Being an Olympian is awfully glamorous, isn't it? The fame, the fans, the adoring high-spirited support of an entire nation. Plus all those endorsement deals. Just look how rich these fuckers are. Though, sigh, look how poor ski jumpers are.

That totally sadsack AP article is about the US ski jump team — specifically three mountain-grown lads named Nick, Peter, and Anders — and how they basically make no money ever, and no one ever comes to see them, and they can't go to college because they spend twenty grand a year to play a sport that makes them no money and no one sees because they love it. Even in the relatively whitebread rarefied world of Winter gamers, there's a pretty stark and unfortunate disparity at work. Where a bubble-butted Lindsay Vonn can earn a cool coupla mil a year, her USA teammates are going into debt, bartering away their futures for a shot at fleeting and not-terribly-paid-attention-to glory. Oh and the real kick in the Heads? Those ski jumpers can't even go to the big flashy opening ceremonies on Friday, because they have to be out qualifying in Whistler. Poor dudes. Will someone at least get these boys* jobs at Home Depot?

*One must say "boys" because, as we all know, soaring through the air on skis like a common flying squirrel is no place for a lady.