Editor’s note: I recently received the following from an undisclosed email address. I added another hyphen or two, because I could, but have otherwise left the content unchanged.
If you are new to the site and are wondering what the hell we are talking about, please see first here and then here (also, welcome). This should resolve all ambiguities.
via wire reports
UNKNOWN LOCATION, USA — The Index, the preeminent season-long tongue-in-cheek cross-country ski post-race collapse-calculation arbiters (and well-known hyphen-abusers), are back for the 2025/2026 FIS World Cup cross-country season.
With a fresh season comes fresh gimmicks. For the first time ever, The Index appointed two team captains. These captains selected World Cup athletes based on a combination of out-of-date vibes (from the American captain Fast Big Dog) and questionable math (from the Swedish captain Anna).
The draft kicks off this season’s team competition, where fans of The Index (which is, of course, every cross-country ski fan) can state their allegiance to the Mall of America Statue Squad or the Collapse Vikings… or, in a twist that The Index threw at the captains upon draft completion, the third team, the Undrafteds. The Undrafteds comprise, unsurprisingly, ALL the athletes unselected by the captains.
There are many other wild turns and ridiculous rules in the draft, so if you want to have any chance of winning, you may view/listen to the draft here:
Although there is technically video (showing the live draft results) this is also easily consumable as audio alone. So you can listen as you ski. Or drive. Or something.
