2009 Hosting Summer Olympic Event Results

As a reminder, last year's gold went to Nathan Cardin for his hosting in California. This year, the Olympic Officials flew to Florida to judge this year's contenders, the Schlossers. Although the Schlossers aren't competing against Nathan (yes, you keep your medal), they will have a few advantages such as there are two of them, but these are counter balanced with the visit time being 3 days longer and in an area well known by the visitors.

Now, for an introduction to the Schlossers.


Angie (Ang) Schosser is, just like Nathan from last year, a military brat (sometimes called that with the word "spoiled" instead of "military"). She's one of four children and has a very supportive and wonderful set of parents, especially her Dad. She is a graduate from Choctawhatchee High School, one of the top 200 high schools in the country. She went on to the University of West Florida (UWF), graduated with a BA in public relations, worked for a few years with a PR firm in Washington DC, then decided to go back to college (University of Central Florida) for a MA in counselling. She now works with a hospice, training and coordinating volunteers. Joe (Joe) Schossler (he's the one in disguise), was raised in Ohio, not sure, but can we can assume he went to high school. He also attended UWF, where he met Ang, at the same time he was living with another girl who's name was Tar Tar, but that's a different Olympic event. After graduation, he was invited to join the Air Force as a pilot. After attending officer training school (I didn't know they had a school for that, I thought they were born that way), and two pilot training programs, he is now stationed at Hurlburt (locally pronounce Hulbut) Air Base.

The following is a narration submitted by the Schlosser's guest.

They met us on time at the airport. But, points may have been taken for the tradition of stopping at a Dunkin Donuts was missed due to DDs not being in the south. They took us to a breakfast at the Village Inn, for a nice meal, what donuts? They did stop at the Gulf Breese Flea Market, although more points would have been awarded if we had made purchases for something we couldn't live without. We got to their house, which included a tour and a re-introduction with their dog, Foster. I was unsure how Foster was going to affect their accumulation of points, but was pleasantly surprised, he may have actually gained points for them.

The first evening, they brought us to a place to eat called Johnny Huston's. This was a gamble for they've never eating there before. It paid off as the meal was pretty good and the ambiance (for military pilots, that means the environment or it's distinct atmosphere) was of a car mechanic's garage, they even kept the menus and silverware in a large tool box.

The next morning, at about 5:30, I was given a task, turn the TV on. There were two remote controls and at least four media boxes and a large TV, large enough they must have gotten a deal from a football stadium. I was up for the puzzle, plus what was I to do until someone got up. It took me about 40 minutes to get the TV on, the satellite up and running, and the surround sound on and not too loud. There's another box, but I'm not sure what it is or does, it might be a decoy.

The next day Ang took me for a run. Yes, there is a beach in Florida.


When we got back and showered, Ang made breakfast. Apparently this doesn't happen very often as Joe was just as excited as Foster with a treat. Then later, the four of us took the kayaks down to the sound.

First the girls took them out, making sure they worked. Ang in the top pic, Mom (yes, that is Mom, she wasn't photo shopped in) is in the bottom pic.


Then Joe and I went out to fish up some supper.

Here, I'm landing my craft after a fruitless fishing trip. But, Joe had more success, looks like we're having seaweed wrapped sushi tonight.


They scored a few points in the "make them feel wanted" category. They showed me an area in their lawn which wasn't getting any water when they ran the sprinklers. We then worked on putting a new sprinkler head in the corner. I rate my jobs on the number of trips to Lowes, this was a three tripper.


We also privatized their front windows, Ang is happy that someone can't walk up and look in, Foster isn't happy as he can't walk up and look out.


Although it never rained while we were there, I was ready just in case.


A visit to Mama Rosa's Pizza - 1 point.
One of Mama Rosa's salad, like many times in the past - 2 points
Lunch with a real AF pilot - pointless


We played Rummikub one evening. It wasn't noticed till I saw this picture, but you'll see that we are all looking at the camera, except for Joe. What is he doing while we aren't paying attention?


During the week, none of us ever took a nap, at least we weren't caught, except one of us took a little down time each day.


The last evening, we went to a fancy restaurant on the Destin Beach. Our waitress got the points and an extra tip for taking this picture.



I'm sure the Schlossers's were well on their way to winning this event, but there were three incidences on the last day that may have cost them a few points.

They took us to a hibachi restaurant on the way to airport. This is where they fry up the meat and vegetables in front of you. The presentation and meal was good, but laughing at a guest for trying to eat with those two sticks isn't a good idea for the host.


As soon as we were dropped off at the airport, secretly hidden surveillance cameras caught them celebrating in the parking lot with beer, and beer they didn't even buy. This isn't a good idea since the competition isn't over until the wheels are in the well.


The last points were lost when our plane was delayed for over an hour (normal for USAIR). Seems that someone on the ground noticed something might be wrong with a tire. They called for a maintenance supervisor to check it out. It took over an hour to get him (or her) to look at the tire and immediately give us the go ahead. The Schlossers immediately filed a protest, indicating they had nothing to do with the delay. However, the Olympic Counsel responded with their use of the "6 degrees of separation" rule in order to determine if the event counts. In this instance, 1) the aircraft tire is part of aircraft maintenance, 2) aircraft maintenance is part of the aircraft, 3) the aircraft has a crew, 4) the crew is lead by the pilot, 5) most airline pilots were once military pilots, 6) Joe happens to be a military pilot. Therefore, the Counsel is going to allow the loss of points for the delayed takeoff.

Overall, it was a very relaxing week, we had a great time. We ate well, both in and out, and we always had room for ice cream, both store bought and homemade. The outdoor concert in Navarre was a pleasant evening. An added plus to the evening was when Joe did a fly over during the concert in the Osprey, at least we think it was Joe.

The points are being collected, then results will be listed below.
















Congratulations Schlossers
for winning the gold.








2279

Controversy at The Great Race XXX 2009

This past weekend, what should have been a family fun-day of friendly competition, has turned into a controversy which is about to split the family into two unequal halves. There are two episodes of the race that under question which changed or could have changes the results of the race, the second race in a row that came down to seconds, in this case by 2.6 seconds. What both parties involved, well at least one of them, would like to do is to let you the readers get the facts involving both situations and then let you decide if the the results should stand or if the better team should have won.

First the teams.

Team A (the better team)
runner - Girard Yandow
cyclist - Pete Bowler (by coincidence, the author of this blog)

Team B (the other team)
runner - Spuds Allard
biker - Aaron Lewis

Before I begin with the explanation, one bit of interesting fact is that the combined age of team B is less than half of the combined age of team A. Please don't let that fact sway your vote.

Situation A - the bike line up
The runners start the race with a 5k, or 3.1 mi, out and back. While they are out running, the bikers are lined up side by side, starting with the smallest number nearest to where the runners finish, down the line to the highest number which is about 55 feet away. The way it is supposed to work is as the runner comes in and runs by the biker, that is the signal for the biker to take off. There is a sign at the bike rack with a list of rules, and at the bottom it states "These rules are to make the race safe and that everyone has a fair and equatable chance". But, already this runner/bike exchange is not fair. Team B with a number of 100 means their runner only has to run 10 feet after their finish, where as Team A's runner has to run an extra 45 feet or 55 ft, through and around previously finished and exhausted runners, to get to bike number 546. The first conflict occurred when Team A cyclist started when his runner was approximately 5 feet shy of reaching the bike. Team A's runner was 5 seconds ahead of team B's runner at the runner's finish line, yet the runner/bike exchange rule would have allowed team A's biker to actually leave before team A's runner was able to reach his cyclist. Therefore, cyclist A leaving just a bit early doesn't make up the huge lost gab made up by the hard running of cyclist A's runner.

Situation B - where is the finish line
This year was the first year that the participants were to wear an electronic device that would allow for more accurate timed results. For the biker, this actually causes a problem. Because the bracelet is worn around the ankle it may not register on the finish line if that particular ankle's pedal is up when crossing over the mat. So, their answer is for the bikers to get off of their bikes (this is when the spay painted a "dismount here" line across the road) about 15 feet before the finish line mat, and have them continue over to the mat. So, always wanting to fully understand the rules, team A's cyclist asked the official the following questions.

#1 The official finish line is the mat?
answer - Yes
#2 So, we get off of the bike at that dismount line, we must then run with our bike to the finish line mat?
answer - Yes

Cyclist A started off just ahead of biker B, A starting a bit too fast, B caught up to A on Kellogg Road. Switching back and forth a few times, B took the lead on Lower Newton Road. B's lead grew larger but withing 300 feet all the way down the road. Once on the Maquam Shore Road B's lead grew shorter until the last 1000 fit, when A was just behind B by about 10 to 20 feet as they approached the slow down area. Once B and A were 15 feet from the dismount line, the race officials were slowing the bikers down. B reached the line and proceeded to get off of his bike, but wasn't moving very fast towards to finish line. A got off of his bike, and seeing the opportunity passed B and began running towards the finish line mat. Half way there, though, A was stopped and told not to change the order of who reached the dismount line first. This goes against what was asked of the official before the race (see #1 and 2 above). Team A could have won, but because he was held back from passing biker B, team B won by 2.6 seconds.

What better way to solve this controversy then by asking the readers of this blog to decide what the fair and equatable outcome of the race should be. After reading the facts of this race, comment with which team should be declared the winner and why. Any comments without a "why" will not count and only one vote per person per IPI address. For example, Joe and Ang could respond using the same computer but there can only be two votes coming from, lets say, the Lewis' household, unborns don't count, yet.

To better help your decision, I've included pictures taken of the race that day.

Team A



























Team B (extra person for kayak)





Team A's Gerard (#546) followed by
Team B's Spuds (#100, in white shirt, blue sleeves)



Team B's biker is just ahead of Team A's cyclist, officials already starting the slow down.



Team A's cyclist just behind team B's biker.



The two bikers already are debating the controversy, officials had to step in and separate them.

Okay, now that you have the facts, it's up to you the readers to decide the real winner of the race.

Get ready, get set, go ... (tally will be indicated below)


Number of votes declaring Team A as the winning team - 2 (I've given my reason)

Number of votes declaring Team B as the winning team - 1



1993