Mexico Olympic ski team member Hubertus von Hohenlohe models his Mariachi ski suit.
Mexico Olympic ski team member Hubertus von Hohenlohe models his Mariachi ski suit.
It's not just the fact Mexico has a ski team dressed in a Mariachi suit that enthrals ahead of next week's Sochi Olympics, but the fact they are represented by a German prince - Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg to be exact.
The soon-to-be 55-year-old Mexico City-born blueblood is, according to his Wikipedia page "a Mexican Alpine skier, photographer, businessman, and a pop singer known as Andy Himalaya and Royal Disaster. He is descended from the reigning dynasty of a former principality in what is now Germany".
A lingerie maker compared Toro Rosso's car to a sex toy.
He is also an early contender for Supershorts' Man of the Year.
The Independent reports that Toro Rosso's car for the 2014 F1 season has been likened to a sex toy.
Toro Rosso unveiled its latest model on Tuesday ahead of the first week of pre-season testing in Jerez.
Lingerie makers Ann Summers took to their Twitter account to compare the elongated nosecone to one of their sex toy collections. They had a point, so to speak.
The tweet read: "So it looks like Toro Rosso have taken inspiration from our sex toy collections #collaborationopportunity", along with a close-up of the SRT9's nose.
The Independent indelicately noted that the unfortunate drivers, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat, will be competing in 2014 with "carbon fibre genitalia on the front of their contender".
Photo / Brendan O'Hagan
Happiness is ...
Qualifying for the Cricket World Cup. The lads of the UAE celebrated in their Rangiora dressing sheds after beating Namibia by 36 runs.
Collective disharmony
We at Supershort Towers think the Alternative Cricket Commentary Collective has been a breath of fresh air on the sports broadcasting scene. We also hear the inception has not been met with universal approval among some of the more, how shall we say it, established broadcasters... well, one in particular. Reports suggest this particular person has complained long and stridently loud to anyone who cares to listen, about the ACCC's impertinence among other things.
Sochi fun facts
From financesonline.com, come some fun facts on the Sochi Winter Olympics (all figures US$):
1. Russia has promised $122,000 to each of its gold medal winners. By comparison, at the London Olympics, US gold medal winners received $25,000;
2. With 11 new venues and a pricetag of $51 billion, Sochi surpasses Beijing 2008 ($46.5 billion) as the most expensive Olympics yet;
3. Estimated to be worth $20 million before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, snowboarder Shaun White is believed to be the most valuable athlete at the Games.
The IOC will bang on about how many countries were represented "at these magnificent Games" ya-de-ya-de-ya, but Mental Floss has done a terrific job of breaking down the entrants and discovered that 18 teams are sending just one athlete (see Mexico's magnificent entrant in main pic). It begs several questions as to how you might discover the joys of the giant slalom in the Virgin Islands, Zimbabwe, or the Cayman Islands for that matter. And there can't be many luge courses in Nuku'alofa.
Here's some of the more exotic locales:
Cayman Islands: Dow Travers (Slalom/Giant Slalom); Malta: Elise Pellegrin (Slalom/Giant Slalom); Philippines: Michael Christian Martinez (Figure Skating); Bermuda: Tucker Murphy (Cross Country Skiing); Tonga: Bruno Banani (Luge); Nepal: Dachhiri Sherpa (Cross Country Skiing); Pakistan: Muhammad Karim (Slalom/Giant Slalom); Paraguay: Julia Marino (Slopestyle Skiing); Timor-Leste: Yohan Goutt Goncalves (Slalom); Virgin Islands: Jasmine Campbell (Slalom/Giant Slalom); Zimbabwe: Luke Steyn (Slalom/Giant Slalom).
