TIDBITS (Timbits +
Tedbits)
WARNING - Content may be
offensive, or even correct!
Monday, 1 September (checking in early -- the meet
is a week away!)
The Webmaster's Lament (not much about
skydiving)
Ay carrumba! For the first time in over ten years,
your intrepid webmaster will not be on site at a world meet.
Instead, tomorrow morning I will be undergoing the knife in an
effort to restore some sense of regularity to the beat of my
ticker, using
this procedure. And not long afterwards I will undergo
the knife again to repair the damage that many years of rear
floating a camera and turning points has done to my left shoulder
rotator cuff. Then after that, my brain surgery, where the doctors
hope to cure my inane desires of hurling myself out of perfectly
good airplanes, stalking women's' 4-way teams with a camera, and
putting bacon bits in my salads. No no no, just kidding about the
bacon bits.
Hmm...as I write this, the Golden Knights are
getting their butts kicked, 49 to 21 after 3. What's that? No, I
had no idea there was a college team called the Golden Knights.
They are the
University of Central Florida, and they are getting stomped by
Virginia Tech. Let's hope our Army boys at least keep the score
close at Gap!
So after they fix my ticker tomorrow, I'll have
some recovery time at home to support this show while Ted and Lucy
provide the on site coverage. By agreement with the competition
host, we will not be posting scores here, as they will be taking
care of that over at the
official site. But we will be still providing our usual
assortment of candid photos and irreverent observations during the
course of the meet, and whatever else we can get away with
do.
What? What competition? Oh, that World Meet thing.
Dang it hurts not to be there. The Golden Knights will be trying
to defend USA's 4-way FS title, last won by Airspeed, who will be
trying to regain the 8-way title they lost to Russia...the whole
world of competition FS has turned on its head, it seems. For
years, it was the Golden Knights reigning supreme in 8-way, while
the 4-way teams were dominated by civilians. Then Airspeed 8 had
the gall to beat the Knights at the
1998 nationals, earning them a trip to Australia for the
1999 World
Meet. Then the Army boys returned the favor, beating all the
favored civilian teams at
last
year's nationals and earning the right to be here (er, there)
for the 2003 World Meet.
It is going to be very, very interesting, to say
the least, to watch this meet play out. It is still a whole week
out as I write this, but I can't wait! We should have bits and
photos coming from Ted "T1" Wagner in a day or so, as he flew out
yesterday.
As usual, we welcome your feedback, and you can
find us at the links below.
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