Los Angeles - American figure skating is not a disaster. Alissa Czisny fell twice in her short program at the World Figure Skating Championships, and Rachel Flatt had an appropriate performance for an inexperienced 16-year-old competing in her first worlds. And all anyone can talk about is whether Michelle Kwan or Sasha Cohen might return to figure skating with hopes of making next year's Olympic team. And this constitutes a mess? If you think so, you're looking in the wrong place. Hidden among the spills and tears of the Americans' disappointing showing Saturday at Staples Center was Evan Lysacek's world figure skating title two days earlier... Lysacek's flawless routine was buried on The Oxygen Channel on Friday.... Lysacek has a killer smile. He's charming and funny and handsome.... He could be the next Scott Hamilton, who won Olympic gold in 1984.... Lysacek has a nice rivalry with Johnny Weir, but it's not Tonya-Nancy. He didn't get attacked at the knees, but he competed with a stress fracture in his left foot and still won worlds. Imagine what's possible if he's healthy for the Olympics.

It's rare in this life that you get to see something as dramatic as we witnessed over the weekend. How often does someone competing in a major international event, in his home country with the eyes of the nation upon him, step up and perform the way Evan Lysacek did? The 1980 Miracle on Ice team comes to mind. Frans Klammer in the downhill in Innsbruck. Pele maybe. A bunch of Chinese olympians perhaps. But none of them inspired a nation the way Lysacek did. This is what the Soviets were trying to do with Ivan Drago. You just know that 15, 20 years from now some American will win Worlds or olympic gold and say "When I was a little kid I watched Evan Lysacek skate on the Oxygen network and told my mom I wanted to grow up to be just like him." To do it under the pressure of having all of America counting on him, then suck it up and skate through the pain of a stress fracture in his foot makes Evan Lysacek more than just a champion; it makes him a hero. Close down the balloting for Sportsman of the Year, we've found our man. Now cue the hundred "He's gay/ You're gay" comments, but keep in mind, this, this and this is his girlfriend.