what is it about?

Early in December I watched some of the athletes that would soon be competing in the X-games throw down in the Copper superpipe for a night photoshoot session.  Pearce, Dumont, Hall…the list of names goes on.  With very few people watching, they threw down each run giving it their all in the cold night with snow falling.  I was on the sidelines amazed at what I was watching in person, because it wasn’t about a contest or beating each other.  It was them dialing in tricks and showcasing their abilities regardless of the heavy snowfall pounding them each run.

Tonight I watched the X-games final of the men’s superpipe,  it reminded me of that cold December night, except this time with the lights blaring, politics of snowboarding and thousands of people watching.  Is all the Hollywood glamour what makes our sport more popular?  That a riders name determines the outcome?  

Its unfortunate that in this day and age, that snowboarding was about bringing people together is now pushing to separate us from each other.   That being said, I’m glad that I was away from the actual contest…I realized that I’d rather have those rare moments of seeing athletes being just about the riding and nothing else.   

Here’s a quote from Craig Kelly that I admire, “My experience and what I do in snowboarding is really quite independent of the industry and the more independent it is, the more pure and better I feel about snowboarding.”

What do you think it’s about? Are the contests the driving point to launch athletes into stardom for the better of the athletes or are the contests pushing athletes away from what snowboarding is about?