eBay - Get It While It's Hot

Back-to-back posts!  Finals must be over.  Grumpy emailers, do you copy?

Some more cool stuff for sale on eBay right now, so, although we're getting to most of these things a little late, here's some holiday gift ideas.  Time is running out on these auctions, so get there now.  The auctions benefit a charity doing relief work for some really bad flash floods that happened in Genoa a month or so ago.

The seller claims to only ship in Italy, but the pro eBay move here is to win the auction, and then just get them to ship it to the US.  If they refuse, you apologize and walk away, they'll get the item to the next highest bidder.  These items are small enough to ship via the mail (as opposed to FedEx or UPS) so the shipping will actually only be a few bucks.  Because the items are used, there will be no import duties on them:

Lara Gut's race suit from Soelden.
(Translated page) 

Lara Gut's helmet from 2011 Garmisch DH.
(Translated page)

Verena Stuffer's Invicta DH gloves.
(Translated page)
(She skis for the Italian Forestale team, and has some single digit results on her resume, so maybe the fact that you've never heard of her makes these even more legit?)

Lisa Agerer's Italian team Vuarnet hooded vest.
(Translated page)
(20 race wins and two 6's.  Yup.  Buy the vest)


Lara Gut's autographed bib from Lake Lousie
(Translated page)
Note: This bib is not tainted with the ass-whipping of the century


And, finally, apologies to Dustin Cook for not plugging his 2010-2011 Slalom jacket in time.  Looks like he made out just fine though.  (Not a mark on it, just like his shin guards from the Nor-Am SC)



Photo blatantly borrowed from the Internet.


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Is There a More Epic Blog Post Than Warner's Most Recent?

The good life can be a lot of different things, depending on who you are and where you're at in your life. But there are very few people on Earth who could read Warner's most recent update and not laugh and think to themselves, "Damn, that is SWEET." You must read his blog post now.

Even The Notorious B.I.G. would be proud. Ski racers everywhere can take any number of lessons from Warner about determination and sticking to it, but perhaps the biggest thing we can learn is the true value of being open to new experiences, and what it means to "Work hard, play hard" in a positive way.

Cheers, W. Keep it coming.

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Subscribe To An Italian Ski Racing Mag, Dress Like You're on the World Cup: Colmar Suits For €199 ($290)

Race Ski Magazine, the Italian ski race magazine, is running a promotion now on their website to sell some subscriptions.  For €199, they'll sell you 5 issues of their magazine, PLUS a brand new Colmar suit.  You can pick the Croatian, British, or new 2012 French national team suits.  They say you'll look just like Alcott, Costelic, Pinturault, Grange, Lizeroux, Worley, Barioz, or Aubert.  Not that most of you would be able to read the magazine in Italian, but it is a good price on a new GS suit and they guarantee delivery by December 15.  I think.  This is all what we have been led to believe by Google Translator.  Any Italian's in the crowd care to correct us?

Check out their website here.
Check out the translated version here.


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Warner Nickerson: Making a Name as a B-List Celebrity In Norway. Needs More Headbands.

Some celebrities get free cars or awesome goody bags at award shows.  Warner Nickerson has a golf tournament and is hoping to get some more headbands.

Stand up four your brother.  Go to the Skida blog and plug W so he doesn't have to wear a piece of his mom's old jeans.  And check out their gear while you're there!  It's some of our favorite stuff.

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There IS Such a Thing As a Dumb Question

Like many of you, we check out SkiRacing.com on a daily basis. There's some great material on there, though we preferred the print version more than the new digital standard. But, as I'm sure many of you would agree, not everybody is right all the time.

This is a screenshot from the poll on the front page of SkiRacing.com. 

Give me a break.  Is this where we've ended up, after the most successful US women's teams ever?  Really?  Is this how we can grow and develop women's sports in this country?  "You've done some great work out there ladies, but we also will be evaluating you on your physical appearance and the extent to which it stimulates our sexual sensibilities."

I mean seriously, if the rednecks at Nitro Circus (who are, by their own admission, "testosterone driven") can get it pretty much right, why can't we?

Hey, Ski Racing, you're doing it wrong:




Note to the editors of SkiRacing.com: If traffic is down, try writing about something like national team selections. There is no need to swing so low as asking who we'd most like to make out with.

Learn How To Celebrate From This Italian Goalie

When it comes to celebrating how much of an ass kicker you are, ski racers could stand to learn a few things.  Schoenfelder was good, Paerson was decent and humorous, and Cuche has his cliche ski flip (which he reportedly has told other athletes they are not allowed to imitate).  As demonstrated by this Italian goalie, they've got a lot to learn.  The pants are off.  The fire extinguisher is out.  Go team.

 
Cuche photo courtesy of The Examiner.

More SL Awesomeness

If the anti-straddling post got you a little antsy, please take in the following two photos.

Holy shit!  Dave dramatically says goodbye to a National Championship title:

Many others have found themselves in that position before, but man, everything goes into slow motion and it just sucks, for a long time, in every possible way.  Great height though, you can see he's completely unsure of exactly when he's going to touch down, though he has plenty of time to contemplate.

Showing what a classy guy he his, Warner Nickerson takes on that same race with cardboard instead of shinguards.  Tough to get a straight answer about exactly what happened that led him to this sort of Depression Era J4 status, but someone at the start (assuming he rigged it up at the start) was not only well prepared but also had a sense of humor, making the effort to write "Slytech" on the left shinner with a black marker.  According to Warner, he is showing his NHARA pride and representing Team Dave Adams.  We take personal delight in that, and those of you that knew Dave know that he's up there laughing his ass off.  Thanks, W.

PS - doesn't seem to have slowed him down much.  3rd on the run, 12th overall.


Photos from Flickr.

A Fitting Tribute

Seen hanging in the brand new multi-million dollar Mt. Mansfield Ski Club building. You might think a gold-plated plaque would be a nice way to honor a champion, maybe with some nicely etched Times New Roman lettering and some sort of garland around the side. But if you know Karl Johnson, you know that a crinkly piece of pink typing paper and some Scotch tape will do the job just fine.

Congratulations, Karl.

There's something about Grange

As first pointed out in this beautiful Facebook album, there are some differences between the French and the Americans.  Whether it's Perrier and Mountain Dew, the Alps and the Appalachians, berets and baseball caps, or a bidet and just a damp washcloth, the two countries often seem to share little in common.  For example:

Peugeot vs. Ford

Franck vs. The Hulkster

And finally, Nolan vs. Grange:

Here's to celebrating our differences.

Game on

You gotta love Jens Byggmark.  No seriously.  You have to.