Paul Oberjuerge: Up the hill without an option ...
I feel kinda bad for the journalists who were on their way to the men's downhill, way up at Sestriere. Some of those people are the lead columnists for their newspapers, or reporters who are here on their own, with no backup/colleagues. I feel bad because Michelle Kwan is the story of the day, unless Bode Miller wins the downhill -- or explodes trying. And even then ...
A major logistical problem here, for journalists, is the distance between the mountain venues and the city venues. If you go to skiing, you are AT skiing -- all day. This isn't Salt Lake, where Park City, etc., was wonderfully close to Salt Lake City.
There may not even be a bus that can bring anyone back before the downhill is good and done -- and it doesn't even begin until noon -- 30 minutes after Kwan's press conference begins here in the Main Media Center, in the city.
L.A. News Group is OK, because even though Steve Dilbeck is up with Bode and the Gang, I'm here in the city and can do the Michelle Watch.
But I'm thinking of some of the columnists for major metro newspapers who made the trek up the mountain, a two-hour ride, practically, who will have to make some hard decisions. Write about Kwan without first-hand observation of her? Wait and see what Bode and Rahlves do?
I'd hate to have been on that bus when somebody's cell phone rang and the word went around that Michelle had withdrawn. There might even have been a few expletive-deleteds uttered.
You can't blame any of the people on the bus uphill. The men's downhill is THE big ski event of the Winter Games, and Bode Miller is one of the major personalities here. If you were going to make one trip up the hill, this was the day.
But leave it to skating to come up with a news story that trumps nearly everything else. If I were a Winter Olympics athlete in some other sport, I'd probably be ticked at those skate freaks, always dominating the headlines with their tiffs, their scoring, their groin pulls ...
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