Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

Final thoughts on Figure Skating at the 2002 Olympics: I am really looking forward to seeing Timothy Goebel and Sasha Cohen grow and mature over the next four years. I wonder if Yagudin will stick around for amateur eligibility or go pro; I rather hope the latter because -- quite selfishly -- if he goes pro I might be able to go see him perform when one of those touring shows hits Buffalo. I'm still thrilled to have at last seen a Russian skater who wasn't, well, boring. And seeing the two Gold Medalist pairs on the ice at the Exhibition last night was great. I was hoping they would do something nifty like switch partners or something; and indeed, they offered a combined death-spiral that was amazing. And the most heartbreaking moment of the Olympics was not Michelle Kwan's slip on her triple in the long program; it was Todd Eldredge's in his short program, when you knew at that moment that his Olympic dream was over. He's one of those people who is simply active at the wrong time: had he been in his prime at, say, Albertville or Lillehammer he might be an Olympic champion. That's not a bad thing, though: Kurt Browning never won an Olympic medal either, and -- if I may mix my sports metaphors -- Jim Kelly is in the Hall of Fame.