Farewell to Kwan Reporting

This morning, I pitched a story about how, like many athletes, Michelle Kwan has hung on for too long. From the reaction I received from ABC colleagues and superiors, you would think I suggested punching a baby bunny rabbit. Among the things I was told was that Michelle Kwan is not that old, that she hasn't announced her retirement and that basically I should just shut my trap. Do I deserve this? Did I not resist an opportunity just yesterday to pile-on during the news conference? Did I not feel a twinge of sympathy when Michelle Kwan started to cry? Yes I did!!! And I deserve better. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that tonight will almost definitely be my final news piece on Michelle Kwan. In the last 2 months, I have done no fewer than 7 news spots that included Kwan. That is enough. If she runs for Senate some day, or re-invents penicillin, I will come out of retirement. But until then, my short career on the Kwan beat is over, and I leave her to all of you who worship, adoringly, at her altar. Enjoy it.

But I am not going to let this unseemly little episode get me down. Not today. Not when I interviewed 5-time Olympic Gold medalist Eric Heiden. He is about the coolest guy in the world. At one point he joked that, between the two of us, we have 5 Olympic gold medals. How can you argue with that? When I was 8 years old, in 1980, I remember watching him skate in Lake Placid. I remember being told his thighs were as big as tree trunks. [READ MORE]