Vantastic Voyage

Remember four years ago at the Torino Games when the media had a field day with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's motto of "Best in the World?"

Well, USSA CEO Bill Marolt and Co. may be getting the last laugh.

Right now, the American skiers and snowboarders can make a legitimate claim that indeed, they are the Best in the World.

With 20 medals - six gold, seven silver and seven bronze - USSA has more medals than all other countries save Germany. The American squads are dominating alpine, snowboarding, freestyle and wait for it, Nordic.

What's even more impressive? The relatively smaller budget on which USSA operates compared to some European counterparts.

And let's give a bit of a nod to the Canadians, who, despite some criticism of their "Own the Podium" campaign, have performed rather well on the slopes.

Not to ignite a Don Cherry-esque symposium about the differences between European and North American skiers and snowboarders, but it turns out that North Americans aren't second-class snow athletes. OK, maybe the Mexican ski team isn't pulling its weight, but, Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe shouldn't be expected to medal at the tender age of 51.

Hubertus, who is competing in his fifth Olympics, is Mexican by birth, but has a truly royal heritage - his father is Prince Alfonso of Germany and his mother is Her Serene Highness Princess Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina of Furtstenberg. Taking a page out of Napoleon Dynamite's most-favored animal status billing of the liger, I would have to say that Hubertus is "Pretty much my favorite skier ever."

I'd be remiss not to include one more North American contingent at the 2010 Games: Jamaica. Errol Kerr, the ski cross athlete whose father is Jamaican, came in 9th.

Not only do I love being American, but I dig being North American.

--- IAN CROPP