Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

U.S. Pairs Champions Marissa Castelli and Simon Schnapir have announced they're splitting. Before this year, I would have been all, "who cares?" But after watching their fairly solid skating this season, I'm saddened by the news—because it probably means continued mediocrity for U.S. pair teams.

We haven't had a winning pairs team since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, who won the World Championships in 1979. That's going on 35 years now, folks. And the last pair to even medal at Worlds was Kyoko Ina and Jason Zimmerman in 2002, with a bronze they got going on 12 years ago.

Schnapir and Castelli are both great skaters (although I did think she was too short for him). Here's hoping they find partners who can take U.S. pairs back to the podium in international competition.