ASPEN — To revive the rebel spirit that made snowboarding famous, the best thing that could happen to the X Games is if some punk shoved Shaun White’s scrawny derrière into a dumpster.
At 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds, White casts a shadow that has eclipsed his sport. In the world of snowboarding, he is Tiger Woods. The New York Yankees. And the iPod.
Combined.
White defines the culture, fills the television screen and takes home all the big endorsement money.
Which makes you wonder: Would the X Games turn anybody on without the Flying Tomato? Has snowboarding become a one-man sport?
“I wouldn’t want to say that personally,” White insisted Thursday. “Because there are guys out there pushing it so hard in other ways, but just don’t reach the audience that I’ve got.”
Quick quiz: Who was the No. 1-ranked American snowboarder entering the 2009 season?
Answer: 26-year-old Steve Fisher of Breckenridge.
Not that it matters. Win or lose, White is what counts.
“People see him and he’s always the favorite. What else do you know when that’s all the media shoves down your throat?” Fisher said.
So the soundtrack of the X Games might get a fresh remix, but the story line never changes.
“There is the Flying Tomato. Watch Shaun White win. And then when it doesn’t happen, people don’t know what to do,” said Fisher, twice gold medalist in the superpipe at this event. “It’s not Steve Fisher wins or Kevin Pearce wins. It’s Shaun White loses.”
Rebel? If White were any more corporate, he would wear his own signature line of clothing, inspire a video game and get paid to make computers seem more hip than geek.
Wait. That has all happened already.
“After the (2006) Olympics, I was put in the position to speak for a lot more than myself. And that was a very big pressure on its own, when you think about it,” White told Scott Willoughby in an interview with The Post.
“Because I could have said everyone in snowboarding loves cherry Pop-Tarts, and everybody would’ve been like ‘Sweet! I love them.’ Or I could have said snowboarders only like to party, and that’s what everybody would have thought, because they would have stereotyped it. I could have gone on Jay Leno wearing a beanie. There were so many things that could’ve gone wrong.”
The spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness, “Wayne’s World” goofiness makes White impossible to dislike. His act has not grown stale. “He’s the Tony Hawk of snowboarding,” Fisher said.
The sport, however, badly needs some fresh blood. If you’re asking me, Winter X is ready to grow up in its 13th year. Become more about the competition and less about the T-shirts.
What fun would it be to root against the Yankees if the Boston Red Sox didn’t exist to make a compelling rivalry? NASCAR nation would fall asleep at the wheel if Jeff Gordon was the only racer TV cameras followed around the track. When Tiger got hurt, it was a bland PGA Tour that really felt his pain.
Here’s thinking White is in no rush to share equal footing on the winner’s podium.
Just as Michael Jordan received superstar treatment by referees at the height of his NBA powers, there’s a sneaking suspicion judges give White bonus points simply for dropping in the pipe.
But, for competitive snowboarding to continue its amazing growth arc, doesn’t the Flying Tomato need a legitimate and recognizable nemesis?
“It’s such a crazy thing where a random kid can go learn some new tricks that haven’t been done before and be the next guy,” White said. “Some kid from Finland can show up and put down a ridiculous run, and you will be like ‘Wow, I didn’t see that coming.’
“So, for me, to be able to maintain a certain level in the sport for such a long period of time has, I think, been my greatest achievement, just to be ahead of the curve every year. That’s kind of an art of its own.”
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
