The difference between Didier Cuche and me...

For those who don't know, Mr. Cuche is a formidable Swiss skier who just won the first ski world cup of the season, yesterday in Soelden, Austria. If you saw him and me together, you would agree that we have a lot in common. Without my beret and without his helmet, we both have a big head that is almost perfectly bold. Granted, his eyes are blue while mine are hazel. We look like a pair a fun guys you'd want to have a couple of beer with, and we both can speak pretty good French; sure, we all can squeak by in German and Italian and our English is a work in progress.

This said, Didier is a much better skier than I am and although I put that on the account that he's much bigger, it's true that I have yet to win the opening GS in Soelden. He's paid to ski on Head, I still buy my Dynastar and Scott skis and I can't twirl my skis as well as he does when I step out of them; however, the obvious place where I have a distinct advantage is that I'm almost twice his age, but I won't brag about it. In terms of special skills he's almost as good at carving meat with a cleaver than sheer ice with his skis; he was trained as a butcher and me as a watchmaker (I still can't make good times, even at training,) but aside from these trivial details, there's almost no difference between the two of us...