It is that time of year again where bro-has and snow-hos come together to rejoice in their Spy sunglasses, and Energy drink hats with the bill bent upwards. Winter X Games Fifteen starts today and runs through the 30th in “I’ll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I’m talking about a little place called Aspen.”
Is it just me or have the X Games lost their sizzle? In the late 90s and early 00s the X Games, both Winter and Summer, were atop of the world and now it feels like they become more of a gimmick with every competition. Maybe it is just me but it seems like there also is less of a buzz for Winter X than there has been in the past.
I used to be an avid snowboarder and now have no real motivation to hit the slopes, unless I am hooked up with a sweet cabin deal and a carpool up to Brianhead. There was a point where I was going every weekend and now I haven’t gone in 2 seasons and I would suck a lot worse than I already did if I were to get back on the bike again. Basically, I miss when the X Games were cool.
To me, Winter X has spread itself to thin. I remember when snowboarding was the newest thing to hit the winter sports world and now it seems like it is old school. X Games has turned into an episode of “Jackass,” where goofy white kids decide to race and jump anything with a motor. That goes for snowmobiles, Subaru cars, and now motorcycles. You and I both know that no one cares to see people riding their dirt bikes in snow anymore than we did on dirt.
It is the same kids going “brap brap” and riding under the influence of Monster as it is in the Summer, just now in the snow. They are not different sports and should be eliminated from the Winter X competition. If I had it my way, Winter X Games would be taken back to its roots, snowboarding and skiing aka “bread and butter.”
I want to see kids that look like skinnier versions of Troy Polamalu going as high and fast as possible on 1 or 2 pieces of graphite strapped to their feet. That means, downhill for speed, slalom, super-pipe, and maybe a big air or something. Everything else is spam that Sal Masekaela has to try to learn about just before he goes on air. Not only is it new to him but new to the whole extreme sports world, and frankly new to the poor soul who is about to jump the Rocky Mountains on a hemi-powered pogo stick.
The Winter X Games ambassador, Shaun White, is all they have left. On the women’s side there is this Gretchen Bleiler character who you may recognize from her ESPN 3D commercial. Other than that, every other name on the set list is French to me and probably the rest of the world because a majority of them are actually French.
I like to write about things that are time relevant and with the competition starting this evening, I felt it was appropriate as a total of 13 of the my readers might be interested, not including myself but o be honest, I am even getting a little frustrated writing about this. I would much rather be talking about other cold weather sports like the Olympics or hockey, so stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, “The 2011 NHL All-Star Game.” So, I would be not mad if you stopped reading this blog because I probably would have a long time ago. But please continue for my sake as I am trying to improve my blogging format and material with your input.
I also have been running analyses on the different ways to market my blog as of late. Most of my popular blogs are either about sports (not including this one) and “My Life,” which to be honest is what I prefer writing about as well. So, it makes sense that something I enjoy talking about comes across better to the readers. Obviously, I write for enjoyment but this is not a diary, I write for people to read it. So, I want to cater the blogs to what you want.
Most successful blogs are centered around a particular topic and I am trying to hone down on what that topic is. I currently post Monday-Friday with 20% of the writing concerning “my life,” 40% of the writing concerning sports (via Top Tens or something else), and another 40% of which I talk about either TV, pop culture, music, or politics. With the latter being so diversified and less centered, I am considering dropping those type of topics and keeping them limited to Facebook statuses and Tweets, which I need to start embedding as well.
However, I would like to solicit the consultation of yous before I do anything drastic. Would you reader prefer more centered topics? Would you want them just as often or would 2/3 times a week be sufficient? I realize that less is more and writing a blog about the friggin X Games that most people don’t care about just to fill a category doesn’t really do much for anyone. I think the length of the blogs is good but if you would like more or less, please let me know also.
I also realize a lot of you subscribe via your cellular devices, in which you don’t always watch the embedded videos (that I think are hilarious and enhance the humor of the blog), so would you prefer less videos and more pictures or less of both? Or are you one of the few who get a kick out of the videos ( like me, which I highly doubt) and would prefer that I change nothing?
I enjoy all the feedback yous have been sending me lately about format, writing style, and frequency and am genuinely seeking more help. I want this ish to be good but can only guess what works so I would really appreciate any and all feedback you could throw my way. If you’re a creeper like me and don’t want to post a comment you can send me a message on The Facebook or email it to mackinjon@yahoo.com. Thank you and God Bless America!
