(no subject)

Watching the skaters after they perform, as they wait for their scores, is almost heartbreaking, to use the cliché phrase. That anticipation and dread--they're on national, international TV, and who wants their anguish splashed all over that screen?--is nonetheless painfully obvious. They wave to the camera--presumably us, but the skaters are usually too intent on what's going on now: I know I messed up here, I should have done this. I can't see the scoreboard, so they seem to be looking out into the distance just to my right; occasionally, one of the skaters will try to get the photographer to turn the camera around, making little "time out" signs, and I wince as they keep filming. Sometimes your best is simply not enough.

Edit to fix punctuation.