Opinion on Shaun White

Just out of curiosity, what are your opinion on Shaun? Like dislike why.

I personally like the guy, he doesn’t come off as a cocky douchebag type guy. His talents on a snowboard is undeniable even though I may not necessarily agree on some of his decisions (e.g. not coming to Terje’s contest, not coming to Supernatural even though invited, only focus on contest and very few video parts, selling scooters).

yeah i dont mind him, but i question some of his decisions BUT saying that, im sure if i was in his position id probably do the same. Its like he is two different people, shaun the person and shaun the brand.
Its kind of similar to rob dyrdek. I find the guy hilarious and love his tv shows but alot of skaters cant stand him, but again if i was in his position, id love to be paid to mess around, plus his heart was in the right place with street league.
But yeah, im not sure what shaun the person would really think about shaun the brand selling scooters

so in summary…

he has red hair!

Not a huge fan. Amazing talent but I find him quite a bit douchey. Especially since he would have been the kind of kid that got picked on in school for red hair / skinny etc.

Things like selling scooters doesn’t help his image either.

Back when he was in first descent I didn’t mind him but since he went to being a pipe only rider I lost interest. Purely because pipe really doesn’t do anything for me.

As for his business/brand I think it’s safe to say hat a lot of snowboarders lost a lot of respect for him with his decisions over the past couple of years.

I’ve always been a fan of Shaun White. That is, Shaun White the champion pipe rider. I admire how he rose to the top and has stayed there for so long. I admire how he always seems to perform at the highest level when the most pressure is on him. He seems to overcome all the pressure and pull something amazing out of his hat. That’s what I have liked about Shaun White over the years. I also have a lot of respect for his skateboarding skills. The dude has achieved a lot in his career and I respect that.

That said, I think his decisions over the last few years have been borderline ridiculous. Such a huge name in the sport should have more regard for his own image and brand. Not only that, he should have more respect for the sport itself (i.e. don’t sell scooters, stand up to the FIS etc). It’s become quite hard to defend Shaun White the person and businessman.

So I guess my answers is: a bit of both.

Yeah, I’m on a similar tangent to everyone else really!!!!!

While I’m not a fan of what he wears or how he acts publicly, without knowing him, I can’t really pass any judgement on him as he hasn’t really done anything bad/wrong/misleading that I know of!!!!!

He can ride like a Mo Fo Possessed, and he can obviously market himself brilliantly, and for that ya have to give him cred!!!!!

So I have abstained from voting either way!!!!!

In general I say I like Shaun. He has been involved in certain things in the last few years that leave me saying “really Shaun?”.
But what we should remember is that he has been in top competition since he was a grom. I mean seriously young competition kid.
So he could be compared to Michael Jackson in that regard. Highly talented but anyone with that much constant lime light is gunna end up a little weird.
He’s actually surprising normal when u think about him that way.

He doesn’t sleep in an oxygen tank & doesn’t have a pet monkey named bubbles either.

Even if someone manages to beat him in the next olympics (............ could happen) there may never been another rider that achieves the amount of things he has already achieved. And that’s pretty amazing.

And GOD DAMN can he boost out of a pipe!

http://whitelines.mpora.com/featured-article/shaun-white-lands-mental-new-double-alley-oop-rodeo-in-the-pipe.html

Posted this in the Videos section, no one seems to care here haha

lol fair enough.

Apparently some NZ rider landed the double McTwist before Shaun did in the Olympics.

But I recon Shaun had that down ages before the olympics anyway, and he just kept it up his sleeve as a secret weapon.

Also he did it in competition which is pretty sick

I agree with much of what has been said about mixtures of admiration and despair at his douchieness.

but….a lot of people get those tricks down with half the resources that shaun has, so I admire them more. Not many dudes have private pipes and foam pits to practice in. I remember reading that travis rice said that he couldn’t imagine having this awesome pipe/foam pit built and not wanting to share sessioning it with his mates. That resonated with me because when it comes down to it, a lot of the reason a lot of us enjoy riding is the part of having fun with our mates.

Clearly shaun puts his personal achievement above pretty much anything else and I don’t really rate that.

Andy Aitken - 25 October 2012 02:31 AM

Apparently some NZ rider landed the double McTwist before Shaun did in the Olympics.

But I recon Shaun had that down ages before the olympics anyway, and he just kept it up his sleeve as a secret weapon.

Also he did it in competition which is pretty sick

Ben Stewart, Wanaka/Cardrona rider, does it alley-oop. The videos on youtube, posted in Oct ‘09. Word is that Shaun was there riding with him when Ben was doing it and that’s where he got the idea to learn it.

Was Shaun ally oop as well? I can’t remember.

I hadn’t heard that shaun was there at the time, kinda sounds like a rumour, but if it’s true, that’s a jerk move to claim he was the first to do it.

And why the hell doesn’t Ben Stewart compete in the big leagues?
I’ve never seen the guy.

No, Ben does it alley oop shaun does it off the heel wall. Pretty sure I saw him kicking about this season, a bunch of people I know around Wanaka are mates with him. From what I gather he doesn’t care about competing, just wants to progress the sport and have fun.