McKee's McThoughts: Early season quiz

Is it the imagination? Or has this been a particularly bad season for weather on the World Cup?

We’re a week into January and have only seen one women’s downhill.

There haven’t been that many cancellations; three races moved and one waiting to be rescheduled, but it seems from this chair there have been a larger share of races than normal that have been adversely effected by weather.

At least it hasn’t been from a lack of snow. It’s usually been too much of something, either snow or wind or fog. Regardless of reason it’s a matter of fairness. The very idea of a season-long competition is that the better athletes, or the streaking athlete, can rise to the top while the merely lucky can’t maintain it long enough to win titles. That alone mitigates what we’ve witnessed so far.Is it the imagination? Or has this been a particularly bad season for weather on the World Cup?

We’re a week into January and have only seen one women’s downhill.

There haven’t been that many cancellations; three races moved and one waiting to be rescheduled, but it seems from this chair there have been a larger share of races than normal that have been adversely effected by weather.

At least it hasn’t been from a lack of snow. It’s usually been too much of something, either snow or wind or fog. Regardless of reason it’s a matter of fairness. The very idea of a season-long competition is that the better athletes, or the streaking athlete, can rise to the top while the merely lucky can’t maintain it long enough to win titles. That alone mitigates what we’ve witnessed so far.

In men’s speed events it’s hard to even tell what racers might actually have an upper hand in the outcome of the season. The wind completely altered the Lake Louise DH results and the Val Gardena SG results.  Fresh snow and a glace of ice punished the field at Bormio. And Beaver Creek wasn’t without its weather concerns either, having canceled a training run and losing the scheduled combined. So who might be on top at the end of the season? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

So far, though, skiers starting later than 45th have made the top ten in three of the four men’s downhills held. Now this could be because there are new racers coming along who are way better than their current seed numbers, but by golly that’s an awful big number to be pushing two full seeds of established racers to the wayside.

It will, at least, make January interesting with Wengen, Kitzbuehel and Garmisch on tap.

The women haven’t been exempt, either: wind and falling snow at Aspen, wind at Lake Louise, ice and new snow at LaMolina, a cancellation at St Moritz, soft snow at Zagreb. It’s been nasty out there.

Quiz time:

McThoughts December Quiz
(Match the quote to the racer or coach)

A “It was very tough today to ski because the weather conditions were so hard; it was so windy, and the slope was icy.”

B “This whole month has been more of a mental test than anything. From what I understand, we’re still going to be tested by the weather tomorrow. We could get 20 centimeters of snow tonight.”

C “It’s too easy when it’s sunny. … I had a lot of fun. … There was quite a lot of wind up there, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

D “No one really knew what to expect, essentially, we were skiing sort of blind…”

E “It was a total whiteout. You couldn’t see the bumps and the guys all got shook around pretty good. And then the wind picked up.”

F “I am lost for words. The conditions changed. My bib was definitely not a disadvantage.”

G ‘It was a challenging ride, and it got a little tough in the middle section, but I think it was like that for everyone.”

H “The track is disastrous.”

I “It was bumpy in some places and it was pretty tough to find the right amount of pressure on your edges. In these kinds of conditions I can ski pretty good”

J “The course was totally gnarly, especially the middle.”

1 Werner Heel Val Gardena SG Dec. 19
2 Ivica Kostelic Alta Badia GS Dec. 21
3 Megan McJames, Aspen GS Nov. 29
4 Aksel Svindal. Dec 12 Val d’Isere
5 Nicole Hosp Aspen SL Nov 30
6 Sasha Rearick Lake Louise DH Nov. 29
7 Britt Janyk Lake Louise DH Dec. 5
8 Anja Paerson Zagreb SL Jan. 4
9 Sasha Rearick Bormio DH Dec. 28
10 Jim Tracy LaMolina SL Dec. 14
11 Jim Tracy St Moritz SG Dec. 20

Yeah, I know, there’s one more quoter than quote, but essentially Tracy said the same thing after both LaMolina and St Moritz. Consider it a free answer and take five bonus points if you spell your own name right, too.

But let’s not quibble about who said what about where. Cancellations are expensive, so races get held in marginal conditions. That’s not new. Skiers and coaches of skiers always have the option to not start.

And maybe things will be better in the New Year. Face it, 2008 sucked.

Yes, it was good for U.S. skiing, record smashing right and left, but by in large, once you bring politics, natural disasters and manic depressives with guns into the picture, it wasn’t all that pretty.

We prefer to look ahead, because January is where ski racing shines brightest.

Look at the schedule:

Adelboden, an original stop on the World Cup tour. Jean-Claude Killy won the first two seasons. The Adelboden GS hill is perhaps the toughest in the world, which has been a bit of the theme lately. Doesn’t it seem like every hill we’ve seen in the last month has been touted as ultra-tough? Just as if the courses were suppose to test the talents of the best ski racers in the world.

Maribor, what we said for the guys above dittoed for the ladies, except that Maribor has been around three fewer years. Annemarie Proell and Barbara Cochran won in 1970 and when Maribor was in Yugoslavia, not Slovenia.

Then, in rapid succession, you’ve got Wengen and Altenmarkt, Kitzbuehel and Cortina, a personal favorite in the Schladming night race, and then Garmisch before the World Championships start up. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Speaking of Worlds, what other sport has their championship in the middle of the season? Doesn’t it seem odd? Admittedly holding it in March or April would be risky at best. Part of the curse of an outdoor winter sport; you can’t lengthen the season without risking the integrity of the sport.

Which brings us full circle to the December quiz. It’s been a tough early season. But in case you haven’t noticed ski racing athletes are among the most gifted of those in any sport and they sure as heck can deal with adverse conditions a whole lot better than those from any sport we can think of.

The season-long races are still tight. Maria Riesch has a 73pt lead for the overall title. Jean-Baptiste Grange is 22pts ahead. That’s after 13 and and 15 races respectively. The biggest margin in any of the disciplines is the 110pt lead Riesch has in slalom. January will be critically important for the best in the business; All the more exciting for us spectators and wannabes, too. Plus, we get to see it all on Universalsports.com.

Now if we can just get a little more cooperation from the wind, snow and fog we can’t lose.

Ten points for each correct answer: A 5, B 10 or 11, C 7, D 4, E 6, F 1, G 3, H 8, I 2, J 9.