February 16, 2014

"Farewell, our sweet, spangled prince."

The last of Evgeni Plushenko, who wore some fabulous costumes out there on the ice. (Make sure to scroll down and see the muscle suit.)

13 comments:

chickelit said...

(Make sure to scroll down and see the muscle suit.)

The nipple is misplaced.

mccullough said...

None of those outfits deflects attention away from his huge, hawk nose. And his hair is always terrible.

Curious George said...

Watched the US v Russia hockey game last night. It was nice seeing dudes on skates that weren't so...spangly.

FullMoon said...

I would like to comment but I cannot get my mind off the 10 year old boy who stole his parents car while they slept and headed off to Grandmas house. Oh, yeah, his 18 month old sister went along for the ride.

He told the coppers ( with a straight face, no doubt)I'm a dwarf, and I forgot my license"

Wince said...

Next they'll try to tell us Liberace was gay.

Titus said...

He's straight. All the Russian figure skaters are straight....

chickelit said...

He's straight. All the Russian figure skaters are straight...

I assume they are "disappeared" if they're not straight. Or they defect.

Can we still say "defect"?

Titus said...

I think the skaters should all wear the same costume-all black.

The costumes cover up mistakes and are distracting.

If they all wore the same costume they would be cleaner to judge.

tits.

William said...

There's a rumor that a lot of th athletes in this sport are juicing up on estrogen.

Bob Ellison said...

Judged events are not sport.

Ann Althouse said...

"Judged events are not sport."

What is the basis for preferring this restriction of the meaning?

The oldest meanings for "sport" all center on the way the activity is for fun. The relevant meaning for Olympic purposes is (from the OED):

"An activity involving physical exertion and skill, esp. (particularly in modern use) one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others. Freq. in pl.
In early use the sense of ‘sport’ as a diversion or amusement is paramount; by the 18th and 19th centuries the term was often used with reference to hunting, shooting, and fishing (see blood, field sports at the first element). The consolidation of organized sport (particularly football, rugby, cricket, and athletics) in the 19th cent. reinforced the notion of sport as physical competition (for contact, motor-, racket, spectator, team, water sport, etc., see the first element)."

And: "Participation in activities involving physical exertion and skill, (now) esp. competitive activities regulated by set rules or customs; such activities collectively."

The Olympics are called "games," and it seems to me that it's easier to say that it's not a game if you need judges to produce a score.

But skating and diving and gymnastics and snowboarding are clearly sports. They are sports that are usually done with no scoring at all. What's different about something like a footrace or a basketball game is that the players usually compete against each other and they can see who wins without anyone on the outside telling them.

But someone shooting baskets alone or running alone is engaging in a sport.

ken in tx said...

Hemingway is supposed to have said that "..mountain climbing, bullfighting and auto racing are sports. Everything else is just a game."

CWJ said...


Elsewhere if you leave the course or fall on your butt, it's over, or at least you don't medal.

Only in ice skating can you fall on your butt, not once but twice, and win the gold. Indeed, you can lose it twice and land on your hand twice and still win the silver.

I say this as someone who enjoys ice skating. But until today's skaters can put together clean programs with the quads that seem required today, they should not be rewarded with medals for almost getting it right.