And Another Thing About Michael Weiss

And, speaking of pandering to the audience's emotions, Weiss did himself a long program to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Which, besides being a poor choice from a strictly musical standpoint (seriously -- hum your way through it and tell me where you'd stick the jumps) just bugged the heck out of me. To be completely fair here, it isn't just Weiss who I think is guilty of this sort of thing -- Tara Lipinski did a little patriotic number in Stars on Ice the other year in which she was wearing the absolute shortest-cut little military outfit ever (and, if memory serves, the program ended with a big American flag being unfurled -- or that mighta just been my nightmare vision of it, I can't remember).

But, jeepers people, we're currently at war here. And whatever sentiments Weiss and Lipinski might have about being all patriotic and supporting our troops, I'm not really sure it's respectful of the people losing their lives in Iraq to put on a quasi-military uniform covered with spangles (Weiss looked like he belonged more in a marching band than a military company -- at first I'd thought he was going to skate to something from "The Music Man") and skate around in their name. Even worse to do it a competition, where you're using people's patriotic feeling to get applause for YOUR skating. And also somewhat questionable to do it at an INTERNATIONAL competition. Sure, there weren't any Iraqi skaters here. But still, it just feels wrong to me. I mean, you wouldn't want those Israeli Ice Dancers dressing up in soldier suits and doing a Gaza Strip Swing routine. It's just inappropriate.