A few random observations after reading the release and thinking about it for a day.
- No one seems to have commented on the actual format. For years people have complained that the early runs are somewhat meaningless as they don't determine the winner and the top guys aren't going full out. Under the new format, all runs are equally significant from the first rider to drop to the last. From a spectator point of view, this should be very good news.
- The Trick Showdown was great, but a lot of the bigger slopestyle guys either didn't participate or barely participated. With only a few riders automatically in Saturday's main event, this means the Trick Showdown is more significant - which again is good news for spectators.
As far as qualifying using a best trick format? I'm not so sure about that. Riding a solid slopestyle run is nothing like being able to nail one big trick. Since we're using the DH analogy, it's a bit like nailing one section and then making the final.
That is somewhat true, but I still think it's worth it if the riders now have to try harder at the Trick Showdown than they did in '08.
- Rider selection. This is always going to be unpopular. Let's agree that 15-20 is the ideal number. No one can argue with the following: Andreu Lacondeguy/Boyco/Zink/Paul B (past winners), and Berrecloth/McDermott/C McCaul (past 2nd place finishes [HTML_REMOVED] top results in other comps).
That's 7 names, and after taking into account the 6 tba/wildcard spots, that leaves up to 2-7 more confirmed names to get to a total of 15-20. Who should be on the list? Groves [HTML_REMOVED] Watts after winning last year's Trick Showdown? Or someone else instead? It's time to name names.
