Why Wallisch should be going to the Olympics

Yep, have to agree it feels a bit weird to see the upcoming Olympics without Wallisch.I'm sure he'll still have a lot to do and projects in mind, but would be bizarre watching the Olympics without him competing.

Also bummed that Candide couldn't make it - oh well, legends will always be legends.

 
If you want to talk influence, you have to talk money. Slap the name Wallisch on anything and it sells like hotcakes. Tanner doesnt command that much attention from the armies of children brazenly buying up the internet with their mother's credit card. Tom does.
 
Being someone who for the most part could care less about comp skiing, the only person I could've even cared to watch on the US team in the olympics is Tom. He's one of the few who can kill it in comps and still be real in the filming realm. Instead of getting someone like myself interested in comp skiing more than I have been, this decision makes me resent comp skiing even more.

In many ways this is the ultimate way comp skiing can prove itself extremely uninteresting and boring, all while as Steve said, really break even its own rules and perspective given Tom's abilities and experience.

FUCK WHOEVER MADE THIS DECISION.
 
Damn...so it is, in fact, official. I am very bummed for Tom, would of loved to watch him put a run together. That being said, I am very happy for Joss! Hopefully he can keep this hot streak going.
 
Candide is and will always be a legend. But in all honesty, it appears that his chase for the olympics was fairly short when compared to Tom. I know his injuries limited him to pow for the most part. But Tom has been consistently competing in slope the past few years, where as Candide really only the past months of recent.
 
Wow. How could they not pick T-Wall? Another point to consider is how all the casual fans or friends of people on NS will be looking for Wallisch in the Olympics and then be dumbfounded as to why he's not there. It's like having a swimming contest without Michael Phelps or golf without Tiger Woods. It's not a real contest.

We all knew the Olympics would be controversial to our sport and I'll bet this is only the beginning.
 
Yeah, it sucks that Wallisch (and Dumont) won't be in the Olympics, but who gives a fuck? Tom can still keep it real with his nasty video segments and I'm sure he will dominate at X.

All of you kiddies hate the Olympics anyway, remember??
 
This is what gets me the most, Tom single-handedly changed freeskiing into the sport it is today. His SuperUnknown is what got myself and the majority of my friends into skiing. For him not to get a chance to represent his country in the first and probably last Olympics he'll be eligible for is truly sad.
 
If Tom was as good this year in comps as he has been over his career, then he would've qualified automatically like Goepper, Bobby, and Gus did. The job of the coaches is to select the four best skiers based on how they performed in the qualifying events, otherwise what is the point of having any qualifying events? The qualifying events are a way to see how the pressure of trying to make the team affects the athletes and Joss performed better under that pressure than Tom did, and so did Gus, Bobby, and Goepper.
 
Post a video dude, would love to see your perfect steeze.

Gotta love idiots like this who hate on skiers that are millions of times more talented than them in every aspect of life.

None of them even have "lanky jock steeze" anyways. Goepper used to when he first got on the scene but he's definitely became a lot smoother and better in the last year or so.
 
So tough for Tom, can't believe it went down like this. A little choked that out of Gus Bobby Tom and Goepper it was tom that never made it. His style is always refreshing on the slope course, Glad for Joss though.

Hopefully after X Tom puts out the most fucking regoddamndicoulous segment ever. Actually pumped that it will be over soon and we can see what he can produce in the back country.
 
Maybe, the terrorist attack is actually going to happen, and Jossi and the rest of the team are going to be either injured or dead, and Tom is here in the saftey of the United States.

Just a thought.
 
I am not saying I don't like Joss, but just because he is having a good olympic year doesn't mean he should get the coaches pick. Since the coaches pick is opinionated, it should have been based off of past contest results and all the attention he has brought freeskiing.

Also, first post because i needed a place to rant.
 
I'm a big fan of the pretzel man but Wallisch's slope run hasn't gotten any better since his run in 11/12 while everybody else has continued to learn bigger and better tricks. Wallisch hasn't got the switch dub misty, dub corks under 10, and I've never seen him switch dub 12 or 14 in a slope run, his rails are still on point, but not that far ahead of others, but really, he doesn't have the best dub 12, right switch dub 10, left switch dub 10 in the game anymore, let alone the best jumps in the game, so I just don't think he would be that competitive in the olympics compared to the others on the team.
 
wallisch not making it is ridiculous. definitely not looking as forward to the olympics as i was. schlopy, joss, mcrae, and tom all should have made it and some of the girls should not have. even henrik thinks the olympics wont be as big a challenge as the x games since alot of the americans arent in it.
 
this is super important. unless tom doesn't want to compete, it doesn't make sense not to pick him. not only is his skiing ability off the charts (okay, joss has been skiing negligibly better than tom at the moment), but he deserves to go to sochi more than any other park skier i can think of save maybe simon or tanner. he changed the sport, brought so much money to the sport, has been consistently at the top of the world stage for skiing for the past ~4 years, and has arguably the greatest following of any freeskier.

the backlash alone from the members of this website and the ski community are telling enough. the majority opinion (by far) is that tom should have gone. it's not a matter of joss, it's a matter of tom. if there is any place more knowledgeable on freeskiing's olympic hopefuls, i will be glad to hear their opinion on the topic. i imagine it would be the same.
 
What I don't understand is who are these "coaches" and what can they even teach... Skiing has progressed so much and all the top skiers are pretty much forging their own paths, inventing their own variations. Any form skiing in the past is almost irrelevant when it comes to these athletes yet they decide who makes the cut.
 
I can't believe he wasn't picked but this could result in the biggest progression of his career - I'm sure he'll show through his skiing this year that they really should have picked him to compete for the US.
 
Its pretty clear that Gus, Goepper and bobby are on point and thus easily claimed their spots. Basically Joss isn't beating any of them (though he kills it), and you know, what Tom may not beat any of them or medal either, however I think sending someone who has been an awesome ambassador for the sport to not only the industry but also to the public at large is a better move for freeskiing than sending someone who might grab a bronze.
 
This is the part that makes this so fucking sad. He has been a true face of freeskiing and one of the very few that I could actually say I'd be fucking proud to represent our small section of skiing. Just goes to show how big of a fucking junk show the entire US Ski Team is, in addition to the IOC, FIS, etc, etc.

I have no hate whatsoever on Joss, that's a genuine dude and good skier, but this is just a funky ass decision.
 
I am actually speechless to read those; there not a single mention of Wallisch yet BOTH articles mention famed skiers who unfortunately didn't make the cut..

Quoted:

"That decision left out Grete Eliassen, a University of Utah graduate and reigning world bronze medalist who lives in Salt Lake City."

&

"Simon Dumont, one of the most decorated veterans on the halfpipe, was left off the team. He hurt his knee during practice for a qualifying event last Friday."

Last time I checked Tom goes/went to U of U and LIVES in the PC/SLC area not to mention he is an extremely decorated and celebrated member of our sport. This is just ridiculous...
 
got me there, but I meant slope tricks, as you can see in the context of my post, taking statements out of context totally changes their meanings.
 
i actually cant believe it... Tom is basically the icon of freeskiing and the fact that he wont be at the Olympics is really disappointing when our sport is finally getting shown off to the world.. Atleast we can get stoked for XGames cuz I feel like tom is going to absolutely throw down no, as well as the banger edits/segments that are sure to come
 
real, massive, huge blow to my year already..

I cant stop thinking that i dont like the sport growing, because i fear "the system" and too many rules are going to take over and it will become slaveskiing.
 
You're absolutely right, but thats what the first 3 spots were for. Those spots were given to the top performers in the past 2 months. The discretionary spot is up to the discretion of the coaches... which is why i made the post. Im not arguing against the first three spots, only the last, which is decided subjectively on more than comp results.

If you're talking about performing under pressure, then you clearly didnt watch the xgames 2 years ago when Tom won in his last run.. You are acting exactly how the judges acted for this decision. You are assuming these last 4 qualifiers are the pinnacle of EVERY skiers career.

"If they cant perform here, then they'll never be able to perform anywhere else!"

"Even though Tom has performed under pressure before, he didnt perform under pressure in these past 2 events. Therefor he'll never be able to ever again!!"

The discretion position is geared toward a skier like wallisch. The coaches should be able to look past a few mediocre results and see how incredible of a skier he really is.
 
Fuck you US olympic team. Wally is the face of the sport and should continue that at the olympics. No disrespect to joss cuz he kills it. But fuck, tammy wallpaper deserved it
 
nicely worded homes. Joss doesn't have the influence, but from what we've seen he's got the better slope run, and that's what matters in the olympics.
 
I've been a Wallisch fan through and through, but I could not disagree with you more, Steve.
I think Wallisch has not proved ONE SINGLE TIME this season that he deserves to go. Really? he's got multiple triples, etc. etc?? Then fucking ski like it. His runs have been pathetic, it really doesn't look like he's trying at all. In contests, HE NEVER LEGITIMATELY GRABS HIS TRICKS at all, not at all. I know what he "has done" for our sport and what he is "capable of doing," but bottom line, he hasn't been doing it lately. Anyone still defending him is just being a fan boy, cuz Tom has not proved that he gives a fuck in the past year.
 
Maybe the discretionary choice is to be used for situations like TYW, where someone is a likely contender for a medal but has an injury. Tom didn't qualify, he isnt hurt. Joss earned that spot.
 
I feel for you and Tom. This is such a weird situation. But when it comes down to it there cant be exceptions made, qualifications were set and points were made. Yes, i do believe Tom deserved to go, but what about the other athletes who didn't make it.
 
The only Team America I need...

Team America JOSS Edit 2009 - Tom Wallisch & Simon Dumont from Level 1 on Vimeo.
 
Tom is going to fuck everyone in the x games now, that's if he is not hurt and covering it up. It might be an acl or something but it would be great to see him destroy in the x games to prove that they made the wrong decision.
 
I didn't make this clear in my ealier posts and I should have, but I would've picked Wallisch too. I was just trying to point out the thought process that most likely went into this decision. Yes, it is a discretionary pick, but it seems like it was a discretionary pick based solely on the official qualifying events; the exact kind of bureaucratic bull shit that happens when something becomes an olympic sport rather than what it has been in the past.
 
Lead the way with their ego? Haha, fuck you dude.

Tom fucking works just as hard, if not harder than anyone that got picked AND took time to film AND took so much time to do all of the gay ass interviews and shit that come along with being an icon. In the year he tore everything apart and won everything (11/12) the motherfucker was sleeping on my floor in Alaska hitting handrails while every other jock was lapping Keystone and Breck right before the X Games. So take that ego shit and cram it up your ass.
 
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