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US Ski team and Toyota renew partnership.

Muleski

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Yes, "regrettable" is the understatement of the century. The deal was viewed as a potential disaster when first under consideration, and then more so when launched. Wrong everything.

The sport is already has enough elitist problems. Why not affiliate with Land Rover and put so many athletes behind the wheel of Range Rovers? I won't get into the uniforms and suits. The one piece green suits were especially heinous but much loved by USSS media types like Megan Harrod. Better get one of those suits, or one of the green speed suits. They will be collectors' items.

This is good news. I hope it generates a lot of revenue. Sounds like the incentive part of the deal backfired on the USSS/USST. Shocker. It would probably be better to have a "true" American company, but on a global stage, Toyota sure works. And yeah, the number of team members who own Tacoma's, Tundra's and FourRunners is big.

Can Tiger and his team leave soon enough? About time for an update on the search?
 

Primoz

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Great! Just when I bought one of the current suits! :(
Karma I would say ;) In my mind, national team suits (or jackets or whatever) are gain by working hard enough to be good enough and to be part of the team not by paying for them. But that's just me, and I know majority of people, especially marketing guys in federations around the world, strongly disagree with me :)
 

ScotsSkier

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I look at it differently primoz. When you buy the gear directly from the athletes you are supporting and getting cash to them directly rather than having the administration taking a big chunk of it
 

James

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US Ski Team off season training, 2008. (Posted by Ligety)

 

Muleski

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Car Jumping in NZ, an “invention” of Warner Nickerson, during a college semester at Otago. Very close friend of Ligety’s.

In retrospect, with BOTH GUYS having careers essentially ended with back injuries, they suggest that while fun...might not have been so smart.......
 

Primoz

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@ScotsSkier it's not really that what I meant. I know most of people will never agree with me about this, and I'm fine with that, so take this as my very own and very personal opinion. For me national team clothes (or for bike, rainbow jersey, yellow TdF, pink Giro jersey etc., which I see in 1000s on roads and trails around here) is something that can't be bought but needs to be earned. In my mind, it actually shows disrespect to people who invested so much of their time, training and even money to achieve something, and then someone buys the same thing for few bucks and walks around pretending to be part of the team.
I know I'm more or less alone in this, and market for team replicas is huge (I heard when Ronaldo switched to Real years ago for some crazy sum of money, Real got that money back selling his shirt in less then 3 or 4 months), so I'm fine with that, but I still have my own opinion, which of course doesn't really matter much. Especially when it comes to millions of euros or dollars :)
@Muleski I'm sure car jumping is probably not smart nor safe and neither very helpfull for already screwed up back, but I still think majority of back issues were caused by other things not by these few cars jumps :D
 

Muleski

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@Muleski I'm sure car jumping is probably not smart nor safe and neither very helpfull for already screwed up back, but I still think majority of back issues were caused by other things not by these few cars jumps :D

No doubt!
But after at least one of their multiple back surgeries, when reminded of car jumping in ancient $500 Honda’s, I recall one conmenting that “Yeah, maybe that wasn’t so smart! But hell, it was fun!”
I think the real “damage” was done on the hill. Sadly.
 

markojp

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Funny, I have no thought one way or the other about ski team kits in the hands of the public. It's pretty clear from the skiing who the real deal is, but oddly enough, cycling (for me) is different a la TdF yellow, Giro pink, national champion, and world champion rainbow. My neighbor long ago who taught me to ride and race (and from Europe) was very much " you earn those". I guess it stuck. Skiing doesn't really have an equivalent. There's no WC season winner globe or world champ suit, pants, or jacket, and no one really cares if a cyclist is wearing a pro team kit much either.

Interesting idea though to allow a skiing world champ or national champ event winner to wear an identifier team jacket/suit with arm bands or the like as in the cycling world.. and yes, I did see a guy in a US national champ kit on the road yesterday... he wasn't the current one, and yeah, it seems silly, but well, in the end, it's all pretty first world issue stuff. Anyhow, good on Toyota. Sorta share 'the sport has an image problem' with the whole Land Rover thing.

The green suits would have been cool with a USA red white and blue identifier from the knees down, but look too military without. Maybe for biathlon. :)
 
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Philpug

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Thinking about this, the only thing that is really "earned" and not sold in stores is Redbull helmet, they are jsut for Redbull athletes...for now.

Back to the USST auto sponsorship. I still like the old Subaru connection.
f0zcy2b321bz.jpg

rs=w:600,h:600
 

Muleski

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Cool pics of the USST Subie. Neat.

On the "suit", and uniform thread, perhaps I'm looking at this differently, but likely much as @ScotsSkier does. On the one hand, almost every USST system skier needs as much financial "help" as possible. Sure, MS does not, but you can bet that every member of the B team on down does. For example, 15 years ago, the minute you made even the USST C team, if you had any advice, you immediately negotiated contracts with ski, boot, pole companies. I know skiers who were "not that great" who had $50K in their wallets. No longer the case. That money goes to far fewer skiers...those at the very top and the "curve" of who earns what is different. So, here in the USA, at the end of a season, every athlete is going to have suits, jackets, gloves....often many still in the plastic. And should you buy some, it helps the athlete.

I don't know anybody racing in ANY national team suit from any country who is trying to fake it as a poser that they are actually team skiers. However, if you go to any higher level race, you'll see MOST of the field in these suits. They are simply BETTER. Better material, better stitching, better padding, better zippers and other components. Better. And for a kid of the age where they are in a suit not just every day of the winter, but a lot of the entire year, that quality lasts. Sure, the suits eventually get beaten up and torn at the stress points, but they do last. So, having a couple of team suits or more and rotating them is smart.

My kids also always had....and still have training pants from the USST or CAST. Again, they were such better quality, better material, and they had a better cut and fit. They lasted. And they were not available to purchase. Not in the retail chain. For a few years, Spyder made great stretch training shorts, and at some point they were no longer sold, but the national teams that had contracted with Spyder had them. Same thing with many of the jackets. I know a lot of people who would not be caught dead wearing them, but others who won't wear anything else because of the quality and the FIT. The teams get great rain wear. and great coaching kits. They are purpose built. Hard to get otherwise. No coach or athlete wearing them is "posing".....the stuff just WORKS.

The best jacket that I ever had was a Phenix Norwegian team coach coat. Never available for sale in any color. I wore it off and on for about 15 years......and no, I did not try to pretend that I was a coach for the Vikings. It had a huge hood, best pocket setup ever, better cuffs, great zippers and pulls and it was made of iron. I paid a coach $300 for it. Great deal. He was pleased.

Our "kids", from the time they were physically big enough to wear real team suits had them. I recall my daughter's first was a size XS Spyder suit. That is tiny. Not sure that any team athlete could have squeezed into it. For a few years, Descente made training suits for the CAST that were thinly lined with a fleece fabric. Those were money for kids training in the very Northern climates. Not many around...but warm. I was just thinking of the suits that we had along the way, and I count WC suits from eight countries. And from ages 13 on....zero non team suits. They were better, and a better deal. And....the athletes liked the cash. I think that my kids actually wore them with a show of respect. Not disrespect. Nobody was faking anything. However, when they reached the college/NCAA ranks they were pretty disappointed in the quality of the college "uniforms." Proud to wear them, but the stuff just fell apart. Short life span. At that point it seemed like everybody bought Spyder, which was well priced, just not that well made.

So, yeah.....not "replica" suits sold by the usual suspects. The real deal. They make sense.

Now bike kits? Our town is pretty passionate about cycling. A lot of road biking going on. And a lot of chubby guys who need more time on the bike riding in full-on TdF kits. In some cases including the helmet and shoes, not just the socks and gloves. THAT to me looks just insane. All replica stuff. You could buy beautiful quality kits, much better, for the same money. I do not get that. Then again the bikes that some of these folks are on....even more insane.

Just my take on it.
 
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migdriver

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When my boys were junior racers in Vt they sometimes bought USST cast off uniform parts or suits from USST C and D team members trying to raise cash so they could continue to somehow meet the athletes “ contribution” required to continue on the program.
It was like a trunk sale ... some USST ers would show up with a bag of their stuff andkids like ours in the local race program would trade cash for speed suits, training shorts etc... the girls stuff fit our boys .
Always felt it was a good deal for all concerned. No-one was going to confuse my skinny J3 , J2 boys for Bode. They got real deal , wears like iron clothes to train in... the USST kids on the financial cusp of trying to stay in the national program got much needed cash.
 

Snowfan

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Wow. That 2nd video brought tears and joy. Thank you @James for posting that. I've been knocked down and up again several times. Nothing as tough as a babe without feet. Total inspiration.
 

ScotsSkier

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its pretty funny how it is almost universal across countries with team athletes raising cash!. Back in the late 70s/80s I used to get stuff from the British team guys. Back then of course it was mainly 2 piece suits with stretch pants which you didn't need to be a racer to wear. And @Primoz is going to hate this but I also have a Halti Slovenian team wool hoody that i bought from one of the slovenian b team guys a few years ago. Best investment ever! Worn nearly every day I'm working so must have over 300 days on it now!

And yes, as some others have pointed out, most of the USST stuff is usually better quality than the retail equivalents. And the suits are faster.. And while I may be reasonable for my age, i dont think there is any chance of anyone confusing me for a USST skier!. :)
 
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Primoz

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@ScotsSkier no worries about me. I'm not going to hate this, I just laugh and think what I think about all this, when I see someone proudly walking around in team jacket, which he or she bought and not earn, regardless of "way better quality" excuse. But as I wrote earlier, I'm fine with that, people can do whatever they want to do.
But yes, I totally agree that DH and SG speed suits that top racers get, are faster then regular suits. Only problem is, that they are for one time use only, and once you use it 15th or 150th time, they are most likely way slower then regular suits, which are meant to be used more then once.
 

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