Word: pinnings
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They can be seen all over Sydney, looking like oversized Boy Scouts, their floppy hats and flak jackets shimmering with the hard-won rewards of their Olympic campaigns. For them, the only sport of the Games is hunting pins-small badges decorated with cartoon characters, flags or corporate logos. With the keen eyes of marksmen, these self-described pinheads can spot a quality pin at 50 paces; some boast collections of 60,000 or more. "I specialize in 'countdown' pins," says 17-year-old Sydneysider Nicholas Howard, glancing around furtively as he unzips the black acrylic display case chained...
...Sydney's harborfront, among tourists in goofy headgear and Christians handing out copies of the New Testament, a group of pinheads have set up a makeshift badge bazaar around a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree. The scale might be small, but the vibe is pure Wall Street. The pin game is all about smart networking and sharp dealing, snaring the trophies you want by trading your duplicates rather than forking out cash. Dedicated pinheads have been known to loiter in the lobbies of five-star hotels at checkout time, hoping to talk corporate Games visitors into parting with their "guest...
Under a freeway overpass at Darling Harbour, more than 50 people from all over the world have congregated under a white tarpaulin to talk pins and do deals. For many, this is a biennial reunion: They turn up at every Summer and Winter Games. It's also where their version of the competitive Olympic spirit kicks in. Bud Kling, a 53-year-old tennis coach from Pacific Palisades, Calif., has been to six Games and has more than 20,000 pins, which cover his office walls and sparkle in custom-made display cabinets. A fellow trader comes up to gloat...
...nearby table, Al Falcao, from Toronto, holds court. He's something of a celebrity in the pin-trading scene - a king pin, if you will. "You need a bit of savvy," he explains. Falcao has come a long way since he stuck his first seven pins into a pizza box after the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. That's when he decided to branch out from stamps, license plates and baseball caps. His priorities are, in descending order: guest, media, national, and limited-edition corporate-sponsor pins. He claims his collection stands at 25,000. "I've given...
...then "head-butted" the man with his Kevlar helmet, bloodying his nose, before Ronghi walloped him "with great force" in the head, leaving him dazed. The man, the Army report said, was later discovered to be deaf-mute. In another case, a U.S. soldier used his machine gun to pin a man against a wall who seemed unwilling to answer questions; he was later found to be deaf...