Oscar Pistorius is why the fuck we watch.

The feeling may be muted by the lack of life-and-death exigency, but sports nonetheless comprehensively capture the full range of the human condition. Quoth the nasal-voiced "Wide World of Sports" voice-over:

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition.

What he said -- that's why we watch.

Oscar Pistorius is why we watch.

Pistorius has a congenital condition that prevented his legs from forming below the fibula. He was amputated below the knees at 11-months-old. In a perverted way, he's lucky to never have known regular legs and lost them. He's been forced to cope since he was born.

Cope he has.

Pistorius has made a name for himself after challenging and winning the Olympic ban on runners who must use prosthetics to compete in track and field events. He narrowly missed qualifying for the Beijing Games but dominates Paralympic competition.

Oscar Pistorius' quest of competing in the Olympics is inspiration incarnate. The wonder of a man with no legs competing at the highest levels of sport is no freak show; it's triumph of the highest magnitude, an achievement to be celebrated.

Oscar Pistorius transcends banal questions of winning and losing. He stomps in the realm of sublime on a pair of magic legs.