kitethrills said...
however you look at this debate the neh sayers have a negative approach (their entitled opinions). but this is the tall poppy syndrome. whether its cutting down the top level of the sport in general or cutting down the individuals at that level - its still tall poppy and Aussies are the best at that, and amongst Aussies - the seabreeze kitesurf forumers are perhaps the best at being negative slanderous mo fos.
seriously - read this forum for an extended period, take the general vibe of respondents, and tell me its not more negative than positive. tell me those who put themselves out there are not cut down more often than not. videos, barrel photos, any photos, or just general discussion. its rare to not be cut down. here is some more.
without trying to be negative - this forum is negative!
so the top level of the sport isnt your cup of tea - debate is inherently argumentative and one side has to be negative - but this isnt debate - its your opinion expressed - you dont have to express your negative opinions - only when they are important. positivity is contagious.
the top level IS bendy twisty with passes and ****loads of progression. its not the untested "pro-rider" scene where there is no pressure on your performance today. you can reshoot tomorrow and cut the falls. It is technically difficult. If it was always to look good - there would be alot of make up and eventually it would look like dancing with that stars. Finding out who is best in the world is not about what looks good or who has the most style. its about who can do the **** that no one else can, on the day, against everyone else. the hardest tricks, today, now, no excuses.
im with Dave - your egos feel better to have the elite back your level, or at least believe they are pursuing a false goal that you dont aspire to. subconsciously or not, you dont want to believe they are doing it better than you. the elite are pushing themselves beyond their limits, testing themselves against others with the similar goals, and doing it better than you. its much easier to sit on the couch and tap away trying to convince the world that they are doing the wrong thing with their lives.
the PKRA is not a flawed competition, what is flawed is your belief that your differing opinion of what the test (competition) should be is relevant to these people.
compare to other sports - when is the world champion told he's been doing it all wrong? he should be doing it this way, with more style. Hey schumacher, you should have been drifting those corners it looks way more stylish. Tiger, take your back swing slower - more style. Hey Torah, you're in the wrong sport - Pipe is for jibbers, your should be doing big mountain fall line riding. Hey Andy, dont be testing yourself in the PKRA, your should be a free riding pro rider where you can ride with your own style. Join the growing group of pro riders who used to compete but found it easier when they werent being beaten in comps and being asked to perform when they didnt feel like it.
bring on your opinions! show respect where its due!
yeww.
Those guys, Tiger, shumacher etc... aren't going to to be questioned, for one good reason, they aren't doing a board sport, they aren't doing something that is even partially based on or revolves around style, no one cares whether they have it or use it, the only thing people care about is whether they sink that put or cross that line, they aren't judged on how they do it... I think this is why you can't fathom any arguments people place against PKRA, because you don't understand boardsports, you seem to only recognise results.
I do show respect where respect is due, I have told Andy that I think it's great he is winning comps now and I am mega proud of him. I have also told him when talking about style and other stuff that I think he needs to work on it. Thats how I am.
I'm not joining any group of riders, I do my own thing, I compete if I want, I don't if I don't want to. I came 4th at the core jam last comp I went in, voted by people I don't even know. So I'm not exactly being beaten in comps, and if I was it wouldn't phase me. I wasn't their to ride in front of cameras, I wasn't their to get shots, I was their because I wanted to help a mate build rails and I wanted to ride them myself.
"""***Finding out who is best in the world is not about what looks good or who has the most style. its about who can do the **** that no one else can, on the day, against everyone else. the hardest tricks, today, now, no excuses."""
This is your opinion and I respect that, but there are a lot of other people and a lot of other boardsports who really disagree.
"""compare to other sports - when is the world champion told he's been doing it all wrong? he should be doing it this way, with more style."""
Funny you mention it but it has happened in a lot of sports, it has happened in skating way more than once. Usually the people who had the memorable style and were nice to watch are the guys you can remember and are still in the business and others from the same time who won all the comps you can barely put a name to and are long gone. Lance mountain even talks about a time when Tony Hawk of all people was shut out of skateboarding... Not only a world champion, but a pioneer in many respects.
Here's a few questions with Lance Mountain, take a read, some of it is pretty relevant other bits not so much:
Skateboarding and surfing have nothing to do with each other now.I think for the early guys, it did. It looked rad. But, it’s totally different now. You can’t frontside flip down fifteen stairs with surf-style. You just can’t do it. It has nothing to do with it.
What I think he’s getting at is, if someone went off a 15-foot stair and pulled a nollie heelflip quadruple whatever, landed it and then drug his hand like he was in a wave, then it would be ok.The modern guys are determining what style is, and to drag your hand off is bad style, but landing it perfectly clean is good style. The whole concept of style has changed. It was changing around the time that I was on Variflex. Everyone that was on Variflex was hated for not having style. They were robots.
They were learning all the new tricks. They were pushing the tricks, but I was stuck in another realm because I skated with ramp style.
The same thing is going on with the Pissdrunx. Those guys are probably considered to be ‘slash dog style guys’. Those guys have more style in some ways than other guys, but a lot of dudes are saying they’re no good.
People are confusing fashion with style.I don’t think so. But he had good style.He skated like a surfer. I think Rune Glifberg, who never surfed, has some techniques that Hosoi had. Whereas, Bob [Burnquist] surfs a lot but has none of that style. He’s just all over the place. He does whatever he wants to do. Make it at any cost.
There you go, someone saying bob burnquist has no style. As for thinking kiteboarding has a bit of rabble and rivalry i think you need to wisen up, here is just a snippet of what kind of stuff happened in the early skate days.
No one really hated the Variflex guys.We got spit on all the time. Steve Alba blew his nose on me. All those dudes hucked spit all over Eddie during that one contest. I was standing right there with Fausto when it was head to head with Duane and Eddie. Eddie was doing a sweeper and he missed his tail and Fausto and his whole crew were making everybody stoked. Then he jumped on it and made it and they just shut up. It was rad rivalry. I remember Duane telling me I was the only one they liked out of the crew. I remember seeing Duane kicking some dude at big O, and just thinking, “These guys I like are kicking people in the head”. I went with my dad to Marina to practice for some contest, and my dad’s really conservative, so we pull up to Marina and the Circle Jerks are playing. It was a full punk show and my dad is like, “What is this craziness?” And Duane comes up with dyed hair and sits down and starts talking to my dad. I was super scared thinking I’m not going to be able to skate again because he said something crazy.
Jason Dill says that skateboarding isn’t a sport, it’s an art form.To the ones that will skate all their life, yes. To the ones that are skating for a little bit or to make a living off it, it’s not an art form. It still is in a way, but it’s skateboarding. It’s neither.
When you bring money into anything, it changes the core of it. The pros are making more money now than ever.The guys that are making money right now, most of them have skated for a long time.
They’ve paid their dues.But there are so many kids coming into it right now. I’m dealing with amateurs that have skated for a year or two and they film and do everything the pros do. They have their own little posses. They have generators and they go out and film. And they have their sponsors already. They have their sunglass sponsor, and clothes sponsor, and they’re getting all hooked up. But none of them are sponsored. It’s just this fabricated thing. They just mimic what they see, and they think that’s what it is. There’s a lot more to it than that. That’s what they missed. That’s the difference. They missed finding out what it’s all about for themselves. They see it and think that’s what it’s about, so they go straight there and try to get it. It’s tricks, it’s sponsorship, it’s money, and it’s what’s popular. They think vert skating is lame because it’s not popular. Before, there was no vert skating or street skating, it was just skateboarding. If a kid sees Jamie Thomas grind a 20 stair handrail or Koston do a switch flip they are more likely to relate to it by trying it on the flatground or a small rail. They video it to show others that they did what Jamie did. But what Jamie and Koston have done is different then what others are doing. That’s why they’re standouts. For some kids, it’s the drive to be sponsored that keeps them from skating everything. It’s not based upon trying it for themselves and knowing if it’s lame or not. Ask Anthony van England, known for one type of skating, but who can enjoy the feeling a grind in a pool. It’s all skating. But, now a skateboard is kind of like a tennis racket. You just go to the store and buy it. Now, it’s just a sport item.
Skateboarder mag was as political as anything was. I think now it’s harder for kids to sort out what’s good. Like, you’ll see one of the best photos of [Eric] Koston or Tony [Hawk] and across the page or on the cover is a skater you never saw before and will never see again with the same type of photo. All these things play into it. The magazines tried to say that Tony wasn’t rad. He was almost shut out of skateboarding in the ‘90s.
How can that be?Because it wasn’t cool. ‘Tony Hawk is not cool. He’s a vert guy. It’s all about street now’. They just shut him out of skateboarding and he was like “Whatever. I’m just going to keep doing my thing”. Now there’s a whole new breed of kids that think he’s the best. It has all been paid back to him, no matter what skateboarding tried to do to him as an industry. But the magazines during that time said, ‘Tony Hawk is no good’. They said all the guys that do flatland are the best.
It seems as though it’s segregated.That’s what the magazines did, they segregated it. It was a business thing. And there’s some people to blame for it.
Well let’s blame them.It sorted out by itself, so it doesn’t matter.
, I wasn't having a go at epilectics, so sorry If I offended you. Sounds like you should stay away from the forum if your so touchy.
. Comparing olympic diving to a boardsport... pretty much sums it up tho hahaha.
