Rick Schwertfeger closely follows the Biathlon World Cup and regularly shoots off a text with results, prompting me to run down highlights. On Saturday morning, he noted that Lisa Vittozzi, who won the Ruhpolding Women’s 10 km Pursuit, had turned in some blazing fast shooting in the mixed relay at Antholz-Anterselva in Italy. She’s got a hot hand right now, and, of course, I went down a sidetrail to find out more about her.
Turns out that this is a comeback story. I love those…
Vittozzi troughed out badly a couple of years ago, with a bad case of the yips that ruined her shooting and made competition a source of dread instead of a source of joy. Biathlon World did a nice piece exploring her “long road back” and it’s worth your time.
That’s a hit…
She was named BMW IBU World Cup Athlete of the Week last week and it’s pretty sweet to see how moved she is by her restored success.
With 46% of fans’ votes, Lisa Vittozzi won the Athlete of the Week award for the BMW IBU World Cup stage of Ruhpolding. Returning to victory after 4 years, she conquered the heart of many.
The great champion Dorothea Wierer is back in action after battling illness early this season. The Italian women are poised for a magnificent season.
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The sport of Biathlon has its origins in Nordic martial tradition — but it doesn’t get to call itself the Little Brother of War. That title is reserved for the native tradition of Stickball. There’s a really fine doco on the Little Brother of War on the Chickasaw TV site. You can watch it here.
Before the measure of calendar years, stickball was called Little Brother of War, because it was used to resolve conflicts with other tribes instead of all-out war. Ancient stickball was more than a game: it was an integral part of Chickasaw society that encapsulated all aspects of the culture, with the best players gaining status within their communities. After the game went underground in the 20th century, when tribal culture was under attack, stickball has evolved in the modern era with a new generation of players, both men and women, bringing attention to this ingrained part of Chickasaw culture.
Winter Fire: The Ancient Game of Stickball documents both ancient and modern eras, while exploring the connection between tradition and the people who keep it. While stickball’s role in Chickasaw society has evolved, the ferocity and intensity of the game live on today with men, women and youth teams. Chikasha Toli’ is becoming a competitive force and a new generation of stickball players now embrace the game of their ancestors and the preservation of this age-old tradition.
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INSP has posted two episodes of its series The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger on YouTube. This production is by the same outfit that does Into the Wild Frontier. (I previously wrote that it wasn’t the same production team, but that was incorrect. It’s mostly the same team). I didn’t have any role in this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7NCqbYYayY&t=57s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4c9qnYRCRg
Matthew says
Taylor Sheridan has acquired the rights to adapt Empire of the Summer Moon
https://www.cbr.com/taylor-sheridan-empire-of-the-summer-moon/
Thanks for telling me about the Bridger series being posted to Youtube.
JimC says
Well, that could be really cool. He’s got way too many irons in the fire though, and it’s affecting both quality and ability to finish. Not preaching — I’m susceptible to the same trouble on my own small scale, but it’s become impossible to ignore. He’s at risk of the George RR Martin Syndrome.
Matthew says
It would be a great story if he is able to do it. Hollywood being what it is you never know though.
There’s a book called Bogata about the history of the Mafia by a former mobster. There’s a Art of Manliness podcast on it which includes its origins in Sicily and how it first came to America in not New York, but New Orleans.,
https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/knowledge-of-men/podcast-958-an-insiders-guide-to-the-rise-of-the-american-mafia/
JimC says
I’ll have to check that out. New Orleans has a weird and wild history. In some ways, the ultimate frontier town.
Mike says
Now that would be a fun read: top frontier towns and why.
Monk says
It’s Borgata and if you had read Accordion Crimes, this would be no
news to you.
Taylor Sheridan, Hollywood ? there’s been a few comments re Taylor
Sheridan here, get real folks, the man is a giant, he could shit in a
paper bag and it still be more interesting than anything that ever came
thru here.
George RR Martin seems to be doing all right with Dark Winds, you keep
on about side trails Jim, The Biathlon World Cup isn’t ?
JimC says
Martin hasn’t finished his magnum opus and never will. He’s is more than a DECADE late on the next installment. Taylor Sheridan has not finished Yellowstone, kept the entire production waiting for scripts, and lost his lead. So… yeah, there’s a problem there. I don’t think shitting in a paper bag is much of a standard, and if you think that’s more interesting than anything that comes through here, you’re welcome to move on.
lane batot says
It’s NOT just a matter of shitting in a paper bag. That’s only Step #1. Then you havta put a bunch of easily inflammable material in the bag, like toilet paper and/or newspaper(#2), put it on the porch of yer chosen victim(#3–preferably at night), light the bag with some quick form of making fire–matches or a lighter(#4), then ring the doorbell(#5), and RUN!!!(#6–don’t forget #6!) Then you sit back out of sight and watch yer victim stomp out the fire, then track shit all back in their house! Splendid prank! Works like a charm!
JimC says
The voice of experience, I take it? Or do those operations remain classified?
lane batot says
HA! MOST DEFINITELY the voice of experience! But it’s safe now–the Statue Of Deliminashunz expired a loooooong time ago on those operations! THE BEST version of this prank was one that I, alas, was not a part of(mainly because I could not be harnessed for civilized chores very effectively in those days), but involved a group of acquaintances that had–for pay–raked this neighborhood man’s yard, and didn’t get paid as promised. He was NOTORIOUS for getting neighborhood kids to do his chores(mowing, raking, weeding, etc.), then criticizing their efforts and refusing to pay them, or pay them only a fraction of what was promised. This gang of kids did the Shit-Bag-On-Fire trick on him, in a particularly clever, diabolical way. This man had WHITE CARPET throughout his house, and the kids lit a shit bag on his front porch, rang the doorbell, and simultaneously, another section of the war party lit a second shit bag on his back porch! The man, in a panic, stomped out the fire on his front porch, then ran through his house to the back porch and stomped that one out, meanwhile, the front porch gang rang that doorbell again, causing the fellow to run through his house again, and somewhere inbetween he finally noticed the shit trail he’d made through his house! Those kids said they then heard cussing like they’d never heard, and they scattered to regroup safely elsewhere and gloat on their revenge!
Monk says
It’s not the shitting it’s the content, comparing Sheridan to Martin
isn’t fair. There’s been strikes, the man produces, acts and directs,
as well and there has been new product albeit with some delay.
He might never do anything with those rights, might sell them
who knows, not that website surely, it refers to The Quanah (!).
Never stops to amaze me people’s willingness to take down a tall
poppy. You are right about one thing, moving on might be just
the ticket.
JimC says
Nobody here is “taking down a tall poppy.” I have extolled Sheridan’s vision and work from very early — since Sicario — and want him to succeed. He’s my kind of storyteller. I want to see Yellowstone come to a satisfying conclusion and 1923 to deliver on the promise of an outstanding first season. I hope 6666 comes to fruition and I would LOVE to see the development of a first-class take on Empire of the Summer Moon. I’m rooting for the guy. Hell, I’m rooting for Martin, too. A Song of Ice and Fire has greatness in it and it would be tragic if it is left truncated. I actually feel bad for the guy — I’m sure he doesn’t want to be in the spot he’s in, but there he is.
Pointing out that Sheridan has a lot of irons in the fire that risk the quality — or completion — of his work is not even criticism, much less some kind of attack. It’s concern. Special Ops: Lioness was flat out… not good. I didn’t get the same hit from Bass Reeves that 1883 and 1923 delivered. All creative people are at risk of over-extending. You raised the same kind of concern about my own efforts — and you were right.
Because you have contributed substantively here in the past, I felt like I owed a substantive response to your missives. But let me be clear — I am not going to tolerate insults:
That’s personal, and it’s out of line. I’m not going to hash it out with you in the light of the campfire. You know how to contact me. We’re done here.
Malcolm Brooks says
Jim–you handled this anonymous internet blowhard totally correctly. Taylor Sheridan’s formidable rise from character-actor-with-uncertain-future to major content creator is huge, and admirable in more ways than one given the current climate. But his Achilles’ heel is obvious–too many irons in the fire, fused with an Ahab-like inability to relinquish control, particularly when it comes to the nuts-and-bolts plotting and writing. Find some like sensibilities who can assist with story and scripting, or focus on fewer projects. Otherwise, things unravel. Nobody wants that.
JimC says
Yep.
Travis Slusser says
I’m personally grateful for the side-trails, they really make this place feel more like a campfire rather than just some content I’m consuming. I’ve lost count of how many writers and books, singers and songs and new areas of history I’ve been introduced to here. I’m never sure what I’ll find when I visit here, but I know I’ll likely find it damned interesting, and that’s part of what keeps me coming back.
JimC says
Shared interests and exploration are what we’re about here. Glad it resonates, and thank you.
Ugly Hombre says
“Its a rude guest who instructs his host”.
Old Kao Pang Zi- to the Jake Dodds.
That always made sense to me, I try to remember it
JimC says
That’s on point, have to say…