As what turned into The First Great Controversy of the Salt Lake Olympics was unfolding, NBC figure-skating analysts Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic delivered 6.0 performances for saying exactly what they thought.
And what they thought was that the judges robbed Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier ? that they, not the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, deserved the gold medal. And, speaking to reporters a day later, neither analyst was backing off from what they said on TV.
"I was saying what I was thinking," Bezic said. "I think that as David and Jamie were skating, we crowned them one minute before they were even finished and felt very, very strongly that they were the gold medalists. As the marks came up, I was certainly completely shocked and disillusioned by the whole thing."
"I didn't think there would be any debate (that the Canadians would win)," Hamilton said. "I really had a hard time believing it. I thought it was a no-brainer.
"I called it exactly as I saw it."
Which is what analysts are supposed to do. What neither Hamilton nor Bezic could do, however, was explain the inexplicable ? but that only added to the drama of the moment.
"As an analyst, you try to come up with some sort of explanation. . . . In this particular case, I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with some sort of reason or excuse or anything else," Hamilton said. "I can't find a plausible reason why. And that's why it's tough to take."
"I do think it was politics," Bezic said. "I think it was cultural as well."
Neither analyst had any second thoughts about expressing their certainty that the Canadians would win.
"I don't regret anything we said because we were saying what we believed," Bezic said. "I have never seen a competition judged this way and I've been around skating a long time. I think this was the worst."
But Hamilton also said he expects no such controversy as the men's and women's events get under way.
"I don't think we're going to have the same issues in the singles events that can happen in the couples events," Hamilton said.
DAVE'S RAVE: "Late Show" host David Letterman loved Salt Lake's opening ceremonies ? although his take on what transpired was a bit skewed (and utterly hilarious).
"I turned on the opening ceremonies and . . .congratulations to those folks. What a wonderful display," he said as the audience broke into applause. And Letterman went on to rave about the "Child of Light" in the program.
"So the Child of Light is skating and then Satan comes out and then for the next 20 minutes ? the poor kid, he's only like 11 or something ? they've got Satan chasing the Child of Light. And, finally, thank God, about eight or 10 Mormons come down out of the stands . . . and they beat Satan to death with snow shovels."
And, a bit later, Dave questioned how Satan could have gotten ahold of a pair of skates.
"In Utah, I don't know," said bandleader Paul Shaffer.
"Well, he don't live in Utah," Letterman retorted. "He's from out of state. He ain't a Utahn."
THE RATING GAME: NBC's coverage of Day 4 of the Olympics averaged a 19.6 rating/30 share ? 32 percent higher than Day 4 at Nagano four years ago. It was the highest-rated Monday night on any network in almost four years (since ABC's 1998 telecast of the Oscars), and NBC drew ratings 14 percent higher than ABC, CBS and Fox combined.
The first four days from Salt Lake were 25 percent higher than they were for the last Winter Games.
Utahns continued to tune in in the biggest numbers ? KSL averaged a whopping 41.6/60 on Tuesday night.
SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: Lest you think that KSL's weird little mascot, Slick the Seagull ? which KSL-Channel 5 is using on its late-night "SLC Live" ? is an original idea, it's patterned after Fatso the Fat-arsed Wombat, which caused a bit of a sensation when an Australian broadcaster made it part of their 2000 telecast.
There's one major difference, according to people who have seen both ? Fatso was actually funny.
And Fatso didn't have to share a show with the unwatchable Johnny Biscuit.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com