Figure Skating — Chicago's Sport

By Alicia Dorr in News on Jan 30, 2007 8:02PM

Unlike sledding, which generally leaves us cranky at the cold reality of snow forcing itself into every possible crevice in our foolproof apparel defenses against it, we like ice skating. We like getting in the way of people who are really good at it because we're gawking at them with starry eyes. We like the sound it makes. We like watching skating of the figure variety on TV.

But who knew that Chicago was the best in the world when it came to figure skating? Apparently, our city is being considered "strongly" (a 1-to-4 scale, with "don't care" tacked on the end, mayhap?) to be the site of the World Figure Skating Museum. Its current location in Colorado Springs is good, but those in charge are looking to raise its profile and attendance. If chosen, Chicago will be the site of all the regular museumy-type things: artifacts from past skaters, its Hall of Fame, films, costumes, artwork, etc.

Well, OK. But we really can't figure out why Chicago, off the top of our heads, other than its being cold and a big city. We mean, we'll probably stop in and everything, but, really, shouldn't the "World" skating museum be in Russia somewhere? We're just saying, 's all.

Image via shinmai.co.