Paying Attention: Speed skating is like running the 200 meter dash on ice. The sport is conducted on a sheet of ice, and is very, very technique driven. There are two forms of speed skating practiced in the Olympics: long track and short track. Long track is more graceful, mano-a-mano competition; short track is a …
Monthly Archives: February 2014
The Last Snowflake
Press Clippings: In the middle of the Winter Olympics, this article from the weekend New York Times points out the fragile future of snow, mountain resorts, skiing, and–yes–even the Winter Olympics, if nothing is done about global warming. Despite the cold U.S. winter, the very unusual shifts in weather patterns, the snow in the …
The Harsh Truth About Aging
“Aging is very rude, making no attempt at diplomacy, at softening its’ message. No small talk. It just starts slamming doors in your face, yanking things out of reach (of your arms, your eyes, your deeper longings)”.
Olympic Briefing: Moguls
Paying Attention: If you spend much time on a ski mountain, you either learn to love moguls or to avoid them. The mogul skiers who make it to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics have learned to love them. Mogul skiing is technique, strength, and timing heavy. Mogul skiers blast through the bumps by using their …
Olympic Briefing: Freestyle
Paying Attention: Freestyle skiing is a multi-disciplinary sport that includes moguls, aerials, ski cross, half-pipe, and slope style skiing (and insurance form processing). It is extremely demanding technically and can be very treacherous physically for competitors. This wiki has complete background information on the sport as staged at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Competitions are …
Olympic Briefing: Cross Country
Paying Attention: Cross Country skiing is the sport of ski touring across snow covered terrain using skis and poles. The skis are thinner than those used for downhill skiing and because participants are expected to go uphill as well as downhill, the sport can be quite demanding physically.Along with swimming, cross country skiing is considered …
Olympic Briefing: Biathlon
Paying Attention: Saturday’s Olympic schedule has the first round of Biathlon competition. Biathlon is a “fusion” sport–it combines cross country skiing with target shooting. The key is to move around the course quickly (which uses lots of energy and ramps up the heart rate) and then slow down your heart rate and nerves enough to …
Olympic Briefing: Slopestyle
Paying Attention: Slopestyle is new to the 2014 Olympics. The video (special thanks to GoPro for making this and other POV videos available) and this wiki should brief you on the event and it’s challenges (and dangers). Already, one high profile contestant, Shaun White, has dropped out citing a wrist injury. White is going for his third gold …
SONY Backs Up
Press Clippings: At one time, SONY products were the envy of the electronic world. They had terrific and clean industrial design, ahead-of-the-crowd engineering, vision (Walkman, Trinitron). SONY broadcasting equipment was the gold standard at the networks and responsible for bringing you the biggest sporting events and the most popular shows. Among PCs, the SONY Vaio …
Olympic Briefing: Spectator ClickPack
Paying Attention: The 2014 Winter Olympics are upon us. Chances are your Russian is not quite as good as your Spanish, which is miserable compared to your English, so here, in one spot, are all the links you need to follow, understand, and enjoy the Games. Everything you need for deep background is one click …