Alliance - Guest editorial

"Wakeboarding contests have become so incredibly lame lately. Since when did a nuclear grab become so cool? I dare someone to try to tell a snowboarder how to grab nuclear. He’ll punch you in the face before you can even tweak it out. It just seems like tournaments have become stunt shows and if you’re not hucking tricks like a maniac, then you’re not pushing the sport. Somehow a “hard” trick done small, grabless and with a sketched-out landing (let’s say a KGB, for example) is still better than a clean trick taken big and done well (like a backside 5 with a grab) at many wakeboarding contests. I was at a tournament today, and I didn’t see one on-axis spin the entire time I was there. I wish I could have seen Shane Bonifay ride though, because he is one rider who makes contests worth watching. Way to go pal. I guess I’m done whining now, but let me leave you with a quote from Kyle Murphy: “Dude, your board’s already attached to your feet, so the only reason to grab is to tweak it out.” Well, said, Murphy, well said. Alright, I’m off to practice my nuclears. -- JM"


I don't care if skateboarders and snowboarders think a nuclear grab is gay. Anyone??
Why not do a grab backside 3 instead of 5 then? Actually make it a 180.
I'm all about seeing a legit grabbed three over watching Parks ride but I am tired of the Alliance mentality that we have to try to be more like snow and skate. Why can't we be our own sport?

If a wakeboarder went off and did a truck driver grab, do you think a snowboarder would punch him in the face?

i think you missed his argument.

he is trying to convey the message that technicality is out-weighing style in the place it should be most rewarded. someday everyone will be able to do a kgb 10 or something stupid like that and he is saying, there is no point in doing a trick if there is no style attached to it.

Um can someone let me know what the Alliance mentality is? Newbie so don't be too harsh.

lets not go there..

The "Alliance mentallity" is that it is more important to ride with style than it is to land technically difficult tricks.

i agree with km's quote but nuclears, like tweaking stuff out actually takes a lot of skill to do. everything else id say i agree with too

I agree with the writer's argument that some of the contests have become a complete mish-mash of fast flippy spinny things that you usually can't identify until you watch it in slow motion. Pretty much all of these moves look the same to the layman.

I still think one of the coolest moves I've ever seen was Daniel Doud doing a super slow grabbed shifty wake jump. That's right, he didn't even turn a 180, but I remember watching it over and over thinking I wish I could make my wakeboarding look like that!

At the same time, I agree with SoCalRider in that I'm sick of people trying to measure how "cool" our sport is by comparing it to snowboarding, skateboarding or any other boardsport. To me, the fact that you have to get acceptance from those other sports is the least "legit" thing you could be doing.

I think wakeboarding is the most insecure boardsport out there. We're always trying to make friends with the "cool" boardsports.

is a backside 5 not a hard trick - at least compared to a kgb? i assume the author is talking about a hs bs 5...

and what do snowboarders call a nuclear grab? is that the truck-driver?

the guest editor was jeff mckee btw. also getting a clean grab on a bs 540 is ridiculous.

Alliance is missing the whole idea of a contest. Contests are not about looking cool, thats what the videos are for. They are set up to measure who can throw down the hardest stuff. Take a legitimate sport, like football. The team with the best highlight reel doesn't automatically win. And sure I love watching just the highlights but should they change the whole game so that the team with the coolest highlights wins? I don't think so. There's enough contoversy in the judging at contests already, why does Alliance want to make it even more arbitrary. That's what makes figure skating such a non-legitimate sport. Plus given 2 runs with the same tricks in them, the most stylish of the 2 will win. What's your problem with that?

My advice is buy some videos, and continue dreaming about standing atop the podium at the x-games after throwing down some mean tweeked out 180's.

wow.... Jonathan Metherell brings up a GREAT point! Makes you have to sit back and say huh!

Some say that Bill McCaffrey and Tony Smith are the biggest critics in Wakeboarding. I enjoy their humor and love for the sport. I also agree that contests are not a true display of what our sport is all about. Did you guys see Jeff's section in "Pull" this Sunday. He had mad style and isn't doing the most technical of tricks.

I believe that we would all rather see someone as fluid on the water as say, Greg Necrasson or Randall Harris, boning out something huge and ridiculous out into the flats over a wake to wake spinny flippy maneuver. Watching someone as graceful and stylish as these guys, riding like we all wish we could ride, to me, is more inspiring.

I go to many a pro tournament and watch a lot of riding. I agree that there is not enough emphasis on style anymore but technicality is important also. I want to see both. I think a rider should have some real stylish tricks to go with their technical ones. The judging is suppose to take style into account. Whether they do or not I don't know. I don't think the contest are lame but I do know I like having the kicker there at the end of the pass for the riders just to do something crazy. That adds crowd appeal.

Snowboarders and skateboarders opinions? My advice is don't go through life trying to please everyone. Wakeboarding needs not to impress other sports. By the way- backside 5 with a grab does impress. Heck, it's impressive without a grab.

i take into consideration also that i find alliance to be almost anti-comp.....but if someone doesnt push the limits than the sport wont expand....but im not saying style means nothing

Different styles and opinions are needed in the sport to keep it interesting. Otherwise, it would be boring to watch. Although I favor certain styles, I TRY not to judge. To each his own.

I do the other sports, and I couldn't care less what others think. I really don't care what kind of grab you do, or how you tweak it. This sport gives you the freedom to do things how you want, and it shouldn't matter to you what others think.

how about the tech tricks but taken huge with amazing style.... Sean O'Brien, Keith Lyman, Shawn Watson, Chad Sharpe, Shane Bonifay, Danny Harf... guys like that!

i was gonna comment on that....shane and harf have the most stlish 7's....SOB is pulling styled tech tricks out of nowhere...and sharpe goes huuuge....and welll watson is always amazing as is lyman

Perhaps the fact that the majority of the pro comps are owned and/or produced by the company that also publishes Wakeboarding Mag, which is probably Alliance's biggest perceived competitor, has something to do with their anti-comp stance.
That said, I dont always agree with the judgeing at the comps. I think style should play a part, as well as technicality. I really like some of the new format ideas being thrown around now though, ie Double up or Nothing, Malibu just ride's 5 min expression session, head to head format. Perhaps these evolutions will allow some differentiation in passes.

Wow, started a heavy topic..
Understand, I am a fan of the "west coast" style. I would rather see Doud do a legit grabbed wake jump than Harf huck a 9 any day. However, it seems that every article, or guest writer that is associated with Alliance is always making excuses for wakeboarding and how we need to set ourselves apart. I understand with editing a mag you are sort of the end all be all and can spit out anything you want, but it sure does get old to listen to them say contests are stupid, and most of pro wakeboarders look like gymnasts. We are not snowboarding (they huck 10's in all the contests they do), we will never be skateboarding (thank the Lord), we are wakeboarding. We do it because we are passionate about it.
If someone finished his set with the biggest Tindy grab he's ever pulled and is so stoked he can't sleep that night, that is wakeboarding. That is why I ride. Because I love it, not because I love snowboarding and I want to try to make my wakeboarding look like it...

SoCalrider, I guess the fact that Harf legitimately grabs his 9's nose means that they are hucked, right? Wrong.

Harf doesn't huck his 9.. one of a few that doesn't have too!

I have just recently started reading post on line about wakeboarding (probably indicates my age) and it seems most of the comments about comps are negative. I find most of them have points of merit and I think the competition aspect can and will greatly improve. Wakeboarding is different than most all other sports but it is still an athletic endavor. When ever you have athletes performing you are going to get competitioin. It is the nature of most of us. You get a guy in the office tossing a wadded up piece of paper in the trash can from 15 feet and the next thing you know the guy next to him is trying to match it or beat it.

Formal competition is not the end all be all to wakeboarding or any sport. If it is not for you you don't have to do it. I enjoy golf but I have no desire for a formal competition.

But those who do compete, especially at the pro level, are very special people. It is not just about being able to do a tech trick or going big. There are lots of people out there that can do the tricks the pros do. But here is the deal. They go to the starting dock, strap on their board and hit the water. No warm up, no practice. No getting to know the wake. They then have about three minutes to make it happen. Their first trick has to be almost perfect and to compete for the podium or get to finals you better have close to a stand up run while throwing your hardest tricks. Throw in some obstacles which are never in the same location from venue to venue so you can't have one comp run because that totally changes how you approach the course. Plus every venue is different in length so that changes your run. Then the 2 guys who just rode threw down 2 sick runs. So you say to yourself you need to change your pass to beat them. Now add a few thousand spectators in the mix. OK, your turn.

Did I forget to mention they have to train extremely hard. Most all of them will have a career threatening injury or two. By the time most people finish college they are ready to retire because their body is so beat up.

All I am saying is the guys out there competing are able to do what 99.8% of wakeboarders, people, whatever, can't do. You may not like some of them as people but you have to respect their ability to compete at the top level. I for one am glad there is pro competition and my hat is off to those who can do it.

I've been to one PWT stop a few years ago, was bored out of my mind, I had planned to stay the weekend, I ended up only staying the morning.

I'd much rather spend the day on the water with friends.

People get way too much caught up with "style".

I suppose you could call me anti-style.

I also don't read the magazines anymore due to lack of original content.

This whole contest "debate" has been going on for years. If you ask me, I'd say it is more marketing than anything else. Create some drama to get people thinking about your product for a longer amount of time.

I disagree. Contests are needed to promote the sport first and foremost and then maybe promote the products secondary. Even that is stretching it. As for style over technical and that debate, obviously by the Riders Poll here an WW, Style takes the cake. Was Josh Saunders even in the top ten? Parks still #1. Just some random thoughts.

If you want stylish riding watch videos, not contests. Style is too subjective to be the main thing graded at a contest.

What's wrong with a Nuclear grab? It's a hard grab that you have to tweek just to make it. Watching guys throw mobes with hard to reach grabs like nuclears and seat belts is what sets them apart IMO. I don't see why we have to try to suck up to the other board sports. Snowboarders are bums and skateboarders are punk kids who cares what they think? And I snowboard and skateboard

can anyone look in the mailbomb section and see if they used my letter. I wrote a letter via e-mail and I got a e-mail back from McCaffray saying he was going to use it...just curious, and I don't have the issue.

I have to agree with Brad about if you want style watch the many wake vids that are out there, the cameras catch all the style in slow mo, or go out and free ride with youre friends. But I disagree with his comments about skateboarders and snowboarders, first off without skatebording, there would be no snowbordin, wakebordin, or wakeskatin. Thats how boardsports all got started with skatebordin and I have to put surfin in there as well. As far as wakeboard comps. Of course we need them thats how all the big board companies showcase their product and riders so they can sell more product, and yes they are subjective and full of politics they always have been and IMO they always will be. The contests are not what pays you the big bucks its the companies that run the contests that pay you the big bucks I would have to say If you dont like the way they judge the contests then dont enter them, go out and freeride with youre friends and put all the style you want into youre ridin. I was involved in motocross for many years and this topic reminds me of how it was in motocross the riders that didnt like the politics of racing started freestyle motocross and went out and started jumpin and throwin alot of style into their ridin, wich you did not see in motocross or supercross. In motocross and supercross it was more about bein technical and fast so you could win the race, not alot of style. Well thats kinda how I see it, and I dont think its goin to change anytime soon.

No Thane they didnt.

thanks hahn.

Tim mentioned lack of original content, which is pretty much why I haven't bought any videos in the past couple of years. Seem to show the same bunch of guys spinning their brains out, sliding & skating, the riders almost look bored (IMO). It's cool, I guess, but I'm not really into seeing bored riders. I did just watch the trailer for Almost Famous, and I am excited about this one. Fresh riders, they make it look like fun.

That's pretty much my point, I guess. In any form, whether competition, magazine, or video based, wakeboarding should be about fun, and should make you excited, make you want to ride. Shouldn't make you bored. Should make you pumped.

(Message edited by socalwakepunk on October 05, 2005)

So your saying it shouldn't make you bored, it should make you board?

Skateboarding was a direct off-shoot of surfing and the original skateboard mfg's were all surf companies like Hobie. Surfing really took off in Cali after the Endless Summer came out in the 60's and skateboarding became what you did when there were no waves or it was blown out but it didn't take off until the mid 70's.

The first guy to actually ski on a single board on the snow was a Pro surfer named Mike Doyle in the 70's (well before Burton and that bunch.) There's an article showing him riding Aspen in Surfer Mag. sometime around 1972 I believe. In fact he was so sure it would take off he quit surfing and moved to Colorado. Unfortunately he mounted the bindings like a mono ski and never could get it marketed properly. Skateboarding has heavily influenced all the board sports (surfing as well) but I wouldn't say it is the sole reason for their existence.

As far comps go, well like them or not the guys that have to compete in them are special talents. I was fortunate to be able to shoot JD Webb most of last week and I can tell you that guy goes as big as anyone I've ever watched and his grabs, pokes and tweaks in his spins and inverts are as clean and as stylish as anyone I've been out with as well.

I would blame the contest format not the guys riding in them!

Wow, that's funny that you mentioned the Doyle thing. I love his autobiography. Very inspiring.