If you're old enough to have watched ABC's Wild World of Sports- and their Olympic coverage in the 70's - you may have seen this Olympic Ski Jumper EAT IT wicked hard way back then, every week in their opening credits.
I was thinking about this as I watched this years ski jumpers at the Olympics this weekend.
And let me say this before I go on - I am in no way disrespecting the athletes who do it, and I fully realize that it's still dangerous.
Having said that- I was watching it this weekend and thought....... I used to be TERRIFIED to watch these folks ski jump, thinking they could friggin DIE at any moment!
Now- it seems absolutely TAME compared to what these freestyle skiers do!
Check it out (and mind you - these arent from this years Winter Games because NBC won't allow me to share their videos...grrrrr..)
And here's snowboarders doing the same crazy s***!
Man - Ski Jumping used to be the most thrilling thing imaginable at the Winter Games! Folks flying what seemed like miles down a steep hill and landing without even breaking a sweat!
NOW - the freestyle skiers and snowboarders doing stuff that was unimaginable back then! Triple and quadruple flips and twists! Hell, I can't even count how many revolutions they do!!! Its insane!!
And that's why I still love to watch the Olympics! They are doing INHUMAN stuff on those slopes!!! And that's not saying Ski Jumping ISN'T insane- it STILL is. But - it just seems tame now next to
whats happening in freestyle!
I tip my cap to all of those athletes that compete at the highest level!
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And by the way - if you ever wondered what happened to that AGONY OF DEFEAT GUY- I found this-