Every One Counts

This is a post that I never thought I would be doing. I was watching the Nightly News tonight and they featured the story of CPT Brian Freeman; the hero. It was your usual newscast. he did this, she did that, so-and-so-did it too. Well, I happened to see a story of a man that went above and beyond the call of duty; a man whos life, in his eyes, was just as important as anybody elses; especially a young child on the streets of Iraq.

To make a long story short, they showed CPT Freeman doing his best, taking care of everybody else. He made a mission of finding a young Iraqi boy a way to live. That way was by open heart surgery. The day CPT Freeman was killed the young Iraqi boy was given a chance to live; an unbelievable story.

Well, I happened to see the nightly news, they showed picture after picture CPT Freeman doing what he did best, live. What I saw, however, shocked me. A picture that I had taken of him flashed across the screen. I couldn't believe it. Now, I'm no anal photographer who demands that I'm paid for the pictures I take. (even though it was displayed on the most watched TV program in the US. ) What I couldn't believe was a picture that I had taken completely innocently had been published to the world as a tribute to his demise.

Well, the picture I took was as innocent as you can get. I was testing my new camera in a small hotel room in Albany, NY; I took at least 10 photos in just as many seconds. When I heard of Brian's death I sent all the photos I had of him to a friend as another way to remember him.

Where is this story going? Well, as a reminder, I was watching the news story of my friend's death when a picture flashed before my eyes;
That's when it hit home.

I was only testing my camera when I took that picture. I have a 10 picture sequence that includes that picture. I was only testing my camera. I wasn't taking pictures so that the world could remember CPT Brian Freeman. It was a picture I had taken in that small, insignificant moment of both our lives. (It wasn't even in focus.) That's when I realized that every one counts.

"Hey.......Brian!"

Stranger Things Have Happened

Heading in to the final 4-man race we had a 70 point deficit to the Russians. All week the coaches had been calculating what it would take to win the Overall 4-man World Cup Title. Basically the Russians would have to crash, and we would have to win. The chances of that are pretty slim. Mainly because when you're leading the World Cup by 70 points it means you're pretty damn good, and the chances that you're going to crash in the last two runs of the season are extremely slim. However, stranger things have happened.

The race started a little late that day. Not sure why, there is such a tight TV schedule that the race is literally calculated to within seconds for commercial breaks. It's actually quite impressive. So, needless to say things were a bit strange to begin with. Well, the Russians happened to draw number 1 and we were 9th. About the only advantage to being 9th is that you know how the best sleds have done before you go. Other than that, 9th pretty much sucks for a top seed draw. (Unless you're in St. Moritz, but that's another story for another time.)

Knowing what had to happen for the Russians to lose the lead, it was a pretty relaxed mood in the start house. Maybe a bit too relaxed. Its a completely different mindset when the World Championships are in the middle of the season instead of the very end; AND the last race doesn't have much of purpose because the Russians have such a huge lead. So, as you can imagine, the mood was light.

Anyway, they finally cleared the track for the first sled, RUS I. Off they went, down the track to a simple victory. All he has to do is finish the race and he'll be World Cup Champion. They had a pretty good start time 4.84. Not quite as good as ours of 4.82 but still fast enough. When you're in the start house, all you really listen to is the start time and the finish time, everything else is pretty much worthless information. So nobody was really paying attention to the announcer, especially because half of the people can't speak German. For all I know he could have been calling me a half witted orangutan all day. However, there is one thing that people do understand, emotion. No matter what language somebody is speaking, even if you don't understand, you can understand how they are feeling, or what they are trying to express by the tone of their voice. It's very interesting.

So, we were sitting, waiting for our turn, joking with one another, counting down the seconds to our departure from Europe when the announcer began screaming with shock and excitement, we all recognized right away what had happened. Russia had crashed.

I've been to Europe 15 times and I can still only do 3 things in German; order a meal at McDonald's, clear a bobsled track, and send a letter via Airmail. Luftpost bitte. So, like I said, everybody knew exactly what had happened to the Russians. The light mood that was so refreshing was now a mood that I only see a few times a year. The door has been opened, now we just have to walk through it. My whole team new what was at stake, we missed a World Championship by a few hundredths, we're not going to lose the World Cup Title by a few points.

We went out there and performed to our ability, we finished the first run in 2nd place, only a few hundredths out of first. It was the first step in getting out 4-man title. For once, every sled in the race was just as important as the next. You see, even though the Russians crashed, they are still allowed to take a second run given that all 4 athletes crossed the finish line touching the sled. (Touching meaning they could all be dragging behind, holding on to the sled as they finish and it would still count.)

Where was I, oh yeah, there were 21 sleds in the race. If 20 sleds finished ahead of the Russians, they would not get a second run; we would only have to finish in the top 13 to pull ahead in points. That would make life much easier for us, unfortunately they beat 2 sleds. Our luck wasn't that good.

Knowing exactly where the Russians stood for the second run, every coach and athlete started making the calculations. Here's what it came down to, if we stay in 2nd place, the Russians have to finish 13th or worse; if we win, they must finish 10th or worse. There was no finishing 3rd for us.

Nobody on that tour thought it would come down to the last run. Not with a 70 point difference. Well, it did.

The second run started, and the Russians were off 2nd. They knew exactly what they had to do; and they did it. They put down a smokin' run. They moved up from 19th to 15th, to 12th, to 11th, 10th. One more sled and it was over. Sure enough they beat Russia II by .05s. Coincidence? Probably not. They ended up in 9th place. One spot ahead of where they had to. I'll tell you what though. They had the fastest run of the 2nd heat, and they lost to Germany I, Andre Lange, by .03s. Anybody that crashes and nearly beats Germany on a German track deserves the World Cup Title. That is a feat in itself.

Needless to say, we knew there was no chance for us to beat the Russians, but we still had a chance to win the race. We stood at the top of the track as ready as we had ever been. We had another great start, another great drive, however, I nearly crashed in the same place as the Russians. Hey, there was a rut in the ice from all the sleds before us and we hit it nearly sending us over on our side. No problem, I'd actually been there before in the 2004 World Championships. Experience saved us. We ended up finishing 2nd behind the Canadians, and 2nd behind the Russians.

Now that was close!

Like the title says, that was a close one. Since the race in Cortina D'ampezzo, Italy I have been the 2-man world Cup leader. With a 4th and a 1st place since then I put a decent size lead on Pierre Lueders. About 70 points. A nice cushion heading in to the last two races. I mean come on, if Andre Lange can skip two races and get disqualified in one and still be in the hunt then a 70 point lead is more than enough.

Well, as most of you know, I blew it last week in Winterberg and cut the lead down to 10 points. I headed in to the final 2-man race today in Konigsee, Germany with a 10 point lead on a multiple World Champion, Olympic Champion (2006 Olympic Silver Medalist as well), World Cup Champion; basically one of the greatest drivers that ever walked the earth. To put the icing on the cake, he won the World Championships when they were here in Konigsee in 2004, AND he won the World Cup race here last year by .30 seconds, eternity in bobsled. So, maintaining my lead, and becoming the first American to win the 2-man overall World Cup title (still being verified), is no easy task.

I started the day off with the completely wrong mindset. The days leading up to the race, and even at the race we checked with the FIBT on who is declared the Overall Winner under different circumstances. Basically what it came down to is that I had to stay within 1 spot of Lueders to be crowned the Champion. If I beat him, I win hands down, if he beats me we go to a tie breaker where the pilot with the most wins would be the victor. Well, if he wins the race, which he's done the past 2 times we were here, we would be tied for the most victories. Who knows how they'll decide after that. So, to make a short story long, I have to stay withing one spot of Lueders.

That is not the way to go in to a race, instead I should have gone out there and done what I needed to do, drive my sled, do my part and not worry about Pierre. There's nothing I can do about how he performs. I can only perform to at my best. But, of course you live, you learn.

Well, when it came to race time, it just happened to work out that he drew #7 and I was #8. The good news is that I had the advantage of seeing what I had to do, the time I had to beat. The bad news is that when he went down it was the fastest run so far and by a lot. Especially when the first 6 sleds are 6 of the 10 best drivers in the world. Well, I did what I came to do, and drove my ass off. I came through the finish .04 seconds back, and 1 spot. Perfect. Only one run left.

The second run seemed a lot more relaxed than I was expecting. I knew what I had to do to win, but at the same time, I wasn't worried about losing. To be fighting head to head in the last race for the World Cup against Pierre Lueders is a victory in itself.

The second run came around, Pierre did his usual magic, I did my best to keep within reach and it came down to the last two sleds. At that point it wasn't about the victory, or about what place I finished. It was about staying within 1 place of Lueders. There were two sleds left and I was .10s behind. This track is short and the times are always very close. It would be so easy for either one of the two Germans to come down and slip in between me and Pierre. It didn't happen.

Three weeks ago I suffered through a difficult and extremely disappointing 4th place finish at the 2007 World Championships. This week, was the most glorious 4th place finish ever. I didn't make it on the podium, i didn't get a medal. No congratulations. But, I had achieved what no other American ever has. I was the 2-man World Cup Champion.