allthumbs Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 Picture riding the lid of a turkey roaster pan down a roller coaster rail after an ice storm. Picture it at almost 80 miles an hour, with wicked turns, at G-forces so powerful that you cannot raise your helmet from the ice, which glitters just an inch away. Now picture making that ride face first. "I was screaming inside my helmet," said Chris Soule, as he described the first time he tried the ominous-sounding sport of skeleton. It returns to these Olympic Winter Games after a 54-year ban. There is no affectation here, no baggy pants and thrash music like the snowboarders have, no ice skater's sequins and storied history, no cinematic skiing glory, acted out by a rugged Robert Redford, as in the downhill. This is just fast and mean and a little bit insane, and if you mess up, if you are clumsy and brush the wall, there is pain and often blood. Soule used to wrap parts of his body in duct tape — the ice on the walls tended to eat his sweater off his arm. Now, after petitioning Olympic officials to reinstate the sport — which gets its name because frames of earlier sleds resembled a skeleton — he and the rest of the world's most daring sliders will get a running start, hurl themselves and their sleds down a chute of hard ice and show the world what it means to ride the bones. The men's and women's competitions are scheduled for Wednesday. "I haven't told my mother yet," said Lincoln DeWitt, one of Soule's Olympic teammates, when asked what his family thought of his competition here, which has been banned not once but twice from the Games. It is a sport ruled, and abused, by gravity. "I asked, `How do you steer it?' " said Jim Shea Jr., another teammate, who is a medal favorite and a third-generation Olympian, as he thought back to his first ride on the skeleton in 1995. "Somebody said, `Shut up and go down.' I asked again. And he said, `Shut up and go down.' " At one news conference, a reporter asked Shea why he had called the sport the "Champagne of Thrills." He said that was not what he said. "Actually, I call bobsled the `Champagne of Thrills,' " he said. "Skeleton is the `Moonshine of Thrills.' " Shea won the gold [ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: trask ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beck Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 It's the full macho, that's for sure. I rode one while training in luge at Mount Van Hovenburg back in 1984-85 and let me tell you, us lugers' IQ's seemed to go up about 15 points whenever the skeleton team showed up to practice. Those sleds are 80 pounds of steel and lead and the runners are frickin' ROUND, totally circular, with only the smallest of hairline ridges in the back foot or so to aid in tracking, I guess. You DO steer them, somewhat, by shifting your weight side to side and dragging your toes. I took a couple runs on a skeleton and found it to be a reckless, extremely dangerous way to enjoy yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwayner Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 That bobsled/skeleton/luge stuff is cool, but nonetheless, Lance Armstrong makes all of those guys, and most climbers, look like a bunch of weenies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinouscling Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 The male figure skaters are the most macho of the athletes. People think they are soft, little gay boys but in reality, they are beer drinking, bar brawling, roughians that can head butt with the best of them. -Heinous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinouscling Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dwayner: That bobsled/skeleton/luge stuff is cool, but nonetheless, Lance Armstrong makes all of those guys, and most climbers, look like a bunch of weenies! Speak for yourself you little weenie boy. -Heinous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthumbs Posted February 22, 2002 Author Share Posted February 22, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dwayner: That bobsled/skeleton/luge stuff is cool, but nonetheless, Lance Armstrong makes all of those guys, and most climbers, look like a bunch of weenies! OLD NEWS FLASH:Dwayner has been committed to Harborview for tests. Seems his Lance Armstrong Fetish finally overcame his senses. Initial prognosis reveal a disheartening and non-reverseable "Armstrong" fetish the likes of which are startling. Keep it under your hat, but D. was seen sucking a pacifier with the words "Lance Armstrong Blows" emblazoned on the handle. Get well soon D, we all care. [ 02-22-2002: Message edited by: trask ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegetablebelay Posted February 22, 2002 Share Posted February 22, 2002 This thread is about sleds? I thought it was another Lambone thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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