Anonymous: Remember, it's called "ladies" figure skating for a reason.

A really bad reason. The idea that -- ladies? -- women shouldn't just be athletes. They still have to be suitable for the cotillion.

The woman is supposed to convey an image of grace and beauty in addition to power and athleticism. Can't be done in a cat suit!

Oh my stars, that's so wrong! http://tinyurl.com/nhzcq

Gavin Fritton: I agree with King that it's great to see the rules and scoring changed to emphasize athleticism, but the fact of the matter is, they still give points for stylistic components. At its heart, figure skating is still a subjective contest.

Yes, we agree. Let's not get too excited. It's still figure skating and always will be. But it gets more watchable as it becomes more like a sport.

- - -

Based on this letters section, I'm guessing there are plenty of people who watched Davis and Hedrick sniping at the news conference and didn't think, "Wow, this little battle sure has gotten uninteresting in a hurry."

http://www.geocities.com/debi_thomas_2003/web/debi_index_02.htm

I was never a fan of hers (Stanford girl, and she whined about going first after she choked at the Olympics), but she looked dynamite in that thing. Fortunately, the figure skating honchos have apparently progressed to the point where it's OK for a woman to wear something other than a dress. Welcome to the mid-20th century, peoples!

fishbrake: For all the disdain you heap on ladies' figure skating, you sure seem concerned with appearances.

It's impossible not to be concerned with appearances when considering figure skating. That IS figure skating. That's one of the big problems with it.

even Tiger Woods only smiles when he's happy.

Tiger isn't penalized for not smiling.

I think the point of women's figure skating is the same as ballet

Then why is it in the Olympics, the point of which is athletic competition, which is decidedly not the point of ballet?

t was inelegant, and like it or not that's a factor in all sports. If it wasn't, Dave Kingman would be in Cooperstown.

No, he wouldn't. He wasn't a good enough player. If he were, it wouldn't matter how elegant or inelegant he was. And just how were Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb elegant? Did Cobb hold his pinky out when he was beating up that cripple?

I never realized Diana Rigg was a figure skater--could she do a quad?

While smoking.

If you truly want to get rid of every Olympic sport where competitors are judged on a choreographed routine, fair enough, but the list would be long and would include gymnastics.

I'm glad we could come around to an agreement.

Paul D: I believe his name is Don Chevrier, not Don Chevrie. He used to do Blue Jays and Senators games.

Oops. Cut and paste error. I cut and paste names a lot so I'm sure to get 'em right. Good thing, eh? Fixed, and thanks for the heads up, Pau D.

JDL: King, you are doing movie analysis now?

Right now, the title bar of your article reads "2006 Oscars Coverage at Salon.com." I guess I missed it: who is your pick for Best Picture and why? :)

There's some sort of glitch in our publishing system that's putting that on new stories being published. I'm sure it'll be fixed soon, but my pick for best picture is "The Insider," because I thought that was the best movie of the last year when I was a regular movie-goer.

Appoggiatura: I find it hard to imagine why anyone would want to watch hockey during the Olympics. The fun of the Olympics is to watch sports that you only get to see once every four years.

I find it hard to imagine that you can't imagine others having a different definition of fun than you have.

spike24: I'd rather say figure skating is not a real sport and be entertained than be forced to see the same exact technical manuevers over and over again.

I'll go along with that. Let's say it's not a real sport, get it out of the Olympics, and open up big stretches of prime time for hockey. And curling.

breschau: "NBC's solution of showing full games on cable during the day is a glorious one for hockey purists, shift workers and the unemployed [...]"

Or for people with TiVo, or that own those new-fangled "VCR" thingies.

I'm pretty comfortable saying that someone who tapes/TiVos the hockey and then watches it at night rather than the prime-time show is a hockey purist. I like hockey about 10 times more than I like all of the other sports in the Winter Olympics (except curling) combined, and I wouldn't do that even if I weren't obligated to watch the prime-time show for my job.

Hey King, lighten up on Norway. Not every medal is gold.

Uh-huh. Tell that to a Norwegian.

OHNO -- OH YES! No need to Apolo-gize for gold-bronze finish

San Francisco Chronicle

Ohno? Oh yes! Long Beach Press-Telegram

Ohno ... oh, yes! Los Angeles Daily News

Ohno . . . Oh yes! Boston Globe

Ohno? Oh, yes!

phillyBurbs.com, PA

Ohno, oh yes!

Miami Herald, FL 

Oh, yes: Ohno takes on powerful South Koreans

Oh Yes: Ohno Leads US Into Relay Final

The Ledger, FL

Oh, yes — Ohno safely advances in short track

Salt Lake City Deseret News, UT

Now South Korea can say, 'Oh, yes'

Indianapolis Star

Four years later, Koreans can say, oh yes

Concord Monitor, NH 

Oh, yes: Ohno advances

In-Forum (subscription), ND