Winter X Games 12 is this weekend, so here's a viewing guide for the best events to watch:
- Snowboarding Slopestyle
Easily the best event of the competition. Snowboarders going down the hill one at a time and tricking off stairs, rails, and jumps. - Snowmobile Speed & Style
This is a new event this year, with judges scoring the snowmobilers 50% on how fast they complete the course and 50% on how they look doing it. The course was inspired by the Summer X Games Rally course, with two competitors going at the same time. I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out, but I'm looking forward to seeing it. - Snowboarding Superpipe
One of the classic extreme sport events. I love the atmosphere: under the lights, music blaring, fans right on top of the action. - Monoskier X
This was a new event last year, but I missed seeing it. This year I definitely plan to check it out. Basically, Monoskier X is a competition for disabled athletes who use a single ski rigged with a seat. It looks impossible to turn, but somehow they do a slalom course on it. - Snowboarding Best Trick
Even though I can never remember what a cab or a half-cab is, and I can't ever tell if they're switch or whether they just did a 720 or a 900, I still love this event. - Skiing Slopestyle
Just like the snowboard event, just not as cool. - Freestyle Snowmobile
For pure crazy, this one takes the cake. It's wild watching guys go upside-down on huge snowmobiles. - Boarder X
Boarder X is such a fun event that the stodgy Olympics picked it up. Who can forget Lindsay Jacobellis' crash on the final jump in Turin? - Skier X
Just like Boarder X, but you see a few more crashes because there are poles and skis all over the place. - Skiing Superpipe
The Superpipe on skis always looks a little awkward, but it's still fun to watch.
Former events that never should have been cut
- Moto X Best Trick - I guess someone decided this was too dangerous, but I always loved it.
- Ice Climbing - It was never really that popular, but I always thought it was fun watching people fly up sheer sheets of ice.
8 Responses:
I'm supposed to be supportive of all posts on this blog. However, I must say that Winter X Games are quite possibly the worst thing to ever happen to sports. They were a clever gimmick at first. The fact that they have a) made it into mainstream network television, and; b) actually made it into Olympic sport, is offensive to me as somebody who is a fan of sports. Any event where smoking weed can improve one's performance should not be sanctioned as a sport. And any sport where somebody nicknamed the "Flying Tomato" can be sent to the Olympics to receive multiple gold medals is suspect. I mean, I know that the U.S. was determined to catch Russia and Germany in the Olympic medal count, but by making Winter X Games sports Olympic sports... that's like Jim Harrick's class at Georgia to ensure the eligibility of his athletes.
I'm not sure I'd call some of the Winter X Games events "sports," but they sure are fun to watch.
As for weed improving your performance, are you saying that NBA basketball isn't a sport?
Haha, how arrogant. I would love to see you both try to ride in a straight line on a snowboard, or even point to the throttle on a snowmobile. These guys have more talent than the combination of both of your entire family trees. Smoking weed improves their performance? Wow, time to get off your oversized computer chair and run a few laps in the gym. Maybe they'll come out with a 'lazy fat guy stuck in a computer chair x games' and then you can finally be rewarded for your 'talents'.
I suppose a man can only dream... thanks for stopping by!
If I were to get off my computer chair and suffer through the cold weather, I would do the biathlon. Those are some well-trained athletes, plus they get to shoot. Any event that you could actually see being relevant before grocery stores gets a few extra points in my mind.
This is a topic for an entire other post, but I have a hard time calling anything that involves subjective judging a "sport." So Boarder X is clearly a sport, but Superpipe is questionable. That said, I LOVE the X Games, and I don't think anyone is questioning the fact that all of the X Games events are difficult.
And Russell, biathlon is AWESOME. It actually got some decent coverage in Turin, with Al Trautwig doing the commentary.
Biathlon... that's essentially survival skills for West Baltimore in a blizzard.
Or anywhere after the coming apocalypse.
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