I happened upon this article recently, it’s from New York Times, and it claims that “snowboarding, once a high flying sport, crashes to earth”…. um what? They go on to take a dump on snowboarding; nobody has a sponsor anymore, all events are being cancelled, and nobody watches snowboarding on TV anymore.
But guess what? We’re all still snowboarding, we all still love snowboarding, and everyone here at the shop is snowboarding more than ever. Snowboarding isn’t about getting “sponsors”, it’s not about getting a bunch of couch potatoes at home to watch what we’re doing, and it’s not about running a big, successful event that brings in a ton of money for the suits in the offices. Snowboarding is returning to it’s core, that’s what we see. We see less and less folk coming through the door snowboarding because it’s the “cool” thing to do, and we see more customers and long-time shredders that either want to get into it because it’s a genuinely good time or they love riding for the sake of riding, and we think it’s great.
Of course we want the sport to grow and prosper, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired of snowboarding being a fashion statement; which it feels like it has been in previous years. Like I said, snowboarding is returning to its roots, it’s rewarding the core riders, and we’re focusing in on those that truly enjoy riding, while cutting out the fashion and trend side of it.
So, New York Times, we’re glad your corporatized version of snowboarding is crashing to earth. Because it’s letting core snowboarding soar higher than ever.
Original Article Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/sports/snowboarding-once-a-high-flying-sport-crashes-to-earth.html?_r=3
