Winter Olympics: Scott Hamilton

Here's Fyall on the voice of figure skating: "Scott Hamilton is what Dick Vitale could be. They're both really rooting hard for people to succeed, but Scott comes out and admits when people fail."

I'm not sure I completely agree with that angle on the delightful inanity of Dick Vitale, but it's a good starting place for talking about the greatest sports commentator that most of us only hear once every four years. Scotty does bring a likable amount of emotion to the both. Sports are emotional, and commentators should be allowed to participate in the emotion even while remaining unbiased.

But he is also a master at giving clear explanations in the flow of the event. We may or may not know the difference between a toe loop and an axle, but we always know when they are coming, and, immediately, what was wrong.

Overall, he explains the story. Sometimes it's obvious: if a skater keeps eating ice, he's sucking. Other times, we need Scott to clear things up. Is he tight or loose? Is he skating with style or is he stiff? Is the level of difficulty high enough or does he just not have the arsenal to grab a medal? By the end of the skate, Scott has answered these questions.

The only thing he's missing this year? Verne Lundquist, stranded at CBS. Gentle Verne, the perfect voice to fill the gaps between Scott's comments. He doesn't blow me away with his football play-by-play, but he's excellent at figure skating. They should put that on his tombstone.

I will now institute a self-imposed 4-year hiatus in this blog on all figure skating related matters. I'm sorry you had to go through this.