Craig Kelly Vs Shaun White?

Question

Ok firstly, id like to say i would like to know the answer to the title of my question, but its more of a metaphore comparing competition snowboarders to boarders who are more interested in mag/video appearances..

Ok well i started snowboarding for the first time last week (loved it)after skiing for years. And at the place i was staying i was reading an outdated mag(02) that pretty much said Craig Kelly is the sh*t or at least was. However according to the mag, at that time comps had gone out of fashion (apparantly due to kellys move to freestyle) and magazine/vid appearances were pretty much the determining factor of ones status/skill as a pro boarder.

Ok so this is where my long winded quesiton comes into it. What essentially has happened in the last 6 years to the snowboarding world. I mean are comps these days considered the main branch of boarding hence where the most/best pros choose to take their career, or is it still largely the mag/vid appearances or is it a healthy mix betweem the two.

Also do many boarders who do contests do vids as well and vice versa. The reason i ask is because ive been getting opinions from people saying for example shaun white may be winning comps but when it comes down to rawness of snowboarding, people in the mags and stuff are a lot better. So essentially how have these two sub cultures of boarding changed and intertwined over the last 6 years.

Thankyou for your time

Answer 1

i hate shawn white hes in it for the money

Answer 2

The biggest thing that has changed snowboarding over the past 6 years or so is exposure and accessibility. Snowboarding used to be the b*****d child of the snowsports industry. Now it's more widely accepted and more accessible.

It's a catch 22. On one hand, snowboarding has lost part of it's mystique. It seems that everyone does it. On the other, all of those people are investing insane amounts of money which is allowing for resorts to maintain better facilities and terrain parks. Also, this increase in snowboard company profits is allowing them to create better technology at a faster rate.

As for hatin on Shaun White, it's uncalled for. Unless you know him personally, you can't say he's just in it for the money. Am I a Shaun White fan? No. But I do give him a ton of respect. He is by far one of the better riders out there right now.  

That's my 2 cents.

Answer 3

Craig Kelly was a snowboard genius. He was one of the fathers of the sport. You can't even compare Shaun White to him. Plus, snowboarding has changed since he died. You can't try to compare two very different snowboarders that snowboarded in different times. He died in '03, and Shuan White was just getting started in '03.