IRJ-22
In Sports Illustrated, there was a piece about the snowboarder Shaun White. In the article, they said that Shaun was the best of the best. He undoubtedly is, but at what cost? In an interview on the show 60 Minutes, he showed us how he has the big house, the hidden half pipe and the sports car, but when the interviewer talked about a fellow snowboarder saying Shaun has no friends and I s all alone. Shaun does admit that being at the top is a lonely place. This is present in all sports, when your competing with a friend and they beat you or vice versa, you would not really be in the mood to be getting some food after because your angry and would not really want to be around them. Shaun White is making history with his new, challenging and jaw-dropping tricks, so the jealousy of the riders have gotten very high because some are still trying to get a basic backside 900 in their arsenal of tricks. Since Shaun shows no sign of stopping these new and inventive tricks, his competitors do not want to be around someone like that. Tony Hawk was also in this type of situation. He is also the best at vertical skateboarding, doing 900’s before anyone else could do anything close to that. Hawk was also considered a sell-out by making his own skateboarding brand. The history of this in action sports goes all the way back to Tony Alva. These legends now, were considered as cheep sell-outs by their peers back when they were competing. Their peers should have welcomed them and should have been happy to compete with these kinds of athletes, but jealousy is inevitable in sports, and it is true, the top is a lonely place.
