The finals of the Women's (or, as the less-than-politically-correct public address announcer put it, "Ladies'") Figure Skating, made one consider why we spend the better part of two weeks watching sporting events we never heard of, with participants whose names we can't pronounce, from countries we don't even like.
It's because of Michelle Kwan and Karen - no - Sarah Hughes.
Most of us don't ever - thank goodness - get to the point in our lives where the entire world is watching to see if we hit a once-in-a-lifetime triple-triple, or reprise our more characteristic ice-rump-bump.
It extends well beyond sport: On September 20, 2001 President Bush, with the whole world watching, went to the U.S. House of Representatives and nailed The Speech. Last month, he went back there and did it again.
In August of 2000, Al Gore needed a perfect 6.0 in his acceptance speech to salvage his candidacy at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and landed perfectly - vaulting him to a lead in the polls which he didn't relinquish for the better part of a month.
So what does this have to do with people like us?
Everything.
Everyone has had that kind of experience. It might not on have been on MSNBC. It might have been in a job interview during which we had to perform in front of only one person, but it was the one person who held our future in their hands and we had only one chance to make our case.
There might be other interviews for other jobs on other days, but there was only that interview on that day.
Every single person in American over the age of 17 has had to take a driving test. Not every teenager passes the test the first time and for those, the anguish of getting dropped off at school the next day by Mom is no different than a skier missing a gate in the slalom knowing they are going to have to return home to sad-eyed "Well, at least you made the team," statements-of-solace by their friends.
Perhaps we like to watch sports specifically because there is that opportunity for redemption. The National Slogan of Brooklyn was, for years, "Wait'll Next Year." There is something about the Chicago Cubs which, in spite of no championships in the last 13,000 seasons, causes people to be fans in the original definition of "fan" which is an abbreviation of the word, "fanatic."
Politics, as a spectator sport, has great similarities: Candidates, like Olympic athletes, work for years pointing to the single day which - depending upon the office they seek - may occur only once in two, four, or six years. If they lose the election, there is always the chance they can run again but, like Michelle Kwan, there are no guarantees as to the result.
Richard Nixon's close loss to John Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election was followed by a humiliating loss in a race for Governor of California in 1962, which was followed by being elected President in 1968, and a landslide re-election victory in 1972.
The fact that it all ended in Watergate raised the Nixon story from Olympic sport to Greek tragedy.
It is no surprise that we now find Al Gore back on the ice practicing his compulsory figures. We'll see what happens.
So, back to Ladies' Figure Skating the other night. Michelle Kwan had spent the previous four years pointing to that four minutes on the ice. She fell. We felt badly for her.
But there was the performance of the 16-year-old (dare we say it?) girl from Long Island, Sarah Hughes, who started the night in fourth place, took a deep breath, then skated with astounding grace and athleticism all the way to top of the podium.
That's why we watch.
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