Step your game up and caption this 2006 Olympic skiing stamp

U.S. Stamp Notes — By John M. Hotchner

With the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, this month (Feb. 9-25), the 39¢ Skier stamp issued Jan. 11, 2006 (Scott 3995), for the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, seems like a good candidate for the cartoon caption contest.

With an ancient history, downhill, or alpine skiing, debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1936 Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Skiing has remained a popular Olympics sport, though it is given stiff competition from ski jumping and bobsledding/luge, both of which rival it for thrills and spills.

Snowboarding, ice skating, figure skating and speed skating also rank among the most popular.

Along with sports, politics can play a role in the Games.

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In early December 2017, the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee based on the findings of an investigation after a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The ban allows the IOC to make exceptions for individual Russian athletes to compete under the designation of “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” but the powerhouse teams that contended and often won the medal race in past years will not be in South Korea.

If this situation and the Games themselves do not give you material for coming up with interesting things for the skier to say, then you can default to stamp collecting, politics, revisions of the tax law, or whatever else inspires you.

So, I’d like you to put yourself on the skis, and tell me what you think the competitor might be thinking or saying about his sport, the Olympics, stamp collecting, politics, the weather, or whatever else occurs to you.

There will be two prizes given: one for the best philatelic line, and one for the best nonphilatelic line.

The important thing is to use your sense of humor, because entries with a humorous twist have the best chance of winning a prize.

Put your entry (or entries) on a postcard if possible and send it to me, John Hotchner, Cartoon Contest, Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email it to jmhstamp@
verizon.net. If you send an email, it is essential that your include your postal mailing address.

For each winner, the prize will be the book Linn’s Stamp Identifier, published by Linn’s (a retail value of $12.99), or a 13-week subscription to Linn’s (a new subscription or an extension).

To be considered for the prizes, entries must reach me no later than Feb. 23.

Why not enter now, while you’re thinking about it?