Birds of Prey Giant Slalom

Sunday morning, 8:00am and Paul is on the course checking out the best spot to catch some sequence shots.

Little bit of a rough start on the day. We have had our boot bag plugged in at the press center. Each day the power has been blown. Not until today did we put it together. AP (associated press) guy asked me if I had my curling iron and hair dryer plugged in as well. Haha!

Beautiful day! Sun again today. Running two Giant Slaloms today, 9:45 and 11:45. The times are added together for the winner. We are hoping the USA has a better day.

Tried every day to make contact with Sports Illustrated and no return calls or emails. Jimmy Colton, is he real or a fictional character that is used for emails. Oh well. Made some great contacts with the press last night.

We are watching Alex Leever a forerunner from the USA as well as Will Gregorak, #50. Both are local kids from the Vail area. A forerunner is a like a cupbearer, checking out the course and the conditions. If they crash, there are changes made to the course. They are looking for uneven spots, weather conditions, shade and blind spots as well as fencing and possible crash spots. Safety of the athletes is the number one priority.

#13 Daniel Albrecht, Switzerland is the comeback kid. He suffered an injury that had him in an induced coma 20 months ago. He finished #17 in the first run and #21 in the second run. He has so much determination, nothing will stop him at this point. He was a crowd favorite. Everyone likes to see an underdog make it back.

The athletes fans bring paper, helmets, footballs, whatever to have them sign. Paul and I got Ted Ligety's signature on one Ted's promotional posters. I stood in line with all the kids.

#5 Ted Ligety came in first with a time of 1:16:14. Bode Miller, , Warner Nickerson and Tim Jitloff as well finished in the top 30, the first run. Only the top 30 will run the 2nd Giant Slalom.

The second run has first place running last and last place running first. The later you are in the race, the more information there is about the track. So Ted Ligety will run last.

You can feel the suspense in the crowd as the 30 racers begin. Bode Miller has a tough second run as well as the other USA ski team. Now we are the Ted Ligety and he does it with a beautiful second race.

A great day for USA team, Ted finishes first at Beaver Creek for the men in the Giant Slalom and Lindsey Vonn in Canada finished first in the Super-G.

Birds of Prey World Cup Super-G

Saturday morning, December 4,2010 in Beaver Creek, CO. A beautiful day with some light snow on the hill. The hill has been remarked from the downhill to the Super-G. Excitement is back from a disappointing day yesterday. Racers begin at 11am. Super-G starts at 11,940 elevation and finishes at 8,944.

The Super-G began with a native america group praying for the racers safety as well as the crowd and care for Mother Earth.

There was a large crowd in hand for the Super-G. The USA fans were in force and ready to greet their athletes.

The hill is ready and beautiful. The track is fast. Georg Streitberger from Austria, 1:17:18 took the race followed by Adrien Theaux, France, 1:17:29 and Didier Cuche from Switzerland, 1:17:31.

First USA racer across the line was Steven Nyman, 1:18:88. Five USA, racers including Bode Miller and Ted Ligety did not cross the line, going out of bounds prior to the finish. Many of those going out of bounds lost it at the Screech Owl turn.

It was a tough day for the Americans at Beaver Creek as well as the Bobcats in Bozeman, Montana.

As well as the World Cup is the Bobcat playoff at 12:05pm in Bozeman, Montana. What happened? The Bobcats lost with a score 49-17 to North Dakota. Well, at least we beat the Grizzlies.

We watched the Women's Super-G on Universal Sports. Learned this online channel from the Austrians. Check out footage of Lindsey Vonn, saves a near crash and keeps second place. Great up to date and live coverage of sporting events. Costs about $30 per year.