Germans accuse skiing hooligans (cowboys in Norway)

Aftenposten ^ | March 10, 2005 | Morten Andersen

[franksolich]

Germans accuse skiing hooligans

Bayern police say that a large cow made of synthetic material on display in connection with the skiing world championships in Oberstdorf has been stolen, and "Norwegian cowboys" are suspected.

Police said that the 1.4 meter (4'7") high cow was on show at the cross-country skiing stadium for the world championships recently staged in the city.

Newspaper Abendzeitung München reported that the defenseless cow was abducted on the last day of the championships.

The cow was last seen at the railway station in Oberstdorf in the company of two people the newspaper described as "norwegischer Cowboys" (Norwegian cowboys). Local police confirmed to Aftenposten's Internet edition that they believe Norwegian's are behind the cow rustling.

After this lead the trail goes cold. Neither Norwegian State Railways nor the Norwegian National Rail Administration had any information about the arrival of a large artificial cow.

[franksolich]

This hot off the wires, just posted on the most excellent newspaper in Norway, the now-famous Aftenposten.

I hope the moderators don't mind me posting two stories about Norway in four hours--I'm not sure about the rules.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I'm glad you did post it, because I've been dying to post this:

A This is a 2004 filer of Norwegian Kjell Petter Bruun practicing Tree-Ski-Jumping somewhere in southern Norway. The unofficial Norwegian Tree-Ski-Jumping Championships are, hopefully, being organized for the second time in the Hallingskarvet wilderness area, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Oslo, Saturday, March 5, 2005.The jumpers will be aiming for the trees and the higher they land in the trees, the better their scores may be. The idea is to take flight from a mound of snow, fly through the air and land in a tree. To qualify as a completed jump, the skier has to hang onto the tree without falling to the ground. (AP Photo/SCANPIX)

[garyhope]

2 stories about Norway in 4 hours? Uh oh, you're in trouble now.

I didn't know George Bush was Norwegian.

[franksolich]

Ping for the Norway ping list; sorry about two pings so close together, but this story, which just showed up, is too good to miss.

So.....cowboys in Norway.

Of course, my public offer, made here, still stands--if a reporter on Aftenposten writes a story about bison in Norway, then I will send him some of the finest beef in the world-- Nebraska beef--and an armload of flowers to the incomparable Nina Berglund and a hand-shake to the unparalleled Jonathan Tisdall, for translating that story.

[franksolich]

Karl Rove happens to be Norwegian, something with which the Norwegians here on Free Republic constantly remind us, as was Henry Jackson; one supposes, with pretty good reason, that makes up for Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mundane having been Norwegian too.

As for the "posting rules" on Free Republic, even though I've been around a while, I've never been sure; I suspect the moderators don't like the site being flooded with "too many" stories of one kind or another.

[franksolich]

Well, believe it or not, we have skiing here too in Nebraska, but I've never heard of "tree-skiing."

[Disambiguator]

re: skiing hooligans

To rephrase an old joke, "I went to a riot, and a skiing competition broke out."

[franksolich]

You know, I've never been able to figure out why "cowboy" has such negatives associations among the senile old men of Old Europe.

Even in the mock-comic old television series about cowboys, usually, generally, most of the time, cowboys were portrayed as they actually were, and are.

Laid-back, mellow, indulgent, tolerant, welcoming of anyone coming their way.....and then fiercely combative when someone tries to cheat, or tries to wrong a woman, or proves himself a dastardly coward.

So I am mystified as to why this is a "negative" stereotype behind the bottle-bottomed myoptic lenses of Old Europe.

This came up when Ronald Reagan was first elected, and then was resurrected when George Bush became president.....and I am always wondering, what is so bad about being a "cowboy"?

[squirt]

I have been by Nebraskaski and you call that a slope?

[franksolich]

Well, yeah, in all seriousness, skiing in Nebraska, as compared with skiing in Norway, is the same thing as the difference between miniature golf and an 18-hole real golf course.

But sometimes miniature golf has to do.

[expatpat]

"'Cow-boys' has a different meaning in Norway", said a spokesman for the Norwegian Association for the Legaliization of Animal Husbandry.

[LtKerst]

Germans accuse skiing hooligans

Bayern police say that a large cow made of synthetic material on display in connection with the skiing world championships in Oberstdorf has been stolen, and "Norwegian cowboys" are suspected.

You know,....I'm having a harder time lately telling the Germans from the French.

[Vor Lady]

I'm in Omaha, where in this state to they ski? Nebraski is a joke; not to mention a paint ball facility.

[franksolich]

One thing the Germans and French do have in common, sir, is avariciousness.

As you might, or might not, know, Norway is not a part of the European "Union," preferring to remain Norwegian, rather than becoming some sort of generic "European" as defined by Paris, Brussels, and Berlin.

As you might, or might not, know, ever since the mid-1970s, all governments of Norway--right, center, left--have carefully and scrupulously put away all the petroleum revenues from the North Sea oil, into a sort of massive "savings account" for when the oil runs out.

(This is one of the reasons, it appears, taxes are so high in Norway--to support their social spending, while conserving and investing the oil revenues.)

Well, Old Europe really really really wants Norway with them--but it's not because Norwegians are great people to have among oneself, but more so because they want that savings-account, because Old Europe is bankrupt.

[Disambiguator]

Maybe because cowboys typify what's good about America, and they hate that. I think they are threatened by the fact that America is so successful, in spite of being a bunch of backwoods hicks (by their estimation).

[franksolich]

See response 10 above, madam.

Sometimes when snow conditions aren't so great west of here, one has to take what he can get, in this case that slope near Omaha, which is better than nothing.

Just as miniature golf is better than no golf at all, if one golfs.

[Vor Lady]

Omaha does have alot of golf course though.

[franksolich]

Omaha seems to have more golf-courses per capita than any other place in the world, it seems; I bet Omaha has more golf-courses per capita than even Scotland.

One of those oddities about Nebraska, madam; the sorts of things here that surprise outsiders.....among other things, such as the zoo there being considered the best zoo in the world, bar none.

[CarryaBigStick]

Cowboys in Norway eh? My opinion of a little part of Europe (a very little part) just went up. Though, I don't cotton to cattle rustlers.

[Vor Lady]

I'm a young granny, Madam, makes me feel old! The zoo here is pretty good. I love the shark tunnel in the aquarium the best. The new primates exhibit isn't bad either. I'm originally from Oregon and am partial to the Washington Park Zoo in Portland, but the Henry Doorly Zoo is pretty nifty as well.

As you probably know, Omaha boasts of having 150+ millionaires living here. That is probably why they have so many golf courses. I'm not a golfer, minature or otherwise. If I'm going after a small white target, I'd rather use a shotgun or a .45 instead of a 'stick'. But the shotguns tend to leave bigger divets!