Stumped by Scoring System

The Alpine skiing, the speedskating, the hockey, even the curling, that’s all fine. But the marquee event of any Winter Olympics is the figure skating, particularly the women’s singles -- even without Michelle Kwan.

The problem with figure skating, however, is the winner is determined by subjective scoring. In most sports, the team or person scoring the most points, runs or goals wins. Or, in some cases, it’s the person, horse or car that is first to cross the finish line.

With figure skating, if you’re scoring at home -- well, good luck.

And the announcers aren’t much help. They talk about the new scoring system, but do you understand it? What we’ve figured out is that there are 12 judges, and nine of the scores -- chosen at random by computer -- count. Supposedly that’s an improvement over the old method, in which all scores counted.

The system was created after the judging scandal at the Salt Lake City Games.

One highlight of the Turin Games involved the Chinese pairs team of Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, who are not related. Zhang Dan suffered a terrible fall shortly after starting. The two went on to finish their routine and won the silver medal.

It was a great Olympic moment. It was riveting. It was confusing.

NBC’s Tom Hammond seemed lost. Maybe that’s understandable. This wasn’t arena football, or horse racing.

But Sandra Bezic, a six-time Canadian pairs champion who supposedly is an expert, was somewhat lost too. And Dick Button for the most part was uncharacteristically silent.

After the fall, with Zhang Dan grimacing as she struggled to her feet and sought medical attention, Hammond asked, “What happens next?”

Bezic explained, “They can continue from where they stopped, if the referee allows it.”

So viewers learned something. And the referee did allow them to continue.

Then Hammond asked, “Can they still compile enough points for a medal?”

Good question. This team came into the long program in second place.

“I don’t think it matters,” Bezic said. “I think this is about fulfilling an Olympic dream.”

The correct answer was, “Yes, they can still win a medal.” That’s what they did.

Bezic and Hammond rallied. Bezic said of the pair, “They are like the marathon runner [who] has to cross the finish line -- no matter what.” And Hammond said, “Twenty-year-old Zhang Dan -- who would have guessed that someone that slight would have a heart as big as the skating rink?”

Figure skating’s big event, the women’s final, will be televised Thursday night. Scott Hamilton, the sport’s all-time best commentator, will be there along with Hammond, Bezic and Button. If something out of the ordinary happens, maybe Hamilton can sort it all out.

One other thing: NBC will show ice dancing tonight, which raises this question: What is the difference between pairs competition and ice dancing? Hopefully, someone can explain that.

Ratings Update

In some ways, NBC and its cable networks are doing just fine, attracting 140 million viewers, almost half of all Americans, at one time or other.

On the other hand, the average rating for the prime-time coverage Wednesday night was an 11.3 with an 18 share and the average audience at any one time was 17.9 million. NBC got the same numbers Tuesday night. The 17.9 million is the smallest audience for a Winter Olympics since 1988.

Fox’s “American Idol” -- drawing 26.6 million viewers Tuesday night and 28.8 million Wednesday night -- handily beat the Olympics.

On the plus side, the “Olympic Zone” shows that air nightly on NBC stations is providing Channel 4 in L.A. with an average rating of a 5.5, up from the 2.9 the station normally gets for the 7:30 to 8 time slot.