A better way of scoring figure skating...

[El Supremo]

Just have them do increasingly difficult moves and the last one not to fall on his/her butt wins.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. That's pretty much what I thought I was watching this Olympics

POSE - JUMP - SPIN - JUMP - JUMP - SKATE WITH LEG IN AIR - SPIN - JUMP

:boring:

The artistry and beauty is gone in this new scoring system.

[LisaM]

2. You are so right

I was just shaking my head after last night's final. That was the least compelling gold medal skate I've seen. Something has to be done!

[theHandpuppet]

4. I'm old enough to remember watching Peggy Fleming in the Olympics!

But that was when skating was as much grace as athletics. Now there are so many "tricks" demnded it looks like one of those snowboard competitions. When you have to include so many tricks in a routine it's damn near impossible to choreograph any graceful lines into a routine, much less to music. I'll say one thing for Cohen -- she was one of the few skating this year who reminded me of just what that sport used to be.

[theHandpuppet]

3. That's pretty much where it stands now.

I miss the artistry. If I want acrobats, I'll go to the circus. Say, maybe that's the next way to up the ante... they can hang a trapeze over the ice and force them to launch themselves from the air to the ice.

[LisaM]

5. Is Surya Bonali just laughing at us all?

I barely remember Peggy Fleming's skate - I do remember watching it but of course it didn't get all the hype it gets now. Did you know that Vera Wang competed against her in 1968 (in the U.S. finals?)

I think the last really breathtaking routine I remember was Oksana Baiul, in 1994.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

6. I detest the new scoring system AND I hated Bonali's skating style...

or lack of style, I should say. She was just gymnastics on ice...which would be rewarded big time under this new scoring system.

Oksana Baiul was the most elegant skater...nobody could hold a candle to her during her prime. Too bad her prime was so short lived. But I'm still glad I got to see her represent what skating should be.

If skating has permanently changed to gymnastics on ice, I won't bother watching it anymore. I want technical skill tempered with masterful artistry and passion.

[Redbear]

7. Grace and elegance are subjective.

Subjectivity is not something figure skating wants to be associated with since Salt Lake. Objectivity (and it's resultant rejection of beauty)is something they had to emphasize for credibility. As memory of the scandal fades I'm sure things will balance out more.

[theHandpuppet]

8. Oh, I don't know...

That's like saying I can't compare Da Vinci to Thomas Kinkade, or Jacqueline Susann to Jane Austen, since all art is subjective. I'll tell you what -- you take the Kinkade and I'll take the Da Vinci and I'll promise not to pass any judgments. ;-)

[JVS]

9. Have them all enter the rink at once and fight to the death

:popcorn:

[theHandpuppet]

10. I think that's called hockey

We'll have to come up with something else... something resembling a cross between ice skating and Cirque du Soleil, perhaps? Or ice boxing -- now there's the ticket! }(