Dick Button is an excellent skating commentator, but I can never forget when he described Debbie Thomas as having "a certain streetwise musicality."

I'm not one who looks for racial insults behind everthing - sometimes you didn't get the job because someone else was better - but even I was able to connect the dots on that one.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Star Spangled Banner. But I like variety too. I agree with King K that it's great to hear other national anthems. The Canadian anthem is pleasant, espcially instrumental. But the former Soviet anthem is chillingly good (I think Russia still uses it...). BAH duh da duh dum, bah duh da duh dum...

The current fear of religious fanaticism is still nothing like the mood cast by our feelings toward the Soviets. I miss having such strong rivals with a great anthem.

...Now that we've apparently gotten beyond the "Turin/Torino" debate, can somebody explain about "Bobsled/Bobsleigh" (I always thought sleighs were of the one-horse-open variety) and "Ladies/Women's Figure Skating" (actually, some of the contestants still qualify as "girls" but that's beside the point for now).

Speaking of which...maybe we should regard M.K. not in relation to other not-quite-there athletes, but rather like those actors and actresses (and they are legion!) who've been perpetual "critics' darlings" but never won an Oscar.

I've thought that the figure skating commentary has been pretty solid so far; Button, Bezic and Hamilton actually make a good team because their temperaments blend well.

What I can do with less of are NBC's "Olympic Moments" interludes. They are maudlin at best, but last night the profile of Austrian skier Benjamin Raich was downright insulting. Kudos for highlighting a non-American athelete, but I was frankly insulted at the implication that it was the audience who was obsessed with Bode Miller (NBC: "Believe it or not, Bode Miller is not the only skier at the Olympics").

Miller, for all his talent, is a creation of media hype if there ever was one. I don't need NBC to insult my intelligence and lecture me for not knowing who an Austrian athelete is.

I tend to agree with King on most issues, but I have to say that I find Dick Button annoying and extremely negative. I understand that to the untrained eye, one skater tends to blur into another (notwithstanding a major fall), and he is trying to distinguish them by technique. But my god, just shut up for once and let us enjoy the beautiful skating. These athletes are the best in their sport, and you don't have to find something bad to say about every one of them. Also, regarding the overly technical explanations of why a jump went wrong: I don't think most people really give a shit. Sometimes it's nerves, sometimes its the 'toe pick', sometimes people just fall for no reason. We don't need to hear a 10 minute dissertation on the angle of the skater's foot as it enters the air after every botched triple-toe-loop.

As if on King Kaufman's command, on Tuesday night NBC profiled the start-house yelling dude! I didn't catch his name, but he's known as "Baby Huey" and he's almost that gruff and loud when he speaks in his regular voice.

He was obviously tickled about Ted Ligety's big win, and said he'd hollered at the skier to snag a medal-stand flower bouquet to give his mom for Valentine's Day.

If you Tivo'd Tuesday night's show, this piece was just about the last thing they did before signing off for the night.

Maybe it's because I was 10 and impressionable when he said it, but I can't seem to scrub my memory clean of Dick Button's terrible simile for the Katarina Witt-Debi Thomas Dueling Carmens drama. In his wrap-up, he said it hung around "like an overweight dinner guest who refused to leave."

He's going to have to do at least another 20 years of solid, pain-free commentary to atone for that.

Dear King,

The best medal ceremony so far featured your darling, Joey Cheek. He knows he's going to cry on international television, and takes a moment to try to compose himself. When the anthem starts, he gets to about "Oh, say can you" before the tears start. Close second for raw emotion wasn't from a medals ceremony, and wasn't even from an athlete. The look of awe, pride, and joy on the faces of Ted Ligety's mom and dad after he won the alpine combined takes it.

Protip - for more varied national anthems and medals ceremonies, look to the sister networks. NBC proper is very focused on events US does well in and figure skating. We've seen just about every scandanavian anthem featured in other coverage.

Please keep the curling stories coming. I don't have cable so I'm left out of the fun.

There was a great Saturday Night Live skit a few Olympics back featuring Jason Priestley (must have been during 90210's glory days) as an inept figure skater. The fake commentating absolutely nailed Scott Hamilton's nonsensical ramblings. "Oooo, he should just really quit now."

I really cracked up last night when I heard Scott Hamilton say that "This new system is so unforgiving." Yeah, right. The night before we saw a pairs skater take a horrific tumble and then wind up with the silver medal. That never would have happened under the old system. I used to change the channel when skaters fell - I guess now I'll have to keep watching the fallers.

I absolutely prefer Dick Button over Scott Hamilton, but I thought the curtains comment was a little over the top. After all, that poor dude certainly wasn't the only one wearing something that looked like curtains reincarnated.

I find it hard to remember objectively whether the Olympics were covered with less jingoistic fanfare when I was a kid watching the Games all day. Your point about anthems reminded me of my diappointment that NBC covers these Games (well, actually, every set of Games they've covered) as though EVERYTHING has to be "the U.S. takes on (name a country)...." I get the feeling NBC would rather show us Bode Miller getting a gelato than take the camera to a great competition between two non-American teams or individuals. We lose a lot of the Games' meaning in the process.