Aerials Throws Jumpers in Swirls in the Air

I am in the Holiday Inn in midtown Manhattan. Outside it is a howling blizzard with umbrellas breaking all over the street and hard driving snow pelting down sideways. We went to the Ritz Carleton and Kent sipped a drink that cost $20. I appreciated his largesse by not ordering another scotch, instead sticking to a beer.

The Olympics is pounding down with men in a sport called ‘Aerials’,   who swoop and swirl in a tangle of twists and then thud down on the bottom of the jump…and since you land so hard that most jumpers wobble trying their best to land cleanly. But the impact is tough, so most are just a little bit cockeyed as they hit the snow. They’re all young men, from all over the world, with that same crazy look, that same abandonment of fear, ones who wear the helmet proudly.