast is a work in progress.

"When there's good skating, there's a good show. When there's bad skating, there's a bad show. We're at the mercy of the sport," Michaels says.

The women's final will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. today and the men's final will air live at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Kimmie Meissner can't say much about her participation in Under Armour's first Super Bowl commercial because of contractual considerations.

Except to say that it was on-location in the Bronx.

And her part "was very physical."

And that while she didn't get to work with Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, another Under Armour spokesman, she did get to see Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

The Baltimore-based sports clothing company put Bel Air's most famous figure skater on the payroll last January, after she won the national title.

Meissner, who has been in commercials for the Subway sandwich shop chain, called Under Armour's 60-second spot "the best one ever."

"I can't believe I'm in Under Armour's first-ever Super Bowl commercial," she said. "It will kind of be overwhelming. I'll have to throw a Super Bowl party now."

Meissner is not allowed to say when the commercial will run.

"But don't go to the bathroom after the first quarter," she said, laughing.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 11:19 AM | Permalink
                    

Shaun Rogers can land a quad jump. It's the little things that bring him down.

The skater from Millersville is competing in his fifth senior national championships. He's hoping for a top-six finish that would lead to a Grand Prix assignment next season.

Rogers, 22, is completely healthy for the first time in memory. What seems to be getting in the way this year are mental lapses, like the ones at Eastern Sectionals in Raleigh, N.C., in November that almost cost him a chance to be here.

On the up side, he powered into a quad toe loop, a triple axel-triple toe combination and a triple salchow-double toe-double loop combination. But he lost his concentration and stepped out of the back end of another triple-jump combination, turned a triple loop into a single and fell on a triple flip. The judges awarded him fourth, good enough for the final spot at nationals.

"That was close," he said.

The inconsistency puzzles Pam Gregory, coach of both Rogers and U.S. women's champion Kimmie Meissner.

"He needs the big tricks to break into the top six," she says. "He can do the hard stuff and then he loses focus. That's a problem."

Rogers' early days mirrored Meissner's. He started in the sport at 8, when he went to a skating party for his Old Mill Middle School class. He liked it and started group lessons, which gradually became private lessons.

Before Meissner got her driver's license, she would often catch a ride with Rogers. The two skaters like to compete during practice, betting pizza and soft drinks.

At the University of Delaware send-off show two weeks ago, after all the routines were over and the audience was leaving, Meissner and Rogers couldn't help but indulge in a little variation on H-O-R-S-E. Meissner launched triple-triples and Rogers snapped off quads.

Rogers' short program tonight will be performed to "Battle on the Ice" by Alexander Nevsky. He skates 10th out of the field of 18 men.

Most of tonight's drama, however, will be front-end loaded.

Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir will skate second and Evan Lysacek, who dethroned him last year, will perform fifth.

Ryan Bradley, last year's surprise runner-up, drew the 13th spot. Scott Smith, who calls Montgomery County's Sandy Spring his hometown, follows him.

Bel Air's Bosley sixth in junior ice dance

Pilar Bosley of Bel Air and partner John Corona of Glen Mills, Pa., finished sixth yesterday in the junior ice dance competition with a combined score of 144.37.

They were in third place after compulsories, then finished sixth in original dance and ninth in the free dance.

Madison and Keiffer Hubbell, a brother-and-sister team from Ohio, won with a score of 167.48.

The money game

They lost a $12 million network TV deal and don't have a title sponsor for their showcase event, but the leaders of U.S. Figure Skating say the budget is balanced and they expect to find a replacement for longtime sponsor State Farm Insurance.

Federation president Ron Hershberger and executive director David Raith offered their "State of the Skate" assessment yesterday morning at the national championships and pronounced themselves satisfied.

The combination of increased membership and fees, a $1.4 million infusion from the U.S. Olympic Committee, revenue from events, TV advertising, sponsorships and donations means the federation has a balanced budget, they said.

Raith said he was "very, very confident" that the federation will find a new sponsor for nationals -- worth $1 million annually -- explaining that he wanted a multi-year deal rather than a one and done.

A revenue sharing deal with NBC to televise nationals takes the federation through 2010. Raith said the federation sold all of its portion of the commercial time at this event.

In addition to broadcasting rights, they announced a deal with Comcast to televise national junior-level and synchronized competitions. The contract will run through the 2010 season.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 12:45 AM | Permalink
                    

Her picture is on the entrance doors of the Xcel Energy Center and a huge video of last year's winning national championship performance adorns the side of the arena on the corner of West 7th Street and Kellogg Boulevard.

But just show up with a wrongly issued credential and being Kimmie Meissner isn't enough to get inside for practice without some heavy-duty scrutiny.

"That's me," the Bel Air teen said to security personnel, pointing at one of her many likenesses. "I'm Kimmie Meissner. Really."

Really, indeed. Who else would want to be outside these days, where the morning temperature registers below zero and the wind chill subtracts from that. (The state motto is "L'Etoile du Nord," which reliable sources tell me translates to, "Flesh sticks to metal.")

After several minutes of wrangling, Meissner is allowed to go in and warm up for her 40-minutes of ice time.

Her identity crisis extends to the Internet. Despite having a password, she has been foiled in her attempts to log onto icenetwork.com, a product of U.S. Figure Skating, to watch video of U.S. men's champion Evan Lysacek.

"I wrote to them, 'I'm one of the skaters. I'm Kimmie Meissner.' I feel kind of silly," she said, grinning sheepishly.

There's been little publicity for her, but that's been of her own choosing. She's been ducking the press as she prepares to defend her title, taking a page from the Turin Olympic playbook of Sasha Cohen, who did her best Greta Garbo in the days leading up to competition.

However, Meissner's identity crisis ended at the Figure Skating Club of Minneapolis, which invited her to practice for free. Surrounded by admiring young skaters, Meissner seemed like her old self.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 11:19 AM | Permalink
                    

If Kimmie Meissner is worried about defending her U.S. title, she should take heart from the history book.

The last time a reigning women's champion was dethroned was in 1997 in Nashville, when Michelle Kwan stumbled in the long program, allowing 14-year-old Tara Lipinski to win the gold.

Lipinski continued her winning ways at the World Championships and at the 1998 Olympics, and each time Kwan was the runner-up. Order was restored at the U.S. championships in 1998 in Philadelphia, where Kwan beat Lipinski to begin a run of eight consecutive titles.

On the men's side, one needs only to turn the page back one year, when Evan Lysacek decisively broke Johnny Weir's string of three titles in Spokane, Wash., setting up this weekend's rematch.

Maryland skater fourth

Silver Spring's Kristine Musademba, 15, took fourth place in the junior championship competition, with a combined score of 143.86 points.

Her long program, skated to Duke Ellington's "Caravan," included a triple loop-double toe combination jump.

"I felt pretty good," she said. "It's a lot of pressure and I think I handled it well."

Alexe Gilles of Colorado Springs won the event.

Flocking to St. Paul

What do Republicans, figure skaters and pheasants have in common this year?

St. Paul, the city that often plays second-fiddle to big sister Minneapolis across the river.

Last week, 29,802 game-bird enthusiasts attended the Pheasants Forever "Pheasant Fest" national convention at the St. Paul RiverCentre, next door to the Xcel Energy Center.

This week, it's the skaters, some of whom favor feathers in their performance attire.

And unless the presidential primary season sorts things out, feathers may fly again in early September, when the Republican National Convention -- 45,000 strong -- will fill the arena and convention center.

Posted by Candus Thomson at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)