Pat and Stan only have a voice because they have created the space for themselves, by doing stuff that people watch/listen to/read.
If Ranquet has a problem with Pat and Stan having too great an influence, he should just ignore them (easy enough), or build his own channel (in the broadest sense) to reach the snowboarding world and present an alternative view (somewhat more challenging to execute).
If there is an un-met need for an alternative world view, I am sure someone will fill that void if Mike would rather just make Pow turns all day.
Personally, I just want it to snow more in places where I am going to snowboard, and for my knees to work long enough for me to complete my bucket list.
Perfectly articulated mate. It's been pretty sad seeing the figureheads who made the punk rock dirt baggery of snowboarding so appealing to a young me fall from grace with their small mindedness. Fortunately I feel like it's only a matter of time before they'll be drowned out entirely, with new riders and crews who funnily enough far more embody the punk ethos, imo.
I'll provocatively go one step further. If you're riding to win an organised competition, it's not really true boardriding is it? The pleasure (and soul) of all boardriding isn't in the winning.
Are you and athlete or a punk? Very few are both.
I think that it's telling that most of the 'goats' stop competing as soon as they can afford to, and go back to freeriding back country or filming surftrips far away from the WSL. The stories that are most told, most watched and most cherished (Smith / Peralta / Stump etc) don't feature competetive riding.
Obvious respect to the man, but I wonder how we'd view Kelly Slater's impact (or Layne Beachley's) on the culture if they'd bunked off the comps to freeride like Craig Kelly. Hawk and Alba are titans of their sports but are they cultural icons becuase of their competetive results? Do a Google image search for either and none of the pictures of are of them competing.
Tell me that's not the appeal and rationale of Natural Selection? It's a comp that trys not to look and behave like a comp.
PS: Show me an ad that features a boardrider winning in a competition and I'll show you a thousand that don't ;)
I broadly agree, but I also think that competition is baked into boardsports culture (we're humans, after all) and that's not necessarily a bad thing. All the greats are ferociously competitive and have the results and podium places to prove it. But I do think Shaun White's unapologetic approach to contests, for example, is why he's still seen as a bit of a joke by the 'core' snow scene. In skate, I'm not so sure.
The answer is to ride and have fun........
Ha, well yes you would think so
No one is in charge.
Pat and Stan only have a voice because they have created the space for themselves, by doing stuff that people watch/listen to/read.
If Ranquet has a problem with Pat and Stan having too great an influence, he should just ignore them (easy enough), or build his own channel (in the broadest sense) to reach the snowboarding world and present an alternative view (somewhat more challenging to execute).
If there is an un-met need for an alternative world view, I am sure someone will fill that void if Mike would rather just make Pow turns all day.
Personally, I just want it to snow more in places where I am going to snowboard, and for my knees to work long enough for me to complete my bucket list.
Have you listened to Ranquet's pod? I mean he is doing that.
Matt, I only have ears for your pod....
Ha ha
Perfectly articulated mate. It's been pretty sad seeing the figureheads who made the punk rock dirt baggery of snowboarding so appealing to a young me fall from grace with their small mindedness. Fortunately I feel like it's only a matter of time before they'll be drowned out entirely, with new riders and crews who funnily enough far more embody the punk ethos, imo.
Maybe that's what always happens. I mean, look at John Lyon and Morrissey....
The last two lines are it, aren't they?!
I'll provocatively go one step further. If you're riding to win an organised competition, it's not really true boardriding is it? The pleasure (and soul) of all boardriding isn't in the winning.
Are you and athlete or a punk? Very few are both.
I think that it's telling that most of the 'goats' stop competing as soon as they can afford to, and go back to freeriding back country or filming surftrips far away from the WSL. The stories that are most told, most watched and most cherished (Smith / Peralta / Stump etc) don't feature competetive riding.
Obvious respect to the man, but I wonder how we'd view Kelly Slater's impact (or Layne Beachley's) on the culture if they'd bunked off the comps to freeride like Craig Kelly. Hawk and Alba are titans of their sports but are they cultural icons becuase of their competetive results? Do a Google image search for either and none of the pictures of are of them competing.
Tell me that's not the appeal and rationale of Natural Selection? It's a comp that trys not to look and behave like a comp.
PS: Show me an ad that features a boardrider winning in a competition and I'll show you a thousand that don't ;)
I broadly agree, but I also think that competition is baked into boardsports culture (we're humans, after all) and that's not necessarily a bad thing. All the greats are ferociously competitive and have the results and podium places to prove it. But I do think Shaun White's unapologetic approach to contests, for example, is why he's still seen as a bit of a joke by the 'core' snow scene. In skate, I'm not so sure.
Culture? If you have to define or justify it then it probably doesn’t exist.