<p>“Say what you will but I am fairly certain that Shaun White is the pinnacle of human and hair evolution.”
ahaha, yess.</p>
<p>he’s just…so adorable. &, sorry, he’s not a jerk ;)</p>
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<p>You ought to. And that was just one of many examples. Johnny Weir is a big boy. I’m sure he shrugs off comments like that as well as anyone can. Read what he said in that article. You should care about comments like that because of the effect they have on others. Specifically on children who might feel bad enough already about being “different,” and don’t need this garbage.</p>
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<p>That’s why you should care, and it is, in fact, the point.</p>
<p>And my own specific point was, if you’re going to raise homophobia at all, why single out Shaun White of all people? I seriously doubt that he’s a homophobe, and don’t think that his comments about figure skaters were homophobic. A couple of google searches (including google blog searches) for various combinations of “shaun white” and “homophobe” or “homophobic” yielded only one result that actually made such a claim. It was (drumroll) lergnom’s OP on this thread! Way to start an unfounded rumor!</p>
<p>And if your nose is out of joint because he made a joke about figure skaters in general, I didn’t see it as mean-spirited. Speaking of spirit, as much as I love figure skating, I do wish sometimes that figure skaters could be a little like snowboarders in terms of being free-spirited, and not act so much like the fate of the world depends on their performances. </p>
<p>I notice you’ve made no attempt to defend your comment suggesting that snowboarding is somehow less athletic than figure skating. Endurance isn’t the only measure of athleticism. If it were, marathon runners and long-distance cross-country skiers would be the only athletes worthy of the name. But that isn’t how it works.</p>
<p>Read my note again. </p>
<p>The comments that amuse me are the ones about snowboarders being counter-culture so it’s cool to be … what exactly? A guy who doesn’t show respect for other sports? A corporate shill who talks about how great it is that his sponsor built him a private half-pipe, despite his generation’s concerns about the environment. </p>
<p>But no, let’s make it about me. Read my comment again.</p>
<p>I sense a serious failure to lay a proper foundation for the “corporate shill” and “doesn’t show respect for other sports” comments.</p>
<p>Nor have you ever answered the question about why you chose to single him out.</p>
<p>It does appear that you’ve abandoned the accusations of homophobia, though. So I’ll deem those comments stricken from the record.</p>
<p>First of all, you should spell his name correctly in order to make a valid argument against him.</p>
<p>Snowboarding is an extremely complicated sport. Yes, it takes less time than skating. But they have to do all of the same jumps, flips, twists, and other moves that skaters do. Plus, they weigh an extra 20-30 pounds in equipment, and they have do it all with their feet locked in one position. It takes just as much accuracy, if not more, to be a snowboarder.</p>
<p>Snowboarding and skiing are very tiring sports, believe it or not. I think it’s the fact that you weigh more, and you have to constantly shift your entire body weight so that you don’t fall. You move as much as you do when you’re dancing.</p>
<p>His snow park is better for the environment than an indoor ice skating rink, which employs just as many people for maintenance. Ice skating rinks also use lots of energy for utilities, and it is an obstacle in the wilderness. A snowboard slope works with the geography of nature and requires far less energy to maintain than an ice skating rink.</p>
<p>And Shaun White is a young guy who really isn’t adjusted to all of this publicity. He’s not a senator or a journalist or a news reporter or someone who has lots of experience with being tactful and politically correct. So although his comments were rude and his age can’t justify them, at least you can try to understand where he’s coming from.</p>
<p>Shaun White won the gold medal. Let’s see what U.S. figure skaters win gold medals.</p>
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<p>Or like a golfer? </p>
<p>It’s easy to jump onto the Shaun White fan club bandwagon when you think of the alternatives.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard him say anything all that rude. But then again I have a 25 year old S so my standards are very low.</p>
<p>White does in 30 seconds or a minutes what is not possible for mere mortals like most of us.</p>
<p>If you don’t think a snowboarder is out of breath after one of those tricks, well…you have never done it before. Just being at a high elevation with all that gear is a pretty exhausting effort, much like defying the laws of gravity.</p>
<p>Why is it about White vs. the figure skaters, anyway? I don’t think he was dissing their athletic efforts, which are just as amazing but in a different way.</p>
<p>Did Shaun ever say he was anti-establishment, counter culture? He is a pretty savvy businessman whose work helps employ others, and a job that he loves. Lucky him.</p>
<p>Still not buying the anti-environment argument, either.</p>
<p>It’s been said before, but Stephen Colbert is a satirist. Those on his show are either on the butt end of the joke, or playing along with him. He was also poking fun at himself, which snowboarders just don’t take themselves that seriously. </p>
<p>I believe Shaun White would encourage all of us to do the same. ;)</p>
<p>What I really don’t get is why the OP seems so angry about all this. You’d think that this was the election and politics forum, and that Shaun White was Dick Cheney. (I admit that I’d pay good money to see Dick Cheney on a snowboard, trying the half-pipe.)</p>
<p>^^probably just one of those visceral reactions people sometimes have about other people or possibly just not much knowledge about how some young people look at the world these days. To me, that glee and exuberance is refreshing. I did made a snarky comment about the “tiara” skier and my husband just gave me heck for it. He thought it was ‘cute’ and kind of ‘fun.’ He’s right, let them me who they are…there is plenty of time to be other people want them be if they should find themselves in that position.</p>
<p>I find that when people have unreasonable reactions to people or situations, the reason is usually too close to see objectively. </p>
<p>When we feel constrained by obligations whether real or imagined and feel that we are expected to behave in a certain manner especially when we don’t feel we have a choice, it isn’t unusual to be resentful and even angry at those that we see as thumbing their nose at propriety, and although we would never admit it, * behaving as we wish we could behave * or even doing things we did when we were younger and we blame them for making us see our past selves in another light.</p>
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<p>I sure hope he doesn’t. I think he is really a refreshing person as it is, and I’d hate to see him change to accomodate others’ vision of what he “should be.” </p>
<p>At any rate, I think it’s a moot point. In spite of the inexplicable vitriol posted by the OP, on this board at least, she is a minority of one. One can never please everyone, but by and large, I think most people have responded positively to Sean. At least until TMZ starts following him around or paying close friends to take cell phone pictures during private moments, that is.</p>
<p>Coming late to this thread and haven’t read every post in detail. I think Sean is terrific. Such a cutie. I would be very proud to have him as a son!</p>
<p>H & I got to see Shaun live when he was on Letterman earlier this month…He is “tiny” and that red hair is REALLY red and beautiful…haha. Very humble and well spoken young man.</p>
<p>^^^^I recently read that he really doesn’t like the “Flying Tomato” nickname. He even went so far as to propose more than a few alternative monikers instead. I think he’s fighting a losing battle, lol, thanks to that beautiful red hair.</p>
<p>I did see an interview where he said he’s going to let his hair continue to grow and see where it leads him…I kind of like it the way it is, though.</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, he prefers “Animal”…from Muppets. Can you see the resemblance?</p>
<p>^^^^I had to google, it lol. It’s been a long time. </p>
<p>Yes, I do have to wonder if they are related!</p>
<p>I’ve had the chance to meet him a couple times in Park City, Utah and he is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He is really down to earth and doesn’t let his fame get to him. He was with one of his friends and when I started talking to him he didn’t ignore me or act like he was too important; he stopped and started talking to me like a normal person. I even asked him questions about his fame and he didn’t seem to care about that but changed the subject to something else. He is a very humble guy and extremely friendly.</p>
<p>^^^^I hope, HOPE he will be able to retain his humility and kind nature through what is about to happen to him in terms of continued and rising fame and fortune. So many people change for the worse once they go down that path.</p>
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<p>Hopefully Michael Phelps has had a looooooong talk with him about that.</p>