Winter sports plus some cycling
I've finally managed to get around to posting again and I think I'm going to split my rambling houghts into two posts, with this one covering my latest sports related thoughts and another for all my tv bits, so moving swiftly on (all behind cut tags to save people's flists!)...
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it was coming up to one year since the horrific accident that befell Dani Albrecht at Kitzbuhel (and two years since a near identical accident for US skier Scott MacCartney). Even now a year later, knowing that he's pretty much okay, whenever I see this I still flinch and hold my breath...
But a year has indeed passed, and Albrecht marked the anniversary by making a visit back to Kitzbuhel, not to race, but rather to hold a press conferene to update the media on how he now was. Considering a couple of hundred journalists turned up, showing the level of interest in the story, having the one event was a good idea, can't imagine how many press requests he must have had in the weeks before hand! Better to tell the story once then have to do so over and over again.
It was an interesting, and at times heartbreaking press conference. Even with plenty of knowledge of much of the story already it still made me sad to hear just how bad his problems had been as a result of his injuries, specifically his head injury. When he first woke up he didn't know who or where he was, and also didn't know his parents or girlfriend. The injury also had an impact on his behaviour and he was frank about the fact that at times he would not say nice things to those closest to him, but thankfully that didn't last long. He also had to learn lots of things again, such as the words for things (he kept saying Audi when asked the work for meat). He would also see something or someone, and know he knew what it was or who they were but he was unable to find the word. The whole thing must have been so hard, not only on Daniel, but also on his family and friends. Even now he still gets memory lapses now and again, and is unable to find words. Plus his balance can sometimes be a problem, as can perception. When doing training runs, whilst lots of his ability was just there as soon as he put skis on for the first time, his ability to accurately judge his speed isn't always there, sometimes he'll be going faster or slower than he thinks he is (which could be pretty dangerous).
But whilst it's sobering to think that he's right when he says that to a large extent the old pre-accident Dani is gone (he has no memory of the crash itself) and who he is now is a new Dani, it's great to see that elements of the old Dani - his irrepresible sense of humour (saying he was sitting out the season so as to let close friend and teammate Carlo Janka have a chance to shine) and sheer determination to succeed and make a comeback, are still very much there. His recovery continues to inspire and I hope we do see him back.
One more thing - Dani made use of his fame & the coverage of his situation over the last year, to raise money for 2 brain injury charities in Switzerland. He produced a t-shirt with the slogan Never Give Up and the whole run sold out (raising some CH80,000 from its limited run). He's to make a decision soon on whether to sell more (they were pleasantly surprised the first run sold out so quickly). Well done to him for making something positive out of such a negative.
When I was drafting this post I was all excited about the fact that the Winter Olympics were finally here and this afternoon it was great to see the ski-jumping qualification and see the Olympic rings all over the place. But the news that came through this evening of the death of 21-year old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili following a training run crash which saw him thrown from the track and into a metal pole, has obviously changed the mood. It's a reminder of how dangerous winter sports are and it's amazing actually that the winter games haven't seen more such incidents down the years. Thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends obviously. I'm glad I'm not the person who has to make any decisions about what happens now with the sliding events (there had already been much talk about the speed and danger of the track, though ironically the place where he crashed (right at the end) wasn't one of the areas that concerns had previously been raised over)...
But I'm honest enough to say that despite the shadow this casts over things, I am still looking forward to the next couple of weeks (and hoping that no-one else is seriously hurt or killed at any of the events!). The sports I'm most looking forward to (in no particular order) are biathlon, alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross country, skeleton & bobsleigh, plus the ice hockey. The 8 hour time difference between here and Vancouver/Whistler, plus the fact most of my fav sports are ones done outdoors in daylight, means I'll be able to watch most of them as they happen as it'll be evening here. The one exception being the hockey :( which will be on in the wee small hours here (when it comes to the Canadian team's games). I'll have to be prepared 4 years from now and take some time off when the games are in Sochi (which will be a good thing as taking my leave is something I'm notoriously bad at!). Anyway, good luck to the Brits, the Canadians and my lovely Swiss boys and girls.
I promise I'm not bringing stories of woe on purpose, but there is one more sad thing I have to mention...
Brendan Burke was a 21-year old young man who came to wider media attention last November, when he went public with the fact he was gay, hoping to ease the homphobia which exists in the sport of hockey. Brendan was the son of hockey legend Brian Burke (currently GM at the Leafs, and also doing manager duties with the men's US olympic hockey team, at least he's meant to be...). Anyway, it was a post on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog which brought Brendan's story to my attention late last year. Hockey, like many sports, has a very testosterone macho image, and Brian Burke is very much in the image of that gruff, tough, no-nonsense man's man etc spirit, so when Brendan went public it made news. His dad appeared on tv with him saying how his son's life choices hadn't changed the way he or the family felt about him, he called him a pioneer and said, as his son chose to blaze this trail, "I stand beside him with an axe. "I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan," Brian Burke told ESPN.com. "This news didn't alter any of them." The two went to the Toronto Pride and Brian said he'd be happy to be on a float at this year's march if Brendan wanted. But then last week as the weather closed in on the US Eastern sea board, Brendan was involved in a car accident as his car slide into the path of a truck, killing Brendan and his friend Mark Reedy, who was in the car with him.
Although I only read a bit about him, Brendan struck me as an amazing young man, who truly believed that the world could become a more tolerant place. He seemed to have an amazing impact on those who were lucky enough to know him and I can't help thinking the world really is a poorer place for his loss. I hope that his brother is right, when in his eulogy for Brendan he spoke of how "His (Brendan's) vision of the world was a spark that lit a fire of hope in so many people. "That fire has not been extinguished by his death. His memory will fan a flame of courage in all of us. Through all of us, his hope still lives and his dream will never die."
In happier news...
Whilst I'm not an NFL fan, I have to say I was very happy to see the Saints win last Sunday. It's all a great story, from their abysmal record over the 40-odd years of their existence, to the whole post-Katrina impact. In an interview with Saints linebacker Scott Fujita there was this wonderful quote which his wife had sent to him, having come across it in a local paper. It says it all really:
The people of New Orleans love the Saints not because they provide a distraction from their fall, but because they are a reflection of their rise
This cycling year didn't get off to the best of starts what with the worry over the fact that Sexy Bank are to lose their sponsor at the end of the season. What on earth are we meant to call the team now I ask you??? On a serious level, I'm following the riders example and not dwelling on the sponsor problem and letting Bjarne Riis deal with that one, whilst I just watch the pretty be, well, pretty on their bikes. One other thing not impressing me however, is the fact that the shirt re-design has meant that Fabian's Swiss RR champ jersey has been badly compromised. The white cross is now so far down and near the bottom that on the back it gets covered by his dossards!!! How the hell am I meant to spot him from an overhead chopper shot now I ask!!??
Meanwhile, out on the actual roads, this week has seen the Tour of Qatar take place, which was like cycling round Holland, except lots of sunshine instead of rain, and sand instead of cobbles. And whilst Fabian's jersey fills me with woe, I've noticed he's got some natty new shoes with a gold strip on them and a lovely red section on the back, with the Swiss flag on the heel *g*. He's also been having some fun with ace cycling photographer Tim De Waele (I wasn't surprised when I found out it was Tim, Fab does so love to mess around when Tim's trying to take photos of him *g*. Anyway, first up there was the photo of Fabian with a camera in his hands taking a photo of someone then there was this one from TdW. LOL at my boys and their horsing around...though normally this is the kind of thing you see at the end of the Tour, not at the start of the season, though it shows everyone is still pretty relaxed at this early date.
I wonder if Fab and Bernhard Eisel (the other super talented linguist in the pro-peleton) have had any side bets on the upcoming winter olympics, what with Fabian being Swiss and Bernie Austrian. There's a good few events where it'll be their two countries battling it out for gold.
The season truly gets under way in a couple of weeks when they all come back to Europe (and we get that rain possibly, but definitely the cobbles).
And in other news, my dislike of Team Sky isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and I've realised that Bradley 'Twiggo' Wiggins may be partly to blame for my visceral dislike of them. After all, he was the one who started going on about Wigan versus Man Utd (with Garmin being Wigan in the analogy, which is seriously unfair to Garmin!) and Sky being Utd - well is it any wonder then that I'm not feeling the love...I've even less qualms about disling them now I've realised that *g* (For those who don't know what I'm getting at - as a Liverpool fan, the one team I loath above all others is Manchester United you see - that's just the way things are.
One final thing, congrats to Roger Federer for winning the Aussie Open and my heartfelt thanks for saving me from endless weeks of crap should Murray have won. Plus kudos to the Fedster for getting the 'Hit for Haiti' organised and played on the eve of the event. And yay to the people who said yes to him when he asked them to play. A worthy cause that had lots of money raised for it (so a yay! too for the various tours and slam committee for adding all that extra cash into the fund)
Phew, I think that's all I've got to say on the sporting front for now. I'll be back again soon with my tv post, where there will be lots of squee over pretty boys and the like.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that it was coming up to one year since the horrific accident that befell Dani Albrecht at Kitzbuhel (and two years since a near identical accident for US skier Scott MacCartney). Even now a year later, knowing that he's pretty much okay, whenever I see this I still flinch and hold my breath...
Click to viewBut a year has indeed passed, and Albrecht marked the anniversary by making a visit back to Kitzbuhel, not to race, but rather to hold a press conferene to update the media on how he now was. Considering a couple of hundred journalists turned up, showing the level of interest in the story, having the one event was a good idea, can't imagine how many press requests he must have had in the weeks before hand! Better to tell the story once then have to do so over and over again.
It was an interesting, and at times heartbreaking press conference. Even with plenty of knowledge of much of the story already it still made me sad to hear just how bad his problems had been as a result of his injuries, specifically his head injury. When he first woke up he didn't know who or where he was, and also didn't know his parents or girlfriend. The injury also had an impact on his behaviour and he was frank about the fact that at times he would not say nice things to those closest to him, but thankfully that didn't last long. He also had to learn lots of things again, such as the words for things (he kept saying Audi when asked the work for meat). He would also see something or someone, and know he knew what it was or who they were but he was unable to find the word. The whole thing must have been so hard, not only on Daniel, but also on his family and friends. Even now he still gets memory lapses now and again, and is unable to find words. Plus his balance can sometimes be a problem, as can perception. When doing training runs, whilst lots of his ability was just there as soon as he put skis on for the first time, his ability to accurately judge his speed isn't always there, sometimes he'll be going faster or slower than he thinks he is (which could be pretty dangerous).
But whilst it's sobering to think that he's right when he says that to a large extent the old pre-accident Dani is gone (he has no memory of the crash itself) and who he is now is a new Dani, it's great to see that elements of the old Dani - his irrepresible sense of humour (saying he was sitting out the season so as to let close friend and teammate Carlo Janka have a chance to shine) and sheer determination to succeed and make a comeback, are still very much there. His recovery continues to inspire and I hope we do see him back.
One more thing - Dani made use of his fame & the coverage of his situation over the last year, to raise money for 2 brain injury charities in Switzerland. He produced a t-shirt with the slogan Never Give Up and the whole run sold out (raising some CH80,000 from its limited run). He's to make a decision soon on whether to sell more (they were pleasantly surprised the first run sold out so quickly). Well done to him for making something positive out of such a negative.
When I was drafting this post I was all excited about the fact that the Winter Olympics were finally here and this afternoon it was great to see the ski-jumping qualification and see the Olympic rings all over the place. But the news that came through this evening of the death of 21-year old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili following a training run crash which saw him thrown from the track and into a metal pole, has obviously changed the mood. It's a reminder of how dangerous winter sports are and it's amazing actually that the winter games haven't seen more such incidents down the years. Thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends obviously. I'm glad I'm not the person who has to make any decisions about what happens now with the sliding events (there had already been much talk about the speed and danger of the track, though ironically the place where he crashed (right at the end) wasn't one of the areas that concerns had previously been raised over)...
But I'm honest enough to say that despite the shadow this casts over things, I am still looking forward to the next couple of weeks (and hoping that no-one else is seriously hurt or killed at any of the events!). The sports I'm most looking forward to (in no particular order) are biathlon, alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross country, skeleton & bobsleigh, plus the ice hockey. The 8 hour time difference between here and Vancouver/Whistler, plus the fact most of my fav sports are ones done outdoors in daylight, means I'll be able to watch most of them as they happen as it'll be evening here. The one exception being the hockey :( which will be on in the wee small hours here (when it comes to the Canadian team's games). I'll have to be prepared 4 years from now and take some time off when the games are in Sochi (which will be a good thing as taking my leave is something I'm notoriously bad at!). Anyway, good luck to the Brits, the Canadians and my lovely Swiss boys and girls.
I promise I'm not bringing stories of woe on purpose, but there is one more sad thing I have to mention...
Brendan Burke was a 21-year old young man who came to wider media attention last November, when he went public with the fact he was gay, hoping to ease the homphobia which exists in the sport of hockey. Brendan was the son of hockey legend Brian Burke (currently GM at the Leafs, and also doing manager duties with the men's US olympic hockey team, at least he's meant to be...). Anyway, it was a post on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog which brought Brendan's story to my attention late last year. Hockey, like many sports, has a very testosterone macho image, and Brian Burke is very much in the image of that gruff, tough, no-nonsense man's man etc spirit, so when Brendan went public it made news. His dad appeared on tv with him saying how his son's life choices hadn't changed the way he or the family felt about him, he called him a pioneer and said, as his son chose to blaze this trail, "I stand beside him with an axe. "I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan," Brian Burke told ESPN.com. "This news didn't alter any of them." The two went to the Toronto Pride and Brian said he'd be happy to be on a float at this year's march if Brendan wanted. But then last week as the weather closed in on the US Eastern sea board, Brendan was involved in a car accident as his car slide into the path of a truck, killing Brendan and his friend Mark Reedy, who was in the car with him.
Although I only read a bit about him, Brendan struck me as an amazing young man, who truly believed that the world could become a more tolerant place. He seemed to have an amazing impact on those who were lucky enough to know him and I can't help thinking the world really is a poorer place for his loss. I hope that his brother is right, when in his eulogy for Brendan he spoke of how "His (Brendan's) vision of the world was a spark that lit a fire of hope in so many people. "That fire has not been extinguished by his death. His memory will fan a flame of courage in all of us. Through all of us, his hope still lives and his dream will never die."
In happier news...
Whilst I'm not an NFL fan, I have to say I was very happy to see the Saints win last Sunday. It's all a great story, from their abysmal record over the 40-odd years of their existence, to the whole post-Katrina impact. In an interview with Saints linebacker Scott Fujita there was this wonderful quote which his wife had sent to him, having come across it in a local paper. It says it all really:
The people of New Orleans love the Saints not because they provide a distraction from their fall, but because they are a reflection of their rise
This cycling year didn't get off to the best of starts what with the worry over the fact that Sexy Bank are to lose their sponsor at the end of the season. What on earth are we meant to call the team now I ask you??? On a serious level, I'm following the riders example and not dwelling on the sponsor problem and letting Bjarne Riis deal with that one, whilst I just watch the pretty be, well, pretty on their bikes. One other thing not impressing me however, is the fact that the shirt re-design has meant that Fabian's Swiss RR champ jersey has been badly compromised. The white cross is now so far down and near the bottom that on the back it gets covered by his dossards!!! How the hell am I meant to spot him from an overhead chopper shot now I ask!!??
Meanwhile, out on the actual roads, this week has seen the Tour of Qatar take place, which was like cycling round Holland, except lots of sunshine instead of rain, and sand instead of cobbles. And whilst Fabian's jersey fills me with woe, I've noticed he's got some natty new shoes with a gold strip on them and a lovely red section on the back, with the Swiss flag on the heel *g*. He's also been having some fun with ace cycling photographer Tim De Waele (I wasn't surprised when I found out it was Tim, Fab does so love to mess around when Tim's trying to take photos of him *g*. Anyway, first up there was the photo of Fabian with a camera in his hands taking a photo of someone then there was this one from TdW. LOL at my boys and their horsing around...though normally this is the kind of thing you see at the end of the Tour, not at the start of the season, though it shows everyone is still pretty relaxed at this early date.
I wonder if Fab and Bernhard Eisel (the other super talented linguist in the pro-peleton) have had any side bets on the upcoming winter olympics, what with Fabian being Swiss and Bernie Austrian. There's a good few events where it'll be their two countries battling it out for gold.
The season truly gets under way in a couple of weeks when they all come back to Europe (and we get that rain possibly, but definitely the cobbles).
And in other news, my dislike of Team Sky isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and I've realised that Bradley 'Twiggo' Wiggins may be partly to blame for my visceral dislike of them. After all, he was the one who started going on about Wigan versus Man Utd (with Garmin being Wigan in the analogy, which is seriously unfair to Garmin!) and Sky being Utd - well is it any wonder then that I'm not feeling the love...I've even less qualms about disling them now I've realised that *g* (For those who don't know what I'm getting at - as a Liverpool fan, the one team I loath above all others is Manchester United you see - that's just the way things are.
One final thing, congrats to Roger Federer for winning the Aussie Open and my heartfelt thanks for saving me from endless weeks of crap should Murray have won. Plus kudos to the Fedster for getting the 'Hit for Haiti' organised and played on the eve of the event. And yay to the people who said yes to him when he asked them to play. A worthy cause that had lots of money raised for it (so a yay! too for the various tours and slam committee for adding all that extra cash into the fund)
Phew, I think that's all I've got to say on the sporting front for now. I'll be back again soon with my tv post, where there will be lots of squee over pretty boys and the like.