I'm heartbroken for you.

My prediction was wrong, anyway. Carlitos won pretty handily and Sinner had to play an extra set. That probably won't matter. Should be an exciting Final!

cool! Thanks

Good job, Nole. Fritz next, most likely.

ok, the ship is starting to right. Adrenaline + painkillers (probably) saving the day.

John McEnroe jinxed him by saying he'll win this easily, unless he gets injured.

Sid, Lady Felicia, Mrs McCarthy, and Father Brown. I think I'm in good hands.

I agree. It only makes sense that he's doing this solely for the buckle, not for an actual place on the leaderboard. But, as you said - ITC can be very stupid.

Mille is really up in arms about it. She's assuming that he's competing against her for the win but playing with different rules. I hope she's wrong.

I am not clear on if he gets to compete for prize money, though. If so, that's completely wrong. If not, meh. Iditarod doing what it can to survive. It lost me as a fan when they dq'd people in the back due to their own inept logistics.

It's the get that Official Iditarod Belt Buckle. Something that only 850ish people have. Bragging rights.

and The Netherlands!

But to the mushers who work hard all year long to get the funds needed to toe the line at an Iditarod start, doing the qualifiers, following the rules (no outside assistance being a huge one) it must be a huge slap in the face.

By completing the Iditarod this way, the rich person may be mocked by some but they'll impress others. Iditarod gets to continue despite their poor decisions and mismanagement, local villages get a yearly infusion of cash, and there's more prize money to go around. That's more than Everest gets.

His money will certainly help the dying Iditarod event last another year. The event can continue its evolution into a fast race for elite mushers from established kennels, now with greater prize money incentive. Is this a bad thing? We mock rich people tromping up Everest, but they do it in droves.

Looking at Mr Rokke's bio, he is a self-made billionaire who started out catching and selling fish from his trawler. That bodes well. He's a cross-country skier (he's Norwegian, aren't they all?). www.norwegianamerican.com/the-amazing-...

I'm guessing they won't have any arbitrary #Iditarod 'competitiveness' concerns. Will they need to actually mush the whole way? Or will simply sitting on the sled while someone else mushes be sufficient to count? To get up Everest you do need to actually use your own two feet, they don't carry you.

Translating that to #Iditarod, a rich person can pay to have, what? Someone to haul their gear, set up their sleeping spot, feed and tend to the dogs, cook their meals, bring them coffee, decide which dogs to run where, set the run/rest schedule, lead them with another team or snowmachine....

How do Hugh Neff's dogs look?