Monzanator

7 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

here I am...

 

for 2 good reasons...

 

first, the landscape of today's race was simply amazing...I love those places...

 

second, since the women's race itself was basically senseless, our broadcasters (they also refused to follow the race carefully ) put on a show analyzing the very sad situation of our Nordic Disciplines and made it the most interesting 90 mins of the day (and not only of the day)...

Polish TV broadcasts the endurace races so there are enough snowy landscapes there too. It's obvious Tour de Ski has lost its juice so FIS had to come up with a new Tour located in Norway because it's the only country where people actually follow cc these days. I haven't watched a single World Cup race since the 2019 Nordic WCh and it seems like the next time I'm gonna watch one will be the 2021 Nordic WCh

6 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

At least shooting actually matters in the single mixed though. That is a difference to the traditional relays.

Shooting also matters in the individual - even more so than single mixed relay - and you're not a fan of that format so I don't get your logic at all  

Just now, Federer91 said:

We don't need 3 different relays for biathlon. The single one is useless and frankly shouldn't be even on the regular schedule let alone the Olympics. 

Yeah, the classic relay at least forces nations to have some depth on the team. Single mixed relay means shit. It's male & female alpha where one penalty loop kills your chances. In classic relays teams have won it with multiple penalty loops before.

1 minute ago, Olympian1010 said:

US fans only care about wins. As long as she’s winning, she’s in the headlines. She’s won enough to be a permanent fixture even if she skips the remainder of the season.

She doesn't get the coverage Lindsey Vonn had tbh. I bet Chloe Kim is more popular in the USA than Shiffrin right now.

Then again, XFL games get more viewers than alpine skiing. Nobody's watching alpine skiing in the USA if Shiffrin is not at start IMO.

9 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Not to US fans.

In a season without World Champs or Olympics? Then she could have skipped the entire season alltogether

4 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I don’t think they’ll remove anything, I just think they’ll add the single mixed to the games

IOC runs the show though. Biathlon already has 11 events spread across 14 days. They doubled teamed individuals and pursuit on the same day already. Unlike cross country or alpine skiing the best athletes do not skip some events on purpose here. And who's gonna field a B line-up for an Olympic event now to hope for a better shot in the individual races?

Just now, Olympian1010 said:

She’ll still be a star even if she sits the rest of this season out. There’s no world championships, and she’s already won plenty of races.

Winning the overall World Cup is still pretty important?

12 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I’m certain it will be on the program in 2026.

Only if they remove the individual alltogether. Again, it's down to the leverage by the big nations. If single mixed relay becomes a Germany/Norway/France/Italy/Russia/Sweden playground then it doesn't make any sense other than rich getting richer. Poland once won a WC medal in the defunct team event and it hasn't translated to any success for our relay over the long run either.

11 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Which would honestly be okay. Her father was everything to her, and I don’t want her racing until her mind is back on racing.

As is often the case though, there are these sponsors and other crap to consider. It's not like USA has another global alpine skiing star now that Vonn has retired.

5 minutes ago, Kirkpatrick said:

 

I pretty much hate it. I fear that the many others do not, and it'll feature more and more.

It's not a question how many like it but if the big nations like it. If they do then it's a wrap and the single mixed relay is here to stay. I don't think it happens at the WOG, two relays is too much tbh.

5 Norwegians in Top 6 for women and 8 Norwegians in the Top 12 for men.

I wonder who the hell is watching this crap outside of Norway?

No surprise here, I said Ofterschwang is the place where she could come back. If she misses that then she's given up on the season alltogether IMO.

2 minutes ago, dcro said:

Single mixed relays don't allow any new nations on the podium. It's just the cliche excuse. They only allow the rich to get richer, as do all other team events...

Estonia would probably disagree with you

But it could be an exception from the rule. Any team event favors the big nations by default

5 minutes ago, SalamAkhi said:

 

Earn the bronze*

When there's a change of positions from several seconds back after the last shooting it's always a steal   It's not like they came in together.

Samuelsson meltdown and France will steal the bronze.

Italy on the penalty loop. Game over for them.

France is even struggling on skis here. 0+4 but over 20 secs. behind.

Tomasz Sikora going sentimental and says how David Panyik's father finished one place behind him in the 1994 WOG sprint

Assange is a Russian mole and everyone knows that. However Wikileaks used to be a darling of the liberal left (esp. after the Afghanistan war leaks) and it's so difficult for them to swallow that pill

9 minutes ago, LowerSaxony said:

 

All people want to look into a bright future with more wealth. It's a question whether the expectations are realistic. The EU can give money, but in the end the state government is (mostly) responsible on how those money is spend. Still, Poland is the biggest net receiver of the EU (12 Billions in 2018). By the way, maybe a higher share in Germany can afford two family holidays per year, but that is absolutely non-standard here, too. My family did not belong to that share, when I was a kid (90'/00's).

Poland is the 5th most populous EU member. We have roughly the same population as Romania, Greece and Czech Republic combined. That's a lot of pissed off voters if you tell them: "Nope, we don't have any money so if you wanted to improve your status after 1989 you were all wrong"

Quite frankly this is what the Civic Platform finance minister said in 2015 ("There is no budget money and there will be none") right before they got removed from power and have struggled ever since.

Single mixed relay squads have been announced.

(Olsbu & JTB) and (Wierer & Hofer) in full gold medal mode.

(Preuss & Lesser) and (Bescond & Jacquelin) will be menacing though.

(Zuk & Nedza-Kubiniec) will be lucky to get a Top 12 finish IMO.

8 minutes ago, LowerSaxony said:

I totally agree on that and I never said it is an exclusive problem of the Polish society. However, a different thing is that there is a political party in Poland which uses this fears and actually runs the government - that is the problem.

The problem in Poland dates back to the 90s when 1% (or even less) of our population cashed in on just about 100% of the state-owned assets in the privatisation process leaving millons of blue-collars feeling betrayed and quite frankly poor per modern standards.

3 minutes ago, LowerSaxony said:

 

Really, I do understand, it's just no good excuse. To a far lesser extent, we have the same in Germany with the "new" federal states, formerly GDR. The AfD (somewhere between right-wing populism and fascism light) has 25% in some of those states, while they are at 6% in some "old" federal states. I understand their problems and history, but it is no excuse to vote for Nazis.

Yeah, exactly the former DDR lands have the same problem though their issues only dates to post WWII. However it doesn't matter whether the excuse is valid, if someone feels like the wealthy capitalists haven't helped them enough to make up for the years of communist regime, they will turn to anyone who offers them a better future.

Civic Platform has dismissed millions of blue-collars who lost their jobs after the state-owned companies went belly up after 1989. A small percentage of wiseguys made enormous profit but millions of people didn't really feel their economical situation got all that better. We've waited 30 years to cash in on overthrowing the communism and it's not happening. Yeah, everyone can buy a car these days but two holiday family trips to Soelden or Canary Islands per year? Hell, that's still beyond most of Pole's economical resources. Forget Canary Islands, some parents can't afford to send their kids on the Baltic shore. I was lucky enough my father's mine funded three weeks of seaside holiday in the summer for the employers' kids like me. Now it's obviously gone.

Martin Fourcade becomes the first 4x World Champion in the individual.

Vladimir Melanin, Alexander Tikhonov and Heikki Ikola have won it three times.

32 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Conservatives play to people’s fears and lack of understanding. I think there is a place for conservative politics (and there should be), but modern populist conservatism is wrong. People will always be willing to throw someone under the bus. Yesterday it was the blacks, then the Jews, and now today it’s the immigrants. I think it stems from a lack of understanding, lack of strong foundations in education, and belief in misinformation. 

People do most things out of fear. Politics has simply embraced the psychology.

Btw, Polish Newsweek run an article last week about Finnish speaking Swedes in Finland and showed how divided that community is. Swedes living in Finland obviously want to speak Swedish in private and there's a clear divide between native Finns and Swedes. And the conclusion is Finland hates immigrants too - in this case the Swedes. And Newsweek is the chief liberal/progressive newspaper here so it's not like some conservative morons came up with such an idea to make the liberal Scandinavia look bad. There are xenophobic behaviour everywhere under the sun, not just the outdated and conservative Poland.

18 minutes ago, LowerSaxony said:

Pis constantly uses the narrative of the EU that has nothing else to do than pushing gender LGBT rights. That is hilarious! Of course EU has some guidelines regarding decriminalizing and stopping discrimination of LGBT, but the complete jurisdiction regarding gay marriage etc is obliged to the states. The EU doesn't give a shit if the member states legalize gay marriage or whatever. PIS just insinuates that EU pushes the member states to do. Unbelievable.

 

And that is the answer to my question: Poland (i.e. Polish government) stays in the EU because PiS can use their well-known narratives of being the only defender of Polish home country against EU liberal LGBT multicultural bureaucrats.

Gay marriage is still forbidden in Poland. You can't run before you learn to walk. Even the liberal Civic Platform who ruled for 8 years was too scared to push with LGBT rights since deep down they are pretty conservative.

You have to remember over the last 225 years Poland has enjoyed pure freedom & independence for 20 years between 1918-1939 and since 1989. So that's basically 175 years of Germany, Russia, Austria & Soviet Union telling us what to do and punishing us for keeping the Polish spirit alive. That's why it's very easy for the current government to put EU in the same category. Some damn politicians from foreign country tell us what to again. It's no coincidence Czech Republic and Hungary have a similar strong anti-EU political representative. The siege mentality is very real over here and it's something the old EU members from the West simply don't understand.