jwelsh83

I always have watched the XGames and remember the inaugural XGames back in '95. But a local news station in my area is doing a story on how the XGames are now too dangerous since the incident this year with Caleb Moore and his sled. It's so damn stupid, the media...talk about inherant risk! Just like guns are too dangerous and the NFL is NOW too dangerous. I have a feeling the next generation of human beings will be a bunch of crying vaginas walking around with helmets, knee and elbow pads. Pretty sure the competitors know the risks and really don't give a crap and they don't need anybody stepping in and telling them to tone it down a bit...snowmobiling was introduced shortly after the inaugural XGames and NOW it's unsafe. Go cry wolf elsewhere media, Evil Kenevil doers don't give a damn!

Treegreen

Throwing around tricks on a snowmobile is the epitome of stupid from a risk perspective. I could kind of get the news profile if the x-games made us all go out and copy them like a bunch of idiots. As it stands, if some guy who has adrenaline rush issues wants to put himself at risk then more power to him. They know it's dangerous. I think the NFL/football debate is more nuanced and a different animal all together. It's a much more widely engaged in activity, and the serious risk it poses is only now being identified let alone fully understood. Trying to prevent debilitating brain injuries that have the potential side effect of wigging out and committing suicide doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that makes a generation a bunch of "crying vaginas."

jwelsh83

Agreed, my whole point is that with ANYTHING contact related there is and always has been inherent risk. We all have choices to participate, but to ME we don't need the media telling us driving a sled off a ramp is dangerous and putting our beloved sports into the limelight to make them "safe". They, that participate know this, and we don't need someone stepping in and regulating something else...we know that tobacco causes cancer, we know eating too much causes obesity and other issues. It seems like a non issue and something that the greats in these sports already know and have dealt with over the years...food for thought...

IdahoFreshies

It's not the next generation that's going to be crying vaginas, it's the previous generations who are writing the stories that are complaining how dangerous it is, the people that didn't grow up with mainstream action sports.

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If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.

lo0p

Helmets? OMG, so lame.
Good thing there are some real manly core boarders like you to make up for us cry babies. Sorry, I meant crying vaginas.

I hate to break it to you, but we have it way easier than the previous generation, who in turn had it easier than the previous one and so on. It's called progress.
So the previous generations probably think that we (and that includes you my dear friend) are a bunch of crying vaginas.

You want to ride without a helmet? Be my guest. I'll vote for you at the Darwin awards.

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.lo0p

jwelsh83

Hey LoOp, sorry you miss understood my post and decided to go off on a rant...I dont have an issue with helmets and wear one myself. I'm saying that the next generation will come out the womb with a helmet because were affraid everything is dangerous. I'm not comparing this issue to wearing a helmet on the slopes you ass clown. For god sakes, all competitors on the XGames wear helmets...thats not the issue or what I was referring to as crying vaginas. It's the fact that the media considers something dangerous that is already dangerous.

BoardWalk

That's gotta hurt...

jwelsh83

LOL...hypothetically my friend

Treegreen

I'm going to go on a tangent later in the post so I'll get the part were you and I agree out of the way first. I'm pretty tired of the media using extreme events as an excuse to stir up ratings, and I grow tired of my local news basically being at least 10 minutes on the various people who were assaulted or killed tragically on any given day. I'm certainly not disagreeing with you about understanding risk in general.

I am, however, not sure the football injuries we're lumping in here are really the same thing. Football head trauma is insidious because it takes a long time to show its effects, and I'm not really sure we understand how it works, how many it takes, and so on. Really, it seems more akin to your tobacco example. That was another activity that took a long time to fully get the risk of engaging in the activity.

It's clear you don't have to make it to the NFL to feel the sting which means that parents/guardians are making the risk/reward decision instead of the individual, and what I'm arguing is that as a society we very clearly have only a vague understanding of what that risk is for the young people who play it. I think that's the main thing the NFL is having to deal with because it's the major ambassador for the sport.

jwelsh83

TreeGreen, I definitely see your point. I think sometimes our main steam media do have a tendency to stir the pot...as if we don't know what is right or what is wrong, what is safe and what is not safe...