OleEinar

debaser not daber...

My goodness, what a burden! You know it’s a drag if daber's pages were all like you say. The reviews you're looking for can be found here: www.ondarock.it

Well, you’re right too! Let’s say that I prefer the heavier and more guitar-driven psychedelic sound over the "poppy" (like Pretty Things, for example) or "symphonic" style. Lately, I’ve been listening to Mad River on repeat; I think they're fantastic. I also generally appreciate a lot of cross-genre influences, with hard rock, blues, or folk (Arcadium, Writing on the Wall, Tractor, the first Alice Cooper album, Fairport Convention, etc.). Anyway, I really like the Grateful and the Jeffersons as well, even though I only know a couple of their works. About Thoeni, you’re asking too much from me; when I was born, he had already stopped skiing :-) The results speak for themselves, anyway.

Welcome back, Battle!

Lewis had also recently told us about this nice guy. Very nice review, Laggio.

Tomba had tried to compete in at least the super-G but then he broke a shoulder and chose to give up. Tomba's talent is hardly comparable to that of Girardelli or Zurbriggen; Alberto was perhaps the greatest slalom skier in history, but I have always had a soft spot for those skiers who managed to excel in two completely different disciplines like slalom and downhill.

I didn't mind the page, but I repeat, to dub a review of Psycho, you need heavy artillery. The album has a melancholic and unsettling charm that’s hard to resist, even if this isn't the type of psychedelia I prefer.

@Runner, what can I say, it must be Collins's voice; they really come off as mushy to me. Anyway, I've said other things in my previous post. It's a plastic, polished pop song that's trying for easy catchiness, but as far as I'm concerned, it ends up being annoying. To be fair, it might just be my tastes that can't stand this stuff. Regarding sports culture, I believe it applies to all sports in general; the lack of attention to winter sports is just one of many aspects. For instance, here in Italy, there are people who know all the players of Reggina, but recently I shamefully spoke to someone who had never even heard of Roger Federer. Unfortunately, despite the recent messes, football is the only sport that matters here; no one gives a damn about real sports and real athletes. @BlueBerry, I agree with your thoughts on federations and investments (and here in Italy, there's zero investment in winter sports; barely enough money to pay coaches and athletes' travel expenses). However, remember that despite the importance of Norway and Russia, biathlon has historically always been a German sport.

Zurbriggen, yes. The point you make makes sense, but you have to consider that of all those millions of skiers, 99.9 percent do it haphazardly, without any real talent. Biathletes, on the other hand, are few but they are all good, precisely because the challenges of practicing a sport like this push you to persevere only if you truly possess certain qualities. Then you refer to the Italian situation, but in countries like Germany, Norway, or Russia, the "balance of power" between skiing and biathlon is completely different, to the point that often the most promising cross-country skiers are directed towards biathlon rather than cross-country from a young age. There are even quality biathletes with a significant background from these countries who are forced to compete in the European Cup due to a lack of spots in the main circuit. This does not happen in cross-country (and often not even in alpine).

Yes, making comparisons between different eras is somewhat pointless (the Austrian downhill skier was perhaps Klammer?). However, I don't agree that it is easier to emerge in biathlon than in alpine skiing. For obvious reasons, it's clear that skiing has more participants at an amateur level (for biathlon, for example, you need a firearms license), but the same cannot be said at the professional level, given that biathlon has seen incredible growth in the last 10 years, while alpine and cross-country skiing have regressed in terms of both quantity and quality of participants. It's a complex discussion, but take a look at the starting lists of the World Cup races in cross-country or alpine skiing versus those of biathlon; you will find that the latter typically has double the number of athletes registered. And I assure you that the cross-country skiing skills of some biathletes are on par with those of pure cross-country skiers, as demonstrated by Bjoerndalen and Berger, who recently won some cross-country World Cup races. Then consider what it means to hit 5 targets with a rifle at a distance of 50 meters after skiing 5 km at full speed. No, I assure you that men's biathlon is the winter sport where the level of competitiveness is perhaps the highest right now. And Bjoerndalen has had throughout his career as direct opponents the second and third most successful biathletes in history (Poiree and Fischer).