Winter Olympics: Lindsey Jacobellis
I was watching the Olympics with a big group of people last night, and caught a varying range of reactions to the Jacobellis debacle, from humored to spiteful to sympathetic. I fell in the latter category, because no one deserves to go through that sort of shame and humiliation because of a sport. Jimmy Roberts had an interesting report on the incident, comparing it to Greg Norman in the '96* Masters and Leon Lett in Super Bowl XXVII. The Sports Sauna's wider range of sports knowledge allows it to improve upon the perspective Roberts was trying to give.
I like the Leon Lett parallel, as far as moments where showboating has gone wrong. But as Roberts pointed out, the incident was nowhere near as tragic for Lett, since the Cowboys won the game easily and Lett got to celebrate with illegal drugs.
I think Jean van de Velde's collapse at the British Open is a better golf parallel. Jean took a driver on the 18th tee when he should have taken an iron; Jacobellis tweaked her jump when all she should have done was concentrated on landing. The van de Velde might have been worse, because the man faded right back into the obscurity from whence he came, while Jacobellis may have a chance at redemption 4 years from now.
We see showboating at the finish line all the time. Happens every game on the football goal line. In cycling, Robbie McEwen likes to pop wheelies once he crosses the finish line. Remember when Maniac Magee turned around and ran backwards against Mars Bar in their famous street sprint in Two Mills? He got away with that, but he was the Maniac. Athletes almost always get away with it. But for every hundred ridiculous poster dunks, there is one missed humiliatingly.
We see finish line celebrating a little more often in extreme sports. Motor cross is the original "cross." Think snowboard cross for snowmobiles. Traditionally, the winner of a motor cross race will do a heel click over the last jump if his lead is comfortable. But the finish line is the crest of the jump, so he's crossing the line as he finishes.
And that's really what Jacobellis's biggest mistake was. If she does the same thing over the last jump instead of the second to last jump, she probably falls across the finish line, and we laugh it off and pat her on the back for the gold. But she did it on the second to last jump and it cost her the race and much more.
The Sports Sauna does want to point out that a good Boarder Crosser always grabs her board going over jumps. This was explained a couple times this week by the commentators as a way to improve stability through the air. I suspect that when Jacobellis went airborne, that is what she was planning on doing, but a lifetime of tricks took over in that split second and she almost unconsciously let her joy out in the form of that trick. So I believe her when she told Costas that she didn't know what she was thinking. It was habit popping into the moment.
That said, however little it was premeditated, it was still cocky, and it still embarrassed the US. The Americans come off as arrogant pretty often at the games. I'm sure the world loves to see us go down, just like I love to see the Yankees or the Patriots go down. To Switzerland, Jacobellis's fall probably felt a lot like LuGo's single off of Mo Rivera in 2001 did to Diamondback fans.
Of course, the best parallel of all is an imaginary one that I have dreamt of happening for a long time...
"Game 7...2 outs...Braves by one...Mets have runners on 1st and 2nd...here's the pitch. Swung on and hit straight up in the air! This will do it! This will send the Braves to the World Series! Andruw Jones camps under it in center field, sticks up his glove in his typical "I'm a jackass" style and makes the c- NO! HE BOOTED THE BALL! HE BOOTED THE BALL! ONE RUN SCORES! THE BALL ROLLS ALL THE WAY TO THE FENCE! TWO RUNS SCORE! AND THE METS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES BECAUSE OF ANDRUW JONES! THIS IS A MOMENT THAT WILL HAUNT HIM FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE! HE WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN! WOW!"
Someday... Someday...
*It always amazes me to recall that the Norman/Faldo collapse/comeback happened in 1996, one year before Tiger smashed the field at Augusta to win his first major as a pro. Doesn't it seem like a lifetime between those two Masters? Has any sport had the demarcation between two separate eras more distinctly defined?
I like the Leon Lett parallel, as far as moments where showboating has gone wrong. But as Roberts pointed out, the incident was nowhere near as tragic for Lett, since the Cowboys won the game easily and Lett got to celebrate with illegal drugs.
I think Jean van de Velde's collapse at the British Open is a better golf parallel. Jean took a driver on the 18th tee when he should have taken an iron; Jacobellis tweaked her jump when all she should have done was concentrated on landing. The van de Velde might have been worse, because the man faded right back into the obscurity from whence he came, while Jacobellis may have a chance at redemption 4 years from now.
We see showboating at the finish line all the time. Happens every game on the football goal line. In cycling, Robbie McEwen likes to pop wheelies once he crosses the finish line. Remember when Maniac Magee turned around and ran backwards against Mars Bar in their famous street sprint in Two Mills? He got away with that, but he was the Maniac. Athletes almost always get away with it. But for every hundred ridiculous poster dunks, there is one missed humiliatingly.
We see finish line celebrating a little more often in extreme sports. Motor cross is the original "cross." Think snowboard cross for snowmobiles. Traditionally, the winner of a motor cross race will do a heel click over the last jump if his lead is comfortable. But the finish line is the crest of the jump, so he's crossing the line as he finishes.
And that's really what Jacobellis's biggest mistake was. If she does the same thing over the last jump instead of the second to last jump, she probably falls across the finish line, and we laugh it off and pat her on the back for the gold. But she did it on the second to last jump and it cost her the race and much more.
The Sports Sauna does want to point out that a good Boarder Crosser always grabs her board going over jumps. This was explained a couple times this week by the commentators as a way to improve stability through the air. I suspect that when Jacobellis went airborne, that is what she was planning on doing, but a lifetime of tricks took over in that split second and she almost unconsciously let her joy out in the form of that trick. So I believe her when she told Costas that she didn't know what she was thinking. It was habit popping into the moment.
That said, however little it was premeditated, it was still cocky, and it still embarrassed the US. The Americans come off as arrogant pretty often at the games. I'm sure the world loves to see us go down, just like I love to see the Yankees or the Patriots go down. To Switzerland, Jacobellis's fall probably felt a lot like LuGo's single off of Mo Rivera in 2001 did to Diamondback fans.
Of course, the best parallel of all is an imaginary one that I have dreamt of happening for a long time...
"Game 7...2 outs...Braves by one...Mets have runners on 1st and 2nd...here's the pitch. Swung on and hit straight up in the air! This will do it! This will send the Braves to the World Series! Andruw Jones camps under it in center field, sticks up his glove in his typical "I'm a jackass" style and makes the c- NO! HE BOOTED THE BALL! HE BOOTED THE BALL! ONE RUN SCORES! THE BALL ROLLS ALL THE WAY TO THE FENCE! TWO RUNS SCORE! AND THE METS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES BECAUSE OF ANDRUW JONES! THIS IS A MOMENT THAT WILL HAUNT HIM FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE! HE WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN! WOW!"
Someday... Someday...
*It always amazes me to recall that the Norman/Faldo collapse/comeback happened in 1996, one year before Tiger smashed the field at Augusta to win his first major as a pro. Doesn't it seem like a lifetime between those two Masters? Has any sport had the demarcation between two separate eras more distinctly defined?
posted by Prof. A at 11:13 AM
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