In the 2006 Winter Olympics Lindsey Jacobellis won the silver medal for Women’s Snowboard Cross. Snowboard cross is a sport where 8 athletes race each other all at once on a course filled with turns and jumps. Lindsey was well ahead of the rest of the pack when she got to the second to last jump, she was so excited at being ahead that she decided to throw in a little style. Lindsey did a nice method off the jump and caught her edge in the landing causing her to move down to second place. Many people criticized Lindsey for being unsportsmanlike and showboating. Rick Morissey who writes for the Chicago Tribune made a comment saying, “It probably would be a good thing if somebody explained to the snowboarders that once they decided to sit at the adults’ table, they made the tacit agreement to play to win. They made the decision to act like Olympians, which now means to act professional.” Many adults agreed with Morissey because they don’t understand the snowboarding culture. Although snowboarding is a very competitive sport and there are many rivalries almost all of the riders are friends. They compete with each other over and over and see each other at many events. Respect is part of the snowboarding culture, not just being nice a polite but respecting people’s talent and style. Snowboarding is a sport built around style. Men’s Snowboard Cross gold medallist Seth Wescott put it like this, “In snowboarding, there’s a huge focus on style, it’s the aesthetic that draws us in,” and that, “It’s the nature of how we ride, it’s second nature to us. That’s how we snowboard.” Many adults are focused on “acting adult” and being mature, they don’t understand that people that are very into snowboarding live their lives different. There are many adult snowboarders that live paycheck to paycheck making just enough to get by because they love what they do. Life needs to be more about having a good time and less about stress and the snowboard culture really exemplifies that.
El Fin
14 years ago
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