Vancouver 2010: Ladies

For the sake of my longevity and emotional well-being I did not watch the ladies' event. However I have seen certain programs online, read reviews, and looked at the protocols, and my opinion remains unchanged:

• The judging system is crap. There is no way a given jump should receive +1 from one judge and -2 from another. It doesn't matter whether judges value different things--there should be a protocol that lists that qualities make a good jump, and within that the judges should be free to weigh the merit, for example, a jump's height vs. its outflow. However no judge should be able to decide that a jump was -2 GOE because it was low even if it was clean and flowy, while another decides that it was +1 because it was clean and flowy. Just no. Any given element should have a spread of 2 points, MAYBE 3.
  
• I do not disagree with the final placements. That being said, I firmly believe that Yu-na Kim was overscored. She is not the only one (see: ice dance), but sometime during these Olympics the judges decided that it was less about scoring what they saw as it was giving as many points as possible to the executed elements so that these Games could be remembered as one where all world records fell. This is not a game of "Who can give more points?" Oh, wait. This is essentially the same point as above: the judging system is crap. WAKE UP, ISU.
• Someone please get Mao Asada out of Tatiana Tarasova's grip. Tarasova is a brilliant coach who has worked wonders with many skaters, and her relationship with Mao seems very sweet, but I just don't think that she is leading Mao on the right trajectory. I feel like her skating's characteristic airiness has been completely suppressed, and with it her consistency and cute costuming have disappeared. It's painful to watch. JSF, I'm counting on you.