By Hank McKee

“That was nothing.” said the new Austrian men’s coach after his team’s crash and burn in the opening World Cup slalom in Levi.

What Mattias Berthold actually said was “Der Saisonstart ist in die Hose gegangfen, keine Frage,” or roughly translated, “The start of the season has gone in my trousers.”

However you translate, it leaves no doubt Berthold is not comfortable. McThoughts met the man years ago when he raced in the U.S. in the old pro format. Nice guy and extremely competitive. I feel for him. But there is a touch of a snicker here, too.

The Austrians, after all, are the New York Yankees of MBL, the Cowboys of the NFL, the powerhouse, uber talented teams we love to root against. The Austrian World Cup record is better than either the Yanks or the ‘Boys in their respective leagues. Note, though, there are indications this is not the best year for power squads. Yanks don’t make it to The Series. Cowboys firing its coach in mid-season. Austrian men getting one finisher (Manfred Pranger) in the top 20 despite four skiers starting among the top 10 and their own coach setting the course.

It’s early yet. One race out of 37 is a small sample. But we none-the-less have a slight smile.

By now ya’ll have seen Lindsey’s ESPN magazine cover. Yeow.

No reason to serve the role of judge or comment on appropriate taste. It gets “views.” And in this day and age that is the measure of successful marketing. Lindsey Vonn is on the forefront of alpine racing as her record reflects. She is also a successful “brand.” Do you get the feeling she’s going to be around a long, long time?

Well done Jean-Baptiste Grange. Very well done.

And how about Will Brandenburg nabbing eighth in the first run of the Levi slalom? “Poof,” just like that we have another contender. One of the problems the Austrians have is too many veterans clogging up the top of the pipeline. Good to see Brandenburg and Colby Granstrom getting starts. They have earned them.

Speaking of Ski Racing Juniors of the Year (Brandenburg ’07) it was mighty nice to see last season’s winner Mikaela Shiffrin getting 37 and change point races in her first two FIS starts. Still looking like a good choice made there.

Sorry to see Jimmy Roberts will be retiring. He’s had a lot more to do with the success of the Beaver Creek Birds of Prey race weeks than most folks realize. His course is the big star of the race no matter who wins.

Two gate races into the season and the German women hold a comfortable Nations Cup lead? Nine German women have scored. They had 14 score in all of last season. Hang on, this could get bumpy.

Skiers in the western U.S. are positively giddy after substantial snowfalls. Fast start to the season for many young racers and that’s generally a good thing. Also meant no question approvals from the FIS snow inspectors and that’ll get the pre-Christmas World Cup racing a little more interest. Snow has been in short order in the East, though some has fallen. I’m hearing gunshots out the cabin window so it’s apparent hunting season is underway. Won’t be long before “Get’cher deer?” turns over to racing under lights in the “beer leagues.”

I’m getting killed in my fantasy football league. But I’m loving that Steven Nyman and brother Michael have started up Fantasy Ski Racer (www.fantasyskiracer.com). Still working the bugs out, but it’s an interesting format and a lot of fun. I’m getting killed in their league, too, but enjoying it more.

There is another fantasy ski site, with phone app coming out of Williams College using a bit more complicated a system. It’s good to see this all coming. Hard to believe but with magazine covers and phone apps it’s beginning to look like ski racing is going mainstream. About time. It’s the most amazing sport anywhere played on the very surface of the world’s environment.

Safe speed everyone.