This lovely ad in Padua, Italy comes from Mike Etropolski. Thanks for spotting and capturing Mike!
So…”Free Piss!” “Built to Resist” I know there is a good joke here, but I’m super tired. Any help folks????
Archive for May, 2009
Tarrantino Captures Gold at Trofeo Luxardo
May 31, 2009
The 36 year old Italian Luigi Tarrantino continues his improbable run back to the top of men’s saber as he astounds the fencing world knocking off younger challengers time and again. In the semi-finals of the Trofeo Luxardo, one of the most prestigous saber world cups, Tarrantino defeated Dumitrescu, 25, 15-13. Dumitrescu was coming off back-to-back world cup wins before running into Tarrantino who snaped his streak. In the finals he dominated Limbach, 23, 15-6 for the Gold.
It was only a few years ago that Luigi Tarrantino looked like a fencer heading for retirement. Having dropped to 45th in the world during the 2006-2007 season. It looked like he might not even qualify for the Bejing Games.
What happened next no one could have predicted (except maybe Tarrantino himself) as he went on a tear to finish the 2007-2008 season once again atop the world rankings as it’s #1 and helped Italy capture the Bronze Team Medal in Beijing.
On the US front, Tim Morehouse finished 17th and Ben Igoe finished 21st to pace the US contingent of 8 fencers which included Jason Rogers, James Williams, Luther Clement, Mike Etropolski, Jeff Spear and Daryl Homer. The rest of the team had a bit of a rough competition as no one else qualified for the 2nd day. There is one competition left in Dallas and the final 2 national team spots are up for grabs between Jason Rogers, Daryl Homer and James Williams.
Team event is tomorrow. USA v Spain in Round of 16. Ben Igoe, Tim Morehuse, James Williams and Daryl Homer will be competing for the US.
It was kind of cool to see a fencing event held in a huge theater with spectators and all the trimmings. Also, to see that a fencing federation knows how to maximize their fencing community and exposure to get sponsors. (As evidenced below) We can do this in the USA!
This is Crazy…
May 30, 2009Ben Igoe and I were checking out the point standings for the different weapons and were shocked to see the number of points seperating #4 Lee Kiefer from #5 Ambika Singh in women’s foil is .912! Crazy! (That’s a tight race!)
USFA Points Standings Women’s Foil as of May 22, 2009
#4 Lee Keifer 2148 points
#5 Ambika Singh 2147.088 points
Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis Wins Silver in China
May 30, 2009
Hot of the Facebook presses from National Team Member (and all around awesome girl) Dagmara Wozniak. She just checked-in with some exciting news from the women’s saber team in China…
From Dagmara:
Mariel lost to Velikaya RUS 15-7 for the gold medal bout. Daria lost to Gavrilova 15-9 or 10 to make 32. Monika and I lost to make the 16. I lost to a korean girl (Kim) 15-14 and i was up 13-10 
. Monika lost to a Chinese girl 15-7. Tomorrow is team..so we will redeem ourselves. best of luck to you guys! !
Similar to the situation in men’s saber, the women now have 1 world cup left in Dallas with the final 2 National Team spots being tightly contested between Monica Aksamit, Daria Schneider and Alexis Jemal.
Team USA in Italy
May 30, 2009
Ben Igoe and I advanced to the top 32 before falling to Szilagy and Pryiemka 12-15 respectively.
Now we’re checking out the rest of the competition from the bleachers. Updates at http://www.twitter.com/timmorehouse Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Rough Day for Team USA in Italy
May 29, 2009
The first day of individual competition in Italy is over and once the dust settled most of the American team had been defeated. Ben Igoe was the one bright spot going 6-0 in the pools. By going undefeated, Ben has now won 24 straight 5 touch bouts this season.
Daryl Homer went 4-2 in the pools and drew a very tough opponent in Apithy of France who defeated him 15-9 to advance. James Williams, Jeff Spear and Mike Etropolski went 3-3 in the pools with James falling to Imparato of Italy 11-15, Mike falling 8-15 against Poskura and Jeff losing to a Belarusian fencer 12-15.
Both Luther Clement and Jason Rogers went 2-4 in the pools and were eliminated before 15-touch contention.
Ben Igoe and I fence tomorrow with Ben going against Proskura of Russia and I’m facing off with Shturbabin of Ukraine in the 64.
Since James, Jason and Daryl all failed to make the 2nd day the race for the final 2 national team spots remains nearly deadlocked between the three of them. There is one competition remaining. It will come down to the wire again this year as it did last year at nationals, but this time at the Dallas World Cup.
This one is for you Scott…(Artwingny in Italy!)
May 29, 2009
Our friend Lord Scott Buchheit’s (descended from the Longshanks) company Artwingny did the recent Ray Band sunglasses ad campaign.(Picture above)
We promised him that if we saw the campaign we would take pictures for him….well, the campaign was hard to miss as it was in almost every bus stop from Venice to Padua!
Here you go Scott! Promise kept! Enjoy! (To check out Scott’s company go to: www.artwingny.com)
The Bus Ride to Padua
May 29, 2009We’re in italy on a bus from venice to padua where we are competing.
The Luxardo cup is one of my favorite competitions because it has such a great history. The event is sponsored by Mr. Luxardo (owner of luxardo; a big alcohol company) and the finals are in a magestic theater in downtown padua.
Everyone also gets free Luxardo liquor! Lol follow live results on my twiiter. http://www.twitter.com/timmorehouse Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
The Naked Spanish Fencing Calender!
May 28, 2009
Traveling to Europe is always an interesting experience…
Today, Spanish fencer Jaime Marti showed me what a bunch of fencers from a local Spanish Fencing Club did to raise money….
They took naked pictures of themselves with only fencing equipment as cover…the result is The Naked Spanish Fencing Calender 2009…
Hope they raised some money…and that our fencing federation doesn´t get any ideas!
Each month has a fairly similar picture as the one above…some I¨m not even sure I can post because they include real nudity. (trying to keep it PG-13 here!)
