McKee's McThoughts: The pieces are all in place

There are winter sports enthusiasts who don’t ski.
    I’m sure of it, though I don’t run into them much.
    It seems, for the most part, folks I run into during the routine parts of my day are less keen about this time of year. Like it caused leprosy or something.
THERE ARE sports enthusiasts who don’t ski.
    I’m sure of it, though I don’t run into them much.
    It seems, for the most part, folks I run into during the routine parts of my day are less keen about this time of year. Like it caused leprosy or something.
    Seriously. I mentioned I liked November at a gathering the other day and received looks of distaste. People just walked away. If the months held a popularity contest, I doubt that January or February would win. Maybe Miss Congeniality or something, but all in all for those who don’t enjoy winter, November signals the beginning of a long, long stretch of scratching ice from the windshield, digging out the steps and paying the heating bill. I find many people are not as pleasant now as they were in May.
    Generally speaking, these people — and we all know who they are — find it difficult to get their head around the idea that we skiers are practically giddy about reports of incoming snowstorms. Get two skiers together in the same room at this time of year and they will gush. They can’t help it. Snow reports, laughter, ski comparisons, all sorts of good-natured conversation will just emerge uncontrollably from them. I found a fellow slider at that gathering and we had a grand time over in a corner away from the coffee urn. The kids are coming up to ski with him during Christmas and he’s pumped.
    These wonderful little conversations happen every so often from now until the holiday season usurps all reason. If you’ve been one of us (and if you haven’t you really shouldn’t be reading this), you know all about it. It’s part of the ritual, a piece of what sets the sport apart. We’re a different breed, we know it and we like it.
    I had the good fortune just a few days ago to take part in a conference call with folks psyched about the upcoming race season. It happens in the ski biz. Imagine how many meetings ski industry folks have held in the last few months. At Ski Racing, we do the conference call thing on a weekly basis, a chance to touch base and see/hear what everybody’s been up to. And with the World Cup’s regular season — figuring Sölden and Levi — make that Reiteralm — to be a sort of scored preseason — getting under way next week here in North America, the electrons could barely contain the excitement. Yeah, it’s our job, and some of it is not very fun, but it’s all about ski racing, so how bad can it be?
    The excitement accelerated as the plan for the next few weeks with World Cup racing in Panorama, Lake Louise, Beaver Creek and Aspen was unfolded. There were even side discussions about NorAms and snow depths. There was talk about how interesting it could be to attend the team captains’ meetings, as if these mandatory gatherings of coaches and race staff were glamorous. It was enough to make a winter non-enthusiast shudder. We, on the other hand, were darned near giddy.
     There is plenty of reason to be optimistic with the season’s first full weekends fast approaching. Since November 2002, the United States and Canada have picked up 49 top-five placings in races at these four locations. We’ve scored 11 wins and 31 podiums. Over those six seasons, Lindsey Vonn has accumulated three wins, two seconds and a third, all at Lake Louise. Bode Miller has won five races — three at Beaver Creek — and been second twice. In 2004, they won on the same day. In 2005, they won on the same day. In 2006, they won on consecutive days. This is the beginning of a nice pattern.
    Sorry about the gushing, but we ski racing types are pretty excited about the period of racing Thanksgiving week ushers in. Because not only is the season in its infancy, the promise is big and bold. There is a proven home-snow advantage and our “troops” already have recorded strong results in Austria at Sölden and Reiteralm. The pieces are all in place. And history — well recent history anyway — says to expect great things.
    Oh and won’t that be exciting? Won’t it be grand to drive those winter non-enthusiasts crazy with our incessant gushing? There’s plenty of fodder to bug aunt Margaret with as you pass the cranberry sauce.
    Here are a few additional things to be digesting along with your turkey. Our guys and gals have been successful lately, but they haven’t set any records yet. Vonn may have more wins at Lake Louise than Picabo Street, but she’s behind Isolde Kostner’s four wins, or the six recorded by Katja Seizinger. Miller’s got three wins at Beaver Creek, but Hermann Maier won six in three disciplines, not counting two World Championships in 1999. That’s an Italian (Kostner), a German (Seizinger) and an Austrian (Maier) winning — repeatedly — on North American snow. So the outcome is far from predecided.
    The guys that hang out at the diner here are much more concerned about the upcoming deer-hunting season than they are how Vonn or Miller fare out West. I’d bet that’s even true over in Franconia. Recipes for leftover turkey are likely to have a longer shelf life this month than stories on ski racers. But our season is here and it’s exciting as hell, so go suck eggs. No apologies folks. I’m looking forward to the racing, more so than the deer hunting and more so than the turkey. That’s just the way it is.
    Marina Nigg, congratulations on your first Cup points at Reiteralm, and welcome to the McThoughts All-Name Team.