Alpine Skiing

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Gigs, i imagine you meant she competes for the wrong country, as in you are Austrian so support Austrian skiers, but she is liechtensteiner. I'm not sure if this is what you meant but oh well

Fede Brignone leads first run in Sölden

You know, I'm just stupid. I wrote something, I don't think, just because I think some people in Austria might think about Weirather that way, and now everyone thinks that I dislike Weirather and blame her for competing for the false country. God damnit, think before you post something in the internet Gigs


@Fauniera:
Really? Why the hell is gut not popular in Switzerland. I really don't see any reason why one shouldn't find her likable.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't think you dislike Tina, I just thought she would be a logical fit as a "backup" support, along the lines of "if an Austrian can't win, it would be nice if she does". It wouldn't be supporting her along the lines of saying "you're basically Austrian" (which as you point out could be seen as quite insulting) but because she has a connection to Austria that most of the non-Austrian athletes don't have, so if you did want to use patriotism as a reason for cheering for somebody, and no Austrians could win, she'd be the best fit. That's how I meant it.

Anyway, I don't have any connection to Austria and cheer for Tina.

I can't really put a finger on why I haven't taken to Shiffrin, but I haven't, at least as of yet. There can be no doubting that she's incredible at the technical disciplines, but I see that as a reason to be impressed, not as a reason to be a fan.

 

[jmdirt]

Bode...Bode...Bode!

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Gigs, i imagine you meant she competes for the wrong country, as in you are Austrian so support Austrian skiers, but she is liechtensteiner. I'm not sure if this is what you meant but oh well

Fede Brignone leads first run in Sölden

You know, I'm just stupid. I wrote something, I don't think, just because I think some people in Austria might think about Weirather that way, and now everyone thinks that I dislike Weirather and blame her for competing for the false country. God damnit, think before you post something in the internet Gigs


@Fauniera:
Really? Why the hell is gut not popular in Switzerland. I really don't see any reason why one shouldn't find her likable.

I never thought you didn't like Tina, I just thought it was a light hearted joke, like nice banter*. I put across what I thought pretty badly too so I guess it is just a misunderstanding after misunderstanding

*(Not the other type of banter, you know, the racist/sexist/homophobic 'lad' banter.)

Men's GS tomorrow. Hirscher to restart his dominance?

 

[Gigs_98]

Great race today. I'm a little bid sad about the 2 hundreds between Hirscher and Fanara, but at the end it isnt so important because he hadn't won anyway. Besides that I'm very happy about the rest of the Austrian team. I already feared that there wont be one single Austrian in the to 30, besides Hirscher and maybe Schörghofer

 

[frenchfry]

Great race today. I'm a little bid sad about the 2 hundreds between Hirscher and Fanara, but at the end it isnt so important because he hadn't won anyway. Besides that I'm very happy about the rest of the Austrian team. I already feared that there wont be one single Austrian in the to 30, besides Hirscher and maybe Schörghofer

4 French in the top 10! Should be an interesting year.

 

[nowhereman]

Wow, I am blown away by the amount of DISLIKE on this thread. Is all of that necessary? Most people on this thread don't know much about these athletes, yet they're busy "disliking" them. One even admits to not knowing why they harbor their dislike. Wow, that's a telling admission. So much negativity. These athletes don't really need you to "like" them but if you are bothering to watch the sport, why don't you simply respect them as incredibly skilled athletes, and skip all that dislike stuff. Its more telling on y'all than it ever could be on them. And BTW, ski racing is not "RIDING", save that for the snowboarders.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Wow, I am blown away by the amount of DISLIKE on this thread. Is all of that necessary? Most people on this thread don't know much about these athletes, yet they're busy "disliking" them. One even admits to not knowing why they harbor their dislike. Wow, that's a telling admission. So much negativity. These athletes don't really need you to "like" them but if you are bothering to watch the sport, why don't you simply respect them as incredibly skilled athletes, and skip all that dislike stuff. Its more telling on y'all than it ever could be on them. And BTW, ski racing is not "RIDING", save that for the snowboarders.

What do you mean? Only because I and some other persons wrote that they don't like Shiffrin? Because besides that everyone always mentioned good reasons why they dislike a person. Are you also angry when someone dislikes Leipheimer, or is that somehow a completely different situation?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Don't like ≠ Dislike, even though they can be used as synonyms and often are.

There's a difference between not having taken to somebody that other people like, and actively disliking them.

I don't want Mikaela Shiffrin to win because there are other people who I want to win. As opposed to, I don't want Peter Sagan to win because I want Peter Sagan to lose.

 

[nowhereman]

Re: Re:

What do you mean? Only because I and some other persons wrote that they don't like Shiffrin? Because besides that everyone always mentioned good reasons why they dislike a person. Are you also angry when someone dislikes Leipheimer, or is that somehow a completely different situation?[/quote]

First off, I could give a hoot about Leipheimer. Especially since we are talking skiing on this thread, and I'm not aware that his skiing skills are that relevant to the World Cup Tour. I am not about being angry at all, simply amazed that some on this thread seem to feel the need to dislike, not like, root against someone, instead of simply rooting for someone they really like. I would bet that none of the people who have commented on this thread personally know any racers on the World Cup Tour. Therefore, no one has GOOD reasons to dislike any of the racers. You're absolutely right to support anyone you like, for whatever reasons. But there is simply no reason to DISlike any of them. A few years back I was furious when Marcel Hirscher won a couple of races afters hooking tips inside slalom poles, which should have disqualified him. He took tight World Cup titles with points from those races counting, I felt he didn't deserve them but that's the way it went in the books. Since then he has shown a consistency and dominance that cannot be denied. Though I always pull for Ted Ligety in any Giant Slalom, I am not upset when Hirscher takes a GS, and crushes the field. I can only respect his strength and skills. Last year I was behind Anna Fenninger all the way, even when she fell far behind Tina Maze, early in the season. It was exhilarating to watch her rev up to speed in February, and take the Overall title, along with the GS title in the last race of the season, on the last run. Did I root against Maze? Didn't need to, didn't feel the need to. I just wanted Anna to step up. Hey, cheer for who you want. I watch ski racing with a different eye, as an ex pro ski racer. I never root against, I root for. And in the end, the best men and women win, and I can only appreciate and respect that.

 

[nowhereman]

Hey, Amsterhammer, I love ya man! We ought to start a Babes on skis thread!

Julia Mancuso

Lindsey Vonn

Ragnhild Mowinckel

Simply beautiful Anna Fenninger sans skis (sorry)

 

[Gigs_98]

Generally you are right that nobody should dislike a person he/she doesn't know. However while I said that I don't know why I don't really like Shiffrin, there are cases like Vonn in which I know very well why I don't like her. She always searches for excuses she is angry when she doesnt win, and while in skiing the athletes normally simply search for mistakes they caused, Lindsey complains about everything, and it seems as if she thinks that its never her fault if she looses. I remember that last year in the world championships she had a different excuse why she didnt win in every race, and not one single of these excuses had to do something with her.

 

[May0maniac]

That was a heartbreaking final, I feel sorry for Shiffrin, she really deserved to win.
I'm happy for Gut, Brem, Brignone and Manuela Lannister, but I always feel bad for the athlete when something like this happens.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

That was a heartbreaking final, I feel sorry for Shiffrin, she really deserved to win.
I'm happy for Gut, Brem, Brignone and Manuela Lannister, but I always feel bad for the athlete when something like this happens.

I missed the race

 

[May0maniac]

Shiffrin just clubbed them like baby seals, over 3 seconds (!) faster than Zuzulova.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Shiffrin just clubbed them like baby seals, over 3 seconds (!) faster than Zuzulova.

If Schild would still ski, Zuzulova would be 6 seconds behind, easily

 

[nowhereman]

In case y'all missed it, the men were at work in Lake Louise, Canada.
And Aksel Lund Svindal took two victories like the champion he is. Just returning
to the World Cup circuit from a season ending injury to his achilles tendon that he
got early last year. His GS in Solden, Austria, to begin the season, was indeed rusty.
But he has hit his stride now.

 

[nowhereman]

Talk about Marlies Schild all you like. She is one of the Greats, and will be remembered as such. But Mikaela Shiffrin is the future with a Sparkling record already behind her. Her performance this past weekend broke a record of World Cup history. The largest margin of victory in a slalom, 3.26 seconds. I'd suggest appreciating Mikaela as much as you did Marlies. They are not competing against each other now, and they are both inspiring examples of an excellence that is both exciting and irresistible.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Talk about Marlies Schild all you like. She is one of the Greats, and will be remembered as such. But Mikaela Shiffrin is the future with a Sparkling record already behind her. Her performance this past weekend broke a record of World Cup history. The largest margin of victory in a slalom, 3.26 seconds. I'd suggest appreciating Mikaela as much as you did Marlies. They are not competing against each other now, and they are both inspiring examples of an excellence that is both exciting and irresistible.

Well, thats completely right, that comment above was pure sarcasm, Shiffrin was just superb this weekend.
If Shiffrin or Schild is better probably really cannot be answered, and we still have to wait how long Shiffrin will stay at this level, but no matter what she will do in the future, even the best Marlies Schild ever never showed such a dominance as Shiffrin in Aspen.

 

[Brullnux]

Shiffrin is great to watch but I prefer Women's GS to Slalom as at least she has some competition there. Slalom is quite boring really, either she crashes or she wins.

Bit disappointed by her secimd performance though, so I'm expecting her to make up for it and break the 4 second barrier next time.

In other news Svindal is just awesome. Him vs Jansrud and why not let's throw in Paris, Mayer, Guay, Küng and a few other Austrians and Italians will be great this season.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Shiffrin is great to watch but I prefer Women's GS to Slalom as at least she has some competition there. Slalom is quite boring really, either she crashes or she wins.

Bit disappointed by her secimd performance though, so I'm expecting her to make up for it and break the 4 second barrier next time.

In other news Svindal is just awesome. Him vs Jansrud and why not let's throw in Paris, Mayer, Guay, Küng and a few other Austrians and Italians will be great this season.

Yes, but the Norwegians are always great in the North American races, so that's not a huge surprise.
Fill was a pleasant surprise, I always viewed him as a very good technical skier who's at his best on a challenging course that features a few tricky technical parts, so I was surprised when he did so well on a course like Lake Louise that isn't the most demanding.
Slalom is probably my least favourite discipline to watch, which is ironic because it was by far my best disciple as a kid. I like the concept of having single pole slaloms, it's easier to understand for most of the fans and it makes no difference for the athletes. I enjoy watching a really hard Slalom flagged by Ante Kostelic just for the LOLs, they are just crazy.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Shiffrin is great to watch but I prefer Women's GS to Slalom as at least she has some competition there. Slalom is quite boring really, either she crashes or she wins.

Bit disappointed by her secimd performance though, so I'm expecting her to make up for it and break the 4 second barrier next time.

In other news Svindal is just awesome. Him vs Jansrud and why not let's throw in Paris, Mayer, Guay, Küng and a few other Austrians and Italians will be great this season.

Yes, but the Norwegians are always great in the North American races, so that's not a huge surprise.
Fill was a pleasant surprise, I always viewed him as a very good technical skier who's at his best on a challenging course that features a few tricky technical parts, so I was surprised when he did so well on a course like Lake Louise that isn't the most demanding.
Slalom is probably my least favourite discipline to watch, which is ironic because it was by far my best disciple as a kid. I like the concept of having single pole slaloms, it's easier to understand for most of the fans and it makes no difference for the athletes. I enjoy watching a really hard Slalom flagged by Ante Kostelic just for the LOLs, they are just crazy.

the olympic slaloms 2006 and 2014 are maybe my favorite races ever, (2006 because of the Austrian triple win and 2014 because that slalom was crazy and just everything was epic in that race) but generally I also prefer speed races. Lake Louise has always been very meh, but from now on we wont see one single boring men's downhill until February, (although then we have to bear Jeongseon, Chamonix, Kvitfjell and St.Moritz in a row) and the competition this year might be very very strong. I still hope that Franz will become better this year because the way how he skis is great to watch and will be even better to watch in the really difficult races.
Btw, after the slalom in Levi was cancelled, the fis searched for a weekend where they can make two slaloms. Someone suggested Naeba, the Japanese town which will host a slalom and a GS this February, but the fis said they don't want to do so because the slope there is so boring that two slaloms in Naeba would harm the sport . Who else is already looking forward to the races there.

ps: How could I forget to mention Svindals's performance. This man is outstanding. I still can't believe he hasnt won the world cup since 2009 (as much as I can't believe how he could win the world cup 2009), but without injuries he would already be one of the greatest skiers ever, if he isnt that already anyway.

 

[nowhereman]

Lake Louise Victor! And all time Best Woman skier ever. LINDSEY VONN
Like her or not, sorry. Let the Hate fly y'all, cause I know you've gotta let it out!

 

[Brullnux]

Did Hirscher just win a Super G...

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Did Hirscher just win a Super G...

That was just a glorified Giant Slalom,not a real Super G.