www.snowboard-women.com

Interesting EXPN.com article brought to my attention by Adam over at HighlyObsessed.com. It highlights the changes coming to next week’s X-Games for the Women’s Superpipe competition - dropping the finalists’ field from 10 down to 6 and raising the question of whether this further marginalizes women in the sport?

Producers at the X-Games argued that the newly-limited field simply would push the women to be better riders to get into one of the 6 available finals spots, and that the skills by women in past years in the 5th place and below “totally sucked ass.” Um, excuse me… but I totally respect ANYONE who gets in a 20 foot pipe and flies through the air doing any number of crazy stunts! (I’m personally a cruisy/carving rider, for the record… )

In sports, it’s just a fact, women are not the same as men for any number of reasons, but actions like this by the X-Games send the wrong message. But I have a feeling it ain’t ever going to change, in snowboarding or any sport. Hey, at least give a wider field a chance for a little exposure though?!?