McKee's McThoughts: Herminator sighting in L.A.

Some random Web searches while waiting for the turkey’s tryptophan to kick in …
    Hermann Maier spent an extra day in Los Angeles instead of going on to Lake Louise for the first day of downhill training, according to Swiss tabloid Blick. The reasoning, the tabloid said, was so he could recover from asthma. In Los Angeles? Smog capital of North America? Somebody here has got to have something wrong.

SOME RANDOM Web searches while waiting for the turkey’s tryptophan to kick in …
    Hermann Maier spent an extra day in Los Angeles instead of going on to Lake Louise for the first day of downhill training, according to Swiss tabloid Blick. The reasoning, the tabloid said, was so he could recover from asthma. In Los Angeles? Smog capital of North America? Somebody here has got to have something wrong.
    According to Der Standard, the Austrian paper, Christoph Gruber — despite winning the first training run and placing second in the next — was still waiting to hear from the coaches if he would make the start for the race. Sorry, that’s a no-brainer, even for Austria.
    Both St. Moritz and Val d’Isere are struggling with weather. It’s being reported that Atle Skaardal, the women’s tour boss, and Guenther Hujara of the men’s circuit are at least looking at North American sites as alternatives, but are concerned about the travel stress. So are we, but probably not the same way they are.
    Scottish racer Finlay Mickel — who make’s McKee’s All-Moniker Team — told the BBC he’s going to be more aggressive after seeking advice from Bode Miller. He has vowed to make the top 20. He finished 23rd in the final downhill standings last season, so that doesn’t seem to be a huge commitment. He needs, the BBC said, five more top-10 results to eclipse Martin Bell and become the best Brit ever. He may not be counting British women like, say, Divina Galica.
    Ran into www.theskitour.com. Can’t speak for the tour itself yet, but the Web site is dynamite. Love the “living room” menu. Can’t explain it, go check it out yourselves.
    Sad injury news for two programs who didn’t need it: Croatia losing Nika Fleiss for a few weeks and Norway losing Bjarne Solbakken for the season to injuries while training for their openers. We wonder how significant it could be that Fleiss crashed with one of Marlies Schild’s coaches, and he sustained more severe injuries than she. This might have more impact on Schild than on Fleiss.
    Checked the long-range weather forecast from the Farmer’s Almanac — said it was going to be about normally cold with slightly less than normal snow in the Northeast. With the snowiest periods in mid-November and … stopped reading there as we’re well past mid-November and I hit a couple of golf balls waiting for that turkey to finish up.
    It is time for the season to kick into high gear, and about time, too. Love the anticipation the end of the preseason brings in any sport. Everyone is still in contention, and most are still healthy. The Austrians surely control the sport, but it an individual sport in a team-sport box. The way the sport has progressed over the past few years has been scary fast. There is no reason to believe that progress will slow down any, and that makes these times we live in a very, very exciting time to be a ski racing fan.
    Racer ready?