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Wednesday, March 03, 2004
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The Not-so-quick Rundown on Cleveland :
This is the story, with a few pics mingled in. I have a few shots I'll be putting up on USSTfans.com.
Thrusday, Feb 26, 2004
8:50am
I arrive at the Cleveland-Hopkins airport more tired and jet-lagged than I had ever been going on these short track trips. Lupe's flight was delayed, later cancelled, and she wouldn't be coming until 9pm. Molly was the next best hope, coming at 3pm, but all I could think of was getting to my hotel and passing out. I hailed a cab, and on the way to my hotel, talked with the driver, who I later found was a retired skater! He showed me his skates in the back, and asked for my business card and sites that I run. My stomach churned with anticipation, yet I had a moment of "We miss you, you short track Biatch" silence for Beats.
9:40am
I get to the Holiday Inn, counting the seconds to when I can take a shower, and I see Maria Garcia coming down the elevator getting ready to head for the shuttle to the rink. I call up Kimo letting him know I'm finally in Cleveland, and I meet him and Jan in the lobby and head for the Venue.
10:50am
 Make it down to the VIP section after grabbing my pass, and met up with Jennie, Janie, Anita, Tiasha, and Melinda. It was great to see everyone again, who were busy snapping away getting shots of the skaters warming up. The time trials were pretty intense, and the mood was one of focus and concentration.
1:00pm
 The races were exciting, feeling the rush of the ice again was beyond words. The VIP section was pretty well filled. I chatted with Jennie about her new "baby", got to hold that massive thing, and then out comes Anton on the ice. None of us could get over how LONG his hair was, and the catch-phrase for him was "Jesus Hair" for the weekend.
5:00pm - 8:00pm
I was waiting for Molls, but at that time a bunch of us had made our way up to the VIP room for the Meet N Greet. Rusty spotted us on the far side of the room. He was apparently starving, and grabbed a whole box of pizza and came over to sit down. He was chatting, and eating, while simultaniously warming down his legs - it was pretty funny. We took a ton of pics, I have a picture with Rusty, but I didn't have my cam at the time (must email Jan for that photo!) We said a few words to Derek, told him we were looking foward to watching him race this weekend, and he thanked us.
9:00pm - 12:00pm
 A ton of us crazies went to the WinterHurst Skating rink in Cleveland Heights, and half the group hit the ice while the others became the cheering section. Molly finally came back with Lupes in toe, her flight delayed all to hell, but she made it in one piece. Again, I think Tiasha has a great pic of us "skaters" making an Olympic Z-team pose, will have to find that. I haven't ice skated in a while, but it was super fun, if not hilarious, skating while our little group cheered as we made it around the corner without bloodshed or losing limbs. Jennie and I were laughing so hard at the musical choices, since it was an organ player goin' at it the whole time. He was doing songs like "Gloria", "The Star Wars Theme", and "My Girl", all on the organ. Now, skating to the sound of an organ is bad enough, but when you could barely name that 80's flashback tune, giggling made it hard to stay up on the skates!
Friday, Feb 27, 2004
11:00am
Since the Elite skaters didn't skate until 6pm, I decided to head out with Sooz and Bridie to have lunch and talk about her site. We had a great time, and Bridie was stunned to see an ad for her site in the Event program. We had lunch at an awesome Italian cafe. Before coming back to the hotel to freshen up, I first had a moment of "Why, Oh, Why do you leave us lonely" silence for Beats.
5:00pm
 The first day of competition was in for a packed house. When we arrived, the doors where busting open with spectators, and with our VIP's in hand, we made a B-line to our seats. I took a pic of Molly and Lupe, who along with myself were sporting the ST gear promo hoodies. I handed out tons of flyers, was stopped in the hallways many times with fans and locals asking about the sweatshirts. The Ohio and Chesapeake skating clubs were really lovin' the hoodies, and they were excited for the site to come out.
8:00pm
After the races, we hung around the lobby, as skaters came through. It felt like a "soul train" line, as the skaters walked passed, we'd all yell "WOO HOO". I congratulated Mike Kooreman, who put up his hands in true Rocky fashion, and talked with Shani a bit. This was my first time meeting Shani, and I was pleasently surprised. He was incredibly sweet, welcoming, unassuming, and he is just fabulous with the kids. They were hanging all over him, it was such a sight. A handful of us waited ever so patiently to see if Apolo would stop by. We heard he was finishing drug testing, and would be coming through. He eventually came down to the lobby, and a ton of fans of all ages came up to him. So as not to get in the way of some of these fans getting to see Apolo for the first time, we positioned ourselves right by the exit door, just hoping to say hello.
 He spotted us, said hello, and we asked if we could take a quick picture. I had given him a fast hug from "hello" and asked him how he was doing (he didn't, from my observation) seem to be in the best of spirits). He cringed a bit, and honestly said "Eh, I'm doin' alright..." We asked "Ok, picture time" and ran up to Apolo...he got a huge grin and said "Uh Oh!" Kimo was off to the side, and just before the picture was taken he piped up with "Hey, grab his jig!" Apolo, again, gave an embarrased giggle, while us girls tried to "Shh" Kimo.
Saturday, Feb 28, 2004
1:00pm - 5:00pm
By this point, a good handful of us were sporting our ST gear hoodies, and while the men took the ice for the 3000m, we could see Rusty glance over to the VIP's and had a funny grin on his face. We just let loose. The 3000m was so exciting (mostly fueled by the obvious spirit of 'rivalary' going on between Apolo and Rusty), that we barely had voices left. We screamed, we stomped, we did everything by propel each other onto the ice. I could hear Jennie's camera "firing" away, that sucker sounds like an A-K 47. Apolo and Rusty were thisclose in that race, and Apolo put on the jets in the final lap, flying across the finish line with a huge hand clap and a finger for "number one" in the air. After our screams had died down a bit, Apolo swing wide across the rink, and high-fived it to all of the VIP's outstretched hands. When all that beautiful skinsuit-clad ass glided off the rink, I shed a tear and had yet another moment of "It's a crime to witness glory, without you to help share the story" silence for...you guessed it...Beats.
8:00pm
 They gave out the awards for that day, and the VIP section was pretty much all that stayed for the long hail of the medals giving out. We were totally livin' the moment. The overhead speakers of the rink were blarring We Are The Champions by Queen, and all of us in the front row were singing it verbatum and giving the officials in the corner a really good laugh.  Rusty would look over and crack up, and then walk to the podium and his medal would fall to the ice. It did that 4 times! From the podium, his silver took it's last dive, and he glanced over at us and put up 4 fingers, LOL! Those damn medals. Every skater kept tripping over the little runner that they laid on the ice, and I joked that Apolo should have just leaned back and let his hair be the carpet.  Lupe had already seen Apolo coming up the stairs, and had him sign her NIKE poster with "Thanks for the support...Apolo Anton Ohno", which is our awesome new Zoutou auction item. At the end of the ceremony, I knew I had to somehow get my hoodie in Apolo's hands. He was looming below the bleachers by the stairwell, and I motioned to Lupe, "Give him the hoodie, just throw it to him!"
She called for him, and as he looked up, she yelled for him to catch. I jumped from behind Lupes and said "It's for you.." He grabbed the hoodie (again, Tiasha my picture God, has the shot of him reading the sweater and smiling), and said "Thanks!" We left after that, and were told that Apolo asked a few of us that stayed if we were going to be there for the last day of races. Now, I wasn't banking on Apolo even wanting to wear my hoodie. I did think it would be amazing if he decided to wear it for the next day, but it was just getting one to him that made me happy.  Crowning Moment: when the podium was empty and the fans began to dispurse, freak shows aka Jennie, Molly, Lupe, and April went up to the podium on the ice and begged the audience for a photo op. "This is the only ****in' time we'll ever set foot on a podium, so what the hell.." the 4 shouted.
10:00pm - 4 in the freakin' am
Amazing days of racing call for amazing parties afterward. After Molly, Lupes, and I stopped at the local Starbucks for some caffeine, gave a quick call to Beats and Joanna respectively, and we made it back to the Hotel bar to celebrate. After a round of drinks, giggles, and stories, the bar kicked us out the door at 1:30am. But, that didn't stop the madness. I think it was about 8 of us that completely took over the west wing of the lobby, and we even ordered room service and had it delievered to the lobby. We were crackin' up, and a few buffallo wings and pizza slices later realized that the races started early the next morning. D'oh! What cho doin'? Nuffin, chillin' at da Holiday Inn..
Sunday, Feb 29, 2004
 This day was by far the best. The relays had us losing our voices yet again, and the fun didn't stop after the competition ended. Molly, Lupes, and I (affectionately dubbed "Chunky's Angels") were in the hallway of the Venue Lobby and we ran into Caroline's Mother, Joanne. We had a super talk with her about the fan's role, and what it's like being short track supporters. Caroline snuck over to ask her mother a question, and we proceeded to shower her with compliments on her skating that day. Caroline is such a sweetheart, totally won us over that day. We assured her that Short track fans are nothing to be afraid of, as long as we're fed and get plenty of sleep at the best hotels. She was surprised when we asked to take a photo with her, and at the moment her humbleness really hit me. She's a tremendous talent, and was very derserving of our attention.
Crowning Moment: II
As we finished up our convo with Caroline, we noticed out of the corner of our eye, Hark! A sexy-bad-ass hunka burnin' speedskater, who usually answers to Apolo, was making his way down the hallway. He spotted us three with our ST gear craziness on, and he stops, points, and says "Hey, I wore that sweater today!" Jigga wha? I couldn't even push words out with my tongue. "You did?" I'm pretty sure Molly and I both said in unison.
"When?"
"I wore it during warm-ups this morning..." He told us.
"AHhHH, well why aren't cha wearin' it now, we should get a picture of all of us with our sweaters!" Apolo said yes, and that he needed to grab his skates first. Jennie came running up to me from the lobby all excited, and yelled "April, Apolo's wearing your sweater!" We all made our way in the packed lobby, and there he was...
He was practically doing a runway show down the lobby, Tiasha told us that everyone asked him to "pose" with the sweater...and boy did he. When I came up to him, I squealed "You're wearin' it! Do you like it?"
"I love it!" He says, rubbing the logo on the front. "This design...these...these are really cool!" As we went up to form for the picture, Apolo was smiling and talking to us out of the corner of his mouth, and said "It smells like a girl."
 "What, the sweater?" I asked. He giggled, and confirmed.
"Well, it was in my bag mixed with my sweater, too....I promise, next hoodie won't smell like a girl."
"Nah, it's ok...it smells good, I was just wondering..." He says with a smirk.
Then, out of the blue (this picture took forever to take, I guess) Apolo looks down, and sees Molly's Samoa Adidas shoes and says, and I kid you not - "I like those shoes, those are hot. They're pink!" Molly was crackin' up, I think said to him "Ah, you like those?" and under her breath secretly vowing to never remove those shoes...EVER.
Just before he left the rink, he turned and give us three big hugs, I told him it was really great to see him again, and the words "It's good to see you too, thanks for coming..." was enough to send Molls, Lupes, and I onto a cloud that was too high to even catagorize by number. It's the little stuff that makes the trip special.
And the final kicker?
Well, let's just say that thank God for certain bronze medalists that just happen to need rides to the airport. Rusty saw us in the lobby and was asking Jack Mortell if he could drive him to the airport...as Jack studdered a bit, Lupe says "We'll give you a ride...we have a rental!" Rusty checks to see if we're serious, then tells Jack, "That's ok, I have a ride." It was awesome, I mean, taking Mr. 500m to the airport, I tried everything...asking if he needed help with his bag, his skates, his jig, his a----ok, so basically he was perfectly self contained. I told him a rundown of the new ST gear product line and website, and he was really trippin' over it. "I love those sweaters!" he tolds us. "I kept looking over at the VIP section, seeing you three wearing it, and wondering what it said. I didn't want to, like, stare or anything, but I was very curious..." It was an hilarious ride to the airport, Molly and Rusty fighting not only over directions through cleveland, but over who's more ghetto when it comes to LA. Rusty was feeling a bit outnumbered, with Lupe, myself, and Melinda in the back, and played a trick on Molly. At one stop light, he was distracting her with his "charm", and had secretly put the car in neutral. He told her to go for it, and molly steps on the gas and we go no where. "Who's all that now?" Rusty's pipes out, probably wondering if he'd ever make it to the airport...alive. Rusty really broke it down, sharing stuff with us, and making us understand things that we probably wouldn't, not given the chance to talk with one who knows. Rusty (as well as Apolo) has always been honest with us, and always make light of hard situations. Even though I told Rusty, "Wow, looked like you had some 'choice words' in today's paper", he gave an evil grin, said that he had read it this morning and something to the effect of "reporters love the negitive..." Molly even got him to sign the article! Talk about trippy.
We drop him off, help him with his things from the trunk, and start shellin' out the goodbye hugs. "You know, I love it when you guy come to the races" he told us. "When am I going to see you all again?" Eh, we'll have to work on that Rus, and hopefully it's before November. He was still talking about the ST gear sweater, and I wasn't sure if I had an extra to give him. Dude, Lupe, being the short track martar that she is, takes the hoodie off her back and gives it to Rusty. "Here, have mine...It's ok, I know where April lives..." she says. "Wow, thanks guys!"
No, Rusty....thank YOU.
No, Apolo....thank YOU.
No, Cleveland....thank YOU.
No, long-ass plane rides home....F-U.
Overall, this trip was a short track learning experience. We really got to know the athletes a bit more this trip, and maybe, just maybe, let them have the chance to feel more comfortable around us. And Todd, I'm SO glad you came to the rink. It's been ages since I saw you last, and it's so important to have you at these competitions...making the die-hards remember where we've come from.
Love ya lots, Cleveland. Just don't be so damn cold next time.
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Name: April
