Mike sent me this email yesterday. He’d probably prefer that I exclude the initial note, but that’s just too bad.
“So I’m sitting in an airport and I had a few thoughts I’d like you to post on Brobomb. Feel free to post them under my name. No aliases on the Bomb. That shit is for pussies. Anyway, here goes:
European X Games is never going to work and here are three reasons why:
1. Sure, it’s great for the twelve up-and-coming Euro skiers to compete in the “X Games” but a majority of European skiers will always be racers. ESPN wants ratings and when it comes to Europeans, we all know they could give less than half a shit about a bunch of no name North Americans that make less than $100,000 and throw down in a U-shaped stunt ditch. Unless, that is, their homeland heroes win Gold and Silver to beat those no name North Americans. Viva le Bertoni! Viva le Rolland!
2. Americans are the primary consumers of the Winter X Games and anything remotely European, let alone French, is just bullshit to us. It’s not right, but it’s the truth. Baguettes are bullshit when you have the option of snappin’ into a Slim Jim in Colorado.
3. European X Games can be viewed metaphorically through another European edition of a popular American franchise. That franchise is, of course, the National Lampoon’s movies. In the hilarious original, Family Vacation (metaphor cheat sheet: This is Winter X Games – America) we have Chevy Chase (the athletes) at his comedic peak and making an enormous splash with fans by way of groundbreaking family humor (new and exciting tricks in pipe and big air) on the silver screen (ESPN is a big deal). Everybody loves it. A smash hit! Chevy could have walked away, but he decides to cash in and star in another funny Lampoon’s flick- Christmas Vacation (let’s call this the Winter Dew Tour). Christmas Vacation proves to be equally successful and the fans love Chevy more for making another great flick and he gets a boatload of money to boot. Again, Chevy could have walked away, this time with two incredible films under his belt. Unfortunately, the creators (ESPN) of the first film (still Winter X Games – America) aren’t satisfied with just one awesome Chevy Chase vacation film. They need a third– enter European Vacation (X Games Europe), quite possibly the worst ever Chevy Chase performance. You can tell that he (remember Chevy = the athletes) is only in it for the paycheck (I can never blame the athletes for wanting to grab some extra dough) and his heart is nowhere to be found. It’s his worst film of all time, and it left a blemish on a career that’s now reduced to commercials and second-rate TV shows. If anything positive can be said about European Vacation, it’d have to be the European extras (12 up-and-coming Euros) who gave an incredible performance on their home turf.
In closing, Viva le Winter X Games: Aspen.”
Mike Rogge writes positive articles for SkiTheEast, hosts The Ski Show (Tuesdays 9-11pm) on wbkm.org, and loves trashing BroBomb to Jon Hartley.
The tag “I thInk Rogge wants to call you guys sellouts” isn’t exactly fitting. I’d never call anyone a sellout because making money by way of a passion is, in my opinion, the best way to make money… And on that note, I’d like to congratulate my good friend Tom Wallisch on his Euro X Games win!
Haha, of course it isn’t fitting. You’d never say that, not even through Chevy Chase.
National Lampoon’s Asian Vacation!
I dunno, i have it from good sources that freeskiing’s biggest opportunity for growth is in Europe, and lots of companies are planning on that. Maybe ESPN is looking at a big opportunity for growth with the X Games franchise (btw the Summer X Games has waaaay more Lampoon shoot-offs than the winter one) into an area that conveniently all speaks English (thanks EU!). Judging aside though, it’s hard to look at a halfpipe or a slope course in the middle of all that good alps skiing… but at least the chick bangin’ wedge christies behind tom wallisch before he dropped in didn’t let the media circus stop her from getting some real shredding in. Point being it will be interesting to see how they market this event in the future, as we only got to see it online in the US and I have no idea what they did in Europe.
….nerds.
i’m 24 and still way to young for that analogy
^ Not really, you just missed the boat.
Hilarious Rogge.
There is definitely huge room for growth with “action sports” including freeskiing in Europe…but we invented that shit, just like jazz, rap, and country.
^Amen, brother. Freedle gets it. Probably because he was born to kick ass in America.
Haha I noticed the shredder in the background too, the juxtaposition of a one-piece wearing french woman VS Wallisch was unreal.
But Rogge when you say “When it comes to Europeans, we all know they could give less than half a shit about a bunch of no name North Americans”, do you mean the average European public who don’t ski anyway, or the average European skier? Big Difference. As for freeskiers… I know a lot of people out in Tignes this season, and a lot of skiers elsewhere, and every one of them is stoked to have a large competition that enables them to see American riders in the flesh. Whether it be Tignes Airwaves or the Euro X Games or whatever. Hell, i’m stoked, and i’m stuck in the UK with a busted ACL. How can having pro riders in Europe be seen as a bad thing? Mike Clarke’s Just Passing Thru is a good example of how much we appreciate you guys coming our way. It’s sometimes nice to know that we haven’t been completely forgotten about.
Eeryone is entitled to an opinion. Mine is that your reasons are funny but total nonsense. The euros used to be a minority but now own the show. Fair enough we don’t have the same size of industry, but we produce a much more rounded established rider. The Frenchies and the Scandies own it. I’ve done seasons in Mammoth and Whistler and now live in Chamonix and I can tell you the standard is so much higher here. We may not create the same ‘park rats’ for lack of a better term (nothing against them, and there are still alot to come out of europe who rip, lets not sideline Mr Harlut) but the average level of accomplished skier is ridiculous here. The X Games in europe is just a way of promoting the sport, and each year more and more euro riders get in. Soon the X Games in Aspen will just be a show case for Euro riders…
Stoked this is the most popular article in BroBomb history and I wrote it three beers deep waiting for a connecting flight.
Cheers!
Hey Mike
hate to break it to you, but “European Vacation” was the SECOND “Vacation” movie and “Christmas Vacation” the third, so your analogy is bunk.
I worked Euro X last week and went in pretty skeptical, since ESPN’s track record with international events its pretty spotty, but I left Tignes a believer. In addition to pulling a smaller-but-still-totally-legit field of competitors, the crowds were impressive (over 60,000 people across two and a half days of competition) and the events went off.
The ski slopestyle final between brown and wallisch was, according to the judges, the most difficult event they’ve ever judged, and the snowboard halfpipe final featured the highest score ever recorded in a Winter X Games. And the town went nuts both nights.
ESPN’s got a three year contract with Tignes and I’m stoked to see it happen again. I bet anyone who saw it would say the same thing.
^ Damn, you’re right about the Vacation order of films. Stoked to hear it went well. Hind sight is 20-20.
I think Rogge’s just pissed that he can’t be at the afteparty and twitter about it.. there’s my soapbox ;)
^I was just bummed I couldn’t go to a strip club with the Line crew and tweet about it.
Enlightened.