King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Because as outraged as the world is at gymnastics right now, about 99 percent of us are going to stop thinking about it long before next June. Some of us have already stopped thinking about it, I'll bet. In fact, what was I just talking about?

We'll think about it again in four years, at which time we'll say, "Weren't they going to change the rules or something?" and then go back to hitting the roof when some poor soul turns in the routine of the night and gets a 9.475.

Which is great fun. Many work hours will be happily lost the next day chewing it over.

Maybe I'm wrong about what we're in for. The federation seems to be off to a good start in ignoring the judging problem. The only reference I could find to Monday's fiasco on the FIG Web site was a passing reference in the results section: "The exercise of Nemov (RUS) performed with 6 releases was the crowds favourite, but despite their noise which stopped the competition and an adjustment to his score is still finished in 5th place." (Some translation issues there, I think.)

The best analysis of all this that I've seen in print has come from none other than Kerri "I vaulted onto a sprained ankle for no good reason in 1996" Strug, who's writing a column for Yahoo Sports.

"With so many factors determining a competitor's marks, you can never completely control your own fate -- and the best man or woman does not always win," she writes. "In fact, for gymnasts, the order in which you compete can have as much to do with your score as your actual performance. Those who go first endure lower scores, so the judges have room to grade upwards if the gymnasts who follow turn in a better routine."

Obviously, this is a deeply flawed system. (Isn't it great?) I mean, "the order in which you compete can have as much to do with your score as your actual performance" ought to have set off alarm bells 50 years ago. How insane is that? Has it never occurred to anyone to fix this over the years? Especially in the last couple of years, when figure skating, which does the same thing, has tried to address the issue?

Any system where you start with a maximum score is going to be flawed for just that reason. (I love it.) The judges assess a degree of difficulty score, a maximum possible, and often it's the maximum, 10.0. That means this is the most difficult routine it's possible for a human being to execute, right? Of course, if the next person's routine is a little better, the whole system falls apart. That's why they have to "leave room," so they don't end up with a bunch of people tied with the maximum score.

Strug again, sounding ridiculously reasonable: "Every gymnast knows what they are getting into from the time they start competing. There are no guarantees in a sport where a quarter of a tenth matters, an inch off to one side results in a fall, or an injury occurs at the wrong time. And although we do not like the uncertainty, it is also just that which gives the sport its appeal."

Exactly. And shed no tears for the gymnasts who get screwed by a judging decision in the Olympics. They're the elite. They've gotten the benefit of the biased judging for most of their careers. No way one loss, even in the Olympics, can make up for all that the incompetence of the system has given them.

I will go for one reform idea that comes from reader Felix Finch, and which is so reasonable I'm sure it won't even be considered: transparency.

"No one knows the basis for scores," he writes in an e-mail. "There's a number posted; you don't have any clue as to what formed that number. You say there's a 0.1 deduction for a landing misstep. OK, why not show each judge's score sheet, show where each point was deducted? It's called transparency, and I reckon I can guess why none of the judges or other bureaucrats want it. But it would be a wonderful first step, making it oh so much more embarrassing for any judge to pick favorites."

I think that's a great idea because it would lead to more judges looking even more uncomfortable on TV, without, I think, really solving the basic problem. And that would be good for the sport.

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Hench-items [PERMALINK]

I haven't been talking enough about the U.S. women's basketball team, which is blowing through the tournament. The Americans reached the semifinal by blowing Greece out of the gym Wednesday 102-72, much to the disappointment of a home crowd that gamely cheered the overmatched Greek women to the very end.

The problem is they keep playing at or just before dawn U.S. time, depending where you live, and hench-network USA is showing the games live. Next up is the semifinal game against Russia Friday at 7 a.m. EDT. Set the alarm, or at least the recorder. This is a good team, and the opposition's about to get tougher.

I hope you're not missing the Olympic-themed logos appearing on Google's front page. The logo, which features toga-clad ancient-Greek types playing Olympic sports, with the two O's in the name often playing a major part, changes daily. They've all been great.

If you miss any, they're archived here. This has been an unpaid announcement, unfortunately.

Great moment on USA Wednesday after the women's basketball game. Host Jim Lampley began an interview segment with American swimmer Aaron Peirsol by saying, "The 100 meters, the 200 meters, the 4-by-100-meter medley relay: Three times was the charm for a young man to whom charm seems to come naturally, American Aaron Peirsol."

At which point the broadcast switched to a two-shot that revealed Peirsol, dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and flip flops, picking at something on his bare ankle.

Charming!

Previous column: The gymnastics fiasco

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