Jacobellis
Posted: February 17th, 2010 | Filed under: Pop Culture | 85 Comments »
The big Olympic story yesterday seemed to be that Lindsey Jacobellis did not gain redemption at these Games. That was the word of the day, you know. NPR counted 26,700 “Jacobellis” and “Redemptions” on Google. They did not count the “absolutions” or “exonerations” or “exculpations.” Yes, redemption. Jacobellis Seeks Redemption! Redemption, thy name is Jacobellis! Jacobellis Falls Short of Redemption!
Redemption from what? Well, you know. You will remember that in 2006, in Torino, Jacobellis was leading the Olympic snowboardcross* going into the final jump. Snowboardcross is this thing where four people race each other while surfing down hills and up ramps. It looks a little bit like the old Matchbox racing sets, only with snow. There are usually wipeouts. And there is often one snowboardcrosser who breaks clear and ends up with a healthy lead going into the final jump. In 2006, that was Jacobellis, the best in the world.
*I have seen it as both two words and one word. I prefer snowboardcross, one word.
And at the peak of her final jump, Jacobellis decided to give the crowd a thrill and do a fancy little move apparently called “The Method” — she reached down with one hand and grabbed the board. This is something she has done about 10,000 times in her life. Only this time, she fell when she hit the ground. She was able to get back up and back on the course, but in the meantime another snowboarder passed her. She ended up sliding past the finish line in second place, the least applauded silver medal in Winter Olympic history. What followed? In the words of “Citizen Kane” — Defeat! Shameful! Ignominious!
It was a stupid thing, of course. That goes without saying. But somehow, in that moment, it seemed like more than just a stupid thing. In our hyped-up world of touchdown dances and sack dances and dunk contests, in our world where teammates mob the walk-off hitter on a Tuesday night game in July and sprinters pretend their shoes are on fire, the Jacoblunder was made to represent something larger about who we had become. Why do athletes celebrate themselves? Why can’t they do something great and then let OTHERS cheer for them? Where did class go? Where did dignity go? Why does it feel like our priorities have run off the rails?
Yes, many people wanted to attach some kind of larger meaning to the Jacoblunder. And this was especially true when Jacobellis refused to turn her crash into human tragedy. “Silver’s pretty good,” she said at one point during her post-race teleconference, and also “Snowboarding is fun.” She, apparently, had seen her bit of hot-dogging as a goofy mistake rather than some betrayal of her sports’ integrity. She did not even seem to think her sport HAD integrity, or at least not that kind. She was then caught off guard when the media questioning turned harsh. She did not seem to know that, in the majority media view, she had let down herself and she had let down her country. She had blown her chance at glory. As the questions attacked her like body punches, she was jolted to the core. The press conference ended abruptly when Jacobellis, knocked down by the force of the questioning, broke down in tears.
One thing you have to understand about covering the Olympics is that when you get caught up in them as a writer, you lose perspective. You can’t help it. For three weeks, you live nothing but Olympics. You hardly follow what’s happening in the outside world. You go to sleep thinking about Olympics, and you wake up (usually about three hours later) thinking about Olympics, and your restless dreams are often about the Olympics too. Good moments become great, and great moments become legendary, and legendary moments become … well, whatever is the word beyond legendary. Blunders become catastrophes.
I believe I wrote this before, but I think of it often: I remember that on the last day of the 1996 Olympics — an Olympics full of remarkable athletic moments — I was at the boxing venue, and a boxer won America’s first boxing gold of the Games with a timely knockout. I had another column in mind and was going to write about that instead. And I remember a colleague SCREAMING at me that I had to be out of my mind, that this knockout was the moment of the Games, no, more than that, it was one of the more sublime moments in the history of the Olympics, and that if I did not write it I would regret it for the rest of my professional life. Fair to say that my friend had been at the boxing venue the entire Games. He had watched too many punches. Fourteen years later, I do remember the boxer’s name was David.
That’s how it goes at the Olympics. Perspective gets lost, and exhaustion obliterates shades of gray, misunderstandings explode into controversies, and we as writers often try to find grand life lessons in the oddest places. In Torino, Lindsey’s Jacoblunder came to represent a clash of cultures. How dare she! These are the Olympic Games! Kids today have no respect!
I won’t lie: That was my first thought too. When I watched the race again (and again), I could not help but feel that this WAS something generational. There Jacobellis was, in the shadow of Olympic glory, and she decided that was a good time to try to some silly hot dog move and …
And then, watching it a third or fourth time, something else hit me.
I was watching SNOWBOARDCROSS, for crying out loud.
I mean this wasn’t even a word a few years ago. They were not snowboardcrossing in Ancient Greece or even in not-so-ancient Lake Placid. They added snowboardcross to the Winter Olympics that very year — Jacobellis was racing in the FIRST Olympic snowboardcross — because, frankly, they had a little too much nordic combined and biathlon for America’s taste. They wanted to give the Winter Olympics a little Agent X-Games, a little youthful exuberance, a little something to pop the ratings, something Moms and Pops and kiddies might actually watch at night.
Lindsey Jacobellis did not get into snowboardcross because of some Olympic dream. No, she got into snowboardcross because it was fun and wild and on the mountain she could express herself. Just because the Olympics added snowboardcross (and the half-pipe and moguls and all the rest) doesn’t suddenly change the complexion of these sports. Showing off isn’t a side effect of snowboardcross. It’s the POINT of snowboardcross. Winning is fine, but leaving them awed is the goal.*
*I think of Josh Hamilton’s 2008 Home Run Derby performance, when he hit an absurd 28 home runs in the first round. You might or might not remember that Hamilton did not win that Derby … probably because he did not pace himself. Nobody really cared, of course, because the Home Run Derby is a show. Justin Morneau “won” the Derby. But Hamilton left America with its jaw dropped. So, you tell me who really won.
That’s not to say that Jacobellis crashing while trying The Method was not stupid. Sure, it was plenty stupid. But it seems to me that it was stupid in the innocent way that a kid who hangs upside down from a branch and falls out of a tree is stupid. She was feeling the moment. She wanted to give everyone a thrill. Whatever the case, this wasn’t an American Tragedy, and it did not reflect anything more than a 20-year-old kid showing off for the crowd, just like she had her whole life.
In any case, as the story goes, she did not get redemption this Olympics. She bumped a gate during the semifinal of the snowboardcross Tuesday, and this disqualified her. She did not win a medal of any kind. Alas, redemption would not be hers. So it says in the papers and on the Internet. Of course, Jacobellis is a two-time world champion in this sport. She is not only the most famous snowboardcross woman on earth, there really isn’t a second place. She does commercials. There are 10 different companies sponsoring her. She has, in her own words, raised the level of her sport.
And, on the last jump of her Olympic race in Vancouver, Jacobellis — who knew that she would not win a medal — reached down and grabbed the board with TWO hands. I guess they call this trickier move the Truckdriver. Also one word. Kids today. They’re too busy having fun to … not have fun.
Loading ...
Well said. I couldn’t agree more.
Circle this, Plaschke
I imagine this is how all the roiders feel in baseball. Esp. those who came from the Dominican, where baseball does not have a “hallowed” 100 year history and roids are a completely normal part of baseball practice.
I would have been *more* annoyed with her had she landed that move and won the gold back in ’06.
But it’s the thought that counts. Obnoxious.
Great perspective. I couldn’t agree more. That’s what I like about these X-game sports –the participants seem to have some perspective on their sport. I hope the rest of us don’t ruin it for them. Let them have fun.
Magnificent.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by JPosnanski: On Willie Mays: http://bit.ly/90EwJY … On Lindsey Jacobellis: http://bit.ly/bjKvVC...
Her wiping out brought more attention to her sport than winning gold ever would have. And the subsequent ‘can she redeam herself’ story this year brought her sport more exposure this year than there would be had she won gold in 2006. Her wipeout single handedly raised the profile of her sport for 2 olympic cycles. If anything she is a marketing genious. Good for Lindsey.
Point of clarification: She fell on the penultimate jump, not the last.
Unlike almost all other sporting figures these days, snowboarders (and freestyle skiiers, x-gamers, whatever) seem to realize the bigger picture: they are playing a game. They are having fun. Because that’s all it is. Who cares if she messes up and falls down trying a trick? I mean, honestly. People talked about her like she killed a kid or something. This is NOT serious business. Why can’t more people realize that? These people are playing games!
THIS IS THE OLYMPICS! WE ALL NEED TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND NOT HAVE ANY FUN!
Brilliant as always.
Joe:
This is off-topic and maybe you already have an article about it in the works, but I feel I should mention it here, as it will interest a bunch of your Brilliant Readers: over the next couple of months, Baseball-Reference is going to start adding some Negro Leagues stats to their site. Here’s the story (apologies to all who already know about this):
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/02/bringing-negro-leagues-info-up-to-date/1
I quite agree that the mistake wasn’t anything earth shattering and certainly should not have resulted in the attack journalism that did happen.
But please, most people I know do seem to really be annoyed by the “Look at me” attitude that is way too prevalent today. Does the fact that this is a newer sport with different goals really overcome the feeling most people have of what sportsmanship and competition are and why they are good things?
Or has the entire concept of being a good sport and doing all you can to win first – before taking the time to bask in the glory of winning – just gone away never to return?
If hotdogging is such a key part of the sport, why did they want to be a part of the hidebound traditional Olympics?
Perhaps what should be done is to give the winners a run down the course after winning, so they can show us all what they can do and how much fun they can have.
Still no matter how much I dislike the move and the attitude, I despise the holier than thou attitude that the media display – especially at the Olympics – all the time and especially in her case. She did nothing to demean herself, me, or my country.
Obviously I don’t watch the winter Olympics because I never heard of this person before, and just saw the youtube clip. However, would you (Joe or any of the readers who don’t think snowboardcross is such a big deal) feel differently, if Usain Bolt had lost the 100m dash due to premature celebration?
I have to be honest, and say that I would. Guess not all gold medals are the same.
Joe, I couldn’t agree more. Well put, as always.
Redemption is a bogus term, because she owes nobody but herself. She, apparently, was happy with her accomplishment, so why shouldn’t that be good enough for us? People act as if *they* (and not Jacobellis) were the ones who worked their tails off all those years to become the best athlete in the world at her sport, and that she somehow ruined it for them.
While your point is well-made as always, I do believe that lurking beneath is plain and simple narcissism.
Snowboardcrossers have perspective. Too much f—king perspective.
You’re letting the reporters who grilled Jacobellis in 2006 off too easy. The whole point of a reporter’s job is to maintain perspective.
good piece. to me, the number one reason to play sports has always been to look cool and help you get laid. at least the x-gamers are honest about it. all that hallowed reverence for the olympics and what not is just manufactured marketing crap.
To be fair, snowboardcross is pretty entertaining to watch, like short-track speed-skating. Which is really what I hope for, rather than the histrionics that get attached to the Olympics. It isn’t like we have any big rivals that we can metaphorically beat in these winter games like we could with the Soviet Union or last summer with China. I mean we’re in competition with Canada for the overall lead in medals?
You should also have mentioned the abomination of coverage by NBC. They are showing almost nothing live, you can’t watch the events/rounds they decide not to show, and you can’t watch anything live online. And yet they hired a Bush twin to be a correspondent and flew her around to different athletes’ homes to do puff pieces? That’s totally absurd. This should be multiplying the scorn that was heaped on them for the Conan/Leno situation.
@15 – if usain bolt had pulled a boner that stupendously i think it would be one off the greatest things ever. like buckner times a thousand. who wouldnt pray for something that awesome to happen every time they watch one of these boring events?
of course the caveat is no one gets hurt because of it, like that columbian soccer guy who scored an own goal in the ’94 world cup and then got assassinated. but otherwise, yeah, i wish more athletes would have personalities.
@ Dave E. and McKingford
Spot on.
When we were kids playing sports they always told us:
“It doesn’t matter if you win or lose as long as you are having fun” or
“Whoever has the most fun wins.”
Isn’t Lindsey just trying to have fun?
Have you ever played a game that was so easy, you breezed by the competition? It gets boring after a while. You have to do things to spice it up, make it fun again.
Perhaps Lindsey was so tired of always being in first that she wanted to give herself a challenge. She tried a board grab and wiped out. But I bet she had a lot of fun doing it.
It wasn’t fun for us because as fans, we want to win. It’s not fun watching your team lose. Or in terms of the Olympics, watching your country lose. We can’t feel the excitement of riding a snowboard at home. But we can feel the excitement of winning.
It’s not like she went out to prove she was the best in the world. She knew that. We knew that. But by not winning the race, we all felt like she didn’t prove she was the best. But did she really have to? I don’t think so. She had the most fun. And that’s more important than winning.
i was home on president’s day and some downhill snowboard event (not snowboard cross) was on, and it might have been the most non (un?)-compelling twenty minutes of television i have ever seen. didn’t feel even one bit like “the olympics”. i think if they halved the number of events the winter olympics would be much improved.
Snowboarding: Win for show. Show-off for dough.
Having fun while competing in a sport? That’s a paddlin’.
Kids these days. Why do athletes have to showboat? Why can’t they be more like Babe Ruth, a man who would never draw attention to himself and always put the sport first?
@28 – amazing.
Well put, Joe. This was certainly more interesting to read than Bill Plaschke’s take on Jacobellis.
Right on, Joe. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has sports message boards that tend to be populated by people who, to say the least, really need to get some perspective. On the baseball board there has always been a group of commenters who just cannot get over the fact that Jim Edmonds always put a little flair into his play. These people are actually OFFENDED that Edmonds occasionally dove for balls they didn’t think he needed to, or that he showed a little personality and, yes, sometimes he would ham it up while he was at the plate. As though sports is not meant to be entertainment, as though sports are war, and people will DIE if players don’t conduct themselves properly.
I can’t take snowboardcross seriously. I much prefer the joyless pursuit of perfection that is called figure skating. There’s something to be said about a competition where the losers sob uncontrollably while the winners experience an immeasurable sense of relief.
Snowboarding and runngin track are totaly different. Snowboarding is born out of testing yourself to do things bigger, faster, smoother, more precise, and more creative than you and your friends have done before. The better you become the more you look to others who are good or great to test yourself.
I’m 30 and grew up watching skateboarding and snowboarding videos of incredibly talented athletes doing what the do best. The sports aren’t really sports, they’re more athletic art than sport. They’re like the younger straighter version of figure skating. And like figure skating the only way this can become a “sport” is with scores or time. The scores are stupid because it relies on judging. My brother and many of friends have been to and performed in many skating and snowboarding competitions and it’s a very charged atmosphere where everyone roots for everyone. Some more than others, but generally people just want to see the athlete test their skills and challenge themselves and each other for greatness. There is much less vitriol in these events because there aren’t teams in the baseball/football sense that many older people are used to.
I can’t speak for others, but I’d bet Lindsey Jacobellis was competing, but having fun doing it with that same mentality that most riders have. I’m sure she was embarrassed, but if that happened at some regional Snowboarding Comp people would’ve been supportive instead she got jumped by a bunch of quixotic curmudgeons.
If Usain Bolt would’ve celebrated (sort of like he did in Beijing) and tripped it would be much different. Stylin’ maybe a generational thing, but the point of running in a race is to have the fastest time. The point of snowboarding is to challenge yourself to be creative whenever you can.
I’m happy that almost every poster on this board seems to have perspective. Small sample size, but hey… it’s something.
A simple, “Shut up, Plashke…you’re an idiot” would have sufficed. But, sure…I’ll take the 1,500 words…
The other key difference between Usain Bolt and Jacobellis is that Snowboardcross isn’t a timed event. When the clock’s running and there are world records on the line, it’s about more than who crosses the finish line first. A lot of the flack bolt got about the celebration was about how it changed what his record could have been.
No such problems in Snowboardcross. I enjoy the purity of an event where there is no clock and the race is all that matters.
Snowboardcross, snowboard cross, pfeh.
I prefer to call it “Snowtorcross.”
thanks for a little common sense!
Now write the one where we all start to think about why OTHER PEOPLE winning and losing is important to US…..even as a sports’ fan, I can’t figure out why I care, and was just starting to realize I shouldn’t any more when my kid started to….
Great, great article/blog Joe. Really, sports should be more about fun (which is different that trying to draw attention to yourself, btw) and less about winning and losing (then maybe sports parents wouldn’t be beating up coaches and officials and yelling at them all the time).
Really, the Olympics shouldn’t be about medal counts, it should be about the purity of the events and rewarding excellence (which, for some events, isn’t about objective scoring – as poetry and song used to be part of the Olympics also….why do people want it to only be about sports).
Finally, some perspective! I’ve been floored by the all the negative press Jacobellis got from her fall four years ago. I was at lunch with some coworkers today who said she got what she deserved when she was DQd in the semis this time around. They felt she was an inconsiderate little show off who had no respect for the Olympics. I told them that they didn’t understand the sport and that having fun should be the point of all sporting events. They did not seem to agree with me.
I liked your point on this not even being an event in the Olympics when she got started in it…not even when she got good in it. So its not like she grew up with the dream of winning gold at the Olympics. Her perspective of “silver is pretty good” and “snowboarding is fun” was perfect. The way the media has been crucifying her ever sense has been embarassing.
I mean, for the love of god, she’s clearly the best in her sport, has won plenty of world championships and X Games Golds. And she got a silver in the olympics when she probably never thought growing up in the sport that she’d ever compete in the olympics. That’s not bad. I mean, hell, I’ll never win an olympic medal of any kind. Why should I fault someone else for having fun and still getting silver?
Anyways, thanks for the perspective. Maybe not all sportwriters are losing their minds these days.
Amen, Poz. Amen.
I couldn’t finish this article because I can’t get past calling a method air, “The Method.” Whatever point was being made fell flat on its face like Jacobellis at the previous winter olympics.
@ 43
Very good effort, sir. You will be awarded a bronze medal.
I’ve made my peace with NBC not showing marquee events live. They want ratings, and ratings are derived from showing the high-profile stuff in prime time. I mean, I’m at work at 3:00 in the afternoon, as are most people I know. If it’s important to me to see an event as it unfolds (aka “plausibly live”…remember that unfortunate phrase?), I’ll do my best not to find out beforehand. How put out am I, really, by having to do that?
The biggest challenge for me is to remember to avoid PTI. Much as I usually love the banter between Kornheiser and Wilbon, they’re bitchy, apathetic spoilers when it comes to the Winter Olympics.
Hey, Lindsey Vonn just had a helluva run. Hope it stands up!
Showboating is why I don’t connect with sports in general anymore. I don’t even remember the last time I watched an NBA game. And football? Those guys aren’t normal – they are all ‘roided up and on amphetamines or just big fat guys. I have no connection with them, either.
Nice work as per usual. This of course ties in nicely with the very first time they had any type of snowboarding in the Olympics, Nagano I believe.
The Canadien guys that won the gold subsequently failed the after-event drug test….of course he tested positive for marijuana. And of course, they let him keep the gold anyway because it wasn’t deemed performance enhancing. Hey, Shaun White doesn’t do it for the cash, he does it because it’s fun.
Derivation of the word fun:
Possibly from fon, to make a fool of, from Middle English fonnen, to fool, possibly from fonne, fool.
@28 Jasper- freaking awesome.
Joe, I blame the media. Specifically, the sports media. Sports coverage is more about the person doing the covering than the person covered. ESPN is completely ego driven- by the guys and gals sitting behind the desk. Case in point, the College Basketball Gameday Commericials. Sure, it may be tongue in cheek- but not that tongue-in-cheek.
I still love you though Joe, and I don’t blame you. Mostly TV guys. Actually, completely TV guys.
re:snowbaording wanting to be part of the Olympics: As discussed in Joe’s post, it was the Olympics that pursued the snowboarders, not vice-versa. I read an article (I believe when the last winter Olympics was held) that discussed the introduction of snowboarding events to the Olympics. They were brought into the Games as part of the International Ski Federation (FIS), whose officials are not part of the snowboarding tradition and the two sides don’t really relate to each other. FIS invented a bunch of formal competition rules that the snowboarders disliked (rigid point systems not being part of the X-Games tradition), but put up with for the sake of competing at the Olympics.
I admit to finding humour in Lindsey Jacobellis’s fall in Turin, but my next reaction was, well, they’re snowboarders — of course they’d try to hot dog a bit down the stretch. Just as they have an unwritten agreement to continue wearing baggy pants even if it sacrifices some speed — it’s a small way to maintain a link to the roots of the sport.
[...] this article: Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Jacobellis Share and [...]
Thank you for this, Joe! I could not agree more. Solid affirmation of why I come to this blog everyday seeking sound perspective.
Were it not for Lindsey Jacobellis, I would never even invested the time in Snowboardcross (although I really do like a BR’s suggestion of “snowtocross”!!!) the first time around – and this year it was one of the events I was looking most forward too! I even watched the men’s event, but before the Olympics started I never heard of Seth Wincott or whatever his name is.
But….Lindsey Jacobellis….I’ll remember that name forever – and I’ll remember it fondley.
Good day for me. My man Poz seems to agree w/ me on Lindsey J and then another American Beauty named Lindsey wins gold in the downhill.
The only downside is that both of these Lindsey’s spell their names with an “E” – while my wife & I spelled our duaghter’s name with an “A”!
I prefer writing it as “snobocross.” Sounds more like “motocross.”
Pass it on, I hope it will catch on.
If Jacobellsbury or whatever her name happens to be is fine with it, down deep in her heart, then fine; but let’s all keep in mind that it’s understandable to let sour grapes kick in whenever people are watching. “Ahhh, no big deal, who wants the gold anyway, just a bit of fun, that’s all,” Is that what she really feels, or what she SAYS she feels? The two can be very different.
At the risk of not having as much perspective as every other poster here, I’d like to think that in her situation I’d make sure to nail down the gold first, then commence to celebrating. I have no problem with celebrating, but it really ought to be secondary to the primary objective of winning. Just because a few idiots make an overly big deal about it doesn’t mean it’s not kind of a big deal.
And the lesson is, as always, that most sportswriters (not Joe obviously or some others) ought to be ashamed of themselves at all times.
@32
really? cardinal fans upset at showboating? didnt ozzie smith showboat his way into the hall of fame?
Count me as someone who has less perspective than most here. And frankly, if we substituted the name Bode Miller for that of the young lady in Joe’s story, I think some of you would too.
I suspect your acceptance of her showboating has more to do with the nature of her sport (and your disdain for it as an actual “sport”), than it does with perspective.
The folks over at Slate have a fun Sap-O-Meter to track NBC’s usage of couple dozen “sappy” words during the primetime broadcasts. (Plus, it makes a great drinking game).
Alas, “redemption” only garnered four hits during Tuesday’s telecast.
http://www.slate.com/id/2244978/
Thanks, as usual, for the great Poz-pespective on this event. Or should that be Pozpespective? Anyway, everybody needs a bit more of that.
Doug/59 – I like that. “Pozspective.” Similarly, I think the above sport name suggestions will eventually morph to “snowcross” – it rolls off the tongue quite nicely.
Regarding “redemption,” I’ve got a different perspective. We Catholics have just begun Lent, and the idea of redemption is quite on the mind. I’m not really surprised about the adulation and subsequent obsession over “redemption” for a poor performance in an important event – sports are a modern religion, as important as the ancient Olympics were to honor the gods. The only difference is that we think WE’RE the gods. Athletes who excel are showered with our favor. Those whose displease us are pilloried. But, hey, there’s the chance at “redemption” – which we shall confer or deny according to our will. And the media are rather like a self-appointed clergy pronouncing our judgments.
Two minutes’ thought puts it back in perspective for me. There is nothing an athlete owes me – not his private life, not his attention if I pester him in public, not his gratitude if I cheer and buy a jersey. But where I begin to lose my own perspective is in the media (in this case, Plaschke) blathering about “redemption,” and it’s not only a religious objection to cheapening the concept of something I hold dear. It’s also an objection to cheapening the language. I can’t expect Plaschke or anyone else to follow my faith; I can easily expect him to respect words, because they are his stock in trade. Redemption means something, and this isn’t it, and even if the concept is not a big deal to Plaschke, he could use a word more fitting to his subject Take a deep breath and try to describe something accurately instead of resorting to clichéd hyperbole. Heck, I’d settle for paragraphs longer than one sentence each – Plaschke has to start somewhere, it may as well be somewhere small.
Well said. A big part of the issue is just that people don’t “get” the culture of snowboarding and these other newfangled sports. One of the Japanese snowboarders caused a national moment of shame by…wearing saggy pants and having dreadlocks. He was banned from the opening ceremonies and forced to apologize to the country, as if that sort of fashion wasn’t completely normal (if not quasi-mandatory) for snowboarders.
Chill out, people, it’s just snowboarding!
Joe, I see your point, and most of the BRs here seem to agree with it. I’m not a BR–more of a Reader of Unusually Average Intellect–but I can’t agree with you on this one.
I get the Snow Cross or whatever it’s called is one of these new fangled sports yada, yada, yada. And while it certainly is true that putting it in the Olympics will change the Olympics and the Olympic Ideal, isn’t it also true that putting it in the Olympics will change Snow Cross? Is it too much to ask for an athlete to embrace some portion of the Olympic Ideal for the 90 seconds it takes to go down the course? Could she perhaps consider that for 90 seconds “it ain’t all about her” and she can go back to being a self-absorbed young adult in a minute in a half?
In a moment of pure self-serving, “hey look at me” she pi$$ed away opportunity and really made a complete mockery of any notion that the Olympics are different from the norm.
As an aside, there’s a great lesson there that you don’t pi$$ away opportunity because you don’t get that many of them. Unsurpisingly, the media missed that story, but the counter of “eh, she’s a snow boarder having fun” misses it too.
Rant complete.
I seem to have a different perspective. The goal of any sport (at this level) should be to win while playing within the ruls. Otherwise, just make it an exhibition and don’t hand out prizes or medals. If you’re trying to win and you do something unnecessary that jeopardizes your chance at winning, you should be called out for it (but not villified).
I love this kind of stuff, not because she was humiliated or wasn’t redeemed, but because seeing how people react sheds real light on what they perceive of the macrocosm of life.
Personally, I am not threatened in any way by her showboating and find her failure mildly ironic but little else. This is likely because I don’t have any knowledge of these “Olympic ideals” that people seem to cite all the time. I am always in awe of athletes and enjoy competition; I respect them in the same way I respect people who perform intellectual feats. Some may reflect my own characteristics, some may broaden my perceptions, and some just make me laugh. I appreciate them all.
If my teammate misses home plate while celebrating a game winning run and instead makes the final out. I will likely be a little sore at first but will probably just tease him about it and laugh it off. Whether this was beer league, the Olympics, or the World Series, I honestly don’t think my reaction would change. Once it’s over, what was and what could have been are both worth about the same, nothing.
However, would you (Joe or any of the readers who don’t think snowboardcross is such a big deal) feel differently, if Usain Bolt had lost the 100m dash due to premature celebration?
Usain Bolt did prematurely celebrate in the 200, he just still won it…
David Reid. I think he was from Philly.
He was getting killed by a 2 or 3 time defending champ from Cuba, and caught him with a fairly lucky punch to win the USA’s only boxing gold of the olympics.
It was a big deal at the time, and still one of my favorite olympic moments.
But your greater point about that moment is probably true.
Humility is a quality that is sorely lacking these days and it is one that I (and from reaction, I’d say many others) deeply admire and respect and she shows none of it.
It’s not just about what she did during the race but also about how she tried to play it off and didn’t admit to it until she was called out by teammates and coaches. That shows a lack of character, and why people think she should be working for redemption. I think her attitude also (“Silver isn’t bad”) is not the type of reaction people would like. People like those who make mistakes, who admit their mistakes and work hard to rectify it. And she didn’t seem to think she made a mistake, didn’t see a need to work hard to rectify it and ultimately did not do so.
That young woman only won an Olympic SILVER medal, what a loser she is!
The REAL winners were the sportswriters who made her cry in front of an international audience.
I Thank and Congratulate all our Olypians for the outstanding way they represent the USA. A reporters job is to report the sports news not belittle,criticise, put blame, or condemn the atheletes when they fail to live up to standards that others have forced upon them. They are doing the best job they can and I’m PROUD of them all win or lose.
“A reporters job is to report the sports news not belittle,criticise, put blame, or condemn the atheletes when they fail to live up to standards that others have forced upon them.”
Exactly right. But commentators are employed to provide their opinions – completely different than the reporters. I don’t think much of Plaschke, but it is his job to offer his opinion on current events in sports.
And “…standards that others have forced upon them.”? I don’t follow that. By choosing to take part in that competition, Jacobellis is by extension competing for a gold medal. Competitors choose to attempt to attain those standards. It’s not like she was coerced into competing, was she?
Am I the only one who thought that this was gonna be about Mike Jacobs?
“The REAL winners were the sportswriters who made her cry in front of an international audience.”
Spare me, drama queen. Those tears had much more to do with her failure sinking in than it did fielding a few questions from writers. And she’s a grown woman. Crying in public won’t scar her for life.
Good point, the sportswriters are the REAL heroes. This silver medal JERK needed to be gone after. How DARE she come in second in the world? Columnists need to go after more athletes who finish second in the world and try to break them down and make them pay.
They don’t give a damn about her sport, but it’s important for them to call her out to save the integrity of her sport from the athletes who actually play her sport.
Your rhetoric is annoying and besides the point. I don’t care a whit about the writers. The relevant fact is that she chose to celebrate before the job was completed and it blew up in her face. “Oh, but this is part of the fabric of her sport” as though that’s some sort of defense for giving away one of the most prestigious athletic honors in the world. She cried because she knew she cost herself that gold, not because the writers were a bunch of meanies.
“They don’t give a damn about her sport, but it’s important for them to call her out to save the integrity of her sport from the athletes who actually play her sport.”
What, is snowboardcross junior high school or something? Like, OMG, it’s TOTALLY LAME to win the gold, ROFLMAO!
But you’re attributing a gold medal as the most prestigious athletic honour in the world yourself, rather than the athlete. Does Lindsey Jacobellis put the same stock into an Olympic medal as you and the others do? Perhaps, but judging by her background with the X-Games and successes beyond the Olympics, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to Jacobellis. That’s her perspective, so I don’t see why people are so offended by her level of treatment of the gold medal.
If that’s the case, then no, Jacobellis didn’t cry because her failure deemed that as an appropriate response. She cried simply because she was being blamed, vilified, and made to feel that all her past successes, which includes everything that isn’t even sport related, were irrelevant and nothing. She was made to be a failure, rather than Jacobellis breaking down because she failed.
Your own biases as to what a gold medal means to you is automatically attributed to these athletes without context, irrespective of whether they should care about it or not. A gold medal isn’t the end of the world for athletes like Jacobellis, so she didn’t and likely doesn’t treat them in the same manner as you. If you think that’s a blight to your standards, then that’s your prerogative. But that isn’t Jacobellis’ concern.
After all, didn’t Jacobellis follow this so-called (and not to mention now bastardized) “Olympic ideal” by taking part, regardless of winning or losing, and having fun in order to celebrate the struggle and not the triumph? Jacobellis is the one who put in the long hours, bumps and bruises to become one of the best in her sport. Seemed like she already celebrated and saw gold as a bonus, rather than something that defined her.
“If that’s the case, then no, Jacobellis didn’t cry because her failure deemed that as an appropriate response. She cried simply because she was being blamed, vilified, and made to feel that all her past successes, which includes everything that isn’t even sport related, were irrelevant and nothing. She was made to be a failure, rather than Jacobellis breaking down because she failed.”
What? Now she’s crying even though she felt 100% justified by her own actions? You must concede that, at the very least, her convictions on this matter aren’t very strong if she was comfortable with what she did but cried about it anyway.
#74, this is what Joe wrote: “Jacobellis refused to turn her crash into human tragedy. “Silver’s pretty good,” she said at one point during her post-race teleconference, and also “Snowboarding is fun.” She, apparently, had seen her bit of hot-dogging as a goofy mistake rather than some betrayal of her sports’ integrity. She did not even seem to think her sport HAD integrity, or at least not that kind. She was then caught off guard when the media questioning turned harsh. She did not seem to know that, in the majority media view, she had let down herself and she had let down her country. She had blown her chance at glory. As the questions attacked her like body punches, she was jolted to the core. The press conference ended abruptly when Jacobellis, knocked down by the force of the questioning, broke down in tears.”
I agree with Posnanski, that this was not some tragedy or disgrace. I also agree with Jacobellis, silver’s pretty good and snowboarding seems fun. She made a goofy mistake, rather than betraying her sport’s integrity. Her sport doesn’t even have that kind of integrity.
It’s not even clear what point you’re trying to make, other than you’re angry at Jacobellis and glad “it blew up in her face” and glad she cried. Well good for you, she lost the race and didn’t get a gold medal and everyone attacked her, isn’t that what you wanted? Why so irate about it?
Ricardo, if you’re happy with the press for savaging a young woman in public, and take pleasure in seeing her broken down, then your problems run deeper than the lack of integrity in Olympic snowcross. You should take a break from the combox, I think Springer’s on.
As Joe said, this is a move she’s done tens of thousands of times in her life. The likelihood of her falling while doing the grab is about 0.001% higher than her falling without the grab. To a professional snowboarder, a method grab is absolutely nothing. Bad luck is all.
If any of you can find in my posts where I am happy about what happened, please point it out chapter and verse.
And if you’re going to accuse me of mingling with the common rabble, I’d prefer a TMZ reference or American Idol instead. Springer is SO dated.
You know, Joe, I think a bigger question about the Olympics should be, “When the snow and the dust settles, does it really make all that much difference at all?” Really, we’re not talking about world peace or the humanity of mankind, which might have been the original ideal behind the Olympics. We’re thinking about medal count, people who have spent 8-10 hours a day for the last 4-10 years jumping on snowboards or skiing or other things that 99.999% of the human race would consider fun departures on vacation maybe once a year. These people do stuff I would consider “vacation caliber” for their day-job. No wonder the Jacobellis’ of the world see what they do as “fun.” Heck, it is fun for them. Let’s play all day at doing something the rest of society would have to drop big money just to do once every year or two. That’s why I think the Olympics is just one big joke.
She made a mistake and handled herself well in a moment when it would of been very easy to hide or not even answer. My respect for her grew even more after this olympics as she again handled it with dignity and kept it all in perspective.
There are those who think that Olympic athletes have a responsibility to their nation. They’re representing their country! Their gold medals are our gold medals, and the country with the most gold medals is the best country in the world. To those people, Jacobellis was insane, to risk a gold, the very first gold ever in that sport, by showboating. It must be tantamount to treason.
Then there are those who think athletes have a responsibility to their sport. After all, these are amateurs (okay, they used to be amateurs). To those people, Jacobellis is a hero. She stayed true to the spirit of her sport when she could have coasted to a gold medal.
I think there is almost no reconciling the two positions. Most of us are between the two. But I think the world would be a better place if athletes worried more about fun and style and less about their country’s medal count. No war was ever won by having more Olympic medals. No starving child was ever fed, no homless person housed, no sick person cured, no student educated, no robber captured, no road paved, no polluter punished. Whatever you may think the role of government is, it is not something furthered by Olympic medals, and those folks who have believed that include some of the harshest tyrants in history. And if she was thinking, not just caught up in the moment, then given that so many other sports have been Olympic sports for just a few Olympics before disappearing (sic transit baseball) I think what she did helped boost snowboardcross, so it would likelier survive as an Olympic sport. She chose her sport, her joy, passion, over whatever debt she owed to her country.
We’ll never know if Jacobellis wouldn’t have fallen if she didn’t grab her board. We do know that if she had hit her landing, the cheers would still be echoing around the world, for an athlete so caught up in the joy of her sport that she risked a medal to let the whole world see that joy. Joy to the world, I say.
Thank you for saying this. I will forever be a HUGE fan. She’s an awesome lady and I love love love her. This articulates so well every frustration that I’ve had about this ongoing saga. I just want to tell everyone to leave her alone and let her enjoy something that brings immense pleasure to her life, because isn’t that what we all should hope to do with ourselves?
Hey Joe,
can you please post a few thousand words on why people should cease putting their own expectations on others? Okay, sure I am doing it now but we would all get a lot more sleep if we would just tolerate the behavior of others.
The fact that these writers could make this young woman cry because of their expectations is so unfair. You only have the right to be intolerant with your family and friends, not people who you dont know. People who you dont know can be ignored and should be if you dont approve.
Who am I to tell someone playing a game at an exceedingly high level how they should play it? Whoeever they are has gotten them to that level, and my opinion about them does not matter. In this context my money speaks, and they can choose to appeal to my sensibilities or not. If not, I will ignore them, and if so I will support them (maybe).
However to be out there telling folks how they should do what they will do is not my job, nor anyone else’s and we are not equipped to do it anyway. No one knows whats going on in anyone’s mind, and we are not meant to judge. Thats why innocents die and are imprisoned. If 12 men and women cannot get it right in the most serious of issues, how on earth can any sole person armed with a pen hope to bring about justice?