I feel a little like a Red Sox fan here at the Olympics, in other words, the superstition in me is starting to kick in. So far, the USA has won 6 alpine medals. Bode Miller’s got two silvers, as does Julia Manscuso. Andrew Weibrecht has bronze and Lindsey Vonn a gold. Is this team going to keep it up? Today is the women’s super g, and Lindsey Vonn has already wrapped up the World Cup title in the event. Despite her shin, she said she’s ready to roar.

Needless to say, the entire Ski Team is excited, including head honcho Bill Marolt. There is an entire entourage (actually several entourages coming in in waves) of big-time donors who have paid large sums of money to come experience the Olympics. They get shuttled to various events, and are entertained like rock stars. They wear USA gear and tote American flags.

Connecting the dots, it’s obvious why the Team’s success is not only exciting from an athletic standpoint – meaning the sheer enjoyment that comes from physically being in the finish of these races and watching it all unfold in real time – all the medals means lots of money for the U.S. Ski Team. And not just from this group of very generous, and now very enthusiastic, group of individual donors, but also from corporate sponsors. Corporate sponsorship is something that the organization has struggled with recently, so their unprecedented six alpine medals (count snowboarding and USSA gets 11 – four in halfpipe and one in sbx) is a good kick start to turn things around.

Let’s just talk a bit about Lake Placid native, Andrew Weibrecht, who won a BRONZE medal in yesterday’s super g. I went to the medal ceremony in Whistler village last night and stood with the Lake Placid crew, including Weibrecht’s coach and the mayor of Lake Placid. They were ecstatic! It was Weibrecht’s first podium – his previous best was a 10th in Beaver Creek at the start of the 2008 season. To come through with an Olympic medal performance in your second Olympic start is beyond words. Kinda like when Ted Ligety won gold in the combined in 2006. That was his first Olympic start.

Check out the photo page for some shots I took yesterday at xc and at the medal ceremony.

Also, here’s the link to my Bode Miller story, which was left out of the paper this week.

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