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Park and pipe skiing in the Olympics

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hiatus
Posts: 60 - Karma: 10
It seems there's a lot of controversy and misunderstanding about our brand of skiing being included in the Olympics. Last I've heard, there might be an exhibition in 2010. Now let's have a reasonably intelligent discussion about why skiing should, and should not, have an Olympic halfpipe competition.

First things first, it takes a long time for a sport to become recognized as one popular enough to be included in the Olympic Games. There's a lot of whining in another thread about sports like curling being Olympic when halfpipe is not, but you have to understand that park and pipe skiing is still very, very young. In addition to being very, very young, it's still almost totally unknown. The X Games is probably the single biggest media outlet for us, but to the American public who watched, for example, the live broadcast of the X Games pipe during SportsCenter last season, what they were watching was something of a sideshow. It's a sport people don't recognize and don't understand, and it will take time for that to happen.

Anyway, why SHOULD halfpipe skiing be in the Olympics? It will give our sport a legitimacy that it doesn't yet have. It will draw more interest, more supporters, more participants, more media, and more money into the sport. In many ways it may make us more "mainstream" - but remember, there are different categories of mainstream. Skateboarding is mainstream, but not in the same stream as football. They've got entirely different watersheds.

Why shouldn't halfpipe skiing be in the Olympics? Maybe all that money and attention is something we don't want. And with the anti-doping regulations, several of skiing's biggest stars may not be able to compete- although I'd bet that almost anyone would be willing to give up pot for a year in exchange for an Olympic medal. The main problem, seemingly, is that the comp would be organized through FIS, meaning that they'd have no clue what they were doing unless some serious changes took place or a new, freeskiing specific organization--like the IFSA--took control.

Let's hear your opinions. Obviously everyone is allowed to express their point of view openly, but I've arranged with the mods to have blatantly useless post deleted.

Jul 8 2005 5:43PM
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USA
Posts: 2201 - Karma: 11
i think it would be cool to have halfpipe in the olympics, more people would notice the sport, hence more people would ski, hence, more money for the companys, it should happen





no me gusta acls
Jul 8 2005 5:54PM
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Nine_Milla_Killa
Posts: 6783 - Karma: 23
The only good things i can think of would be if more independent companies are born from it. But we're already seeing this. Newschool skiing is not a small sport anymore.

Jul 8 2005 6:13PM
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USA
Posts: 2201 - Karma: 11
^actualy it still its quite small, but not as small as it used to be





no me gusta acls
Jul 8 2005 6:27PM
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Nine_Milla_Killa
Posts: 6783 - Karma: 23
How many people ski? ALOT. How many kids ski? ALOT. How many kids that ski aren't into freestyle? Barely any.
Skiing has blown up as far as participation, the rest has to catch up, but look at the sport 2 years ago... there was one or 2 independtent companies. Look at it today, I couldnt even name you half of them, video companies that are actually good are springing up all over the place, clothing companies, hard goods, soft goods, POLE companies, hat companies, glove companies, ski video games... Kids who are 9 doing switch 10s. Its not an unknown sprot anymore. People dont gasp if someone is landing switch or hitting a rail on skis.

Jul 8 2005 7:06PM
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Al_Smith
Posts: 643 - Karma: 11
the problem is FIS. most pros dont want degree of difficulty in our sport. no one wants FIS to impose the strict regulations it has put on other events. we cant have FIS start telling everybody what a perfect mute grab looks like or how to do a proper 720. from what ive seen of FIS judged events so far, they do not judge on height at all, which is very different from most other comps

Jul 8 2005 7:34PM
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watchmefall15
Posts: 1902 - Karma: 11
i dont want an execessive amount of people who have never skied before who saw the pipe in the olympics trying to go off jumps and falling and crowding the park and making us wait

Jul 8 2005 7:37PM
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eastAR5
Posts: 15084 - Karma: 732
you don't need to give up pot for a year. Just 32 days, lots of excersize and alcohol.

_______________________________________
e ast coast 617 617


hahahaha, fuck you bitch. your the epitamy of a fucking faggot trying to act hard when your soft like your moms cumbersome pussy. ill fuck her to the left and fuck her to the right, then write you a letter about how it was so tight, you fucking bitch faggot. - Apesteadlives
Jul 8 2005 7:54PM
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ATLskier
Posts: 8203 - Karma: 406
Snowboarding is still young compared to curling and stuff, and they have halfpipe, we should too. Skiing deserves it.

i cant take him[liam downey] seriously cuz his name reminds me of that downy bear from back when i was a kid -d loc

I don't deny there are bad things in the US right now, hell, 51% of the country to be exact. But god damnit, our country being fat is NOT a problem. I do't give a shit how fat people are. hell, fat kids are harder to kidnap, that means our country is safer.

-Melvs
Jul 8 2005 7:58PM
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freeskier1316
Posts: 1771 - Karma: 27
agreed i've got a question how has fis affected snowboarding? Is there degree of difficulty and what not in the x games judging? or in the olypics?


'kevin whyed nils pull you out?' 'Cuz i was touchin bitches.' 'No seriously why did he put scott in for you.' 'Scott doesn't touch bitches.'

Viva Candide
Jul 8 2005 9:57PM
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Al_Smith
Posts: 643 - Karma: 11
xgames and FIS are completly separate. i dont think there is a degree of difficulty in snowboarding right now. the major difference in judging is that FIS will take scores from run 1 and run 2. so FIS looks more at consistency rather than an all or nothing run that we see at the xgames. some people dont like this because they say it makes athletes scared of falling, and when your scared to fall you won't attempt a harder trick.

Jul 8 2005 10:13PM
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dweezileast
Posts: 9661 - Karma: 276
well east ar5, i think u just made the signature

jack.

www.libertyskis.com
you don't need to give up pot for a year. Just 32 days, lots of excercise and alcohol

"you dont have to be a rocket surgeon or something" -pj cliche
Jul 8 2005 10:30PM
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garrett.
Posts: 9304 - Karma: 3,670
they might do a drig test and find that ur tested positive for pot.....but pot isnt doping normally pot would make u worse at ur sport so y should they care about pot?


cant tell me shit about the tricks of this trade switch blade with a little switch to switch the switch blade from a 6 to 16 inch blade shits like a samarui sword a sensay


Jul 8 2005 10:54PM
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o2bjedi
Posts: 480 - Karma: 20
freeskiing seems too cool for the olimpics. could any of you guys picture Tanner hangin' with Kurt Browning or Darron Rhalves?

Jul 8 2005 11:12PM
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hiatus
Posts: 60 - Karma: 10
Nine_Milla_Killa, our type of skiing has rapidly expanded, true, but I think far too often we have an exaggerated sense of self-importance. The average non-skier in North America still knows almost nothing about what we do- they may have heard about it, but it'd blow them away to actually see someone slide an urban rail or throw a switch cork 10. And to say that almost all kids who ski are into freestyle is incorrect as well. I'm no good at accurate estimation, but the next time you're on the hill go ahead and count the number of kids age 8-20 with twins skiing in the park as opposed to recreational skiers, racers, whatever. You'll find we're vastly in the minority. This stands true for the business of freeskiing as well- the money in our sport, independent companies and big companies' freeskiing divisions included, is blown away by the funds going into recreational skiing, racing, traditional freestyle, etc.

Jul 11 2005 10:45AM
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