ou get a fifth of a second, more or less, to decide whether or not you want to take a swing at a major league fastball, and that's about what you get to decide what course of action to take in figure skating.
''In this sport,'' said Todd Eldredge, ''a hair is the world.''
The Chatham native was going to make a significant splash in his return to the nationals after a two-year absence. He was going to open last night's men's short program with a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination. But when the moment of truth came, he broke it off - ''popped it'' in skating lingo - and changed it to a double. He couldn't risk it because it just didn't feel right when he took off. It was off by, yup, a hair.
Bye-bye killer marks.
But it is always nice to be the King, or even the ex-King. If John Doe had done what Todd Eldredge did, he would have paid a much higher price. No judge will acknowledge it publicly, but Who you are matters. When you've won five national titles and a world championship, you have earned major brownie points.
Popped quad and all, the worst he got was a 5.3. He even got a 5.6. Throw in the steady stream of 5.7s and 5.8s for his mature, Old World presentation, and he came out OK, all things considered.
Actually, he came out more than OK. He came out trailing only Michael Weiss, who did put up the killer marks with a superb demonstration of 21st century skating prowess.
After botching that opening combo, Eldredge was flying blind in terms of placement, so finishing second was a giant bonus.
''I didn't know what to expect,'' he acknowledged. ''It was up to the rest of the guys, because I started early.''
Eldredge could have attempted to salvage the situation by throwing in an impromptu combination later in his program. But that was a calculated risk he chose not to take.
''It was better to keep my thoughts together for the rest of the program and skate it the way it was supposed to be done,'' he explained.
Todd Eldredge has never been about phenomenal athleticism, a la Michael Weiss or Tim Goebel, and he hasn't been about in-flight improvisation. He has been about clean, precise, elegant craftsmanship. At 29, he may be the last male skater left claiming linkage with the Dick Button-style of skating. He would have looked good outdoors. He even remembers the school figures.
He's here on something of a free pass, anyway. He's won five national titles, and only Button can match that. Will six make that much of a difference? He's been out of this kind of action for two years. He's got money. In his world, he has sufficient fame.
He has come back to take care of some unfinished business. He doesn't need trophies, but he would like a medal. He wants to be in Salt Lake City next year.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda ... that's been the story of Todd Eldredge in the Olympics. He botched Albertville, messing up a simple double and finishing 10th. He got sick just prior to the nationals in 1994 and didn't even get to Lillehammer. Staring at almost a sure medal in Nagano, he turned a triple axel into a single and finished fourth.
There is absolutely no other reason for him to be skating now, other than to see if he can cap off the most distinguished male skating career of his generation with a medal of some kind. It will not be easy. The sport has just about passed him by, what with all these kids landing quadruple this and quadruple that.
He landed one in competition last fall, which was akin to breaking the 4-minute mile about two years later than Roger Bannister. But he did it.
So it's in the repertoire, and if it's in the repertoire, he figured he might as well employ it. He practiced well yesterday, and, as far as he was concerned, he was going for it last night.
''I made the decision today,'' he said. ''Everything went really well. I was going to go ahead and do it. But as I was coming out of my back crossover, I went up a little too quick.''
The damage - which turned out to be not so damaging - was done. Eldredge finished out his program, emphasizing his spins (''one of the things I think I do better than anybody'').
''The rest of the program was fine,'' he said. The judges apparently thought so, and what else matters?
There was never a question of confidence or poise. Two years away? So?
''I didn't feel any different at this event,'' he maintained. ''I've been to Skate America and Skate Canada, and I treated them the way I'd treat this event.''
Sitting second, he could easily steal the whole thing. Even if he doesn't, he would still have a decent shot at reaching his goal of being in Salt Lake City. There is always next year's nationals in LA. And should Messrs. Weiss and Goebel emerge as 1-2 here and then finish with a combined placement of 13 or lower at the next worlds, the US would be given three spots in the Olympics, which would improve his chances even more.
What it comes down to is that Todd Eldredge is back in the game. And Todd Eldredge will always be able to count on the friendly sentiments of judges who appreciate his old traditional style of skating. And if he gives them one decent quad by taking off that ''hair'' later, he might be standing on the podium tomorrow afternoon, looking down at the young leapers.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
