MY ROOMMATE IS OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST!
Yes, I'm shouting, and I'll take the negs. My roommate Charlie White just won Olympic silver in ice dance. He skated unbelievably well with his partner Meryl Davis.
My other roommate, Evan Bates placed 11th with his partner Emily Samuelson.
These skaters train 6-7 hours per day (and still manage to find a way to surf Mgoblog for a few hours per day). I'm so proud of them and hope to be there with them in 2014 in the pairs skating event in Russia.
So now that I'm done freaking out, I've been the only one in my house since the Olympics started. Time to let loose. Party on Michigan Ave!
EDIT: A big thanks to all of the Mgoblog community for the support of the ice dancers. I know being that it's a tough thing to cheer for members of a sport like figure skating when you're coming to a blog like this for football/hockey/basketball/etc. We enjoy all other sports too. Charlie and I used to play travel/AAA hockey back in the day and Evan's played BBall and is talented at a lot of other sports. We have a great appreciation for what this blog brings to all of us.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 AM ^
But I heard they got robbed...
How true is that, anyway? Can anybody give an unbias opinion on their lack of gold with qualification as to why its unbias?
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:54 AM ^
They didn't get robbed. In my opinion the placement could have gone either way, so the point difference was a little too much. I think M/C are a little more athletic, but the Canadians make up for it with their emotion and classic ice-dancing skill.
We all train together, Meryl/Charlie, the Canadians, and a lot of up-and-comers (we have another roommate who's only Junior level and he is going to Junior Worlds in a couple weeks). It's crazy seeing everybody train everyday - having the most talented skaters in the world under one roof.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^
Alright, that's good then. I just wouldn't be happy if UM lost a gold to host-nation bias.
Congratulations to them then, and hopefully they can take over the top spot in 4 years.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
It's true-- apples and oranges. Meryl/Charlie & the Canadians skated gorgeously with very different styles. Glad to know they're great friends and happy for each other. Apples-oranges, gold-silver. What the heck. Olympic medals on their first try! And looking forward to seeing the rest of you up-and-comers.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 AM ^
No one better neg you, them winning an Olympic silver medal is pretty awesome. I don't know what to say, so congratulations on being their roommates.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^
I'll just refer to it as the second-place medal of alloy property.
Yes, I hate Ohio State that much.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^
Silver is not a color of tOSU, no more than "yellow" is one of ours (maize, bitches!). Their colors are scarlett & gray. And of course green, but only when delivered in briefcases. Duh.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^
Has Charlie ever hooked up with Davis? I can't be the only one who was wondering that...
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^
Unlikely.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 AM ^
Dude - the guy practically went down on her in the middle of the routine. I bet it HAD to have happened at least once.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:34 AM ^
Agreed, that ice can get pretty slippery.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 AM ^
They haven't hooked up
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 AM ^
Oh no you are not alone. And what about Tessa Virtue of Canada?
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:49 AM ^
I got a chance to date her over the summer...I don't know why she did that seeing that her last boyfriend was an Edmonton Oiler...she's got eyes for Sidney right now
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:50 AM ^
I thought Crosby was gay? But plus one to you sir for dating her!
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:29 AM ^
So Sidney Crosby's getting your sloppy seconds? Nice.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:33 AM ^
Woo double post
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^
It's been kind of a secret for a while (for obvious reasons) but I think it's OK to say this now: Charlie and Tanith have been dating for a while. So, no, he hasn't hooked up with Meryl.
But she did take me to a Tri-Delt date party! If only I could remember any of it...
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 AM ^
Thanks for the info, man. That's pretty crazy. Gotta love the mgoblog scoop.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:11 AM ^
Has A Crush On Meryl
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:13 AM ^
ahhh... Tri-Delts
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:26 AM ^
might as well, everyone else has
February 17th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
Tri Delt
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:09 AM ^
when you revealed that info...... :-(
lol, Charlie is lucky to be dating Tanith who is gorgeous.
Congrats to the 4 Michigan skaters, they represent Michigan as well as USA very well.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
That girl is bangin! I think I'd take her over an Olympic medal.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^
Please, don't let the Freep catch wind of this.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^
that's why i threw that out there...we (figure skaters) have been talking about the "restrictions" on NCAA athletes a lot this year and how it's a joke. if figure skaters are putting in 30-40 hours/week, you know football players are too. what a joke.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^
...unmentionable publication about the amount of time they spend training. Who knows how that would be spun?
EDIT: Alright Maize_and_Drew, you win... :)
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
I only beat you by 1 minute, so +1 to you.
Paranoid minds think alike.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:54 AM ^
They represented their country and UM very well. It was nice to see everyone skate error free and with no judging fiascos... are they General Studies students training 30-40 hours week?
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
it's funny you mention that. i guess the one good thing about being in a non-NCAA sport (trust me, we would all KILL to skate for UM but there's no official program for it) is the fact that we don't need to be full-time students. I've taken 4-5 classes/semester since my freshman year and am graduating this semester, but Charlie and Evan train more than I do, so they only take 1-2 classes/semester. They're in the "12-16 year program" lol. In my opinion, it's worth it.
They're definitely not general studies majors though, Charlie wants to go to law school eventually (I know, another 3-4 years on top of his 16??, he'll be a lawyer when he's 50) and Evan's not sure yet. They do work their asses off though.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 AM ^
He'd be a 50-year-old lawyer with a silver medal, and one who had dated Tanith Belbin. There are probably worse lives.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^
My roommate captained the UM hoops team in the 80s and graduated at the top of UM's law school. Rob Pelinka followed him and now represents some guy named Kobe Bryant. It's a decent living,lol...
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:02 AM ^
What do you wanna be when you grow up?
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
Who knows? I just recently accepted a job with Accenture...word on the street is they're looking for someone new to sponsor. Let's see where that takes me.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:56 AM ^
Go Blue S A
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:59 AM ^
I love figure skating... I really do. Ever since I was a kid.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:42 AM ^
... until I see it in MSPaint.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:04 AM ^
Thanks for giving us an opportunity to pass on our congrats semi-directly! Both teams were terrific. And yes, even though ice-dancing has tried to get their judging act together (they were notorious in the old days for their nefarious favoritism), it seemed here that once the order was established in the early rounds, the actual points seemed to go along with the standings and/or skating order. Not an expert, but even listening to the commentator, who would compare a team with a previous one, saying their swizzles weren't together or their footwork as complex, the later team would get the higher score. But they did us all proud, wherever they landed.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:59 AM ^
It was rather remarkable, that they all set season highs, in order... If by remarkable, you mean fishy...
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
I would think that two things would combine to cause that:
1. If you can't get up to leave it all out there for the Olympics, why bother?
2. Once a certain level of judging has been set, it should (if things are really fair) carry on throughout the competition. Sometimes judging is tight and they'll be nitpicking for tiny details, other times it's not. It's only fishy if the rules aren't applied equally. Think superstar fouling in the NBA.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^
1. The last Olympics was still an Olympics too, and it featured people falling on their ass all over the place due to the pressure, and I don't recall the scores, but I at least don't remember every skater setting a new SEASON high, one after the other. (But for the latter part, FWIW).
2. And the problem with judging, and particularly the new judging system, that's so arcane, is that we NEVER know if the rules are applied equally. Even the OP, who knows way more about it than me, and who did think it was fair, thought the score should have been closer...that he didn't think that there was that big a difference. Till International Figure Skating can come up with something transparent, I'll always be a little suspicious. Especially in a week where Canada is getting shit on left and right for failure, and Russian is putting up a stink over an American winning. The Olympics is politics.
But as I said, we'll never know. It just hasn't been tradition that NBC's money curries a lot of favor for Americans in the international athletic community.
And Davis and White did the best they could under the system as it's set up. They set personal highs left and right. If that wasn't good enough for the judges, well, that's on them.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^
Some people handle the pressure better than others. We saw that with the American women in gymnastics, too -- one screws up and the other follow suit, even though it really is separate from them (though the scores don't keep ratcheting up neatly as you go along). Either the mental pressure causes them to falter, or they decide "I'm going to make sure to be extra perfect so I don't fall!" and then don't perform as they have practiced.
Plus four years is a long time for score comparison. You would hope a young team would improve over that span.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:25 AM ^
Congrats to both of them, as well as Evan and Emily for being in contention. My roommates were only Olympic level alcoholics :-(.
More seriously, you should tell them that they just arguably turned a bunch of football loving men into Ice Dance watchers. That right there is pretty damn impressive.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:08 AM ^
Do Charlie and Evan think the blog is accurate?
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:21 AM ^
they were so pumped when they made the title of one of the main articles by Brian the other day. that's when you know you make it big...
O Let Do It.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:10 AM ^
Now go socialize with some actual humans. Stop talking to make believe people on the interwebz! Your roommate just won an Olympic medal. Go flip a car over on South U, burn a couch or something.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:18 AM ^
I can keep studying for my engineering exam tomorrow so I don't fail a class that I need to graduate this semester (while i refresh this page every minute or so)
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:00 AM ^
That's what MGoBlog is for!!
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:15 AM ^
Brian keeps an MGoExams archive somewhere around here, doesn't he?