The Bu Review: Let Nate Ski

Not at Malibu, but a cool picture anyways

Nate Smith ran 41 off like a boss, Tadd was on the mic pumping up a possible run for a record, the crowd was noticeably amped up, cameras were out, people were hoping to see a record fall and the $10,000 grand bounty paid out.

We saw the boat coming down course, the skier weaving around the buoys, and he ran all six! Holy cow, Nate just crushed the world record!

Wait…no…that was just a 35 off pass, and that wasn’t even Nate…What the hell is going on??

It felt like such a let down. One of the structural issues that any waterski tournament has is its tough to recreate the "head to head" competition part of a team based sporting event, i.e basketball, football, etc.

The bracket style competitions are a nice step in the right direction and compelling jump competitions create a great scene, but, its harder to really gin up the fanatasizm that you find in other sports given the solo nature of the event.

Think figure skating or something, the exact in-the-moment win/lose isn't present as, say, beating your guy off the dribble and scoring a basket.

Its exciting on its own merits, watching a Nate Smith slalom or a Freddy Jump or Patrice Martin trick ski, but, that in the moment head to head action isn't there.

So, when we all thought that it was Nate going for the record there was a palatable excitement rippling through the crowd.

And we felt let down.

Maybe it was the right decision by the judges, or whomever, but, darn it!  We wanted to experience that thrill of seeing that, in THAT moment.

On the other hand, holy cow there are some good slalom skiers out there, as much fun of waterski magazine as we make, the stunning skill of these guys and girls!  I see you Whitney.  Its amazing.

Anyways, we understand the rules and the seasonings for how a tournament is run and all that, no complaints, but, shoot that would have been cool.