Surfing Through The Olympics

I love how everyone refers to ice skater Johnny Weir as "flamboyant." His profile on NBC last year was great fun and a great setup for his very good short program, though no one can get within a mile of Plushenko unless he stumbles bad. I was just about to state the obvious when the NYT beat me to it: the crowds at Turin are pathetic. Even the ice skating -- a premiere event -- looked half empty. NBC cameras may try to avoid showing empty seats but the NYT details the poor ticket sales. One scalper states the obvious: the ticket prices are too high, keeping the presumably egalitarian Olympics out of reach from everyone but the super-wealthy.