Hurricanes Lounge XXVII: BURN THE NEW SERVERS!

[Blueline Bomber]

Yeah, it's easy to get a Top 30 finish in a World Cup event when only 15 people show up.

And 15 people showed up because it was being held in China while a more prestigious event was being held in Colorado.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Hate the game, not the player.

BTW, that top 30 rule is known as the Eddie the Eagle rule IIRC. I met Eddie in Lake Placid way back when because a high school friend of mine was a ski jumper and he invited me over to Lake Placid for a world cup event.

EDIT: Wouldn't be surprised if they pass another modification to the rule to prevent situations like this.

 

[Bub]

Oh, I'll hate the player too. She's not even trying to do anything, just gamed a crappy system to say "I'm an Olympian!"

 

[Lempo]

Maybe first clear away the corrupt ****s known as the IOC, and only then go after people feeling the genuine joy of sport.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

That’s so embarrassing. Like ok you went to the Olympics which is more than 99% of the world can say but you had to scam your way to get there and had one of the most pathetic performances of all time. What’s the point?

 

[Lempo]

Well the Olympic hockey teams are scooped from "and others" leagues. And hockey is the main event. The opportunity to complain about sacrilege is well past.

Plus at this point I'm all for the OG to be kicked down from the pedestral. The big news the last time around was the lubed up Tonga guy, and do you know what, he's in Korea now participating in cross-country.

The other big news was the Brasilian divers' sex marathon debacle.

The Olympics are done.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Nice try, lady, but nothing’s going to out-cringe the hockey tournament.

 

[Breakdowns]

Nice try, lady, but nothing’s going to out-cringe the hockey tournament.

Hey, I like to watch this 3rd tier hockey!
(even World Championships have better players lol)

 

[Lempo]

In Denver Post the interviewed judge said that "material is not deep" in that particular women's sport, and consistency in 15-20 person contests while more showy competitors failed their attempted tricks got her there.

That's how it as a rule go though in the more popular sports too. The would-be contestants go to events around the world to collect points to qualify to the Olympics. She's not the problem here, she's the actual competition the medalist compete against in this sport to get their fancy prestigious Olympics medals.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

That's how it as a rule go though in the more popular sports too. The would-be contestants go to events around the world to collect points to qualify to the Olympics. She's not the problem here, she's the actual competition the medalist compete against in this sport to get their fancy prestigious Olympics medals.

Yeah, this is woman may be the most glaring example, but not the only. TV allows us only to witness the best, not the worst.

BTW, when the guy from my high school ski jumped, it was a Finnish jumper that dominated the competitions back then. Matti Nykänen . I met him once when hanging out with them at Lake Placid many years ago. I just looked him up on Wikipedia and found this:

"On 24 August 2004, Matti Nykänen was arrested on suspicion of attempted manslaughter of a family friend after losing a finger pulling competition." Note to self, don't get into a finger pulling contest with Aho or TT.

Reading the rest of the Wikipedia page, sounds like the guy was a prince. Worked as a stripper, abused his wife, stabbed a man in a pizza joint, among other things.

 

[Bub]

I guess you could say that for Matti, after the jump....it was a long way down.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Matti Nykänen: The greatest ski jumper, or the greatest tragedy? | International Skiing History Association


A stint as a pop singer in the early 1990s had a promising start, but soon fizzled. Financial problems quickly befell Nykänen, who peaked before big time prize and sponsor money was part of the ski jumping circuit. To deal with various debts, he reportedly bartered his gold medals, worked for a phone sex line and stripped at a Järvenpää casino. Nykänen’s been married five times, twice to millionaire sausage heiress Mervi Tapola, with whom he’s had a stormy relationship that has involved fights, restraining orders and more than a dozen filings for divorce.

Nykänen’s alcohol induced rages have led to brawls, knifings and domestic violence. He’s been incarcerated on several occasions, including a 13-month sentence in 2004 for stabbing a friend in a drunken brawl. Less than five days after his release on that charge, Nykänen was in prison again, this time for assaulting Tapola.

Seems like a nice guy.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Matti Nykänen: The greatest ski jumper, or the greatest tragedy? | International Skiing History Association

Nykänen’s been married five times, twice to millionaire sausage heiress Mervi Tapola, .

So much potential.

 

[AD Skinner]

The sausage king of Chicago?

 

[MinJaBen]

Matti Nykänen: The greatest ski jumper, or the greatest tragedy? | International Skiing History Association


A stint as a pop singer in the early 1990s had a promising start, but soon fizzled. Financial problems quickly befell Nykänen, who peaked before big time prize and sponsor money was part of the ski jumping circuit. To deal with various debts, he reportedly bartered his gold medals, worked for a phone sex line and stripped at a Järvenpää casino. Nykänen’s been married five times, twice to millionaire sausage heiress Mervi Tapola, with whom he’s had a stormy relationship that has involved fights, restraining orders and more than a dozen filings for divorce.

Nykänen’s alcohol induced rages have led to brawls, knifings and domestic violence. He’s been incarcerated on several occasions, including a 13-month sentence in 2004 for stabbing a friend in a drunken brawl. Less than five days after his release on that charge, Nykänen was in prison again, this time for assaulting Tapola.

Seems like a nice guy.

What? You are saying that a guy who liked to hurl himself down a 10 story incline at 40 mph and jump as far as he can for sport, knowing that jumping too far would be deadly, would have some mental instability? I'm shocked.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

What? You are saying that a guy who liked to hurl himself down a 10 story incline at 40 mph and jump as far as he can for sport, knowing that jumping too far would be deadly, would have some mental instability? I'm shocked.

But couldn't that apply to most sports? Particularly winter sports? An NFL receiver crossing the middle of the field. Small (ish) forwards getting pummeled or blocking slap shots, all motor sports, skiers and snowboarders, luge and bobsled, rock climbing, etc..

Now that I think about it though, I either have played or probably would play most of those sports. I've been on top of a couple of 90M ski jumps and there's no way in hell I'd do that, so maybe you are right.

I guess bowling must have the most mentally stable participants.

 

[MinJaBen]

But couldn't that apply to most sports? Particularly winter sports? An NFL receiver crossing the middle of the field. Small (ish) forwards getting pummeled or blocking slap shots, all motor sports, skiers and snowboarders, luge and bobsled, rock climbing, etc..

Now that I think about it though, I either have played or probably would play most of those sports. I've been on top of a couple of 90M ski jumps and there's no way in hell I'd do that, so maybe you are right.

I guess bowling must have the most mentally stable participants.

Yeah, it probably would for most sports. I am more shocked when these guys turn out to be normal people away from the competitive arena than I am when turn out to have some problems. That said, I'd totally do luge or skeleton or the bobsled. That looks extremely fun...but nobody ever said I was the most stable guy they met.

 

[Lempo]

I will not have Matti Nykanen, the best skijumper of all time to be ridiculed here by anyone who:

1) doesn't have an Olympic medal. Can be of any color, though Matti's gold obviously, from Winter or Summer games, and I even allow it being a team sport.

2) haven't made a record that sold gold

3) didn't manage to marry to money.



The man is also superb quote, from his fifty-sixty odds, to "you being all 'up yours' when alone in the skijumping tower", to having experienced the 'bon voyage' phenomenon that he has seen this before, to the answer to the reporter's pre-jump question "what is on the man's mind at this moment?"

"[female genitalia] like always, but let's jump this contest first now."

 

[Lempo]

"On 24 August 2004, Matti Nykänen was arrested on suspicion of attempted manslaughter of a family friend after losing a finger pulling competition." Note to self, don't get into a finger pulling contest with Aho or TT.

You lock your forefinger up with other guys', and set out to best each other. "Finger hook", to be literally exact.

Fingerhakeln - Wikipedia

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You lock your forefinger up with other guys', and set out to best each other. "Finger hook", to be literally exact.

Fingerhakeln - Wikipedia

And if you lose, try to kill the other person. Stakes are high.

Matti was a great jumper though. Saw him 3 different times live. All of those guys were pretty amazing.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Hey BBA, did you ever spend time brushing shoulders with Olympians?

 

[Lempo]

And if you lose, try to kill the other person. Stakes are high.

Matti was a great jumper though. Saw him 3 different times live. All of those guys were pretty amazing.

It's a national tragedy we can't compete anymore in skijumping.

The Association did dome funny commercials a couple of years back in bid for (crowdsource) sponsorship. The guys on the team pushing their banged-up bus while Team Norway drives laughing by in their state of art one.

"I'm sorry guys. We got but one pair of boards. And they got no binds."
"Then we'll jump without!"

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Hey BBA, did you ever spend time brushing shoulders with Olympians?

There was this time, that I sat next to Jesse the body Ventura in an airport, when he was still a wrestler / actor. Don't think he ever wrestled in the olympics though, but I could be wrong. I didn't follow olympic wrestling so I'll count him.

Actually, I only met them once at a jump in Lake Placid, but I attended a number of ski jumping events back then just to watch (without any shoulder brushing).

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

It's a national tragedy we can't compete anymore in skijumping.

The Association did dome funny commercials a couple of years back in bid for (crowdsource) sponsorship. The guys on the team pushing their banged-up bus while Team Norway drives laughing by in their state of art one.

"I'm sorry guys. We got but one pair of boards. And they got no binds."
"Then we'll jump without!"

I don't follow it any longer, but which countries dominates ski jumping now? Sounds like Norway does? Back when I was much younger, it seemed like Austria, then Finland with a few Japanese guys that mostly won.

 

[Lempo]

I don't follow it any longer, but which countries dominates ski jumping now? Sounds like Norway does? Back when I was much younger, it seemed like Austria, then Finland with a few Japanese guys that mostly won.

Austria is big, Poland has been in top tier for years, Norway... I haven't really followed myself really. I think it's still more on the individual guy than country terms, who's the king of the hill for an era kind of rotates from country to another.