Olympic Half-Time Show

This is the Type A, literal, engineer in me talking when I say: figuring skating is nothing more than the half-time show of the Olympics. Am I allowed to say "Olypmics"? I seem to recall hearing that one had to license the use of that word. Hmm. Anyway....

One can't measure figure skating in any meaningful sense, for the purpose of awarding medals. It's just ... entertainment ... and not very good entertainment, at that. The four TVs at the gym were showing Women's Olympic Figure Skating, some college basketball game, and two were showing commercials. I watched the commercials.

This article (or at least the little bits that I read) does a fine job at depicting figure skating for what it is. I particularly enjoyed this paragraph:

The stress of these make-or-break moments overpowers whatever artistry a performance may have. What should be a choreographed composition becomes a series of near-impossible leaps strung together with idle tootling. Skaters fill up the dead time with gratuitous arm movements as they catch their breath and get in position for the next jump. Meanwhile, the announcers expect the worst. Shouting over the music, they frantically set up each risky move—Here comes the triple toe loop, this is big!—and then sigh with relief when it's over—Ohhh, gorgeous. That was huge. (Emphasis added)

The last time I pitched this crazy notion of mine to someone, I was told to stop being so argumentitive, and that figure skating was "very hard". And I agree. It looks very, very hard. And the figure skaters do an amazing job. But, it belongs in the Olympics about as much as someone throwing a ribbon around.