I don’t pay as much attention to the ski industry as I used to. It’s gets me too riled up. I care, and for sanity’s sake I tell myself that if I’m not working towards change, I have no right to complain. Unfortunately, every once in a while something comes along that makes me want to scream and puke and throw stuff around.
Those of you paying attention have known for a while that TJ is the latest skier to divorce the mob, and while I’m sad to see him go, that’s life. But the unforgivable press release poorly disguised as a tidy letter forced me to seriously reconsider how stupid the ski industry thinks people are. Which is not a small feat.
“It was by pure coincidence that I was contacted by CoreUPT when my Armada contract was expiring…”
And I’m the King of England so don’t patronize me or anyone else with this refried dog shit. A new company with a stupid name offered you a boatload of money and a pro model so you jumped. Big deal, it’s happened before. Somebody needs to run up in this piece, pull down the dress pants, throw a rubber band around the balls and say, “Do. Not. Fuck with us.” I wish I were in a position for that someone to be me. I wish young skiers were mentally in a position where it could be them. I wish a lot of things, but I chose my road, so I’ll let it go.
October 19, 2008 at 11:30 am |
you mentioned, “A new company with a stupid name “. well, as it happened, i reached my threshold for dealing with all the hype around boone skis and decided to go to town on them. in hindsight, a terrible idea, because the minority of ns thinks on that level (substance >>>>> style). lesson learned.
http://newschoolers.com/web/content/viewcult/action/news/id/4280/jid/1065/eid/3107/
crits?
October 19, 2008 at 11:37 am |
Throwin verbal hammers. Just like your last quip…honesty. There is no shame in saying “I ski for a living, its business. I have my best interests in mind. Would I take $50k or $75k?? I think the answer is obvious.” For every nickel of good that comes out of skiing, you get a dime of mass marketed steaming shit. No shame in making money, but plenty of shame in being a sheep.
October 21, 2008 at 12:45 pm |
Blake, I don’t believe skiing is as locked into its current path as it thinks it is. It started by changing everything, but seems to forget it’s capacity for change.
Zav, I can’t believe what I just saw was real.
October 21, 2008 at 3:13 pm |
:s
October 21, 2008 at 11:32 pm |
It’s way more than 75k. I wouldn’t necessarily call a big trouble with a new topsheet a pro model, but then, if one remembers the Dave C and the 3 Phils’ skis, Dynastars have a history of this sort of thing, so it’s hardly shocking. I just wish the graphic didn’t look like those baby blue Salomon guns.
I honestly believe CoreUPT is a positive force for the simple reason that they’re putting more money into the sport, specifically to the so-called upper echelon of athletes, than any other “upstart” (if you want to call them that) has ever. I’m pretty sure once it becomes obvious that they can’t sell anywhere near enough product to cover their costs, in say, 3 years they’ll lose their backing and go under, but in the meantime they have changed what a competitive salary means in skiing, and I don’t think they’re done signing big names. Call me naive, but I can only imagine that there’s a ripple effect. If nothing else it definitely helps TJ now, and when he next needs to sit down and hammer out a k with another ski company. All I can say is, more power to him.
As for the press release itself, Dave, all I can say is that they should definitely have pushed a few of their piles of cash in your direction to have you write things FOR them. Then they wouldn’t have this problem. I wonder if TJ actually did write that himself. In all seriousness, what do you mean by “I chose my road”?
October 22, 2008 at 12:36 am |
In my humble opinion the upper echelon athletes are the last people in skiing who need more money thrown at them right now. Yes, it might be what they deserve, but their salaries are artificially inflated beyond our sport’s carrying capacity. Just because a few people are getting paid what they deserve doesn’t mean that everyone else is as well. We cannot afford to pay five or six people this much money because it leaves the rest to starve. It’s the epitome of capitalism. Our sport needs to be able so sustain and nourish itself from the ground up, and if companies outside of skiing are willing to pay out enormous salaries, it inadvertently sucks our roots dry. I think Armada’s original model of compensating skiers with stake in the company works a lot better than pouring money at skiers because there is a give/take instead of just take.
Skiing is not a growth industry. Sales have been flat for years now and all that changes is how the pie is divided. If sales are flat, there isn’t any more money for salaries, and if there isn’t any more money, what happens when a few people get paid exponentially more than ever before?
On your final note: I cannot imagine T.J. writing that himself, but I’m sure he had some input, and signed off on it before it went out.
By “I chose my road” I meant that I chose to step back from skiing and go to school, and at this current point in my life, who am I to pretend to speak from a position of authority? I can only speak my mind like anyone else.
I think this (mainly this comment) might turn into a great article for a real magazine.