This Is Just So Wrong

Okay, you've no doubt had enough of the kerfuffle over the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Perennially, we are asked to contemplate just exactly what is the sport involved in lovely women arching against gorgeous beaches in something that is really only a metaphor for swimwear. This year it's worse than ever, with the cover trumpeting "Heidi Klum Wearing Just Paint!"

Yeah, I don't get it either--but I'll admit that doesn't stop me from looking at it and basking in the imagined sunny warm weather. Face it--it's February. You don't survive it without a little fantasy.

But this--this is just so wrong. Click the link and then go to the index on the left for the full effect--the "Plushenko Sex Bomb" video.

That's right--the winner of the 2006 gold medal in Men's Figure Skating is pretending to be a Chippendale's stripper--er, dancer (?)--stripping down to a gold lame bikini and gloves. And black skates. To a Tom Jones song.

With a totally fake muscled bodysuit on. Yeah, from a distance it may look like he's stripping, but he's got more layers on at the end than anyone watching has. Boyfriend is PADDED. Remember the Austrian bodybuilders from SNL, Hans and Franz--"We want to pump (clap) you UP!"? That cheesy.


Which again, raises the question. Is stripping now a sport? Or anyway, pretend stripping? There's already stripper aerobics. Will we see "Pole Dancing" join "Pole Vault" in the 2008 Summer Games?