Why do people have this hate towards Shaun White if say someone said they think he's a good rider? Almost like it's a taboo among snowboarders to say they like Shaun White, even among other pros. I private messaged Louie Vito on Face Book about how he took over Shaun White for Red Bull, but he said something like "I am my own person" like he didn't really like talking about Shaun White.
I hear it's because he doesn't really talk to the other competitors or socialize with other snowboarders. But to me, that sounds like he's more disciplined and is focused on winning than being social. Maybe if the other pro boarders would have his mentality and forgo the social aspect, maybe one of them could beat him one day.
When I went to the skatepark, I saw a bunch of kids that seem to be there to hang out with their friends. They were okay at skating, but they wasted most of their time messing around acting like they were already good. But later I saw this one kid who didn't go with his friends and was ripping it up, getting huge air off a quarter pipe. He was only with this one guy who was filming him, but other than that he didn't come with a group of friends. So goes to show being social is not that important and it's dumb to hate someone that's good because they're not social with others. Maybe because they aren't social is the reason they're so good.
But I do hope McMorris becomes the next big iconic snowboarder. His slopestyle run made me think he was Shaun White for a second.