Are you watching? What's your favorite story (so far)?

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2002

Answers

Skeleton. This has to be the most gratuitous of all the oddball Winter Olympics sports (I'm thinking of curling in particular at this point). As far as I can understand it, it's simply the luge event, only you go down the course head-first instead of feet-first. That's comedy, right there.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

We watched the pairs skating last night and saw those Canadians get robbed. That was very sad. They were so happy and then so devastated, and they did what seemed to me to be a great job. Of course, I am no judge.

So far, I have most enjoyed the men's K90 ski jump. I don't understand how someone LEARNS to do that.

I also was excited to see the American snowboarders win it all. Because you know they were all like "Dude! No. Yes. You, Dude. DUDE!" about it!

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

On the Today Show they had some poor newswoman out there trying to learn how to ski jump. You know how they do it? On a dry ramp, right into a swimming pool.

I am always touched when I see that commercial with Jimmy Shea and his dad and grandpa, knowing what happened to the old man.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I've not really been watching, but I have to confess a cuh-raaaaaazy girl crush on Hannah Hardaway, yall. She's just precious. I would switch to the pink team in two seconds. Gramm who?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

It's the power of the name, PG. No one can help but love a Hannah.

I'm still bitter they let snowboarding in. Not because I don't think it's a real sport, but because snowboarders scare me. There's a reason I only ski Alta.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I loved the snowboarders. What cracked me up was the commentary - it was all - whoa! Check out his amp, dude!

The figure skating? Olympic drama at it's best. The Americans also kicked serious ass and shouldn't have been SIXTH.

Did you watch the speed skating? Where the Canadian, the gold favorite, bit it after like 5 meters?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Ohh, poor Jeremy Wotherspoon. The luck has not been with Canada so far. But Elvis will cure all. I love Elvis.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I am greatly looking forward to the bobsled, possibly the greatest winter event. Well, maybe next to the ski jumping.

Last night we were flipping between the skating and the Dog Show. How much do I want a dog right now?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Dog Show! Was it the one in Orlando that keeps getting repeated? Cute dogs although once again I'm starting to think our cocker spaniel is a mutant with his long nose and flat head and straight hair.

The Americans (Ina and Zimmerman) were fifth. Not to be nit picky.

Dude, that guy that bit it after 5 meters? Is there something about speed skating I don't understand involving falling. Isn't it good sportsmanship to get up and finish even if you know you won't win?

Hannah, are you HA-nah or HAHN-a? Cause that HAHN-a thing is irking me but I don't want to insult you. Though I may just have. Heh, I'm all tact.

On this list I'm on? This girl shared how she is friends with a girl whose mother, a member of the US female curling team, is the oldest female Olympic athelete at the games. Which lead to a discussion of how if curling is an Olympic sport then bowling is next and the fat bastards will take over. And she lost her shit, going on and on about how much more skill curling takes, due to the 42 pound weight and speed and coordination of the sweeping, compared to the luge where you just lay there. She even brought up a luge guy's Big White Sausage nickname.

And, you know, I have no issue with curling as a sport. But can you DIE if you fall down in curling? Probably not. But if you fuck up in luge? Your head may be a little crushed grape of former headness. And if your sport involves a BROOM? Perhaps you should buy a sense of humor.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Hee. Curling I do not get. If it doesn't get televised in primetime no one cares, right?

Right, the Americans were fifth, but STILL. They skated much better than the 4th place Russians.

I'm the former, and so is naked Hannah. I hate HAHN-ah. It reminds me of Ahndrea from 90210.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

It reminds me of an overweight German woman.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Slickery -- Jeremy Wotherspoon did skate the second race even with no hope of winning, for what it's worth.

And the luge -- did anyone see the clip on the Flying White Sausage (that's der Fligende Weisswurst, or something similar, in German, for those who care) where his coach was saying, "You're supposed to get out of the way, and I didn't get out of the way, and the luge came along and sliced part of my leg off"? He was very matter-of-fact about it. Apparently he designs every luge course worth, er, luging. But, wow.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I saw that. SO glad we didn't get footage of that. I was freaked enough that they showed the footage of that former downhill gold medal skier who wrecked so badly he now has brain damaged.

Well good for him skating the second race. It does matter because I was all "WAH big baby finish the fucking race!" Now I take it all back. Like he cares.

I think I shall start calling myself SHAH-ron so I can be like HAHN- a. Except not.

Anyone else see the follow up regarding HAHN-a's parents' bar in Vermont? Apparently Costas said, "Everyone in (the bar) should get a round on the house!" Last night they did a live follow up with the bartender. All the patrons looked at him and he said it was on him because Vermont has a no free drinks rule. So Costas told him to stay on the satellite line, he'd pay and give a big tip (bill was like 160, he was giving him 250) and buy another round for everyone there last night. I love Bob Costas. I want to have 50 million of his babies.

Though I do wonder what his expense report for that will say.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I saw that too Slickery. I laughed when the bartender said he then had to tip himself.

Some luge coach got his leg sliced off?? I didn't hear about that.

Some of those speed skaters are hot though, no?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Canada always gets screwed in international figure skating. Bourne and Krantz, now these two - how can you get the highest score and then be placed in second place? I hate sports that have such subjective judging, where things like costumes and your hair matter - I'm lookin' at you, Women's Gymnastics.

Bob Costas is a horse's ass. A round on the house isn't free, anyway - the house, ie small business owners, who don't earn millions a year, pay for it. It is always nice to see a wealthy man suggest the little guy pick up the tab.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

I thought the Canadians got scored down because they bought those slate grey outfits at Banana Republic instead of Sequined Figure Skating Uniform Palace, no?

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Bob Costas is a horse's ass. A round on the house isn't free, anyway - the house, ie small business owners, who don't earn millions a year, pay for it. It is always nice to see a wealthy man suggest the little guy pick up the tab.

Well, if he did pay for it, that should redeem him somewhat. Though $250 for two rounds of drinks? That bar must have been almost empty.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Woot. I love the Olympics.

Casey Fitzrandolph, the hot speedskater of whom you speak, I do believe, IS FROM MY STATE. HE LIVES LIKE, TEN MILES FROM ME. Woo. Ookay. That's my little brush with fame.

Also, Wotherspoon did finish his race when he bit it. Just they do it slowly, cuz there's no point in taxing yourself anymore than need be. I guess it's a lot of work to skate that fast or something. ;)

Also..the bar owner said the first round was like, 160 or something like that. I thought that was low, too. BUT..he may have been talking about his actual costs, not the inflated price of an amaretto sour or whatever.

Tab or not, Bob Costas is a total dork.

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

Picabo getting 16th was sad. She was Idaho's pride and joy, the only thing besides standoffs with feds and potatoes we have ever been famous for, and to go out like that was just sickening.

I *heart* the Canadian skaters too. They got totally screwed over.

The snowboarder boys kicked butt, and the chica in the halfpipe. Does this prove that American Kids are slackers because we owned the snowboard events? o_0

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2002

The lessons I have learned from The Olympics so far:

1. There comes a point were good sense should outweigh pride. Poor Picabo Street and Todd Aldredge.

2. Computers need to start judging figure skating. "Skategate" is officially on. According to a story on ESPN.com, there may be some substance to the allegations of collusion.

3. If we can get more X-Game style events into the Olympics the US could win a lot more medals. Anyone want to champion the fight for skateboarding and the BMX half-pipe in the Summer Olympics?

Not like I'm not watching every second, though.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

I love the Canadians. Saw their interview last night and they're so gracious. And cute!

Yeah, Poor Todd AND Elvis. Both of them should've hung up their skates after '98. (And how creepy was that other American guy? His smile gave me the willies.)

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

I felt terrible for Todd Eldredge too, but I thought Elvis did a lovely job. (Lamest Deduction ever -- .3 for "holding an edge"? Boo.) And he's going to pay Bruce Lee tribute on Thursday! Ah, Elvis, bringing pride to mullet owners everywhere.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

He WAS going to pay tribute to Bruce Lee. He won't be skating the long program.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

This is slightly embarrassing, but long long ago my husband was an amateur BMXer and was active in trying to get the sport into the Summer Olympics. Back then, the official explanation was not enough people in countries outside the US participate in the sport. There must be snowboarders from Sweden and Norway, but I guess they suck at it since the Americans dominated. They interviewed the three kids who won the medals on the Today Show this morning, and they were all, "Dude, like, first I did the Air 720 right into a Reverse Double 99 and, like, I think that won the medal for me." Speaking a different language!

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

I know. I love it. I think the only other "contender" was that Finnish kid with the mohawk.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

He WAS going to pay tribute to Bruce Lee. He won't be skating the long program.

What!?! NOO!!!! Hannah, where did you hear that? I checked both CBC and TSN, and both talked about his "long shot" on Thursday.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought only the top 6 skaters after the short program got to skate the long program.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

I think what it is is they divide the skaters into groups, as determined by the short program standings, and you find out when you go within your group. Because of the judging trick of holding high scores till the end, skaters want to go in the last group. The last group for pairs was the top 4, I think, so Ina and Zimmerman were disappointed to finish 5th, since it meant they were in the next-to- last, rather than the last, group for the long program. Same with Elvis: he wanted to finish in the top 6 (the last group for the men) and finished 7th, so he's the highest ranking skater in the next-to- last group.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

Okay, either nobody watched the men's moguls yesterday or you're all just too afraid to go there on the commentators...

"So!ooo! Here we are! in Deer Valley, Utah! The weather today is justht Sthpec!Tacular!" I was waiting for one of them to introduce themselves as Mango, or Jack from Will & Grace.

It's very hard to take those two men seriously when you are watching those cute little mogulers in their Old Navy cargo pants. I mean, a Nathan Lane-quality lisp announcing this Manly Man event, and the cracking up every time they say something like "He really got his kneeth to abthorb the bumpth on THAT one, didn't he, Thkip?" or "Thethe boyth know... you jutht HAVE to keep your kneeth together if you want to go for the gold!"

I'll just bet you do.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

After getting home from work at 8:15 last night, watching the rest of Gilmore Girls and then Buffy and then the Westminster Dog Show on Tivo Super Fast Forward (heh, that walking tribble dog killed me) I fell asleep trying to watch the TiVod figure skating. I saw Micheal Weiss do his typical "good but not great", the Japanese guy NAIL a quad and I saw that freaky Goebell nail his (that kid's hair bothers me) and I watched Kulike (or however it is spelled) throw snow in the air far too many times and his Russian rival fuck up his quad and annoy me with his Michael Jackson routine then I went to bed. My boy Elvis isn't in the top 6? Man, Elvis is HOT. Todd Eldredge has never had a chance to win a medal even when he wasn't 30 and unable to land a quad. He's just not that good, he's popular and popular isn't the same as good.

The only part of the moguls I saw was that guy who got hurt and that wigged me so rog is watching it this morning without me. And then I saw Picabo's scar and that wigged me too. Seriously, I don't need to see scars and then the accident that caused them. I believe that they are hurt.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

the american kid that is in 3rd in the figure skating(goebel?) is a bit of a spaz. he did the extremely gay hand wave* to the camera while he was waiting for his scores. and if i remember right, he was clutching a teddy bear. however he can nail the shit out of a quad.

*the extremely gay hand wave (EGHW) involves waving from the sitting position with the elbow of your waving hand attached to your hip. the user must sit bolt upright and put both knees together while giving either 2 or 3 rapid side-to-side waves of the cupped hand.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

droogie, I find your assessment to be perfect.

That kid was crazy with his Backstreet hair. And I know he was wearing make-up.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

Slickery, I'll (reluctantly) cede you Elvis if I can have Peter Tchernyshev (male half of the American ice dance team).

I'm rooting for Timothy Goebel because of Frank Carroll (his coach).

See, I don't want to make fun of anyone's diction. I think I brought shame on myself for snickering at Jamie Salé's pronounciation of "about." In the spirit of being a better person -- and because I missed most of the moguls -- I offer no commentary.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

WG, I'm so not knocking on lisps or speech impediments in general. I swear!

I'm knocking on the affectations of the commentator who sounds like he'd prefer to be commentating on ice dancing -- or maybe emceeing the 2002 Tonys pre-show.

Or, as droogie might say (see above), the EGC.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

No, PG, I know. It is my own shame.

On the other hand, I nearly cried myself when I found out that when S&P went back to Canada House (how cool is that? I want to live in Canada house and eat ketchup-flavoured potato chips all day long!) and everyone sang "O Canada" for them.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

NBC showed S&P at the Canada House last night. She was crying. She even cries beautifully, I hate her. No puffy red eyes, no runny nose.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

Okay, I've been wondering this:

Figure skating and ice dancing are different, right? If that's the case, then why isn't ballroom dancing an event in the Summer Olympics?

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2002

That's a very good question. Because I know I'd watch it.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

Screw ballroom -- make Scottish country dancing an Olympic sport. For one, when someone screws up, it can become very obvious very fast (as in, people colliding, falling out of the set, getting lost). For two, the men all wear kilts. For three, it would mean the announcers would have to say things like "Ian Powrie's Farewell to Auchterarder." And finally, if the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society isn't at ISU-ish levels of bickering, in-fighting, and catty gossip yet, it would be within days.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

I believe ballroom dancing IS an Olympic sport now. I know they have been petitioning for years, and I think last year, they made it in. So, next summer Olympics it will be in.

Am I making this up? I think I heard it on the radio.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

I thought ballroom dancing was an Olympic Sport too. It makes me sad to think so...but I was also downright pissed off in 2000 when the women's track coverage had NO throws events covered, and was cut due to the synchronized trampoline final. I even stayed up that night watching the rehash of everything that started at midnight to make sure I didn't miss Dawn Ellerby or one of the like throwing the hammer, and I did. NBC can **** off because of their programming decisions...who preempts one of the oldest sports inthe world for little girls in spandex on tramampolines?

$#@$#@!$#!

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

I have only one thing to say: Bode Miller is my boyfriend.

Mmmmm.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

Figure skating and ice dancing are extremely different except for the ice, the bad costumes and the fucked judging.

Pairs figure skating is basically singles with throws. They have to do certain jumps and spins but they are actually increased in difficulty because they are supposed to be perfectly in synch with their partner. They also have to do a certain number of throws and lifts.

Ice dancing is not allowed to do jumps or throws, lifts have to be more moderate, less atheletic, and the partners have to be touching each other for something like 85% of the time. Oh, and they aren't allowed to lay on the ice anymore due to a rash of "I am so depressed I'm laying on this ice" routines a few years ago. It basically is supposed to be ballroom dancing on ice. And the juding is WAY more fucked than the already fucked judging in figure skating.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

Bode Miller doesn't even have a high school diploma.

But I guess AB has a thing for sexy and dumb.

Hooknose!

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

To which I can only reply: Mmmmm. Bode. Yummy.

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2002

Two Olympic pairs figure skating golds? *cough*Bullshit*cough*

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2002

Ditto, Tami. I think that is totally bullshit. If they were going to give it to Sale and Pelletier, they should have taken it from the Russians. IMHO it cheapens all Olympic gold medals.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

I thought they should have yanked the gold from the Russians as well. My mind was changed when I heard a commentator (I think) say that they let the Russians keep the gold because when they threw out the French judge's score, the whole thing was a dead tie. Is that true? If so, I guess they did the right thing. And I guess that's the whole point of having an odd number of judges.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Technically, if the long program was a "dead tie," then it should have been decided by the short program, which the Russians won. I don't think there's a good case for throwing out the Russians' medals -- if they got their medals under political circumstances, so did S&P. I think giving them both gold medals is the equivalent of saying, "You both did well enough that any attempt on our parts to pick a winner is just going to result in more infighting, so let's give everyone gold medals."

If they do reform the judging so that there's more emphasis on jumps, that will make the skating more of a sport, at least; but there's no hope for ice dance, as best I can see.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

I dig the ice dancing and the pairs figure skating, but I'm saying, if I'm wearing skates in the Olympics I want to be in the type of contest where the fastest one wins and they have computers to take finish line pictures.

I have never heard: did S&P get to keep their silver medals when they got their gold medals?

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Nope - they're selling 'em on eBay.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

Ebay? HAHAHA!!

I heard that their silver medals were plated gold.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

This is what I love and hate about the Winter Olympics.

A US bobsledder won a gold medal yesterday. She took the sport up TWO MONTHS AGO! So, after two months of training, she becomes the first African American to win a Winter Gold Medal, the first women's bobsledder to win a gold medal, and ends the 46 year US medal drought for bobsled as a whole.

Do you think I could take up curling right before the next Olympics?

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

Just to clarify, I was in no way making a comment about the athelete, who I'm sure has worked very hard to get where she has, but about how some of the Olympic sports incorporate elements of other sports, thus calling into question its uniqueness.

Like the bobsled. Take one track star and one NASCAR driver, through in an ice track and a figerglass volkwagon rabbit convertable and, wa- la, one bobsled team.

It's not like the US hockey team is looking at people who got cut from the basketball team as possible replacements.

But I like that sort of "It's about inate athletic ability" sense to the Olympics.

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002

The firefighter from Central Ohio won silver in the skeleton. That was cool. But I was only half watching - why is snow bad?

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

I would imagine snow is bad because, on an ice track, it would create friction and slow down the sled.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

See? That's why we keep him around.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

I thought they should have yanked the gold from the Russians as well. My mind was changed when I heard a commentator (I think) say that they let the Russians keep the gold because when they threw out the French judge's score, the whole thing was a dead tie. Is that true? If so, I guess they did the right thing. And I guess that's the whole point of having an odd number of judges.

The problem is that they decided to give the Canadians the gold and call it a draw with the Russians before figuring out how that was, technically, possible. In fact, I'm not sure if they've even settled that question.

The thing is that it sets a precendent, thus leading to the slew of whining that's plagued Salt Lake City over the past few days.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

1. Do the Russians have a point or is it all sour grapes?

2. What did you think of the closing ceremony?

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

The Olympics left a bad taste in my mouth. I became disallusioned with the dual nature of the message of the Olympics. For two weeks we watched althete profile after athlete profile that highlighted the fact that they did what they did, not for personal gain or glory or medals, but because they loved what they did. The implied message being that, since sports is a metaphor for life, we should take a cue from these athletes and try to live a life, not based on material desires or fame, but out of a desire to be the best person we could be.

But these Winter Olympics proved to be a poor metaphor for life and sold out the Olympic message. What we learned from these Olympics was that if you give everything you have and do your best but don't win, complain. And the sad thing is, this wasn't coming from the atheletes, But from everyone surrounding the athletes.

Apollo Ohno summed up the true Olympic ideal, when he said, after getting knocked down only ten yards from a gold medal, hey, that's life. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, sometimes if just doesn't happen for you. Which is a sentiment that I'm sure many writers, actors, etc can relate to.

But what everyone else; the coaches, politicians, many Olympic fans, believe in is that the payoff is the goal. That the attempt means nothing if you don't get what you deserve.

Now, it may be that the Olympics have been like this for years now and I just didn't pick up on it, but realizing it now has certainly been a letdown.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Disclaimer: I spent way too much time watching these Games, far more than I thought I would. And I don't have cable.

That said, I think the Olympics are a bad idea: they're too political to be proper celebrations of sport. The figure skating this time was the tip of the iceberg, if you consider, say, the forced or unwitting doping of East German competitors, or the fact that North Korea fielded a team in Sydney. North Korea, where much of the population is, oh, STARVING, is spending money on training, clothing, representing athletes, but hey, it's the Olympics.

(It's also the sunshine policy, which does not seem to be bringing any sort of results, but that would mean a long digression.)

And that's not even getting into both Atlanta and Salt Lake City (a) employing various bribes and schemes to get the Olympics in the first place and (b) kicking out their homeless population once the Olympics got there. (Atlanta actually bused them out; Salt Lake confined them all to one big shelter.) Now, granted, this could happen with any major public event. But the Olympics has swollen to the idea that cities look upon it as a big economic and political panacea, which it isn't (case in point: Montreal). So you can just imagine what will happen in Beijing in '08.

Why this applies to the Olympics and not, say, the World Cup, which is a bigger deal in many countries, I'm not sure. Maybe because the World Cup is not as big a deal in the US, and thus there's less advertising/TV revenue money to factor in. Also because the World Cup is hosted by countries, not cities, so there's no one particular place for everyone to congregate.

I don't know. I teared up when Jean-Claude Killy was announced during the opening ceremonies, because I've been to concerts at what was the speed-skating track at the '68 Winter Olympics. And I choked up when Jim Shea was on the medal podium, and Alisa Campbell broke down after singing "Advance Australia fair," and so on. But I do wonder if the Olympics aren't just weighted down with too much political baggage now to really be a worthwhile competition.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Why this applies to the Olympics and not, say, the World Cup, which is a bigger deal in many countries, I'm not sure.

Whoa, sailor. The England-Argentina quarterfinal in 1998 had an awful lot of political overtones. As did the USA-Iran first-round game. And that's just off the top of my head.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

True enough. And the Colombia own-goal scorer got shot, and English hooliganism, etc. Maybe the American media doesn't report on the political implications of World Cup games. Obviously, this year, even the venue has political overtones up the wazoo, but the two countries seem to be getting along for the time being.

I would say two things. One, unlike figure skating (or gymnastics, or any of the other judged Olympic sports), there's less room for the politics to get onto the field of play. The other would be that world football is a little like Olympic hockey -- as in, many of the players go out and play for foreign leagues, and then come back and play for their country, as opposed to representing their country every time they play. Fans can generally accept that Fabien Barthez, for one example, can play for an English team professionally and still represent France in the World Cup. To me that takes some of the political edge off of the competition; it's easier to accept that "France" as a rubric for a team is just as much a construct as "Manchester United."

Does that make sense?

Maybe I'm just bitter because, as George Vecsey reminded me in today's Times, my city hosted The Tacky Games.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

It does make sense -- but I just think that the World Cup has different kind of pressures that likewise keep it from being a proper celebration of sport.

I mean, I watch World Cup soccer because the stakes are so high -- but they're too high when a player is killed by his countrymen because of an own goal. Much like in the Olympics, the stakes are too high when skating judges conspire, or -- to center on the athletes -- when Jean Racine dumps one partner and tries to dump another to have a better chance of gold in the women's bobsled.

In general, though, I thought the Olympics were a great example of sports, especially the lower-profile sports. At the Closing Ceremonies, you can march in with whomever you choose rather than other members of your country's team, and one of the U.S. women's skeletonors (I'm sure that's not the right term, but I'm using it anyway) talked about how much fun it would be to march into the stadium with the rest of the skeleton athletes from other countries.

That's what the Olympics, at least ideally, is all about.

And on a final note, if North Korea hadn't spent the money on the Olympics, it's not like it was going to spend it on food for the starving people either.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

But what everyone else; the coaches, politicians, many Olympic fans, believe in is that the payoff is the goal. That the attempt means nothing if you don't get what you deserve.

That bothered me as well. It's why I was annoyed when they awarded the duplicate gold to the Canadian pairs skaters.

I'm no skating guru, but it didn't seem to my untrained eye that the Canadians did so much better than the Russians. The Russian program looked more difficult, the Canadians made fewer mistakes. Six of one, half a dozen of another. I understand that if the French judge threw her vote, the whole result of the competition is in dispute, and so I'm not losing any sleep about it. But...

I was really bothered by the notion that the Canadians skated their best and made no mistakes; ergo, they should get the gold medal. Hey, sometimes the world doesn't work like that. Sometimes you do your best and it's just not quite good enough to take first place. There's no shame in that. A silver medal is a pretty awesome thing. When did that not become good enough for figure skating?

Again, I think that was the exception, not the rule. One thing that struck me about these Winter Games was how happy everybody looked, especially on the medal podium. The bronze medalists were smiling as widely as the gold medalists. And I agree with the MOC that Ohno's attitude after his first race was a great example of the athletic ideal -- hey, sometimes bad things happen, but life goes on.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

It bothered me that the deciding factor in the whole Skategate affair was public opinion.

I'm not a skating judge, and neither was the audience in that arena. I seriously doubt that many of the audience who saw that could explain what goes into arriving at a technical merit score. I have a feeling most people's response to the affair is "The Canadiens looked better, so they should have won"

And that is not a reason to change what is done. It goes against the whole nature of why we learn and who teaches us. We let English teachers decide what we should read in class because if it was based on popular opinion we would all be reading Harry Potter and John Grisham novels in school.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

For the record, I'm fairly certain that Jill Bakken dumped her teammate for Venetta Flowers two months before the race (hence MOC's thinking that Flowers had only been in training for two months -- I think it was actually that those two had only been training together for two months); she just did it with more class than Racine did, apparently, and the prior relationship with her teammate hadn't been as strong as Racine's was. I'd have to re-track down the story about Bakken, but it was on ESPN's website.

But it points to the fundamental conflict at the Olympics: the win- for-your-country motif versus the fair-sportsmanship motif. In a weird way it reminds me of the tragedy of the commons: if all the countries but one is committed to sportsmanship and fair play, and the one is committed to win at all costs, that one rogue may benefit in terms of medals, but the Oympics (the commons) is diminished and everyone suffers. And when the commons keepers are shown to be no angels themselves, that only exacerbates the problem.

Figure skating judging is just a mess. The same problem that afflicted the pairs' free skate, as best I could tell, also hit the women's free skate -- to some judges' minds, it seemed, the technical difference between Sarah Hughes (who landed all her jumps and was the first woman to land two triple-triples in Olympic competition) and Irina Slutskaya (who skated well, but neither performed as difficult a routine nor landed all her jumps as cleanly) was one-tenth of a point, 5.8 to 5.7. That's just silly.

The problem with the pairs' skate was that everyone went in expecting to see judging problems, thanks to the Nagano ice dance scandal, and saw exactly what they were prepared to see.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

And on a final note, if North Korea hadn't spent the money on the Olympics, it's not like it was going to spend it on food for the starving people either.

True enough. To some degree it depends on whether you think competing at the Olympics at all "legitimizes" a country or not. Obviously Iran still gets to walk on while the Olympics are one of the few bodies left that prefers to call Taiwan "Chinese Taipei" (i.e. Taiwan is not a country in its own right, but a part of China; either that, or the IOC thinks the Kuomintang are still in charge and the PRC doesn't exist).

On a related note, I think the South Korean response to Kim Dong- Sung's disqualification had as much to do with Bush's visit to Korea as anything Apolo Ohno did or didn't do.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

For the record, I'm fairly certain that Jill Bakken dumped her teammate for Venetta Flowers two months before the race (hence MOC's thinking that Flowers had only been in training for two months -- I think it was actually that those two had only been training together for two months); she just did it with more class than Racine did, apparently, and the prior relationship with her teammate hadn't been as strong as Racine's was. I'd have to re-track down the story about Bakken, but it was on ESPN's website.

That's correct.

The difference, IMO, is that Racine and Jen Davidson were apparently best friends, that they had marketed themselves together (that's them in the TV ad where the bunny runs onto the bobsled track) and that it was just a couple of weeks before the bobsled trials.

The friendship betrayal was the key. Bobsled drivers change brakemen (or whatever they're called) all the time -- but they marketed themselves as best friends and gold-medal hopefuls, and when Racine made the switch it came back to bite them.

FWIW, Racine also asked Flowers right before the competition started to change sleds and ride with her instead of Bakken.

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002

Had to post this ... a friend e-mailed it earlier today.

Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times on the proposed new figure- skating judging system in which a computer would randomly select which scores count: "Isn't this how Nebraska got into the Rose Bowl?"

-- Anonymous, February 25, 2002