I last heard their names spoken at a competition three years ago or so. In terms of awe.

"I heard the Kittycats were coming back."

"Wow! I'd love to see them skate!"

"I'll let you borrow some tape. Just don't let the judges know you've got it."

"Okay. Wow. Wonder when they're going on tour."

Never. They have other lives. I think they always knew it would be this way.

But you can see them every time a skater has the nerve to defy the idiotic skating standards of the day and skate for themselves. Hit the right edges. And not care. Period.

Surya Bonaly
Elvis Stojko
Todd Eldredge (finally!)
Tara Lipinski
Michael Weiss
Tonya Harding
Debi Thomas
Katarina Witt
Pasha Grishuk and Yevgeny Platov
Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin
Peggy Fleming

I can in good conscience add no more names to this list. There are many good skaters. But that "I don't care" attitude is pure Kittycat.

You've seen the last of the Kittycats. You haven't seen the last of these guys.

Do it for yourself. That's all I can say.

More legacies -- a deep awareness of line. An awareness that a small shift in positioning can affect the look of an entire program.

An awareness of yourself and how you fit into the skating.

And the brains to analyze everything, figure out where it was coming from, and go with it. Cecile and Jonathan never stopped thinking. Ever.

They are not together. They barely speak.

Maybe it was just too much.

Being rejected from top to bottom by your own home country? Not being allowed to skate for America? When world champions literally cowered? "What were the Americans thinking?"

Nothing, apparently. Except for that one last abortive attempt to suit the Kitties up in "appropriate' dress and parade them at Sarajevo, USFSA style.

Hell no. The phones started crashing into the walls. Had to unplug the answering machine. Right through the Opening Ceremonies. "Tickets are waiting."

To make your third team members sit on edge like that until the night of the competition, not knowing if they'd be allowed to skate or not? "Hell no." That was a Kittycat "stereo comment." Simultaneous.

No, I think we've seen the last of them. They'd rather listen to the Stones than go see them on tour. Really. "Just tacky."

But there's Surya. Back flip and all. And I think Kittygirl would have liked that outfit.