Recently I got to sit down with Ahmet Dadali and talk skiing, the olympics, and getting paid.
Ahmet is right, when Freeskiing was introduced to the Olympics, the whole freeski scene was forced to take a look at itself and get it together so that skiers could be better understood by the mainstream viewers & audience or as Ahmet says, “button up”. Relatability is something that can’t be overlooked.
I don’t know that we have to keep doing that. Do we even still do that? Furthermore, do people even give a damn about what happens in olympic competition anymore?
Things like X Games Real Ski, Competing in more “soul” events like Steel City Showdown, or even just getting a banger YouTube segment presented by a Level1, Slvsh or any other media outlet, matter more to me. Yet again, look to snowboarding for inspiration in Natural Selection. We tune into that without the need for Olympic dollars, and it’s working. For more on this see Kyle Smaine’s article on our site here.
Buttoning up for more money seems like conforming to an old ideology that shouldn’t be relevant in 2022. Everyone’s got a platform, everyone’s got their own vibe, so run that. If you’re a suit and tie, and you feel good in that, run that. If you’re a clean shaven, hair slicked back, well-spoken type, run that. If you’re Henrik barking at everything, run that.
Now, don’t mistake me for someone who thinks you shouldn’t do what you need to do to make the cash you need, and I’ll never judge a decision an athlete makes if it get’s their financial situation right. At the end of the day, if you do what you do to make sure you’re good, no one else’s shit matters.
For now the question remains; are skiers sacrificing sponsor dollars for being “core”?
For the short of Ahmet talking about this, see below.
Also, do us a favor and hit that subscribe while you’re there.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DM3f-PID2yY
Taylor Pratt is a professional skier based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Having dabbled a bit in competing, Taylor now coaches the next generation of shredders in Little Cottonwood Canyon. […]
The Pursuit – EP159 – AdamX Loves Everybody AdamX is back with a new solo episode, covering a variety of topics from Dicks Sporting Goods to WrestleMania. As always (yeah […]
Noah Dines Still Likes Skiing After Skiing 645 Hours This Year When I first had Noah Dines on the Out of Bounds Podcast in 2023, I pestered him about whether […]
Wild Corn 2024 King Pine played host to Granite Backcountry’s end-of-season shindig, Wild Corn, once again for 2024 and this year was off the rails. Featuring booter jumps, fire dancers, […]
The Pursuit – EP158 – Hana Beaman Hana Beaman is a legendary snowboarder who has been a professional athlete for over 20 years. She has won numerous accolades, including X […]
Post comments
This post currently has no comments.