Judging Big Air

At this year’s Winter X Games, you may have noticed that they introduced a new event. Calling it Big Air, it was described in ESPN the Magazine as, “an update to 2007’s best-trick event, big air features four riders facing off head-to-head. In each round, riders get two runs to throw their biggest tricks off a 65-foot step-up gap jump. Winners will be chosen by fans, who’ll vote at EXPN.com and by text message (50%), and by judges’ scores (50%).”

I thought this was interesting—X Games is like an Olympics for action sports, but yet an event was being judged 50% by fans. It seems weird to me that a gold medal would be given when a fan (who may know nothing about snowboarding) was a decisive factor. When the event aired, the atmosphere was very relaxed—the riders were jumping while Sal Masekela and Todd Richards, as well as actress Rachel Bilson, were casually commentating.  After each of the paired athletes jumped, Todd would pick the one which he thought was best, then the crowd would pick, and the majority won.

I recently caught up with Tina Dixon, X-Games sideline reporter, who was at the Games, to get her take on the event. She agreed that the event was super casual, and the judging format was really unique. When I pointed out that I couldn’t believe power to award gold medals would be given to the fans (can you imagine that happening in ice skating?) she said that it was all really streamlined and fair. Tina said that Todd would pick who he thought should win, and then the fans would vote via text message. If there was a disagreement, then the X-Games head judge would step in and give his opinion. In one instance the fans decision was overturned—rider Torstein Horgmo was competing against Travis Rice. Todd thought Torstein should win and the fans picked Travis. The head judge was then called in and he agreed with Todd; Torstein pulled a switch backside 1260—something you don’t see very often—and the head judge agreed with Todd that the decision was a no-brainer. As a result, Torstein went on to win the event as a whole.

One point that Tina thought was interesting was the fact that a “reality television” element was brought into the Games. Text messaging is all over the place on TV with shows like American Idol, and here it’s seen in action sports. As she pointed out, it was a great way to get the fans involved, but for me, it takes some getting used to—these are our Olympic sports, after all. What do you think?

Comments

[Charles Cushman]

This ties in to your previous post. Having the fans vote makes this much less a true alternative olympics that the major networks would want to cover and more like a reality TV show only on ESPN.

[alex]

That's a good way to look at it. . .