Discussion: Orienteering on NPR This weekend

Just received word from CSU that our NPR profile will be on the radio this weekend. The reporter interviewed a series of folks from a 9 year old orienteer, to two cadets from West Point, to Peter Gagarin to OUSA president Peter Goodwin. Many thanks to Larry and Sara Mae Berman for making this happen.

We have spread the word to the clubs via Clubnet and Boardnet. In additon it will be posted to our webpage's Twitter feed.

If someone wants to post the links that would be great.
Have a good day.

Glen
OUSA

Weekend Edition, "Its Only a Game" segment?

Yep.

"Only A Game," the Boston NPR station-produced program, visited U.S. Middle Champs October 22nd. The broadcast will be aired November 19. How you can listen.

"Only a Game" is a separate show from Weekend Edition, though depending on the station it may air adjacent to it (or not at all). On WBUR, for example, it's on at 7 AM, followed by Weekend Edition at 8 AM, and it runs again in the evening at 6 PM after All Things Considered.

Knowing the typical format of this show, the orienteering segment is likely to be last. At 40 minutes into the program there will be a conversation between host Bill Littlefield and Charlie Pierce on a number of sports-related topics of the week, then the remainder of the program will be the "well, here's an unusual sport!" piece.

So, for comparison, the other stories in the same slot of the show this month were:
Nov 5: Soccer team from the Culinary Institute of America
Nov 12: Poker as a teaching tool
Nov 19: Orienteering national championships
Nov 26: Video gaming national championships ($600000 in prize money)

Are you missing a decimal point there, J-J?

Six hundred thousand US dollars in prize money for playing video games.

Video games are a huge competitive activity, and highly rewarded. For instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cyber_Games

Six hundred thousand US dollars in prize money for training 7 days a week to play video games really, really well.

Fixed.

As opposed to the prize money for training 7 days a week to orienteer really, really well.

Call me when orienteering has a potential world-wide audience of 4.5 million people.

They're not exactly equivalent in terms of stress to the body, but I'm quite sure there aren't any orienteers anywhere who train as much as the top gamers do.

Oh, I'm completely sure that's true. No sarcasm. I personally know some people who would be mediocre at best in a high level video game tournament despite putting in more hours in a week than anyone on the planet ever has trained for orienteering. And if you stop people in the street and ask them to describe "orienteering" or "World of Warcraft", you'll get a lot more who know what the second one is.

Meanwhile, a few more stories from the final segment of "Only a Game":
Aug 6: "Dainty" (Louisville street game involving hitting little pieces of wood with a broomstick)
Aug 13: biography of a poker champion
Aug 20: "Broga" (yoga for men)
Aug 27: Barefoot running
Sep 3: Cliff diving
Sep 10: Runners remember 9/11
Sep 17: Tomahawk throwing (by muzzle-loading rifle enthusiasts)
Sep 24: Highland games (men in kilts throwing telephone poles, etc.)
Oct 1: Cricket in Needham, MA
Oct 8: Riding preposterous distances on motorcycles
Oct 15: Marginal high-school football team from New Orleans
Oct 22: "Spartan-style" adventure racing
Oct 31: a new biography of running back Walter Payton

And a few more:
May 7: autobiography of football coach Rex Ryan
May 14: autobiography of sportswriter Robert Lipsyte
May 21: Amateur greyhound racing
May 28: Spelling bees for adults
June 4: movie about the Harlem Rens basketball team (1923 - 1949)
June 11: Spanish national soccer team visits the USA
June 18: Women's pistol club in Dallas (that also does stuff like dog training, birdwatching, and "map orienteering")
June 25: Mountain golf
July 2: Paddle boarding from Florida to Maine
July 9: Kiting in Bali
July 16: Sand sculpting
July 23: pitcher from Springsteen song "Glory Days" finally identified
July 30: Women's squash

I don't want to start a new thread, but I want to share this link. Total Pro Sports has a list of "9 Obscure College Sports". Orienteering is #3, with a picture of the USMAOC (looks like they're in Laramie.) The text is:

You may be wondering what orienteering is. Basically, you drop a bunch of people off in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a map and a compass. Then they race to an unknown finish line. You might call it “fancy race hiking.”

Thankfully, while the U.S. Military Academy sucks at rifle, they at least kick ass in orienteering. They have won 15 of the last 17 national championships in the sport.

Link

"Fancy Race Hiking" -- I like that term. It's a million times better than "rogaining", anyway... ;-)

Actually, in the intro to the 9 obscure sports, the writer is pretty positive:
"Personally, I think it’s time we celebrate these obscure college sports. It’s not fair that football players and basketball players get all the love—I mean, they already get all the money. So here’s a list of 9 obscure (but totally awesome) college sports played by men and women who know they’ll probably never make a dime after they graduate."
The author does take a poke at USMA for their lack of titles in sport #7, rifle.
And, at least we are one ahead of Paintball; although right behind Rodeo and Bass Fishing.

We should be more concerned about the USMA's performance at the video gaming championships

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/02/07/soldier-became-a...