The Deserted Bandwagon

Author: MATT KUNZWEILER

I ended up in Aspen, Colo. over break, hoping to enjoy the Winter X-Games. But the ever-present commercialism and overbearing atmosphere of selling-out immediately dashed my rare and dainty optimism.

Admittedly, sponsorship is a major part of so-called "extreme sports." Without leagues and teams, snowboarders, skiers and other athletes look to equipment sponsors and contest winnings as a primary source of income. But most of the companies that sponsor these athletes - with a few notable exceptions - are in touch with the sports. Grassroots companies in the respective industries as well as giants such as Oakley, Burton, Salomon, Smith and even Red Bull promote countercultural images by signing athletes with marketable attitudes. Commercialism is an unavoidable part of alternative sports.

But the X-Games takes it to the next level. Commercialism ran rampant. TV commercial breaks stunted the momentum, speakers blared mainstream pop-punk (another bastardization of something rebellious) and pathetic grown men, oh-so-cleverly sporting free Taco Bell burrito-shaped foam hats continuously obstructed my view of the superpipe. The big X-Games sponsors did nothing to promote that nonconformist, countercultural image that used to propel these sports. Many a young teenager could be seen walking around the event with U.S. Navy giveaway bags, which provided these youngsters with overzealous stickers and propagandist catchphrases about duty and service. The Navy ads try to convince spectators that adrenaline-fueled alternative sports are analogous to armed combat. But their macho statements such as "The job is full time - so is the rush" fail to recognize the irreconcilable gap between the two - one is based in rebellion, the other in conformity.

But at this stage, maybe the Navy is right. Through a TV tuned into ESPN, the viewer sees conformity within the counterculture. Athletes' pants are uniformly baggy; when interviewed, they all hold their skis in view of the cameras - as told - and on the podium, the viewer does not see magnums of champagne or the winner's irresponsible behavior in the local bars later that night. The viewer also does not see how many of the athletes chose their sport because of their disgust with team sports, how they are never drug tested and how many of them have innovated their own styles and own moves, which are aimed at breaking tradition and avoiding conformity. These are not the military types. But the marketing boys at the Navy have strained the grim correlation to the point of believability.

Before the Navy tries to make that connection again, I suggest that the X-Games drug tests each of the athletes and instead of disqualifying those who fail, post competitors' drug test scores next to their competition scores. The correlation would be frightening. Regardless of what the Navy says, achievement in the realm of these sports often involves a lifestyle of long hair and bong rips, not crew cuts and superb posture.