Spicing up Combat

["jcorey30" <jcorey30@yahoo.com>]

This maybe more of a style question than a rules question, but many 
people seem to congregate here.

Combat has of late been getting a little dull in my group.  I think 
there are seveal problems, and I will try and explain each of them in 
turn.

1) It takes forever!
I have posted about this many times on many boards.  Some of you seem 
to run very efficient combats, mine seem to take hours.  How do your 
combats move so quickly?  have you faced this problem, and if so, 
what techniques do you use to combat it (pardon the pun).

2) Lack of flair.  
I used to have a great player.  he would always describe the action 
he was taking in entertaining detail.... "I throw my sword to the 
ground and jump on the demons back" etc...   Perhaps if I did more of 
this, my players would "join in".  How do you describe your combats 
to keep them fresh?  It too often goes "I swing at him <roll>"

3) Gauging the opposition.
I am too afraid to kill my PCs, an that is my own fault.  So the 
fights are often too easy.  Do you guys have any quick formulas to 
measuring the qulity of a combat?

4) The players know a lot.
They have done extensive calculations to determine the  best way for 
them to approach combat.  SO it tends to be more mathmateics than 
entertainment.

Any thoughts/emotions/idea/accusations/denials on any of these topics?

John