Figure Skating is not a sport.

Another Winter Olympics.

Another skating controversy.

This year, it was recently unretired Yevgeny Plushenko complaining that American Evan Lysacek is not the true 2010 Olympic champion because Lysacek did not attempt the difficult "quad" jump during the free skate last night.

Plushenko lost the gold medal to Lysacek by 1.31 points in the labyrinthine figure skating judging formula.

Lysacek, who suffered a broken foot in 2009, didn't have a quad in his program most likely out of fear that his foot would not allow him to perform the maneuver.

Elvis Stojko agrees with Plushenko that Lysacek shouldn't have won last night. (Although calling it "The night they killed figure skating" is a bit much, no?)

However, my larger point is this:

I cannot consider figure skating to be a sport.

Now, I'm not saying that figure skaters aren't athletes. They are. What they do requires tremendous leg strength, endurance, agility, flexibility and balance. In pairs, even more so, because of the lifting that the male half has to perform. They are in excellent physical shape.

But they don't compete in a sport.

Now, before you get your sequins and makeup in an uproar, I feel the same way about any sport where judging plays a role in determining who wins.

I love diving in the Summer Olympics. Not a sport.

Gymnastics? Not a sport.

Snowboard halfpipe is usually a fun watch for a few minutes. Not a sport.

They are athletic competitions.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but to me, a sport is a competition where the winner and loser is decided by the outcome on the actual field/arena of play.

I do make an exception for things like boxing or mixed martial arts, which have judges. But the judging is only used as a last resort. If the match is not taken care of by knockout, submission, withdrawal or disqualification, then we go to the judges to see what they think.

In other words, they are the last line of decision, not the primary determining factor in who wins and who loses.

Appreciate the artistry and skill and talent of the gymnasts, snowboarders, figure skaters and divers who give up precious years of their lives physically and mentally training to be the best in the world in their given discipline. Be astonished by how physically gifted they are and by how athletic they are.

Just don't tell me they participate in sports.

What I learned from the Tiger Woods Event Today

1) That Tiger is a buddhist.
2) That I am a bad person. As soon as he mentioned being a buddhist, my brain immediately started to try and formulate a Caddyshack-esque joke about Tiger and the Dalai Lama playing golf. "Hey, Lama!"
3) It wasn't Elin's fault that Tiger slept with all those women. Um, I don't think anyone blamed her in the first place.
4) "The media" should not stalk his wife and kids because of his infidelity and transgressions. Well, I think that this was a given. Also, we do need to stop treating the media as if it is some monolithic entity. I doubt that golf writers or any sports folks were stalking Elin and the kids. Now TMZ and the other tabloid whores on the other hand....
5) I understand giving a statement. As a MrFowler1282 on Twitter put it: "Tiger had to have a written statement because he had a lot to address. This is not a situation where you can just go out and wing it."
6) He plans to return to golf, but he doesn't know when. He will go back to rehab soon and he'll come back (maybe) later this year.
7) Now that that's over and done with, hopefully I won't hear about Tiger again until he comes back to play.

Why does Skip Bayless hate LeBron James?

I'm posing a general question to the sports blogosphere and social networking communities:

Can someone please clue me in to why Skip Bayless seems to have an abiding hatred of LeBron James?

From what I have been able to gather, he has relentlessly mocked James's game, called him "Prince" (to belittle LeBron's 'King' moniker) and seems to have no regard for how talented James is.

The latest tweet from his account (at 8:14 PDT on 2/18/10), he wrote: "LeBron and Melo put on a terrific show. But one is still Prince, and the other deserves a puppet.

Yes, LeBron has not won a title and probably has been hyped up more than anyone else coming into the association.

But on some level, most guys who have come into the league have been over hyped somewhat.

But there is no question, in my mind, that James is one of the best things to have happened to the sad-sack Cavaliers franchise. If he leaves at the end of the season to sign a deal elsewhere, it very well could kill the heart of Northeast Ohio.

However, I still want to know what LeBron ever did to Skip to earn his eternal hire?

Or is Skip really a hack who takes extreme positions because they make for good theater on ESPN late morning?

Call me when Tiger wants to talk. For real.

Tomorrow morning, at 8am PST, I'll get into my car to go to work and be subjected to the charade of Tiger Wood's comeback press conference.

Scratch that.

It won't be a press conference.

Because an actual press conference is not given to a small, intimate gathering of friends and colleagues that just so happens to have some friendly, cherry-picked press milling about.

At a real press conference, the media in attendance would be allowed to ask questions.

Instead, apparently, Tiger is going to have some people over to the PGA Tour headquarters, serve some tea and crumpets and maybe some Perkins pie and read a statement.

A press conference?

Hogwash.

Back in the aftermath of the accident, I wrote that Tiger should come clean and clarify the events that led to his accident. Set the record straight, tell the whole truth and we all could move on. I was referring simply to the car accident at that point.

The story kept growing and growing as details about his infidelity came out and the list of waitresses and other random assorted women kept cropping up. Crude jokes about Tiger Woods playing 18 holes off the course popped up on social networking sites.

Tiger became a recluse. He may or may not have had plastic surgery. He may or may not have been in Mississippi recently in sex rehab. Sponsors jumped ship. The PGA Tour season started.

Now, with the Accenture Match Play taking place (a former sponsor of Tiger and the first company to bail on him) Tiger decides it's time to come out of the rabbit hole and speak about what has happened to him over the last three months.

I'm sure that those lucky members of the press corps that will be there have to be ecstatic about being granted access to Tiger for this event.

But it's a hollow gesture at best.

I understand it can take some time to truly acknowledge bad things that happen to you.

By not holding a real press conference and staging this managed event instead, though, I don't think you are going to garner much, if any, sympathy.

I know, I know: If he comes back and wins the Masters in April, we will quickly forget all about his adventures of Thanksgiving weekend.

However, I find the need to hold a monologue tomorrow to be a colossal waste of time.

In the aftermath of the accident, he was perfectly okay with just issuing statements through his website.

So why the dog and pony show now?

What could possibly be gained by doing this event this way?

Just release the statement, indicate when you're coming back, and show up at that tournament.

Unless, of course, the statement he reads winds up coming off like this: