Jesper underscores two crises happening in freestyle skiing today.
Xgames announcers would hyper-react with, “Wow!
This guy is insane!
He’s making history and inventing new tricks!”
The competitors today aren’t just hucking things on a whim like in the past.
These athletes have spent their entire lives training for the sport.
Freestyle skiing has become increasingly about precision, much like gymnastics.
This is the pinnacle of sport and the end-product of innovation.
Judged sports typically reward those who approach these limits of physical ability.
The problem is, ESPN deliberately obfuscates how they actually score the sport.
And this leads to crisis #2: Xgames clings to their founding formula of serving up over-hyped spectacle.
Then comes Jesper - the innovator extraordinaire - bringing all of this to the forefront.
He hucks crazy shit with seemingly reckless abandon.
It is exciting, just like back in the beginning.
He is progressing the sport, but the sport doesn’t seem to be rewarding his progression.
This is where a competent announcer might help guide the audience towards appreciating the sport.
Passionate audiences, including the author of this article, have been following his narrative for a long time.
In our minds, he has reigned as of the sport’s most talented athletes.
The Xgames judges and announcers are busy crafting their own narratives around marketable characters and storylines.
Jesper’s career of innovation and fearlessness would have been a boon for Xgames to celebrate.
They use his clips on every promo segment.
But, for whatever reason they overlook him when it comes time to hand out medals.
It is both blatant and unfortunate - for Jesper and the sport as a whole.
I couldn’t resist commenting on the Youtube video:
Isn’t this event scored on overall impression anyway?
If short skis are a reason to dock points, make it dogma.
Most of this is caused and perpetuated by ESPN.
To them, theyve figured out the formula for printing money and theyll optimize it to the ground.
The sport and its athletes are merely a vector for this.
Jesper is of this innovator ilk too.
No doubt, the founders of Xgames are watching him in adornment, feeling the same way we are.
Keep up the great work Jesper.
Fuck the lack of institutional gratification.
At this point it wouldn’t even matter.
