Winter X Games

It’s Winter X Games time again!! I love the X Games. This year has a bit of a different feel to it since the Olympics start in two weeks, but it’s sort of like a preview to portions of the Olympics since all the members of the snowboard and skiing teams are competing this weekend in Aspen. Of course there are also painful elements of the proximity to the Olympics in that the possibility of injury has vastly huger consequences and the injuries that do happen could be catastrophic for the various national teams in Vancouver.

Like Torah Bright having to withdraw because of a concussion during a practice run, or the spill that Shawn White took where he hit the lip of the half pipe so hard with this chin that it popped his helmet off. Or the Austrian team member who wiped out during the men’s snowboard cross and ended up with a concussion, broken ribs and a chest contusion. It was brutal.

But even with the wipeouts it is just so much fun to watch all of these athletes go balls to the wall and see what they can do.

Except for one thing. I do not for the life of me understand why the expectations are so much lower for the women in almost every single sport. I mean is it because women are typically smaller and so don’t get as much momentum and thus as much speed? Or is it that they aren’t as strong? Or is it just that the women haven’t pushed themselves to attempt the level of tricks the men are doing? If it’s one of the first two, fine, I don’t much like it, but there’s not much to do about it really. If it’s the last one however, that is just silly. I mean seriously? I think it’s probably the most apparent in the snowboard half pipe than just about anything else. Shawn White was getting up to 22 feet above the walls, while Kelly Clark was only getting up to about 14 feet. And there was only one woman attempting to do more than just a 900 for tricks. What is up with that?