I have many fumbles with words... I still lead a sheltered life, so if this is something naughty I apologise (apparently I've made quite a few online over the past few days that I had no idea on so I'm a bit nervous when people start laughing)
I had absolutely no problem with what you wrote or how you did it. You nailed it. (Pun intended.) It's one of those perfect words or phrases that totally encapsulates the meaning of something. Anyone who lived through that circus would totally get what you were talking about. I still cringe thinking about it and all the ridiculous made for tv events and special reports that every television executive on the planet tried to come up with to exploit it. It became a real life theatre of the absurd. Skating was actually pretty respected as sport before that happened. Despite the boom it inspired, I think skating's reputation actually took massive hit with the general public. People saw it as one big show going forward, so all the subsequent scandals in 98, 99 and 02 only served to damage the sport further.