Sparkly boy

I have to admit it. I like figure skating. Ever since I had a crush on Peggy Fleming when I was a kid I've been hooked. The national championships were in Philadelphia a few years ago and my wife and I went to almost all of it. Saw Michelle Kwan win one of her 9 titles.

It's a funny sport. All of these judged sports are kind of odd- gymnastics, diving, synchronized swimming (and what exactly is singles synchronized swimming? Do you need an imaginary friend to compete?). Skating is very strenuous and the people who do it are really fit. However, they've taken a lot of the fun out of it with the new pseudo-objective scoring system.

Back in the day, half the fun (or frustration) was the intrigue. All the communist countries would give great marks to the Russian and East German skaters and dis the Americans. British and US judges likewise. France was predictably a swing vote. Eventually a bunch of them got caught colluding and they changed the system.

In Men's skating this year, Johnny Weir (from Coatesville, the Inquirer never fails to remind us), one of the two top skaters for the last 5 years and a world medalist, was very sick in December and skated very poorly because he was out of shape. I guess some interviewer referenced Michael Jordan winning the NBA Championship with the the flu, and Weir, who is always good for a quote, said "Well Michael Jordan had a team around him. I'm just a skinny sparkly boy all alone in the middle of the ice." As silly as that sounds, it struck me a poignant and authentic and I guess it kind of explains the appeal to me, these tiny people in a huge expanse of white, all alone, performing amazing athletic feats.