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if the target audience is the macho men, perhaps the Canadians should be looking for for the next Katarina instead of putting Patrick and Vaughn in camo.

LOL! And shaking my head at this whole thing.

I never liked Elvis, and this recent stupidity of his makes me like him even less.

Earth to Elvis: the vast majority of people who follow figure skating are WOMEN. That means we generally don't give two figs if a skater is gay, straight, or somewhere in the nebulous middle. Yeah, sometimes gay men like to skate. Woo-hoo. Is this some kind of revelation to Elvis? What sport did he think he was competing in all those years ago?

IMO, the most boring (male) skaters in the sport are/were those who spent more time seemingly defending their masculinity and so skated like unappealing drones: Elvis, Todd, Michael Weiss. Either they're chest-thumping or they're trying so hard not to show any kind of emotion at all that their programs become the skating equivalent of No-Doze. Compare those three to Ilya Kulik and Alexi Yagudin, and it becomes kind of comically obvious that yes, it's possible for a man to be masculine, graceful, emotional, and artistic. Gay men don't have the market cornered on grace and beauty. Elvis should look to his own countryman and immediate predecessor, Kurt Browning, for proof that a straight man can perform programs that inspire awe on both a technical and an artistic level. Hell, even Evan has done programs that are energetic and funny and have some style to them (not so much recently, but certainly 2-3 years ago). Putting on skates doesn't mean you have to hand over your membership in the "I like girls" club.

And yeah, if straight men do watch the sport, they're going to be watching for the good-looking women. They're probably going to laugh at the men, even those who dress in black leather and do a program set to AC/DC, with moves inspired by the last monster truck show they saw.

There are many, many reasons why skating is on the decline of late. Hello, the economy, anyone? COP, which is incomprehensible not only to the viewers, but also to the skaters and their coaches? The lack of a charismatic star, like Katarina Witt or Michelle Kwan? The fact that we seem to have different champions at both the national and world level, every year, without the consistency of years past? The lack of TV coverage?

If Elvis thinks the only reason people are staying away from the sport is a few men in sequins, methinks he needs a reality check, pronto.

--EA Week