Why are we getting no attention

BamBam · Criminal Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Posts: 72 City: Glenpool

OK I need to vent for a minute. Why is wakeboarding getting no attention on the national level. Our sport goes higher, harder, and better then any other board sport. Come on we only got about 7 minutes on the xgames!! Rock Climbing got more time then we did. I'm getting really frustrated with the whole thing and i was wondering if i was the only one noticing this.

Chukee_R · Posted: Feb 06, 2003 9:57 pm Post subject:

That's kind of like how street luge got 2 hours straight of crap...Wakeboarding is moving up though. There is wakeboard tv coming soon. There is a Disney commercial with wakeboarding, it will all come in good time.

otiswunguy · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 871 City: Sammamish

i for one am happy about the exposure. it helps keep wakeboarding pure. i am so glad that the majority of people who snowboard and skateboard don't know that wakeboarding has all the good aspects and very few of the bad ones. i hate espn announcers. "wow he really boned that one out" "he just kissed the rail" how lame.

B-rad · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 6:49 am Post subject:

more exposure= more videos, more boards, cheaper cost for all equitment, etc. I would like to see more stuff on TV, that way I don't have to pay the 30$ or so for a 25 min vid.

salmon_tacos · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 8:21 am Post subject:

The lack of exposure is probably due to the fact that wakeboarding is an "elite" sport. By that I mean that most people who do it are pretty well off...not everyone but it helps. You have to live near water. You have to have a boat...a good one if you want pro-level wakes. Etc.

You don't see polo on TV because there are very few people who do it...or can afford to do it. Wakeboarding is similar but to a lesser degree.

It is a relatively young sport.

BTW, I think snowboarding goes "higher" than wakeboarding. Have you been on one of those 60-foot tabletops? Damn. Harder and better are up for debate.

electricsnow · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 8:37 am Post subject:

For some reason most wakeboarders don't realize how young the sport is and they are expecting it to be as big as snowboarding or something. Snowboarding and skateboarding paid their dues for a number of years, so they definitely worked to get to where they are today.

Also, Wakeboarding is not the most extreme sport out there. Right now, snowboarders are hitting like 80 foot tables and they are also killing it out in the backcountry where the terrain is steep and the powder is super hard to land in (watch anything with devun walsh).

I could go on and on and I would probably get a little off topic. The point is that wakeboarding is just too young and personally speaking, it isn't always that cool to watch on tv. I don't know how many people are also into snowboarding on here, but there have been a number of wakeboarding disses in some mags this season (showing a lack of respect for some tricks and styles). At any rate, just be patient. Perhaps this will bring things into perspective; jj thomas was talking about how he thought everyone knew what snowboarding was before the olympics. Only after that event did he realize that not everyone knew about the sport and it took a global platform to show everyone what it was. Wakeboarding hasn't had anything like that, so there is still a long road to be travelled. Just be happy with the coverage you have because back in 1995, all there was to watch was the pro tour and two or three videos PERIOD.

By the way, with street lougers travelling 60 mph (or however fast) three inches off of the blacktop, they are probably laughing at your statements of wakeboarding being so extreme, especially when you land it water. Try to understand other sports if you want them to understand yours.

RUSSIAN · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 9:06 am Post subject:

Electricsnow, I have'nt been following the snow mags to much lately, can you elaborate on what was said. It does'nt suprise me that they are dissin, Espn makes wakeboarding look like the dumbest thing ever, and there are alot of pro's that need to clean up there styles. Thats exactly what the vandall says in every interview and everybody has a hissy fit about it. I could go on and on about this also

BamBam · Criminal Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Posts: 72 City: Glenpool

im all about keeping our sport pure, but tv time isnt going to stain wakeboarding. What it comes down to is the heart of the riders. As long as we are riding just because we love it, wakeboarding will remain pure.

electricsnow · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 11:07 am Post subject:

The first knock I read this season was in the danny kass guest editor issue of snowboarder mag. Kyle clancy was taking about pipe contests or something and made a remark about the "wakeboarding 1080" in reference to the hucky spinny state of pipe contests right now.

I know that cody dresser has dissed wakeboarding here and there and micah miginnity (sp) made a comment about not doing wrapped spins because they are lame. micah actually wakeboards but apparently he doesn't like that trick (I like them if randy does them). As for cody, he doesn't wakeboard.

it's weird though because some of the most stylish snowboarders used to test out the old thruster boards and they had footage in some of the earlier flf films, so I am surprised that the crossover effect hasn't been greater than what it is. But at the same time, it's probably similar to skaters completely knocking snowboarding (and i am sure they still do, just not as much).

It's funny, I have some old snowboarding mags and hyperlite put in some ads and I think thruster did as well....and k2.

RUSSIAN · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 11:52 am Post subject:

thank you snow.

billm · Soul Rider Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 476 City: TX

no doubt..Actually MotX go pretty freakin big and knarly but your right..

we now have Rush hour,blue torch,54321,Fusion TV,Xgames,gravity games,and the VTC on TV all of which should include wakeboarding with all this extreme/action sport explosion but i bet there wasnt a total of two hours of wakeboarding footage out of all that tv coverage that made it on the air and the stuff that did might as well hadnt it was a bad representationof the sport.

I like watching MotoX,Snowboarding,skating and some BMX but come on share the stoke ..whenever those are not on ive seen more coverage of down hill racing of snowmoblies,skis,luge,and sandboarding along with shots of surfing and bodyboarding to make me sick !Ive had enough !!!! Exclamation

I hope WakeboardTV makes it because this 54321 doesnt even have wakeboarding listed as one of the sports they will talk about and the hosts are terrible,they are reading the que's so badly its obviuos,posers !!!

Oh well i still have a boat,lake,and a crew so im good Wink

Gbgonzal138 · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 887

The world is strange that way somtimes.

doinflipsdavis · Outlaw Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 179 City: SML VA

I think everyone should quit complain about wakeboarding not being this or that. think about it. how many people do you know that go snowboarding, and how many people do you know that actually "snowboard". i bet the real core snowboarders (except the big name pros who are makin big bucks) hate all the people that just go to the mountain for a weekend and claim to be a "snowboarder", when in reality they ride 5 times a year. i know my lake is already getting super crowded, not only because it's developing real estate-wise but also because more people are hearing about wakeboarding, from tv or just seeing it out on the water, and buying a board to cruise around the lake behind a sea doo. i'm completely fine if not every single person out there is headed to the lake to "wakeboard" every weekend and i dont mind explaining to people what wakeboarding is because they've never seen or heard of it. just my thoughts, i enjoy smooth water, which is harder and harder to find

K.A · Soul Rider Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 252 City: Florida

yeah i wish it had more exposure, but i don't want it to become so commercial like skateboarding where everywhere you look there are some little punks running around calling themselves skateboarders. you know what i mean?

pedro · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 6:04 pm Post subject:

My first thought was "who cares - it's still fun ?".

Thinking about it, it would be nice to be able to see some competitions on the TV because it's a lot cheaper than having to buy the pro's videos.

RunningWithScissors · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 6:16 pm Post subject:

I really wish wakeboarding was on the X-Games too! My bro (whos 11) said to me, "You have to be by the water to do it," well, maybe it's too hard to coordinate things. We just have to work the sport up. And not being on so many sport shows keeps the sport to the intrests of people. So, it's not like, Oh more skateboarding (no offense to it) its so freakin boring ive seen it for like an hour.

RunningWithScissors · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 6:16 pm Post subject:

I really wish wakeboarding was on the X-Games too! My bro (whos 11) said to me, "You have to be by the water to do it," well, maybe it's too hard to coordinate things. We just have to work the sport up. And not being on so many sport shows keeps the sport to the intrests of people. So, it's not like, Oh more skateboarding (no offense to it) its so freakin boring ive seen it for like an hour.

derrick lenz · Posted: Feb 07, 2003 7:18 pm Post subject:

i'd like to see more wakeboarding on tv but not necessarily the comps. seriously it seems like every guy does pretty much the same runs. seems like every guy has a whirly, s-bend, and a pete in their runs. it'd be nice to see a comp where people could do stuff stylish like a blind indy 180. hopefully with wakeboardtv they'll have good video segments that represent the sport the way it should be.

Krashr31 · Outlaw Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 238 City: Florida

Nicely put Lenz.

RUSSIAN · Posted: Feb 08, 2003 12:12 am Post subject:

K.A. I know exactly what you mean, there are 9 million little punks in this country who call themselves skaters cause they can kickflip standing still but can't even ollie up a curb. this is not what I want to see happen to wakeboarding, but unfortunatly it's going to happen if we continue to push for t.v. coverage. I would also like to state that the prices of gear will not go down because of more exposure, skateboards cost more now than ever and the industry is the biggest it's ever been. Do you honestly think hyperlite, liquid force, cwb, etc will lower prices because more people are buying there products. Derrick Lenz is on the right track, hopefully the wakeboard industry will follow suit and realize that podium appearences do not determine who the best riders are, there is so much more to wakeboarding than the pro tour. Watch the Vandals new section on the nbt dvd and you will be enlightened.

I'm done.

derrick lenz · Posted: Feb 08, 2003 7:54 pm Post subject:

very true russian. as the demand for a particular product rises the supply will also rise to meet the equilibrium price and price versa (all other factors held constant). by a simple supply/cost graph you can see that prices will rise. man econ 203 is actually paying off.

sean o rama · Criminal Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 57 City: Sammamish

do you think it has anything to do with the intangibles? like just hanging out on the water with some good lookin girls? Maybe some of the other sports are more extreme, (examples of 80 footers in snowboarding, backflipping a dirt bike) but are girls will always be way hotter. man i really have to get back to my poly sci essay. peace

wakeriderof87 · Posted: Feb 10, 2003 2:47 pm Post subject:

one thing i get tired of is surfing, it seems like everytime i turn on bluetorch its surfing and its probably one of my least favorites "extreme sports" to watch. I mean i'm sure its great if u do it but if your don't its kinda boring