I Heart Mens Figure Skating

So the Olympics are on and Men's Short program was on last night and I of course stayed up late to watch it. I prefer men's figure skating to women's, I guess it's because I am more into the athleticism of the sport and not all that artsy parts (I do understand the importance of having both). I haven't been following figure skating as much as in the past because I've been busy with two kids so going into the Olympics I didn't know who was going to be there and whatnot. I was very excited to find out that the reigning men's gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko from Russia was coming back for another Olympics (his third he has a sliver and gold already). I love watching him because while his transitions are not the best, his jumps are awesome and he does the quad that so many other's don't because of the risk and being able to get enough points by doing the triple combinations, and he does them with some much ease. His footwork patterns are just as awesome in my opinion and obviously the judges still love him and his style because he is currently in 1st place followed closely by Naperville's own Evan Lysacek. Ya, I know I should be rooting for the hometown hero, but I have never really loved watching Evan, I don't know something about him irks me. I saw him live at Starts on Ice last year and yes he was amazing and I don't doubt he could win on Thursday and he is the whole package, but secretly I hope Evgeni wins, how awesome is two gold's in back to back Olympics? I wonder if Evan will throw his quad in his long program or play it safe? My money is on playing it safe, but if Evgeni is on and throws his quads in, Evan might be in trouble. So much controversy over the quad and the way it's scored and I love that Evgeni and a few others just don't care and go out there and throw them like their nothing. SO anyway Thursday is going to be very exciting to watch, the US should be in the medal stand for sure in less there is a complete disaster. Here is some video of both men, it's hard to compare them it's like comparing apples and oranges really very different styles.

This is not his current program, but it's my favorite of his, I actually used portions of this music for one of my own programs back in FS3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfBQBUxMx5Q

and here is the program you will see on Thursday night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vml3Nicr8

Here you can see Evan at US Nationals (which he didn't win this year) and him attempting the quad which he doesn't land, makes me think he won't put it in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0EjO9eSjE

and here he is when he won worlds without a quad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk_XL-1hoXc