Ramifications from this Olympic Scandal and Fallout from IOC awarding second gold medal will have major ripples in all other judged and refereed sports, including, dare I say....rodeos?

Anytime an event is judged and assigns a score, or a referee makes a line call or an out or calls a foul or a penalty or conveniently says he did not see a foul or penalty when one was blatantly or flagrantly committed (choose basketball, football, hockey, NCAA, baseball, tennis, etc, etc.....); who is to say that some bias or corruption of the event has NOT taken place?

And even scarier, if a judged or refereed event is exceedingly close, who is to say that every loser won't want a recount or a rematch, or a ____-off, or an appeal to some higher authority to be declared the *real* winner?

I believe the Canadians deserved the Gold.  I'm happy they have been awarded the Gold.  But they will always be an asterisk from now and forever for every future judging or refereed dispute when some losing team seeks a grievance for their loss.

And the credibility, now, for all events...from little league baseball games that should be about all the noble qualities of sport right on down to most *prestigious* Olympic venues has been cast in some level of question for all time.

Though no fault of any of the skaters participating in the pairs event, the behavior of the judges has made a lasting and permanent impact; and again, our collective innocence has been lost.