Hating For The Love Of The Game: A Love Letter To Snowboarding

You hate on snowboarding. Admit it. You talk shit behind its back like a cheating ex. And you should hate it. It’s this passion that keeps it real. It’s this passion that proves deep down how much you love it. And you should love it.

The scenario is the same at every industry function: tradeshow, contest, industry event. It matters not. Groups of men – we’re not that young anymore – wearing the uniform that promotes whatever brand they’re currently working for or thinks is the next big thing. They grab a drink, slap high fives, and talk briefly about their hangover. And then they gossip. We. We gossip like schoolgirls.

Dude.

Bro.

Can you believe…

He’s back on the bottle. Blowing it.

So and so quit his job.

That brand went corporate.

That Team Manager puts himself into photoshoots. Give up the dream.

That rider sold out for shit brands.

That once cool brand was bought by a non-cool brand to become cool by association. Didn’t work.

That video part re-used a song from a classic skate video.

They’re going strictly vertical retail.

What! They’re coming into Canada as well?

He used to be a legend. Then he got on the ice.

They cut him because he was old.

They cut him because he was injured.

He bought a motorcycle last year and now thinks he’s Max Schaaf.

That photographer is giving away shots.

He writes for free.

That magazine is lying about circulation.

That’s trending hard.

He’s filming for who next year?

What happened to the backside 180?

Back in the day…

He can’t even do a double.

Triples are lame.

She banged her way into that contract.

So did he.

You can tell he doesn’t skate.

That shop doesn’t pay.

He’s been riding too much Blue Park.

Jeffy Anderson is snowboarding. So is Scotty Wittlake.

His stance is too wide.

At least he didn’t jump on the narrow stance bandwagon.

What… he’s gonna be a father?

Rube is not the father.

She has ‘a low center of gravity.’

He wakes and bakes.

That rep hasn’t paid taxes for 7 years. Big Brother’s after him.

That chick hooked up with 3 members of the Forum team.

He’s a sponsor whore.

Might have made out with her last night.

Pretty sure he still wants to beat me up.

Forzani. Zumiez. Winners. W49.

Bali has him now.

Peak Season actors aren’t being paid enough to run their names through mud.

It’s about no gloves and always will be. Not mitts.

He was kicked outta Garf’s for spending too much time in a washroom stall.

Hear whom that brand is selling to now?

He sells his sponsors gear on eBay.

That brand is “the new Volcom.” This brand is “the new RVCA.”


Brands should be scrutinized. Riders should be held to a high standard. Make your money, but do it right. We talk smack because we’re passionate, because we really do care. Without hate you can’t know love.

We take underpaying jobs to enjoy a way of life. The same job in a different industry would net double even triple the salary. It’s not worth it. Our currency is lifestyle. We complain about going to places like Vegas or Europe even though secretly we love it.

“Oh, I HAVE to go to Vegas (aka Denver aka catboarding with clients aka anywhere) again.” Non-industry friends hate us for it.

When we hurt ourselves the first and most painful thought is “Fuck. How long am I going to be off the board for?”

The average person lives without passion. Shocking. We are snowboarders. We are artists. What do they call themselves… normal?

It doesn’t have to be snowboarding, but what purpose would you have without an obsession? Live boring and die with the most chips? We live for a selfish endeavor. But at least we have passion.


Personally, I like like snowboarding. Like more than a friend. Forever, my life revolved around it. Friends, education, relationships, location… every major life decision was influenced by snowboarding. To this day I flip through a magazine and have strong views about something on every page: What this brand is doing wrong. What they’re doing right. How he is saving snowboarding. How that ad could be better. How that’s grabbed wrong. That’s how much I love it.

I’ve slept with a new board in my bed. I’ve woken up in a resort parking lot. I’ve driven across the country multiple times. I’ve wiped my ass with snow. I’ve ruptured my spleen. I’ve spent a winter in a closet. I’ve lived in staff housing (it’s worse). I’ve worn questionable clothing for sponsors. I’ve been to Vegas too many times. I’ve downloaded from Blackcomb glacier with my shoulder hanging out of its socket. I’ve given myself permanent brain damage. I’ve given myself permanent brain damage. I’ve broken my heart. I won’t be getting out of bed pain free when I’m old. I’ve gone heliboarding to do a lifestyle photo shoot on the summit and then had to fly back down without strapping in (forgive me, I have sinned). I’ve been helivac’d. I’ve made one pizza feed me for 3 days. I’ve crab walked out of Sushi Village. I’ve watched too many snowboard movies. I’ve smashed a beer bottle over my head. I’ve gotten better at snowboarding since I quit. I’ve swallowed my pride. I’ve fallen in love. I’ve ruined relationships and lost girlfriends. I’ve probably disappointed my parents.

But these aren’t sacrifices. Snowboarding has given me best friends, dream jobs, and experiences I couldn’t have dreamed of. Snowboarding has given me everything. I love it and because of this, I’ll talk as much shit about it as I want.

by Andrew Sayer
 
http://bneeth.com/2011/12/27/hating-for-the-love-of-the-game-a-love-letter-to-snowboarding/

Symphony opening day! Little bit of pow riding...

First edit of the season, One day on Whistler Blackcomb!

A day to learn some new tricks!

                                                   Me and Matt enjoying the sun again!
      

Hand plant action on sunny Blackcomb!

Matt call it the french press! 5-0 on whistler

Pretty cool video!!

An other good sunny day in the park!

Such a good productive day today, Whis park in the morning, then switched to Blackcomb park in the afternoon, Following the sun....
Lots of filming got done with my friend Matt Belair. And some funny last run pics!

Edit soon to come!

                                                                   Rock wall slide

         

                                                  I don't even know who's that call... Matt's End of
                                                              day shennanigan I guess!!
       

                                            Beautifull view on my way down! Sunny day up
                                                        top, now going into the clouds

Bluebird park day!

Quote that I liked!

Drawn by Nicole Beliveau
Quote by Jon Kabat Zinn

First day of Riding!

Tuesday November 22, It's my first day of riding since January last year. 63 cm of new snow overnight, isn't bad for a first day back! Lets go shred some pow!

Toughts about my trip

-All the surfers there were really hot! All tanned and really nice body! :)
-I love surfers
-Surfing...  It's harder to get pass the brake that it is to catch a wave.
-Dominicain food is excelent, cheap and in really big portion.
-Alcohol is soo cheap and the drinks are pretty much half half.
-There no road rules, you can do whatever you want whenever you want..  even being 4 on a moto with no helmet....
-1 week isn't enough.
-Salt water doesn't taste good.
-Brushing your hair???  What is that?
-Wering sandals is not a good idea when you go to the bar...  I lost 2 pairs in a week...
-Fresh fruits = love

Cabarete, Dominicain Republic , November 18, 2011. Day 8

Ouff... waking up this morning was a little ruff... No surfing today, we were suppose to wake up extra early to get a last session but it didn't happen!! I slept in for the first time on this trip, woke up, had a turbo shower, tried to fit everything in my suitcase ( half of my stuff was still wet) , said bye to everyone and left for the airport. I didn't feel like leaving at all, I had such an amazing time here but it was way too quick! Cabarete I will be back!
Our flight to NYC was ok, we got to NY wearing sandals and short but it was so cold there...  didn't took too long that I wanted pants on... there was a huge line up for the taxi at the airport and also a lot of traffic on our way to the bus station, we almost missed our bus...  we arrived just in time... It wouldn't of been fun.
At the border the bus got checked and we had to get out with our luggage, the boarder guys  were asking a lot of question and thought our story was suspicious... so we got our luggage empty out, they looked at all my pictures on my camera, they read my note book they checked every single pockets..  I guess they thought they were gonna find something hey! Not happening!
We got back on the bus and made it back to Canada!

Cabarete, Dominicain Republic , November 17, 2011. Day 7

Best day of the week yet I think!!  Its also our last full day here...  Already! :(  It went by so quick.....
Early surf session, best day in the water for sure. caught some good waves all morning. the waves were perfects. It was also really nice out and there was a rainbow in the sky!!   surfing with the rainbow!!  Wouhouuu!  So beautiful! After surfing, we went for lunch at Picka poyo which is Dominican food with huge servings... 100 pesos for a big plate of rice, poyo, salad & pasta. Yummy! Right after our lunch, Adam from the wake school came to pick us up at the house, were going wake boarding on the magic mushroom river!! So fun, I wake boarded for a little bit, Ann-Ju tried the wake a bit but didn't really liked it so I've got the full hour of riding for myself!!  Awesome! :) for the last half hour, I tried the wake skate for my first time... that was even more fun then the wake board. The river that we were riding on was just by a cow field so we were riding beside cows and pigs.. ha ha  I thought it was pretty cool! Cerveza at la Boca after our riding, I could barely lift my beer up I was already so sore from riding.. haha we also got a coconut and kept it for tonight's drinks! After getting back from our ride, we went to Mojitos for the Happy hour! 2 for 1 Mojitos & pina colada! :) Yumm! Steven, Martha & the swell crew was there, it was fun and the drinks were amazing! We went to Aloha for dinner, once again, it was so delicious. I had meto, a kind of fish who was delicious and also an unlimited buffet. Ann-Julie was starving and got 2 full plates! haha Crazy girl...  Excelent dinner...  on our way back, we stopped at La Rosa to go grab some more booze for tonight..  On the menu for tonight, Rhum & coco! tonight is our last night already so lets enjoy the time we have left! After a couple drinks, we went to Lax for some more drinking and dancing. Drinks+Drinks+dance+Rhum& coke at Blue bar ( = half rhum half coke) +dance...... Once again an unbelievable night with good compagnie! I lost an other pair of sandal tonight tho!!  haha. Got the taxi moto back to our house  and went to bed!

Cabarete, Dominicain Republic , November 16, 2011. Day 6

An other Early morning surf session, The waves were really nice today too, had a really good time in the water.  Later on in the afternoon, we went zip trecking in the Jungle which was really fun and right after that we went and fed monkeys! :) They were so cool!!   I've always wanted to see monkeys so I was really excited to be there! they were jumping all over the place, jumping on us, eating out of our hands playing in our hair...  they even tried to undo Ann-Julie's bathing suit! ha ha I wanted to bring one back with me so bad but we weren't allowed! :(
For dinner tonight, we went to ally's surf camp to eat steak. So far, the best and biggest steak I've ever eaten. It was enormous and so tender, served with the biggest bowl of rice, give me a chance, I couldn't finished up my plate!!  haha
I wanted to nap a bit after we got back from the restaurant but ended up sleeping all night...  well I woke up at 4 am and coulndt go back to bed so I went on the beach a bit  and went and read a book by the ocean and watched the sunrise!

Cabarete, Dominicain Republic , November 15, 2011. Day 5

Today, we went to Puerto Plata for a different activity. We went to "27 water falls" it was so awesome, we walked in some river in the jungle, swam , climbed rocks, jumped off cliffs & slide rocks. We walked up the mountain for about an hour then when we hit the top, we started jumping off and sliding rocks all the way to the bottom, It was a really cool activity and really fun. The 2 girls that were with us gave up after the second water fall to climb so we were just by our self with the guide. They were really funny guys and they helped us all the way up the mountain!! haha. We were right in the jungle, it was so beautiful and we also saw an Iguana. after our hike, we had dinner at the place which was once again delicious. Turbo nap on the drive back to Cabarete, I started feeling my hang over! haha
After being back to Porta del Mare, we decided to go for an afternoon surf session at Encuentro, the waves weren't that good due to the wind that picked up in the afternoon so we didn't stay in the water for too long. We got back to our place and Had a nap in the sun. Getting my tan on! ;)
Had some burger on the BBQ for dinner and some vodka drinks, we stayed home tonight and drank a bit around the pool with Andrew, Steven and Simon.