Ice Dancing

Heavy snowflakes blanketed the Palavela on Sunday night, but inside the ice palace of the 2006 Olympics it was hot-hot-hot as, to the beat of Latin rhythms, Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto vaulted into medal position with a captivating, crash-free free skate. "Crash-free" being the operative phrase.

When the last twizzle had been twizzled, the last "Carmen" had met her untimely end and the final rendition of "Bolero" had desecrated the memory of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's glorious 1984 gold-medal performance to that music, little had changed in the illogical world of ice dance.

Ice dancing judging problems? Call in the BCS! Steve Morsa Thousand Oaks

With the figure-skating controversy somewhat in the background, another pairs competition will take center stage today, when ice dancing holds its original dancing segment, the second of three that make up the complete medal program. The leaders after Friday night's compulsory dance were Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France.

MEN'S SUPER-G Miller and Ligety are U.S. hopefuls Europeans have won every installment of the Olympic super-giant slalom since its addition to the program in 1988, and have several leading candidates for gold in 2010. Didier Cuche of Switzerland is the defending world champion and Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was last season's World Cup champion. The U.S. has won only one medal in this event: Tommy Moe with a silver at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Bode Miller and Ted Ligety are the top U.S. competitors.

Could lack of interest in the Olympics be caused partly by the TV scheduling? Note the normal schedule in prime time: 8-8:05 p.m.: Figure skating. 8:05-8:15: Commercials: Coke, McDonald's, Chevy, Nike, Canon, Budweiser, Infiniti. 8:15-8:20: Ice dancing. 8:20-8:30: Commercials: McDonald's, Canon, Chevy, Nike, Infiniti, Coke, Budweiser. 8:30-8:35: Figure skating. 8:35-8:45: Commercials: Nike, Infiniti, Coke, Budweiser, Canon, McDonald's, Chevy. 8:45-8:50: Ice dancing.

The Soviet Union dominated the second day of the 1985 World Figure Skating Championships as its skaters took substantial leads over other performers from 23 countries in all three events held Tuesday. A total of 119 skaters are competing in the championships, being held in Japan for the first time in eight years.

Tearing up over an iceberg, I fully support. Look what happened to the poor Titanic, after all. One encounter and kablooey! Yet anyone in a tizzy over the outcome of ice dancing--the key word here, sports fans, is "dancing"--needs desperately to get a life. Find a hobby. Clean your garage. Work on your car. Shine your shoes. Learn card tricks. Something! Doing otherwise is like entering deep mourning when your kid, the future Indy star, doesn't win the Soapbox Derby.