USSA Interview: US Alpine Snowboard Team

[Jack M]

Late Breaking News:

BomberOnline has just conducted an impromptu phone interview with an anonymous source at USSA, regarding the state of the US Alpine Snowboard Team. The transcription follows:

BOL: What can you tell us about the decision to de-fund the US Alpine Snowboard Team?

Anon: Well, on condition of strict anonymity, I'm here to set the record straight on this. USSA Spokesman Tom Kelly suggested the funding changes for alpine snowboarding reflected interest and participation. "The focus in snowboarding in America is very centric to halfpipe and slopestyle," he said. Obviously we know this is nonsense. How many Americans are avidly participating in Luge, 10? Bobsled? How many Short Track Speed Skating leagues do you know of? There are exactly 5 Olympic size ski jumps in the nation. Clearly "interest and participation" are not criteria for deciding a sport's Olympic worth.

BOL: Did USSA believe Alpine Snowboarding wouldn't make good TV?

Anon: Please. Cross-country skiing makes good TV? How many people actually watch all 27 televised disciplines of figure skating? Head-to-head snowboard racing has to be at least as exciting to watch as solo ski races against the clock. The Olympics is the place to showcase non-mainstream sports once every four years for their athletic merit, not for their ability to sell advertising. Or at least it used to be.

BOL: What was the real motivation for de-funding Alpine then?

Anon: While most people admire what alpine snowboarders do on the hill, other people take the elitist attitude that snowboarding in boots resembling ski boots is somehow distasteful. We've already seen evidence of this attitude when FIS and USSA banned the use of speed suits in snowboard speed events, because that's what skiers do. That was a baseless decision contrived solely on style, not safety or function. This isn't the 1990's, the skier vs snowboarder feud should be long over with. Other people simply resent people who don't snowboard like themselves, or who snowboard better than themselves, or better than they can ski. I think these attitudes have infected USSA leadership. Such obsolete and immature attitudes should have no place in deciding what is an Olympic sport and what isn't.

BOL: What is going to happen to the US Alpine Snowboarding Team going forward?

Anon: You have a few allies at USSA. We are fighting to get Alpine back in the budget. Clearly financial backing makes a huge difference. Look at our ex-patriot Vic Wild. The Russian team offered to support him so off he went. Who can blame him? The results speak for themselves. Before joining the Russian team Wild had stood on only one World Cup podium in his career, in 2012. The talent was there, we simply didn't have his back. That is shameful. With the financial burden of chasing his dreams off his chest, Vic was able to concentrate on the task at hand and bring home the gold. Well, bring it to Russia anyway. If Wild were still an American, Russia and USA would have tied with 11 gold medals in Sochi. Instead the score is 13 to 9. And who knows what poor Justin Reiter's life would be like now if he had enjoyed even a fraction of the support wasted on certain other US snowboarders who were practically no-shows at the Olympics.

[trailertrash]

Nice try.

[lonbordin]

Kudos for the "interview" Jack.

Reminds me of many of the onions articles that later come to pass... funny, sad and strange all at the same time.

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[lowrider]

Sounds like a new politician trying his sound bites. (Funded by Burton ) ?

[Helmut Karvlow]

Jack,

I recorded all the PGS events men's and women's.

my wife said it was one of the most exiting events, and watched them all.

keep in mind she hates the cold weather.

if she liked it there has to be a lot more people who also did.

[Jack M]

Thanks Helmut!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[piciu]

Jack,

I recorded all the PGS events men's and women's.

my wife said it was one of the most exiting events, and watched them all.

keep in mind she hates the cold weather.

if she liked it there has to be a lot more people who also did.

Can you share it via Dropbox or anythink like that? :)

[Helmut Karvlow]

Oh, you must not know me......I'm lucky to not screw up turning this puter thing on!

[snowmatic]

What is going to happen to the US Alpine Snowboarding Team going forward?

Is there anything going forward on FIS PAR Worldcup races? I say nothing!

Hey come on volks, do You have dreams?

Just some examples:

* The last two season we didn't saw any tour sponsors on the whole FIS tour. Only that all black plastic-morgue on start, finish and behind podium. One Year of that was enough for me. So I did call-up FIS headquarter last autumn for to say them they should make a change. They didn't make a big change, but they put some white on the black above heads for 2013/2014 season, what helps a bit.

* Sochi Olympics is over since many weeks now. The whole world is talking now about Ukraine and Krim crisis. Sochi is out of any mind.

What do You think how much interests Russia will take to snowboarding sports after Sochi-2014. Maybe Vic Wild has good time for one or two Years only, but no more longer. Snowboarding has not the reputation like ice hockey in Russia.

* Snowboarding in general, is decreasing on a double-figure rate every season. What was happen in Europe after Vancouver Olympics 2010? There was an Olympic medal holder ending career. Just because couln't find any more sponsors!

We are now 4 Years later. What do You think happens again? A holder of silver medal from snowboarding in Sochi loose his main sponsor too. That sponsor has enough financial background, but they like to turn to much more interessting sports then alpine snowboarding.

* Last weekend anyone was free to compete to an Alpine snowboarding Olympic gold medalist on a gate course. What a rare and big chance for any Alpine snowboarder, isn't it? I mean You, and You and You too. It was an open to everyone GS race. Located on the middle of the European Alps and well published since the victory on Sochi games, even in English language. It means 2½ hours from Milano (Italy), 6 hours from Paris (France), 5½ hours from Stuttgart (Germany) by ground transportation.

What did we saw? Only 3 woman racers at all from 2 countrys competing together, including that Olympic gold medalist. Totaly with the Youth they had been 19 racers. On men categorys we saw 5 racers, course setter was racing too. Including the Youth, we can see 11 racers on the final list. Weather and slope was brilliant.

Conclusion: What happens on USSA is not right. But it just reflect what matter to snowboarding and for sure to Alpine snowboarding especially.

Edited April 3, 2014 by snowmatic

[lowrider]

Thanks for posting this information it is not something we hear about in Canada. Do you think demographics and immigration has anything to do with declining participation and has cost become a barrier to participation. Recent poll in Canadian Ski magazine states average income of ski family in excess of $100,000.00.

[lonbordin]

* Last weekend anyone was free to compete to an Alpine snowboarding Olympic gold medalist on a gate course. What a rare and big chance for any Alpine snowboarder, isn't it? I mean You, and You and You too. It was an open to everyone GS race. Located on the middle of the European Alps and well published since the victory on Sochi games, even in English language. It means 2½ hours from Milano (Italy), 6 hours from Paris (France), 5½ hours from Stuttgart (Germany) by ground transportation.

What did we saw? Only 3 woman racers at all from 2 countrys competing together, including that Olympic gold medalist. Totaly with the Youth they had been 19 racers. On men categorys we saw 5 racers, course setter was racing too. Including the Youth, we can see 11 racers on the final list. Weather and slope was brilliant.

First I read a lot on alpine and racing... never heard about this opportunity.

Second the European Alps are out of reach of most Americans for fiscal AND time off reasons.

I appreciate your post. Thanks.

[Rob Stevens]

Late Breaking News:

Anon; How many Americans are avidly participating in Luge, 10? Bobsled? How many Short Track Speed Skating leagues do you know of? There are exactly 5 Olympic size ski jumps in the nation. Clearly "interest and participation" are not criteria for deciding a sport's Olympic worth.

Anon: Please. Cross-country skiing makes good TV? How many people actually watch all 27 televised disciplines of figure skating? Head-to-head snowboard racing has to be at least as exciting to watch as solo ski races against the clock.

I love how the interviewee's defense of the discipline is to compare it to other boring events and claim, essentially, that if people are willing to be put to sleep by those, then why not this?

Hi-larious.

If alpine snowboarding wanted Olympic inclusion on the level of xc skiing and luge, short-track speed skating and curling, it should have been invented 100 years ago, when sport, in general, was pretty tame.

If you ask me, the GS has been crap since it went PGS, with all the banks and drawn out turns that were the highlight of the carving style, eliminated. PS? An even bigger snore-fest, not aided by its green slope venue. I'm surprised it even became an Olympic event.

Don't get me wrong... I personally know how hard it is to do these races, and I'm not volunteering to try injected slope, FIS ski slalom on an alpine board, but this is a made-for-tv event and the only sports you'll see get in now are the ones that grip the viewer. Ultmately, you may see PS out. I can't remember if it's a demonstration sport, or a full-blown one, but I think back to ballet skiing in Calgary in 88... You don't see that anymore (thankfully).

Edited April 3, 2014 by Rob Stevens

[lonbordin]

What date did Jack post this people? sigh.

[Keyser Soze]

Do you think demographics and immigration has anything to do with declining participation and has cost become a barrier to participation. Recent poll in Canadian Ski magazine states average income of ski family in excess of $100,000.00.

That's a very interesting point. While we can make the argument that used equipment is readily available at a reasonable in the classifieds section of this forum, do any board makers offer an entry level Alpine board? Something under $300? Boots/bindings available at $100 a piece? A price competitive with the lower end softie set-ups you can pick up at most sports stores. $700+ for a board alone is a hell of an investment just to try something. That might be part of the reason only high-end shops continue to stock the stuff.

[Jack M]

I love how the interviewee's defense of the discipline is to compare it to other boring events and claim, essentially, that if people are willing to be put to sleep by those, then why not this?

The point was to show the hypocrisy in Tom Kelley's statement about interest and participation, by comparing alpine snowboarding to other fringe sports with seemingly just as little or less interest and participation. Seriously, there are 4 Luge clubs in the US, and only TWO tracks - Lake Placid and Park City.

[patmoore]

That's a very interesting point. While we can make the argument that used equipment is readily available at a reasonable in the classifieds section of this forum, do any board makers offer an entry level Alpine board? Something under $300? Boots/bindings available at $100 a piece? A price competitive with the lower end softie set-ups you can pick up at most sports stores. $700+ for a board alone is a hell of an investment just to try something. That might be part of the reason only high-end shops continue to stock the stuff.

I remember one from about six years ago. It was a brand our shop carried for a while. It had slick orange graphics and was really cheap. We never ordered any and I don't recall ever hearing about anyone riding one. I have the attention span of a goldfish (measured at 13 seconds). Does anyone else remember that board?

[Rob Stevens]

The point was to show the hypocrisy in Tom Kelley's statement about interest and participation, by comparing alpine snowboarding to other fringe sports with seemingly just as little or less interest and participation. Seriously, there are 4 Luge clubs in the US, and only TWO tracks - Lake Placid and Park City.

There is no hypocrisy in that statement at all.

You have to look at this situation through two different lenses... The first one is the traditional sports that are "legacy" events. Ones that have been in the winter games since the beginning. The next is to view NEW sports based on their popularity.

For your unnamed source to compare a new sports addition, to the old sports continued participation is to say that the grounds for inclusion has not changed at all. Buddy... It's a popularity contest now! It's made for TV and the only thing that matters is the question as to whether or not advertisers will book space in the broadcast while that event is playing. Have you watched NBC's coverage? They don't even show a sport unless it's "edgy", like slopestyle or popular, like hockey. Outside of that, there had better be an American in the finals. The latter, they take a chance on, as viewership might be still pretty low if, say, the American(s) in the finals is in the finals of 2-man luge.

[Jack M]

Rob, whatever. Side with the anti-alpiners if you must, I will side with us.

You really couldn't tell I wrote the whole thing? On April Fool's Day?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lonbordin]

Apparently they can't Jack even after I specifically called it out... I thought my hint early on would help but that's not the case.

That said many cultures don't do the whole April 1st thing so it is understandable that some folks might not "get" it.

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[Rob Stevens]

Guess that makes me not only an alpine hater, apparently, but pretty gullible, too. I'll own that! I guess we all have our opinions... Just like yours on stances, Jack!

I'm a sucker for satire that looks and sounds just like the real thing.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Rob Stevens

[Rob Stevens]

Apparently they can't Jack even after I specifically called it out... I thought my hint early on would help but that's not the case.

That said many cultures don't do the whole April 1st thing so it is understandable that some folks might not "get" it.

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and you, Buddy... What a cop-out.

Snowmatic comes back with a serious observation and so do you, in reply to him. Apparently, it's a joke, until it isn't.

[Jack M]

:-)

Oh Rob, you've been taking a beating lately, but please know we love having you around.

I do like the real discussion that has come out of this. You make valid points. Of course Alpine does not check the boxes "sells advertisements" nor "grandfathered in". I still find Mr. Kelley's remarks silly though.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Jack Michaud

[lonbordin]

Cop-out???

Snowmatic was serious so I gave him a serious reply... just because OP was joking doesn't mean the subsequent discussion can't change it's focus.

Jack's April fools "interview" was obviously written to be provocative and out of that comes discussion. This is not a bad thing and nor was my reply to Snowmatic.

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[Rob Stevens]

Cop-out???

Snowmatic was serious so I gave him a serious reply... just because OP was joking doesn't mean the subsequent discussion can't change it's focus.

Jack's April fools "interview" was obviously written to be provocative and out of that comes discussion. This is not a bad thing and nor was my reply to Snowmatic.

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That's what I said.

What was your "hint early on" supposed to "help?" Us to understand that it was a joke and not to take the provocation and comment? If I "got" it, you might have had a two word reply, like "nice try"... I just figured I'd jump in, taking the bait Jack laid out!

[lonbordin]

That's what I said.

What was your "hint early on" supposed to "help?" Us to understand that it was a joke and not to take the provocation and comment? If I "got" it, you might have had a two word reply, like "nice try"... I just figured I'd jump in, taking the bait Jack laid out!

So it's a "cop-out" for hinting that it was an April fools post AND for discussing this fact openly AND for replying seriously to a serious post amongst the fray.

Yeah... I think we can all see who's the April Fool here...

Mahalo.

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