WAXROOM Swimming Pool of Awesomeness: The Waxroom’s 2010 Twitter Awards The year’s best athlete blurbs (or at least the best ones we could find in between races) in 140 characters or less
More than half of Twitter’s
nearly 200 million users
have signed up in the past
18 months. And the spike
in ski racing-related tweets
was likewise plain for even
the most casual observer.
Many of our sport’s most
prominent athletes are now
regularly employing the
platform to communicate with fans and each other. Here, we bring
you the year’s best North American ski racing tweets in five very serious categories:
Best Twitter bio: For household names like Lindsey Vonn, the Twitter bio requires little attention. For everyone else, it’s an art in itself
— it must concisely, accurately identify both the author and the style
of tweet he or she executes, or it risks alienating potential followers.
Runner up: @skifastfish http://twitter.com/skifastfish
U.S. Ski Team speedster Erik Fisher’s bio eschews the winter-take-all
attitude, paying homage to his favorite season with a killer kiteboard-ing background pic and the following declaration: “The Ski Racer
That Loves The Summer, Nope Don’t Make Sense To Me Either!”
Winner: @annagoody http://twitter.com/annagoody#
Canadian slalom ace Anna Goodman understands brevity is paramount — her bio says it all in five words, leaving no question about
where she’s from: “i’m a ski racer eh?”
Best single tweet from Vancouver Games: Everyone on earth
knows who won and what happened in Vancouver, so criteria for this
honor was mostly about making the Olympic experience more visceral for those of us who couldn’t know it first hand.
Runner up: @lizstephen http://twitter.com/lizstephen#
U.S. Ski Team nordic skier Liz Stephen is small in stature but big in
heart. Earnest and excited, she tweeted the following on Feb. 11 upon
arriving at her first Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver: “Would you
like some deodorant, a rice krispie treat, or perhaps you just need a
hug? Imagine anything you need and the athlete village has it”
Winner: @simihamilton http://twitter.com/simihamilton#
Simi Hamilton was equally earnest and inspired by his first Olympic
experience, but he gets the edge over Stephen for having scripted
this golden ticket on Feb. 13: “Opening Ceremonies: Imagine diving
naked into a swimming pool of awesomeness. And then winning the
lottery. That’s what it was like”
Best celebrity encounter tweet: A very important category, one
which featured nominees ranging from tweets about meeting President and Michelle Obama to ... the Hoff?
Runner up: @kikkanimal http://twitter.com/kikkanimal#
Kikkan Randall is the first-ever American woman to win a World Cup
cross country race: a class act from start to finish. But she was not
above kindly razzing — by way of a departed cross country running legend — an unsuspecting Canadian World Cup skier after his
Movember 17 workout: “OMG, I just saw Prefontaine in the weight
room. Oh wait, false alarm, just @devonkershaw http://twitter.com/#!/
devonkershaw rockin’ the moustache!”
Winner: @simihamilton http://twitter.com/simihamilton#
You’ve heard the stories about Baywatch star David Hasselhof’s
pop-star status in Germany, right? Well, we can’t verify that Germans
listen to his music, but at least we know it’s true that he flies there.
More from the prolific Hamilton on Nov. 8: “David Hasslehoff on my
flight from Dulles to Munich, sporting a ‘Don’t Hassle the Hoff’ shirt.
N. Hoff sitting a few rows from me. holys**t”
Most curious case of a world-class athlete tweeting in the
night time: Okay, we confess we created this category just for Mr.
Nyman.
Winner: @BelieveinSteven http://twitter.com/BelieveinSteven#
Not sure if U.S. Ski Team downhiller Steve Nyman was really on
a “late-night utah pow” excursion with friends, or if the following is
some kind of coded buddy-speak. Either way, we thought this stream
— posted on Nov. 22 — was pretty entertaining.
6:55 p.m.: “I am a teacher, just taught @jdunkl his liners come out of
his ski boots. Late night utah pow expedition, forgot headlamp, going
hawk eye”
7:12 p.m.: “Hey @cjgold1 get bent! Hop in the canyon transporter
and let’s go!”
9: 27 p.m.: “Where am I? Face plant, hawk eyes more like bat eyes.
Still alive but lost @cjgold1 and @jdunkl”
9: 29 p.m.: “Think I landed in @SnowbirdSki if you can read me @
cjgold1 @jdunkl come pick me up.”
9: 38 p.m.: “Trying to get into the cliff lodge @SnowbirdSki no luck
doors are frozen shut lights out! Storm is setting in. It ... [continued
via tweet extension] was nice knowing you @jdunkl hey @cjgold1
GET BENT!
10: 34 p.m.: “Been rescued-good night-happy trails @jdunkl @cj-
gold1 may another adventure be in our future”
Best overall twitter feed in 2010: This is like the Best Picture
Oscar category and we expect it to get more competitive as still more
talented ski racers begin tweeting (and as we pay greater attention
to them). We admit that the criteria was a little loose, but the general
aim was to find a tweet that adeptly marries ski racing news with high
entertainment value. Like so many Best Picture winners, the mastermind behind this tweet was recognized in other categories, too.
Winner: @simihamilton http://twitter.com/simihamilton#
Some athletes tweet “it’s been very cold lately” while Hamilton writes,
“First time I’ve seen the whole shape of the sun in 8 days. I feel like
Gallivare is the bahamas of Sweden. It might have even broken 0
deg F.” (Nov. 16.) Other tweets exchange inside jokes that followers
can’t, uh, follow. Hamilton, on the other hand, is prone to elegantly
and accessibly slighting teammates with nuggets such as, “You’re
so beautiful, you could be a part time model. But you’d probably still
have to keep your normal job.” (March 13.) And though Hamilton
may brush up against the profane from time to time, it typically happens at moments in which all ski racers can identify. Take this tweet
from Dec. 18 for example: “Dear clouds, Either start dumping or get
the hell out of colorado. Sincerely, Simeon”
