You just made me spit my après ski beverage on my computer screen.
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USST Nominations and Cuts Underway
- Thread starter Muleski
- Start date
Thread Starter
TS
That's a GREAT visual. Love it!
I really do think the Olympics started out being something good, but the IOC is icky now. I'd like to support the athletes that go but the overall system is icky.
Thread Starter
TS
I might describe the IOC as "Effing Icky", actually.
I spent six years a kid living in Lausanne Switzerland, where the IOC is based. My dad's business did a lot of work with the ski industry, and of course he and my mom were fanatical skiers, and former racers, which is the real reason why we were based there in the first place. I can remember my dad, who worked VERY hard, complaining about seeing all of these IOC dignitaries around the city spending money like water. Big 600 series Mercedes, with drivers. Fancy dinners with expensive wine flowing. He would see them at the airport in Geneva, and I's hear him going off on how they always flew first class {he almost never did}. The works. And this is when at least the winter games were pretty low key. We were guests {of two different ski companies} as a family at the 1964 Games in Innsbruck, and in 1968 at Grenoble. My parents went to more. I was off the payroll. And I recall clear as a bell my dad railing on Brundage, and proclaiming that he and his minions were completely out of touch with the amateur issue and alpine ski racing. He knew pretty well how much various guys were being paid under the table. He knew how many had senior officer pay grades in their various nations' armies. All of that stuff. It was pretty much exploding at Grenoble. Yeah, Killy and Schranz were amateurs! One of the ski companies was Kneissel, and later I recall my dad saying that they paid Schranz well over the equivalent of $100K. And between a number of French groups, Killy earned more. And Brundage wanted tape over the logos to assure the purity of the games. Pretty funny in retrospect. How times have changed. How much does Puma pay Usain Bolt? I think it's something like $15Mil a year.
I can only imagine what the mothership is like in Lausanne these days. Anybody know what the operating budget and headcount of the IOC is? Curious. I has to be ginormous. Really chuckling now as that was over 50 years ago. Effing Icky it is!!
Still laughing at the Costas at the top of the 90M hill visual. Priceless!
Thread Starter
TS
Bobby is a bit younger than my kids, but I've seen him ski a lot, as well as his brother Brad. When my youngest was winding up the NCAA years they were starting. And I did know that Bobby had the hip issues. Very tough kid. Pretty great that he was able to ski this winter.
The Vermont "kid" who's hip problems I am most familiar with is Nolan Kasper, who is a friend of my kids. Nolan, for those who do not know, was our best SL skier in 2011, when his highlight was a 2nd in a WC. I think he was 23. Since then he has had 2-3 hip labram surgeries, and I think 3 ACL surgeries. He has never truly been healthy and strong since 2011, though he may be know. Fingers crossed.
Hips are nothing to mess with. You need two very "good hips" to ski at this level. As it has been explained to me, when you hip is not functioning and as strong as it should be, it can add to both knee and back problems. I am no doc, but that makes a lot of sense to me. Hard to create those angles....
The guys {and ladies} who are friends and much closer to this just do not see Julia coming back. And they do not see her risking any of her future to do so.
Having said that they all expect a barrage of "Super Jules" and "Big Game Jules" hype in the media. It sells. And it's a good financial deal for her.
I thought the whole tour last year, with the occasional forerunning, the being on the start lists and then withdrawing was strange.
This was after hearing in late November that her hip "is totally screwed. Surgery did not work." I heard that second hand from somebody who heard it from somebody in the know. Everybody was aware of it.
Too bad. Sad. Rough injury that has been problematic for a long time. And she is such an athlete. Long life ahead of her. Can't imagine putting her future activity at risk.
He is, without a doubt, the worst thing about Olympic coverage......
I am a Bob Costas fan. Yes, I admit it. I thought Pat O'Brien was far worse. What ruins the coverage is the delayed broadcasts, there is no way in todays world of instant information that a delayed broadcast makes watching the events enjoyable. Anyone who is truly interested in the event will find a time to watch it, no matter what the timezone is. The IOC and their antics has also taken a lot away from the games. And lastly, when the Olympics were first conceived it was about athleticism and something special every four years, now there is something evey year...are the Olympics even special or even relevant anymore?
No is my answer.
But from a TV perspective, NBC has to delay and show the events during the daytime in the United States. No way they can recoup the billions they pay to the IOC for TV rights by showing things live at 1am to 6 am ET. Viewership is way too low for the advertising $$$ needed to make a profit.
Sadly, it is about the $$$$$, both for the TV coverage and the IOC
What should be the elite athletic events of the year (or every 4 years), has been sold out.
I personally don't watch anymore, matter of fact I have not watched the Olympics for about the past 4 cycles. But, with my new interest in skiing, I will watch the skiing events.
My personal beliefs...... the olympics should be contested by amateur athletes.... But TV would not pay the big $$$$ for this scenario.
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I just enjoy the Olympics. They are special enough. I've seen too many "special" events and the passage of time reduced the uniqueness of what happened. I still enjoyed it.
Having "Wide World of Sports" crashed off a 20m hill, I'm not sure Bob Costas deserves that. Pinkeye maybe. Kind of a fun story in itself.
I'm looking forward to the Olympics. I do watch too much TV during them - but occasionally that's OK.
Eric
When I was a kid, I remember my parents being chill about my bed time or setting my alarm to watch certain Olympic events. The feeling I get about watching the Olympics these days is different. I watch and I enjoy most of what I see, but I sort of wish it were more like it used to be. Still, the IOC is
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Broadcasting the Olympics is not about sports, it is about the human interest stories...thats where the viewership comes from...not watching the actual games, those are the fillers.
At least that's the case in the U.S.A., where NBC repackages everything to fit a human interest angle. If you want to watch everything on NBC, you'd better be a cable subscriber because the HD online stream is only available to folks who pay to watch TV via a local monopoly. I'm seriously wondering how the "disruptor" streaming services (e.g. SlingTV, Playstation Vue) will handle the Olympics, and whether NBC Universal will place restrictions on what they can show. I already know that these services do not entitle subscribers to streaming from NBC Olympics' website (I was a Sling TV subscriber for a time to watch Giro d'Italia streaming on BeIN Sports, who no longer have U.S. broadcast rights to said event, and for Universal Sports back when it was part of their "International Sports" package).
Compare that to the BBC, who do show a "cultivated" broadcast on BBC1, but show full events on the other Beebs, and offer every single event, in full, on their website. Same thing with EuroSport (owned by Discovery Communications of Silver Spring, Maryland, FWIW), though that is a subscription service and the EuroSport Player is a monthly upcharge (or something a person can simply subscribe to without a cable subscription). Anybody in the U.S.A. can watch these excellent services using a VPN or proxy server that exits in the UK (BBC) or an EU nation (EuroSport). It is easy to setup and provides so much more than NBC's craptacular offerings.
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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They could easily put these human interest stories online and have QR code links on the OTA broadcast: zap the code with your smartphone or tablet and you can watch the story as the event carries on in real time. Make them optional. The network can still track viewership of these stories, and true fans can get their fill of the event. Heck, even use the secondary audio program sub-channel (SAP) to offer a commentary-free, raw feed of the events as they take place - let the excitement of the sport and the crowd reaction be the hype, not some loud-mouthed hyperbole generator.
I just had total hip replacement 20 days ago. No dancing around the problem - I did my homework and got a replacement that'll be good for coaching alpine ski racing and skiing at a high level (just no more moguls - no big loss, IMHO). Jules' misadventures in hip therapy interest me, as well.
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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NBC has stated that their OTA coverage on the mainline network will be in realtime "as much as possible" as they've learned that media outlets don't wait to publish results to Twitter, Facebook, and the web - and that fans are looking elsewhere for coverage (e.g. me watching all of the Rio games last year on BBC, whose coverage was impressive and easily accessible via VPN connection).
Oh wow! Hope it has all gone well Rudi, keep us posted on progress
@Rudi Riet Speedy recovery! My Birmingham hip is recovering well and I can ski bumps better than before. Lots of PT rehab though. Still. Forever.
Getting a titanium hip makes me enjoy being a spectator even more. I'm definitely watching the Olympics.
Eric
Getting a titanium hip makes me enjoy being a spectator even more. I'm definitely watching the Olympics.
Eric
Rudi Riet
AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Will do! Here's the basic summary:
- Since injury and repair of my right femur in January 2014, the femoral head above the repair went necrotic and was eroding at a rate of 1-2mm per month - ouch! Skiing, cycling, walking, sitting were all painful - it was chronic and not getting any better.
- Surgery was on May 8. It was posterior approach as I had residual hardware from my femur repair in January 2014 that had to come out (Ti rod in marrow channel of femur, still anchored by two Ti bolts at the knee-end of the femur).
- Lost 1 liter of blood during surgery (femur below the repair was very healthy and bled a lot in removing the Ti rod). Had to take in 4 units before being released from hospital. This delayed my return home by two days.
- New hardware is ceramic femoral head prosthesis with a cross-linked polymer cup in the hip - an ideal combo for skiing and cycling, with a low rate of breakdown. Should last me 20-25 years before needing revision.
- I've been fully weight bearing on the new joint since being able to stand (so 2 days post-surgery).
- Even though it's a posterior approach, I was in good enough shape that the surgeon didn't have to dissect any gluteal muscles to access the rod or to install my new hip hardware. Thus, I've already graduated from crutches, and ditched the cane last week except for really long walks (over 5 miles).
- I'm on post-op hip precautions until early July. This means no bending of the hip more than 90°, no internal rotation of the hip, and no crossing my leg past the centerline of my pelvis. So no riding my road bike or MTB until then, but I'll be able to use a gym-style exercycle and possibly ride Capital Bikeshare (very upright position won't likely break precautions, and the frames are step-through design).
I'm posting weekly entries on my blog at www.randomduck.com, but I'll keep folks posted here at The Pug as well.
@Muleski I can't even imagine what your dad would say today. 70s were still easy and fair, but nowadays it's just unreal. FIS is unreal, and IOC is just beyond anything I can describe, like FIS times 100. One guy, who was president of Slovenian OC for ages, and "on side" he was (or I think he actually still is) also one of FIS vice presidents, was getting about 1.5mio eur/year from FIS (god knows how much he was getting from IOC where he was also pretty high up). 1.5mio eur/year is pretty damn good money somewhere else, and not in country, where average neto salary is about 1000eur/month. And guy was bragging all the time, he does his job as president of NOC free of charge. Really? Like you would need salary when you are getting few millions non-taxed money every year. FIS officials nowadays are, from this what I have heard, getting around 10k eur/month, and I'm talking about those guys, who are actually doing work on races, so basically labor workers with showels, not about guys who really turn money around and are from time to time sitting in offices in Oberhofen and show up on races only in VIP lounges on Olympics and World Championships, and on some FIS congress in South Africa 
And as I wrote, IOC is just this times 100. And I'm fine with it, if you find idiot who is ready to finance that, fine. But what I really hate is, that some fat fart, who gets few millions for doing nothing dictates, athletes shouldn't earn a shit (read: marketing ban on anything related to Olympics).
And as I wrote, IOC is just this times 100. And I'm fine with it, if you find idiot who is ready to finance that, fine. But what I really hate is, that some fat fart, who gets few millions for doing nothing dictates, athletes shouldn't earn a shit (read: marketing ban on anything related to Olympics).
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Wow, great article and pretty insightful into the good and the bad of our present situation.
No way the United States should not a leader in skiing with our resources
Thread Starter
TS
Also, keep in mind that while Edie's article is about women, and highlight's KRJ's EC crown, we are in a bit of a hole with our men as well. Surely not "best in the world", or close, and particularly on the tech side,
Four of Norway's better WC tech skiers, two men and two women, spent four straight years in the NCAA. Two at DU, two at UVM. The Norwegian federation viewed this as a very smart development strategy, and yes, somebody else footed the bill. They pretty much abandoned and de-funded the equivalent of a C team. Smart move. Check out the numbers who came here to go to school, race the NorAm schedule, etc. Others have followed suit. Look at the Canadian men's tech team.
Back to the criteria to be named to the USST, the performance banding that Edie mentions; we are going to have three guys who will ski in every WC tech race this season, as they did last year. All three may ski in the Olympics. All have made criteria when they were a bit younger. Today.....nope. Not good enough to be on the USST. Ranked top 50 in the world, yep. Promised WC starts by the USST? Yes.
That makes no sense. Might the criteria be off kilter? Then of course we have the issue of how we do not fund our younger athletes. A skier nominated to the D team would be an idiot to do it....unless they are women speed skiers who will train with the EC group and race in EC's and a few WC's. Which is the case with out only two D teamers.
There are more effective ways to use the money that you need to spend to get that USST jacket. Stay with a situation where you get to pick your own coaches, your own training group, and to done degree have some control over the cost.
The NCAA is a good option, once and IF our own national team takes it as a serious pipeline. The stale old blood does not. At all.
They need to initiate some serious change about two days after they return from Korea this spring, in the eyes of many.
Nice article by Edie. Nothing really new, but very good to have more people banging the drum. Well presented.
That USST board and foundation is woefully ineffective at raising money, and there are always plenty of questions about how the organization spends it.
The "funding gap" falls right on the shoulders of the athletes and their families. Nothing new there. Change is long overdue.
It seems so obvious to outside observers. The USST/USSA struggles with it.
Good luck!
Four of Norway's better WC tech skiers, two men and two women, spent four straight years in the NCAA. Two at DU, two at UVM. The Norwegian federation viewed this as a very smart development strategy, and yes, somebody else footed the bill. They pretty much abandoned and de-funded the equivalent of a C team. Smart move. Check out the numbers who came here to go to school, race the NorAm schedule, etc. Others have followed suit. Look at the Canadian men's tech team.
Back to the criteria to be named to the USST, the performance banding that Edie mentions; we are going to have three guys who will ski in every WC tech race this season, as they did last year. All three may ski in the Olympics. All have made criteria when they were a bit younger. Today.....nope. Not good enough to be on the USST. Ranked top 50 in the world, yep. Promised WC starts by the USST? Yes.
That makes no sense. Might the criteria be off kilter? Then of course we have the issue of how we do not fund our younger athletes. A skier nominated to the D team would be an idiot to do it....unless they are women speed skiers who will train with the EC group and race in EC's and a few WC's. Which is the case with out only two D teamers.
There are more effective ways to use the money that you need to spend to get that USST jacket. Stay with a situation where you get to pick your own coaches, your own training group, and to done degree have some control over the cost.
The NCAA is a good option, once and IF our own national team takes it as a serious pipeline. The stale old blood does not. At all.
They need to initiate some serious change about two days after they return from Korea this spring, in the eyes of many.
Nice article by Edie. Nothing really new, but very good to have more people banging the drum. Well presented.
That USST board and foundation is woefully ineffective at raising money, and there are always plenty of questions about how the organization spends it.
The "funding gap" falls right on the shoulders of the athletes and their families. Nothing new there. Change is long overdue.
It seems so obvious to outside observers. The USST/USSA struggles with it.
Good luck!
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