Cultural Differences

(More blog entries from ryan)

Would you ever see this in the U.S.?

It's time for a little commentary on cross country skiing in America.
I stumbled across this today:

(Yes, I was on YouTube, again.) Granted, it's cheesy. The humor of that is certainly not lost on me. But that's not what I wanted to point out.

Would you ever see one of these for an American skier?

I doubt it. The love for Nordic just doesn't flow through our country's veins. I'm not necessarily lamenting that fact, just pointing it out. It is a problem, though, when we talk about growing the sport. If kids aren't exposed to cross country skiers, it's hard for them to want to get into the sport. It's easier to idolize Tom Brady and grow up wanting to play football. Instead our kids are forced to hear tales of Nordic legends from far off lands and aspire to a greatness that they could never fully receive in this country. Even when the four years roll around, we see very little cross country racing here in the U.S. Granted, the coverage is getting better thanks to more channels and the growing popularity of sprints, but it's tough to get excited when the top American is 47th. Again, I know things are improving from a results standpoint, but I'm talking more about the cultural impact. If an American won an Olympic gold in Nordic, I doubt many people would hear about it and even fewer would care. We're just not trained to be interested. If we're not interested, how can more people come into the sport?

Then again, maybe I'm just bitter because I was so bad at baseball as a kid.

Ryan @ Great Glen Trails

Comments

Re: Cultural Differences
by Sue W on Jan 7th 2007, 1:04 pm

Ryan, Thanks for putting up this YouTube flick. It wasn't cheesy to me. And your points hit the mark. Beckie Scott, the ski racer in the flick, is a superb athlete and was successful in what is the most physically demanding of sports. She is also a great sportswoman and was one of the athletes who have led the way in cleaning up the sport of cross country from the use of illegal, performance enhancing drugs. In addition to winning gold and silver medals in the Olympics, last year Beckie finished second overall in the World Cup--the season long series of international races that are the truest test of performance, consistency and endurance over the entire winter. A fantastic achievement. She's one of my heroines. It is nice to know she lives in a country that values the sport in which she excels. You can bet that cross country skiing will continue to grow and thrive in Canada, because there are hundreds of little kids who know of Beckie Scott and her accomplishments, and are inspired. Congratulations to Beckie, and to Cross Country Canada, their national organization.

Re: Cultural Differences
by Ryan @ Great Glen Trails on Jan 9th 2007, 2:47 pm

I guess by cheesy, I meant kind of predictable in its use of Green Day. Every athlete that's young and retired has a montage with that song. Other than that, I agree, it's really cool that it was put together.