Open Mic: Gymnastics Scoring Was Legit

Now that the "farce" of Olympic gymnastics is over, can we all go back to our ho-hum lives and hold our complaining to a minimum until a Pac-10 football officiating crew decides to give us all fits of anger in the next few months?

Ask most Americans what they think of Olympic gymnastics scoring, and the pro-China, anti-US debate will rear its ugly head.

On certain routines, the women's gymnastics scoring seemed to lack a consistency in taking obvious deductions on the Chinese women's beam, vault, and uneven bars performances.

Cheng Fe of China fell to her knees on her vault landing, yet still managed to get a higher score than most of her competitors and take the bronze away from American Alicia Sacromone, who landed both of her vaults.

Go ahead. Scream. Nobody is listening.  

The star treatment, always a huge influence in American sport, has now gone global. So put away your hankies and deal with it.

Special people get special treatment. It's no longer just in the entertainment industry—sports have taken it to a new level. And Americans have benefited from the treatment more than any other country.

Watch an NBA game and try to remember the official rules of the game. They don't play by them anymore, and the stars get a hall pass more often than not when they violate a rule.

Traveling, according to the NBA, is taking more than two steps without dribbling the ball, yet Kobe, Shaq, Jason, Yao, Carmelo and Co. take two-and-a-half steps and don't get the whistle. Two-and-a-half steps is now accepted as legit in the NBA, even though it's an infraction of the rules.

If Kobe mouthed off to a ref, do you think he's going to get ejected? Uh, no. The paying fans won't stand for it. He's special.

He's the face of the NBA and they need more Kobe Bryants. They want more Kobe Bryants. He has earned the preferential treatment.

Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics will finally get the treatment, but he had to earn it. Rondo still has a way to go before he gets the hall pass. He's not special, yet.

The Chinese have dominated Olympic gymnastics competition since the Soviet Union broke up, and were considered the favorites to win the most medals in gymnastics. They earned that status.

They also had the home crowd behind them, and if you don't think that's a factor, go you-tube Mary Lou Retton's Olympic performance in Los Angeles. She won, but it was close. Her mega-watt smile (good for at least an added .50) and the crowd reaction put some intense pressure on the judges. Give American Pie the gold.

There's a reason why the host country does better in their medal counts: Crowd reaction to performances, more teams to enter in competition, and they don't have to travel. Besides, who wants a crowd of 20,000 booing a judge's evaluation of a routine? It can really damper the whole Kumbaya experience the Olympics is trying to project. The Seoul Olympics taught us that.

Did Cheng Fe receive

• Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next