[Cerek the Barbaric]

Ronn Bman

I heard the same report on The Evening News with Tom Brokaw last night. I believe the Russians were supposed to reciprocate in the Ice Dancing competition.

AFA as claims of "drama-queen" go, I personally haven't seen any of it. I was cruising IronWorks while the competition was on. I didn't even see the complete routine of the Canadians or the Russians and I've seen no replay of the collision, so I can't comment on that.

What I did see were several interviews of the Canadian team. They were literally being interviewed every time they turned around. I saw separate sit-down interviews on The Today Show (live show - early AM) and The Tonight Show (pre-recorded, because it aired at 11pm, but the interview was done outside in the daylight).

Both skaters were consistent in their respect for the Russians. They were more cautious about revealing their feelings in the earlier interviews, but later in the day, Sale finally said "We know in our hearts that we really won the gold, and that's what really matters". Both of them said that they had to put this incident behind them and just move on to the next competition. They both accepted the fact that the decision will NOT be overturned, no matter what the ISU investigation uncovers.

As per a story on MSNBC yesterday, don't look for any dramatic reforms in the judging any time soon. Nagano had a scandal just as large as this one, and nothing came out of it. AAMOF, I don't even have a clue as to which skaters were involved in that one, although it's a good bet that it once again revolved around the Russians winning the gold when the silver-medalists gave a better performance.

Magik

I agree with you that the Russian judge should be permanently barred from her position. I don't what type of "prestige" and perks go along with being an ice skating judge, but this seems like the only real solution to bring about change. According to EVERY opinion I've heard on the news..."backroom deals" and collusion among judges is standard operating procedure. The ONLY way that will change is if the judges know they will be permanently removed from their position if found guilty of such actions.

But, to play devil's advocate, there is a good chance that Canada had tried to work a deal of thier own to overcome Russia's stronghold on the sport. They finally have some skaters that are good enough to challenge the Russians. but it never hurts to have a back-up plan. This is pure speculation on my part, but seems likely enough. (No offense, Ryanamur, I still think the Canadians were blatantly robbed).

Grojlich(sp?)

You're right that there are FAR more important "real life" issues going on that we should be concerned about. I used to really get "riled up" over sports when I felt my team had been cheated, but a few years ago, I found that I couldn't even remember who had won the Superbowl, World Series, NBA or NCAA Championships the previous year (unless it was a favorite team of mine). Why? Because, in the BIG picture, sports are nothing more than an entertaining diversion and I really didn't care who had won. There are MUCH more important things in life to be concerned with.