Ski

"You reap what you sow" because Bode felt he was disrespected once as a kid? So abusing his body and becoming a laughing stock is somehow getting even with an old coach? You know, some people that haven't followed this might think Bode bashers are just doing it because Bode isn't winning. But I thought Bode was a dipsh*t last year when he was getting drunk on camera before races. Most of the people I know love an athlete that simply gives it their all...it's often more inspiring to watch an athlete being defeated while trying to go beyond any of their known limits. Some people have enormous respect for the woman that crawled across the finish at an early Ironman Triathalon. Some people think it's inspiring to watch Bode doing Jello shots.

Maybe Bode should have left Lance alone. Maybe Bode should have left Schlopy and his other team members alone. Maybe Bode will learn to shut his fat mouth. Maybe he'll learn to put down the shot glasses. Great roll model. Disrepect coaches and your teammates. Great f**king message for kids. Do what you want, drink all night, party it up, then FALL ON YOUR ASS in front of family that's travelled thousands of miles to cheer for you. Bode has roughly the same value as a roll model as Paris Hilton. Roll models are people that beat cancer and go on to win championships and use their fame to raise money for research. Role models aren't the people that get hungover for championships, then spread lies about people that have overcome great odds to succeed. Not directed toward you, Sex'. I agree with you, in a way. As long as Bode isn't taking someone else's spot, nor taking US Ski Team money to live his experiment, then I don't care. It's when Bode attacks teammates and Lance that I think Bode crosses a line. Bode is an amazing skier when he's focused...it's just really sad that his priorities seem to be to party instead of finding out how good he could be. He'll never get these peak years back and I bet he'll someday ask himself how great he could have been.

It's sort of like it sounds: the slalom gates are close together, or "flush". They are to create a rhythm change in a course. They are either single or double flush combinations. It's a long turn around two sets of gates in the same direction. PS Congrats, Metz, on doing it; on going after it; and, on having a cool attitude about it.

If you made the US Olympic Team, you'd be out drinking shots the night before your event? You really think that's what athletes are SUPPOSED to do? Bode disappointed his fans, his girfriend, his mother, his father, his friends, his sponsors, and yet he said he feels like it was a "great time". Maybe Bode is just too cool for me to understand. I readily admit that. And if you think it was just a "bad week", then you haven't paid attention to the last couple of months as Bode fell in 11 out of 13 slalom races. Maybe calling your teammates "stupid" for following FIS drug testing policies and saying Lance Armstrong is a cheater is also cool...but IDK, I just think Bode's been a jackass. I actually miss rooting for him, but I think someone's personality counts.

Nor do I and maybe his dad was overstating it...but it was an awfully odd and probably inappropriate comment to tell the press while Bode was still on the hill. It just made you feel there's a big problem. Sort of like if you have a car accident and when the cop comes up to your wreckage you say, "I've been having some alcohol issues."

And if he were you, he'd wait until his job was done. Man, I wasn't all that convinced he truly had a drinking problem until his dad said Bode had "alcohol issues". And he said it while sitting in the stands at the Olympics, just after Bode DNF'd. Then, while still wearing his skis, Bode said he'd had a fun time and wasn't disappointed and had been partying it up pretty good at night.

WILMINGTON, N.Y. - Swedish snowboarder Jonatan Johansson died Sunday after falling during a snowboardcross run down Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks. The 26-year-old Turin Olympics competitor lost control on one of his jumps during training for an International Ski Federation World Cup competition, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association spokesman Tom Kelly. A state police report said Johansson tried to correct himself but landed hard. An autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple internal injuries. Officials said Johansson landed within the course boundaries and was wearing a helmet. Olympic Regional Development Authority spokesman Sandy Caligiore said he did not hit a tree, a pole or any other obstacle. The course where Johansson crashed, the Boreen Trail, has special snowboardcross features constructed for competition. Johansson was on a section of the trail by himself when he fell. He was transported to Adirondack Medical Center in nearby Lake Placid, where he was pronounced dead, according to hospital spokeswoman Beth Donahue. An autopsy will be performed Monday at the medical facility's main center in Saranac Lake. The Swede had been competing at the World Cup level since 2000. Johansson finished 12th in snowboardcross at Turin. He was ranked 45th in the World Cup standings this season. Whiteface, down the road from Lake Placid, was hosting the four-day World Cup event. The rest of the snowboardcross event was canceled.

Yeah, even Montage held up because they turned guns on when it was cold. CB is anxious to get those 'Beach features uncovered so 'Dude can climb back up in his lifeguard stand. The Weather Channel is forecasting snow showers midweek, then a possible snowstorm Friday, up here. High temps for Saturday are supposed to be 25 and 16 overnight...brrrrrr

We'll have to wait to hear from Metzy. It's never a good sign when there's any hint of a DSQ around your name. Raw timing will show that you started and finished, but if a results page has letters instead of numbers, it almost always means bad things.

He's ranked 4th in the world in slalom and has shown he can win in GS. Once he gets comfortable with speed events, he'll give Raich a run for the Overall Title. The fastest way to fame and fortune is in downhill events, but being the Overall winner is most everyone's goal. And starting out in technical events and moving to speed events is much easier than a speed skier trying to broaden into tech skiing. To us Americans, it's the same as when a second baseman bulks up and moves to an outfield position, wherin it's rare that an outfielder becomes an infielder (except for 1st basemen, where the broken down sluggers often end up). Ligety can be a trip. He use to do a 'worm turn' in the finish area, where he'd turn so radically that his body was on the snow, yet his edges were still spinning him around. I guess you have to see it... And I just don't get it. Following the Olympics---which don't count toward the World Cup Title---, Bode was actually in a three-way tie for third place in the overall (with Maier and Rahlves). His early season wins still had him within striking distance of Raich, with four races in Asia, then the Finals...so there was lots of time to still win the title. But Bode just quit.

Austrian Benjamin Raich, AKA The Anti-Bode, clinched this year's Overal World Cup Title during this weekend's races in Shigakogen, Japan. Olympic Combined gold medalist American Ted Ligety won one of last weekend's GS in Yong Pyong, South Korea and had two top 10's in this weekend's slalom races in Japan, moving into 9th place on the World Cup Tour overall standings. Bode, btw, didn't bother to make the trip to South Korea or Japan.

One page is showing him DQ'd, while another is showing him 27th (1st in his class). The classes, btw, aren't age class for Nationals, but 'average handicap' classes. Metzy did ski the entire second run and cross the finish line and get a time of 46.10. But one page is showing him as possibly missing a gate. The "age class" page is showing a DSQ for Run 1...his 46.11 time isn't there. The ASRA computer program assigns people to age classes, but at Nationals you compete against racers in your gender that are of the same ability. Metzy is in class 5 "ability", not class 5 "age".

We skied the top of the mountain yesterday from 10am to 4pm and just watched it go from complete coverage to patches of mud and rock showing up, especially on Highball. Hopefully they'll see the forecast of cold weather and not pull the plug too soon.

*Metzy is on-deck... *Metzy is on course... *Metzy finished! He had almost identical 1st and second run times of 46.11 and 46.10. His second run was 36th fastest, with several racers left. He's currently in 27th place. 27 198 METZLER, Chris 5 46.11 (31) 46.10 (36) 1:32.21 Holy, sh*t! Results are unofficial, but it looks like Metzy won his class. He's in with the higher handicap guys, but some have been around for years. Holy, crap!

Kind of cool...today's slalom race at KMart is happening right now and Live Timing is handling the scoring and the results are live: http://www.live-timing.com/race.php?r=2362&u=10&pc=1&maxr=10 Metzy crashed in yesterday's GS, but was 31st after the first run of today's slalom. He's currently in line at the top of the race course for run #2, which is underway... Bernie Resch had the second fastest time in the first run, but had to hike a gate in run 2 and dropped to 8th, behind leader Mike Mezzetti.

Just a course pic from today:

Just to clear something up, there used to be a Playboy Club (which had some affiliation, but I'm not sure the exact arrangement) at Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, which now known as Mountain Creek. What was a Playboy Club? Popular back in the 1970's, they were combination hotel/restaurant/bars/dance clubs. Who went to them? Surprisingly, a lot of familes, as well as honeymoon couples and general bar types. Back in those days, a Playboy Club was a somewhat high end resort that offered private membership for regular dinner goers and weekend stays. Playboy Bunnies used to walk around with trays of cigarettes for sale, as well as being the drink wait staff. They also had Polaroid cameras and would pose for pictures with everyone that asked. They wore black outfits, with fishnets, and bunny ears and tails. Pretty tame by today's standards. No more "dirty" than you might say a typical Hooters would be. In fact, it was basically like a Hooters, just darker with lots of red crushed velvet and piano music. So my family used to have dinner Friday nights, then ski all day on Saturday. VV/GG and the Playboy Club were where we spent a lot of winter weekends when I was in junior high. I just figured I'd explain an earlier post in which I mentioned the Playboy Club. I got a PM from someone that suggested someone else felt I was "creepy" in mentioning it. I'm terribly sorry if Playboy Bunnies sitting on kid's laps for polaroids is a shocking and offensive image. But check out Ski Magazine from that era and you'll find that skiing and that sort of "social scene" were intertwined.

I know 'Mom was shopping for a place to race, so.... Just got off the phone with Montage's ski school and they said they'd be holding regular Nastar this Saturday and Sunday, starting at 10:30am, "weather permitting". They have been known to drill right into the dirt. Lift tickets are $15.

Eh, 'cause they are a bunch of guys that ride together and spend a lot of time on the lifts and are online together? What, uh, does that make, uh, us, Jeff?

Everything you ever wanted--or didn't want--to know about him: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendid=47446685

Oh well, they could have sold a few more over-priced $55 lift tickets.

Pretty much when they can get on and off the lift by themselves, as well as ski all the blue squares. There's a girl a year older than Ty that's on a Devo Team...she's 6 yrs old...but that's the exception. Most of the real little ones are 7 yrs.

On the girls side, J4 CAT Kelly R. won the slalom and finished second in the GS. Another CAT, Margot L., won the GS, while finishing third in the slalom. Montage's Audrey B. was second in the slalom and third in the GS. Three very fast girls... Brian, Tony, and Peter were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in both the first and second slalom runs. Not sure where the Blue kids finished. The only downside is that they run this race on the Nastar slope, which is just too flat. Maybe the new owners....

In a showing of the newest powerhouse in junior ski racing, Montage Mountain Ski Team racers won both the slalom and the giant slalom races this past weekend at Montage. In fact, our own Brian D., Tony C., and Peter F. swept the podium in slalom. Tony and Brian where first and third, respectively, in GS, with Denton's Devin D. in silver position, in races that featured USSA skiers from J3/4/5 ages.