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Grand Prix Final 2000
It was mostly luck that made me a Rita and Povilas Fan.

After giving up watching figure skating in 1999, my friends and I happened upon the Grand Prix Finals 2000 being broadcast on TV. The Ladies Super Final was on and we watched Irina win the gold. Since there was nothing else on TV that afternoon (the other channels were showing movies and golf), we decided to stick around and watch the ice dance competition. We've never really been big followers of ice dance before, since the US is very focused on the singles competition.

The ice dancers for the first super final took the ice, and gave each other hugs. "Hey," I commented as I pointed to Povilas, "That guy's kind of cute." (Yes, I'm a girl, so the first thing I go for is cuteness. Is that a crime? ^_^) Everyone in the room tried to look closer, but alas, the broadcast broke to a commercial.

When the broadcast returned, Rita and Povilas took the ice. My friends asked me if those were the people I was talking about before, and I said yes. The commentators did their best with pronouncing their names, and when we tried, it was even worse.

"Pov... Pov... Va something... oh god, I don't even think I can make a dent on the lady skater's last name."

So we made do, and refreed to Povilas as "The PAA Guy". Rita's first name we could handle.

The skate was amazing, until the end where Povilas fell out from the end pose (even though we've never seen the program before, we didn't think it was supposed to end with "the PAA guy" falling on his hands. Of course, he tried to cover it up, but it was obvious to everyone.

"He fell at the end, but I don't think the judges are going to care." The commentator said. We agreed, it was just much too funny to call for a deduction. We wished we could see Rita's expression as he touched the ice, but we did see a big grin on his face as he got up.

After we found out they won this round, we were really excited. I decided to look up sites that had information on them, and found some great sites with lots of photos and information on them.

(a Rita and Pov sketch)

Our fandom grew as the time passed. I got a hold of a copy of "Winter Solstice on Ice" which has "Sweeney's Buttermilk" (somewhat distorted tracking, but we could make out most of the skating... I especially liked the part where Povilas was jumping on tables), and found more tid bits about Rita and Povilas, and even evolved to the point (after some practicing on our part) where we could pronounce their name without cracking up in laughter (our attempts varied from "funny" to "pathetic" in accuracy.)

Now Povilas and Rita have become real life bishonen and bishojo to us. Bishonen referring to the heroes in Japanese animation who are male and cute, while bishojo referred to bishonen's female counter part (the beautiful heroine). Their adorable yet deep personalities are really shining through their skating, and how they interact with their fans. One day I'd like to be lucky enough to meet them and give them both a big hug! ^_^

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