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

Timothy Goebel came in second at last night's World Figure Skating Championships, beaten by Evgeny Plushenko. Once again, the event was won by a Russian man who, quite frankly, bores me. I can't put it in any other way than that: Russian men, with the exception of the fiery Alexei Yagudin (who sat out last night with an injury), bore me to tears. It's a long tradition that dates back to Viktor Petrenko, who should never have beaten Paul Wylie for the gold medal at Albertville. And then there was Alexei Urmanov, who was staggeringly dull in defeating Elvis Stojko and Phillipe Candeloro in Lillehammer. And there was Ilya Kulik, leading up to Plushenko -- all of them flawless jumpers, outstanding athletes, and just boring skaters. There's got to be something in these guys' skating that I'm just not seeing, because it seems to me that every time out someone else skates with more passion and fire, and yet each time lately, the Russian wins. Plushenko's performance last night was technically excellent, but it was also rather lifeless. Goebel, though, was also flawless and he skated with grace and charm. Oh well -- I'm sure that if Yagudin had been able to skate, though, he would have blown both of them out of the water. Now there is a fiery skater.