30 Days of Skating - Day 29: Your favorite figure skater of all time

There is no way that I'm picking just one for overall... but one for each discipline (other than synchro)? Sure!

Ladies

The one and only Michelle Kwan. She will forever be the queen of figure skating, as far as I am concerned.


Men

Daisuke Takahashi. (Really, did you expect anyone else? :P)


Pairs

Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao. Their story is essentially skating's version of a fairy tale. (If you haven't yet, read The Second Mark for their life stories up until about 2003.)

Ice Dance

Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani. I've only become a fan recently, but going back and watching videos of them when they were younger, I've realized how insane it is that I haven't paid much attention to them until this season. They are a gorgeous team and I truly look forward to seeing them continue to improve in the years to come.

*Note: I just looked back and realized that all of the skaters I listed are Asian or of Asian descent, haha. I guess that's telling about my taste and how skating has shifted in power in recent years.

30 Days of Skating - Day 28: Favorite & least favorite costume

While I've seen plenty of insanely bad costumes over my years of watching skating, there is one costume that has been seared in my brain. I remember seeing this Emanuel Sandhu costume one season (which season it was, I can't recall) and watching him do that much hated A-frame spin. Word to the wise: banana colored spandex and A-Frame spins are never a good combo.

On the other end of the spectrum, here's a handful of my favorite skating costumes (though I'm sure I'm forgetting some others).

Johnny Weir: "Otonal" costume, '04 -'05

Daisuke Takahashi: "Eye" costume (2nd or 3rd costume), '09-'10

Michelle Kwan: "The Feeling Begins" costume, '02-'03

Sasha Cohen: "Romeo & Juliet" costume (2nd version), '05-'06

What are your favorite costumes? Comment with a link to a picture of it or a video of the skater performing in it!

30 Days of Skating - Day 12: 5 Favorite Ladies Skaters

Well, sort of. I haven't had many ladies favorites for the last few years, as the discipline seemed to deteriorated in general and with the lion's share of skating coverage on the web (and when live, at strange times depending on where the competition is held), I haven't been watching it nearly as much as I used to. There are a few recent ladies skaters that are undeniably excellent (Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada), but none of them have really captured capture me like the living legend that is Michelle Kwan.

I started watching Michelle when I was still really little - I was only 6 years old when she claimed silver in Nagano.  But as I have mentioned before, while I did watch some skating even then, I only became a die hard fan after the 2002 Olympics and unfortunately, by then Michelle had already started skipping the Grand Prix most of the time, so I don't remember as many of her performances as I would like. I know that naming Michelle Kwan as your favorite skater is really rather typical of a skating fan, but there's a reason she is so beloved; she truly skated with passion and heart. She consistently not only gave solid technical programs, but really gave you an honest, emotional performance. By doing that, Michelle engaged the heart of many of those watching, at home or live. I think that is what makes her so utterly unforgettable, more than her status as the most decorated American ladies skater of all time. I am not the crying type, but she's made me burst into tears during her performances so, so many times. There really is just some sort of magic to her skating. I think one of my few regrets about Michelle's career is that she never won that elusive Olympic gold medal; I can't think of any recent ladies' skater who has deserved it more than she does, and I am quite sure that I am not the only one who misses the days when she was competing.

30 Days of Skating - Day 3: Favorite skating spectatorship moment

Going to Champions on Ice and Kimmie's Angels on Ice in my hometown was really nice, especially getting to meet skaters like Johnny Weir and Jeffrey Buttle, and their skating is exquisite live.

As for competitive spectatorship, I've never gotten to go to a figure skating competition that my sister or I weren't competing in, so these will be based on video spectatorship only.( And of course, I really can't pick only one moment.)

• Johnny Weir winning his 2004 and 2005 National titles
• Daisuke Takahashi winning World silver and then dominating most of the following season.
•  Daisuke Takahashi coming back after a career threatening injury to win the 2010 Olympic bronze medal AND the World title the following month.
• Jeffrey Buttle putting all the puzzle pieces together at 2008 Worlds to win his World title. 
• Almost everytime Michelle Kwan took to competitive ice.