While I will preface this by saying that I am much older than many of you, there are a lot of you that need to wake up to the rest of the real world.
I was racing through gates years before many of you were born, and gave it up a lifetime ago. However, what all of you must realize is that while Tanner may be who all of you aspire to be, he runs his mouth and sounds like a total ass sometimes.
I will never take away the guys ski talent: 'HE IS SICK!!' But, he pisses off a lot of people that have been around a lot longer than he has been.
I will give you all another little leson: 'Newspapers are supposed to write articles that make some people mad?!?' That is what newspapers are about, and being able to express your opinion is what America is about.
Rather than write letters to the newspaper saying how much John Meyer's artilce sucked, do something constructive. Write a letter to the editor explaining why his article did not represent the true magnitude and nature of the Freeskiing movement.
I am not just some asshole gate skiier telling you all suck. Your opinion is well founded and that article did paint a bad picture. But if you look at the quotes that came out of Tanner's mouth in the Freeskiing article that was quoted, you will find the same amount of garbage.
Tanner stating that racing would be dead in ten years is like saying that just because BMX came along, road bicycling would end. Get Real!!!
Skiing is skiing, and the more ways we can progress the sport the better it gets. I traded in my GS set up 5 years ago, and am in Josh's shop weekly. But, I still think it is fucking sick that for once we have a Ski Racer from the US who is even competing with the Europeans.
Think about it, put your thoughts together, and write a letter to the editor refuting John Meyers article. That is how you make real change and inform people about your sport. Not by calling people stupid and starting a cult about them.
Then again, the opinion of 27 year old who has been on the mountain since 1981 may not mean much to you.
--Brett-Kai--