Johnny, we really missed ye.

Johnny Weir made a resounding return to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, an event he has won three times, and stands in third place going into Sunday's free skate.

If all goes well Sunday, Weir should be a lock for his second Olympic team -- in the 2006 Games, he was second after a career-best short program but dropped to finish fifth -- along with Jeremy Abbott and Evan Lysacek, 1-2 after Friday's short program. Weir skated to the music "I Love You, I Hate You."

While Abbott won over the crowd with a smooth program, Weir drew the second-biggest cheers of the night as the competition's sentimental favorite. True to flamboyant form, Weir wore the most startling costume of the night: a black top, with pink laces down the front and a pink tassel on one shoulder. The material? Partly "oil-slicked Lycra, is what I call it."

Weir contemplated quitting after last season, where inconsistent results culminated in fifth place at the 2009 U.S. championships. He did not qualify for the three-person world championship team.

"The world was absolutely falling down on me," he said.

Now he's back, and just as Johnny as ever -- smart, funny, self-deprecating, honest. A sampling from the press conference following his short program:

On his performance: "I'm very happy with how today went. I'm so excited that all the hard work done in the past few months I was able to put that product on the ice. I'm rocking my pink tassle with no abandon."
"When you have an audience standing and screaming the entire way for a short program (and) for every element you do...to have that kind of emotion coming at you from every direction in the building, it's the most amazing sensation you can get as a sportsman…It made me regret ever thinking of not even trying this season."

On skating costumes: "To sum up my idea of on-ice costume fashion sense, it's probably that too much is never enough. And on Sunday I am wearing fur."

On his comeback: "Comparing tonight with last year, there is no comparison, other than the fact that I was on the ice and in a sparkly costume. I'm in a completely different place mentally and physically and all of those things are paying off. And I'm really feeling now that I can do this, I can go to the Olympics, I can challenge the top skaters in the world and bring home a medal for my country."

On his Sunday free skate costume: "I'm wearing fur. Literally, there is fox on my costume."

On PETA: "PETA has been up my butt since the 2006 Olympic Games. I get postcards and nasty hate mail and videotapes of animals being skinned. And while I feel bad and I understand their side of things, I still take my little autograph cards I have, I sign my name, I draw a chipmunk with Xs on its eyes, and I sent it back. Don't attack me for a personal choice. You're protecting animals, we have soldiers dying all around the world, and you know, choose your battles. Don't pick on me."

On what Lady Gaga, his inspiration, would say: "I'd say tonight I am almost speechless, in those terms. With my performance, I felt very fantastic and very aware and very diva tonight. I think I represented myself well, I think if Lady Gaga would ever see it she would be very proud."