(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Man. The women's snowboard cross was worth it just to hear an Olympic sports announcer scream, "She did a METHOD?! SHE--SHE TWEAKED!" I knew going in that Jacobellis had apparently "thrown the gold away on a dumb showboat move" (to quote my stepfather), but I didn't know who won instead, and I hadn't seen any footage--so I got to watch the whole event, from quarter-finals onward, with the grim foreknowledge that somehow, somewhere, Jacobellis was going to biff.

And she did. The fact that she had a gigundo lead most of the race just made it sting worse, of course.

It's a little cruel, though, to replay her father's reaction as he watches that last part of the race. And to get up in her face at the bottom of the slope. And here's Jacobellis claiming she was trying to stabilize herself. And maybe she was, although that tug on the board doesn't look "stabilizing." She's not in tears, though, which is probably more than I would have been able to manage. (Full story.)

Also, I have to say that I must be a big ol' softie because once I found out that Wescott and Tanja Frieden are dating, I totally started rooting for Frieden, so I ended up being glad she won--it was really sweet to see them down at the bottom of the course.

(Oh God, and there's Maelle Ricker being toted away on a sled in, like, a body bag. She took out a whole chunk of snow fence when she fell and didn't even get back up. "OH THE CARNAGE!!" shrieks the announcer.)

And here's some bullshit editorial montage (with Pensive Music and Sad, Sad Slo-Mo) about how Sometimes It Really Is About Winning the Medals and how, No Matter What Success She Has In Life, Lindsey Jacobellis Will Never Forget That She Fucked Up. Thanks, man. I'm sure she appreciates the sentiment.

Comments

[molliewollie.livejournal.com]

That was some crazy, crazy shit.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dude, that whole event was. People were frickin' going down left and right, and Jacobellis herself nearly went down a couple of times. And I still can't believe Ricker took out a whole section of fence--that shit looked *painful.*

(omg I have become a snowboarding fan)

[molliewollie.livejournal.com]

Me too. My fiance and I were just breathless for the whole race. My new favorite sport is snowboard cross, or as he insists on calling it, SnowboarCross.

[scarolinagrl.livejournal.com]

Costas just grilled her in the studio. Ugh. Poor girl, she held it together pretty well, all things considered.

[lila-rye.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many times they're going to replay/refer to that fall. Poor girl. Yeah, she probably shouldn't have shown off, but I bet I would have if I was 99.9% sure I was going to win.

[gryphonmage.livejournal.com]

Holy. Crap. This just aired here this second and...holy crap, seriously. That was insane and terrible and AWESOME.

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

All I know about snowboarding comes from playing SSX3.

"OH THE CARNAGE!!" shrieks the announcer

Seriously? That's really quite awesome.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was what some of the other boarders were saying. I mean, if she'd landed the method? It would have been some huge iconic moment about the joy of women's sports, or something.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dude. Seriously.

[lila-rye.livejournal.com]

And apparently a method isn't even a really difficult trick (for an expert, obviously), so it wasn't like she did something super-risky, or anything. It was just a fluke.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm totally not kidding. "Carnage" was the word of the day, particularly whenever a couple of snowboarders would run into each other and fall down. Every. Single. Time. they had a race, they'd talk about how important it is to get out in front to avoid "the carnage" that can ensue in the middle where everyone's bunched. The announcers kind of clung to that as their buzzword, so when both Maltais and Ricker went down, they started screaming, "OH, THE CARNAGE!!" And then when Jacobellis fell over, it was just hilarious--"What! What happened! What was that! Oh my God!" They had to replay it from like three different angles before they realized what she was doing and we arrived at the immortal cry of, "SHE DID A METHOD?? SHE--SHE TWEAKED!!"

[gryphonmage.livejournal.com]

They're talking about how quiet it is, and oh, eveyone just looks so horrified. Just...wow. I can't even imagine how awful that would feel for that poor girl.

Meanwhile ski patrol is all "damn snowboarders."

[delle.livejournal.com]

she's *20*. freaking 20 years old.

should she have done it? no, probably not. but she's 20, she's pysched, she's pumped and she had the race in the bag (she thought) so she did something stupid. she's *20*. you're *supposed* to do things like that when you're 20.

not to mention, like you said? had she landed it, it would hvae been *the* shot of the Olympics

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The article I linked to (full story) says something about Wescott and the other guy doing methods all the time, and Wescott pipes up and basically says, "Well, not when a race is on the line." My mother chalks it up to the fact that Jacobellis is only 20 and "very young."

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah--it was a stupid, stupid thing to do, but I want to smack NBC for editorializing about it, like she doesn't feel like shit about it already. Seriously, she rocked the entire race right up until that moment, and I felt awful for her when Tanja Frieden and her people are freaking out at the bottom (and good for her), and poor Jacobellis just has to stand there and wait for the Obligatory Hug of Sportsmanship. I would have been in bed under the covers by that point, myself.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

Is it me, or did Bob Costas eat all the Bitch Flakes before the Olympics this year? He's been a huuuge dick the entire time. o_O

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I definitely saw it tonight, yeah.

[kalliopeia.livejournal.com]

I thought the girl they had to carry off was the one in fourth place who went down first, just before that big jump, and she looked like she landed on her neck, the girl that went through the fence got back up and finished for bronze. Did I get them mixed up?

I feel so sorry for Lindsay. She *was* crying, actually, but she pulled herself together pretty well. This will be one of those shots they show all the time, like the final shot of the 92 Duke-Kentucky NCAA game, or the ski jumper who fell at the end of the ramp and tumbled horribly to what I'm sure everyone thought was a grisly death. I assume he lived or they wouldn't show it at the beginning of every Wide World of Sports.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

And not only is she 20, she's a snowboarder. OF COURSE SHE'S GONNA TRY A TRICK, SHE'S A SNOWBOARDER. *flails*

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

Dude, during the opening ceremonies, they were talking about the one lady who came from the Virgin Islands and he said "Well, down there, you basically say 'yeah, I'll try that' and poof, you're on the Olympic team."

Just shut up, Bob.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Ricker was the one who went through the fence, because they had a shot of the sled coming to get her and the medics crowded around her by the downed fence; Maltais won the bronze. Unless I'm crazy, which is so entirely possible.

[ckalenda.livejournal.com]

I've been ranting about this at Lraiman all night.

It's sad, but understandable that NBC and Bob Costas(but let's face it, he's just saying what NBC hands him, mostly) don't "get it". But It's *really* sad that the other snowboarders don't seem to "get" snowboarding anymore either.

Well, I think The Tomato does. His second halfpipe run was a victory lap. ;)

Sure, in a race, style doesn't count, Bob. But in snowboarding, style ALWAYS counts. Othereise... why not just ski? :P

[wildcatlizzie.livejournal.com]

I had no idea that Westcott and Frieden were dating. That makes him congratulating her before going over to Lindsey much better because I was a bit miffed that he wasn't thinking of his teammate first. That and it just seemed totally random that the American guy was celebrating with some seeimingly random Swedish chick. Anyway.

I knew what happened from the moment that I started watching the races thanks to Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News. So I was watching the whole thing wondering where the heck it all went wrong. And then It happened. I feel so bad for her because like they said, she didn't win the silver, she lost the gold. She's going to be kicking herself for a really long time.

[wildcatlizzie.livejournal.com]

You're right. The girl that was carried off was the first one down. The one that went through the fence finished for bronze.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, that's the thing--if she'd landed it, it would have been this huge iconic moment about the joy of (pick one) snowboarding/a new event/women's sports/American sports/youth culture/WHATEVER. And that's why I think it's--well, "unfair" probably isn't the right word, but they could stand to ease up on her about it, because seriously, losing the gold is its own punishment. They don't need to keep moralizing about it; she went for the gusto and fell on her ass, and that's just the way the cookie crumbles.