You may have noticed that this March Words to Bumble has been all about the Muppet Tournament bracket (where you can now vote every 8 hours and I suggest you vote for Alistair Cookie), rather than focusing on actual March Madness (my Alma mater, Boston University, was out in a blink, so obviously I lost interest/was never all that jazzed to begin with).
Today I bring to your attention another alternative bracket competition, because it features Words to Bumble favorite: Alpine skier Julia Mancuso.
MensHealth.com
Even if it is the Men’s Health Babe Bracket 2011.
Mancuso is in the final four, so if she is one of your favorites too… then go vote here.
Also, the bracket is organized as USA athletes vs. the World.
To top it all off she had a fantastic golden run for Downhill at the World Cup Finals in Lezerheide (1 minute 27.50 seconds), with a third place overall discipline finish. She is up from fifth last season.
Hence the bottom-of-the-hill celebration above!
Universal Sports
The World Cup Final gold was her fifth career win on the tour. Mancuso wrote, “It’s so great to win… It’s been four years, and only my fifth World Cup victory ever, so standing on the podium felt awesome!” and “Lindsey won the DH title for the year, and I finish 3rd! It’s been great to finish so consistent, and that also makes our US team the winner in the team downhill points too!”
Gut, Mancuso, Goergl/ Universal Sports/ Giovanni Auletta/ Associated Press
Mancuso’s third place ranking overall for Downhill came after silver at Cortina d’Ampezzo and fourth at Lake Louise. Lindsey Vonn took the title; Maria Riesch came in second.
Riesch, Vonn, Mancuso/ Kiyoko Kipo Press CH
Mancuso also had a great season for Super G, claiming third overall for that disciple as well after taking bronze at Lake Louise, fourth at Cortina D’Ampezzo, silver at the Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, bronze at Are, and silver at Tarvisio.
I found this image/story on my favorite Universal Sports blog, Mr. Universe, of whom I may have already mentioned I am jealous because I want his job.
Basically, these two Polish snowboarding mavens inexplicably rocked ‘staches and patches on the podium at the snowboarding World Cup event in Bardonecchia, Italy last week.
Paulina Ligocka-Andrzejewska was the first to display face fuzz after coming in third for the halfpipe competition. The next day, teammate Katarzyna Rusin showed up with her own manliness after winning the slopestyle event.
According to Rusin’s blog, the facial decoration is an “Adam Małysz moustache.”
Who is that?
Małysz is a Polish ski jumper—one of the greatest—with 4 Olympic medals, 4 World Championships and 4 World Cup titles (the record) to his name.
The facial hair certainly is a match. Not sure why the stunt though…? Answers or theories are welcome.
In the meantime, for those leaning towards a fully bearded and mustachioed look on the slops… You need this hat. Or even if you just live in Brooklyn and enjoy getting weird looks.
Lost at E Minor is full of hot fashion (and other creative realms) tips like this one, and it’s my latest favorite place to browse away my time.
Vonn, Riesch, Tina Maze on Overall Podium/ Universal Sports/ Wolfgang Rattay/ Reuters
After a week of warm, wet weather in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the women’s overall title came down to three points and two canceled races.
Germany’s Maria Riesch led American Lindsey Vonn for much of the season, though they did pass the lead back and forth. This week of World Cup Finals was to be an epic duel between the two. Vonn overcame a 200 point deficit to arrive only 23 points behind Riesch at the beginning of this week of competition.
Vonn then earned 50 points from her Downhill performance, leading Riesch by 27 points on Wednesday, while her rival failed to earn any points, landing devastated in 17th place.
Riesch Slalom, Run 1/ Universal Sports/ Wolfgang Rattay/ Reuters
Not to be outdone, Riesch struck back in the Slalom on Friday, gleaning a narrow margin of 3 points over Vonn—otherwise known as .02 seconds.
I mean… seriously. Ser-i-ous-ly.
With the Super G canceled on Thursday, the world of ladies Alpine skiing was to come down to a final head-to-head duel in Saturday’s Giant Slalom.
The weather would not have it. Warm, wet, foggy:
“It is basically the same situation that we saw yesterday for the men’s race,” said FIS women’s World Cup race director Atle Skaardal. “There is a crust on top of the snow and nothing underneath. It’s impossible to ski on such a soft crust. The situation is not skiable for a GS race.” (FIS)
Riesch apparently found out about the cancellation as she was leaving for the slopes:
“I was in front of the hotel. Some people at the balcony said, ‘Yeah, it’s officially canceled.’ I didn’t believe at first,” she said. “We were crying, full of happiness” (Universal Sports).
Riesch, Vonn/ Universal Sports/ Wolfgang Rattay/ Reuters
Three. Points. 1,728-1725.
Vonn of course was “devastated” not to have had a chance to defend the overall World Cup title she has held for three straight years, noting of course that Riesch is one of her best friends and “had an outstanding season and again proved to be my biggest competitor. She’s worked really hard for this. I’m happy for her” (Universal Sports).
Still, ending the season that way, winner or loser is kind of a bummer. Oh well.
Riesch/ Universal Sports/ Christian Hartman/ Reuters
At least Riesch has that massive crystal globe to cheer her up, and Vonn still has three sitting at home, plus three new [smaller] trophies for the three discipline wins she collected this week.
I always wanted to go the Ice Capades. This lovely lady was photographed on the 1963 tour at Chicago Stadium.
Sometimes I wish that Stars on Ice was the Ice Capades. Ice Capades just sounds so fun! The tour was founded in 1940, and after several years of rough times finally closed in 1995.
But she doesn’t know about that.
From some research I’ve done, this may be a photo of Catherine (Cathy) Machado, the first Hispanic athlete to compete for the U.S. Olympic team in 1956.
Or it may not.
But it might be.
She was on tour in 1963, and the face looks similar to some photos I found of Machado. The costume does not match up to video from 1963 Ice Capades available of YouTube… but we all know that figure skating requires a lot of costumes changes.
Care for some vintage footage? Sure.
Anyways, in addition to that boss vintage photo, Chuckman’s blog has lots of neat historical photographs of Chicago, definitely worth checking out.
Well, Deborah Anthonioz of France was not digging the celebratory expressionism. The French do not believe in wasting champagne (assuming that was real champagne, of course). They also take a good head of hair pretty seriously. We don’t call it a coif because the Anglos thought it up.
The mascot race for Sochi 2014 has finally been decided.
I say that as though the next winter games are upon us and not three years away… but, you know, I am a planner. Now I can start planning my themed Olympic outfits. And learn the Russian words need to discuss mascots.
The open competition for mascot design began on September 1, 2010 and ran through December 5, during which time over 24,000 sketches/ideas were submitted by participants from all over Russia. There was no age restriction and citizens living outside of the country were also allowed make their voices heard.
The finalist field included 11 options, ranging from Russian Santa Claus—Ded Moroz—to fluffy woodland creatures to a disembodied head to Matryoshka dolls—those quintessential Russian stacking dolls. Who does not own at least one set of those? I own two. Interestingly, neither is from Russia and only one is from eastern Europe; my dolls hail from Paris and Prague.
It’s a big market, those Matryoshka dolls. I was really pulling for them.
If you understand Russian, this video will probably be much more engaging for you. If not, just know it eventually includes animated self-introductions by each proposed mascot. I imagine they discuss their likes, goals, hobbies and where they are from.
At any rate, Santa missed out on final selection, which is probably a good thing since the online description made it pre-tty clear that the man is super busy and probably does not have time to hobnob at the Olympics.
Luckily, the disembodied sunshine head is out as well.
So is the dolphin. And like, what was a dolphin doing in the mix? He cannot ski. He does not have feet. He has a flipper.
Whatever.
Now, as avid readers of Words to Bumble, you know that I am never critical; however, I feel the decision to select three final mascots is a bit over-indulgent.
Remember the summer of 1972 in Munich? One simple, multi-colored dachshund named Waldi (note to self, if I ever get a dachshund, that will probably be its name). Logo and mascot all in one package, modeled after a real live dog, whose real live name was Cherie von Birkenhof. True story.
Back to Sochi.
The winning mascots were apparently elected by a national text message and online poll. So it was kind of like American Idol for animated athletes.
Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Vladmir Putin’s favorite candidate, a snowboarding snow leopard—known only as The Leopard—was selected. He’s a mountain rescuer from the Caucasus. He also likes to dance. Maybe that is why Putin picked him.
Next up is The Hare, who is an excellent student and the busiest woodland creature in the forest. She is so full of love and trust that she does not hold any secrets from her friends or family. She also likes to dance—and sing!
The third mascot—supposedly favored by President Dmitry Medvedev (whose last name means ‘bear’)—is a rolly-polly Polar Bear who likes to jazz up his fur coat with a striped scarf. Everything else he owns is entirely made of snow and ice; even his exercise equipment. Raised by explorers who taught him winter sports, he is so jolly that he even gets along with seals. He is an awesome bobsledder.
So there you have it. The Sochi 2014 Olympic mascots. Not much of a color palette, but what can you do? They are winter animals in a snowy cold place.
They are currently living it up in the mascot lodge with the two Paralympic mascots, The Snowflake [girl] and The Ray of Light [boy], who may or may not be a late 1990s Madonna fan.
Just for fun, as the Four Continents Championship was not aired in the U.S., enjoy some exhibition skates and a medal ceremony.
Why not.
Ladies medal ceremony. I wonder how much practice goes into those pre-podium fancy bows?
Going in podium order, first up: Miki Ando’s celebratory performance, skating as her usual graceful self in yet another white, long-sleeved, high-necked costume. It happens.
Mao Asada’s exhibition performance. I love Asada because when she’s in the zone, she can have this expression like she will just go ahead and end your life if you cross her. Not necessarily in this tulle-skirted exhibition, but after all, there’s no need to strike fear into hearts during the exhibition. Cannot wait to see her defend at Worlds. Also, dear lady throwing triple axels left and right. Fierce.
FYI: there’s a pretty jazzy encore, so if the “Amélie” program is not your thing for some reason, stay tuned because the double feature starts around 4:20.
Yuzuru Hanyu skating to U2. I could make a really bad joke about dizzying nature of figure skating and “Vertigo,” but I’ll just mention the opportunity. Here it feels like he is just skating through the music, but nonetheless, he is Japan’s rising men’s star.
Please someone make the pleather go away. Not OK.
Jeremy Abbott’s adorable exhibition skate to Plain White Ts. He has a prop!
Words to Bumble 
Sochi 2014: The Mascots Are Here
The mascot race for Sochi 2014 has finally been decided.
I say that as though the next winter games are upon us and not three years away… but, you know, I am a planner. Now I can start planning my themed Olympic outfits. And learn the Russian words need to discuss mascots.
The open competition for mascot design began on September 1, 2010 and ran through December 5, during which time over 24,000 sketches/ideas were submitted by participants from all over Russia. There was no age restriction and citizens living outside of the country were also allowed make their voices heard.
The finalist field included 11 options, ranging from Russian Santa Claus—Ded Moroz—to fluffy woodland creatures to a disembodied head to Matryoshka dolls—those quintessential Russian stacking dolls. Who does not own at least one set of those? I own two. Interestingly, neither is from Russia and only one is from eastern Europe; my dolls hail from Paris and Prague.
It’s a big market, those Matryoshka dolls. I was really pulling for them.
If you understand Russian, this video will probably be much more engaging for you. If not, just know it eventually includes animated self-introductions by each proposed mascot. I imagine they discuss their likes, goals, hobbies and where they are from.
At any rate, Santa missed out on final selection, which is probably a good thing since the online description made it pre-tty clear that the man is super busy and probably does not have time to hobnob at the Olympics.
Luckily, the disembodied sunshine head is out as well.
So is the dolphin. And like, what was a dolphin doing in the mix? He cannot ski. He does not have feet. He has a flipper.
Whatever.
Now, as avid readers of Words to Bumble, you know that I am never critical; however, I feel the decision to select three final mascots is a bit over-indulgent.
Remember the summer of 1972 in Munich? One simple, multi-colored dachshund named Waldi (note to self, if I ever get a dachshund, that will probably be its name). Logo and mascot all in one package, modeled after a real live dog, whose real live name was Cherie von Birkenhof. True story.
The winning mascots were apparently elected by a national text message and online poll. So it was kind of like American Idol for animated athletes.
Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Vladmir Putin’s favorite candidate, a snowboarding snow leopard—known only as The Leopard—was selected. He’s a mountain rescuer from the Caucasus. He also likes to dance. Maybe that is why Putin picked him.
The third mascot—supposedly favored by President Dmitry Medvedev (whose last name means ‘bear’)—is a rolly-polly Polar Bear who likes to jazz up his fur coat with a striped scarf. Everything else he owns is entirely made of snow and ice; even his exercise equipment. Raised by explorers who taught him winter sports, he is so jolly that he even gets along with seals. He is an awesome bobsledder.
They are currently living it up in the mascot lodge with the two Paralympic mascots, The Snowflake [girl] and The Ray of Light [boy], who may or may not be a late 1990s Madonna fan.
If you want to read more about all the major drams surrounding the selections, the St. Petersburg Times has an informative piece.
Check out the official mascot page here, available in English and Russian.
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Filed under Commenting, Really., [Obscure] Winter Sports
Tagged as Dmitry Medvedev, mascots, Olympics, Sochi, The Hare, The Polar Bear, The Snow Leopard, Vladimir Putin