OK, so this is a video made by skiers, but they’re pretty damn funny ones at that so we’ll let them off this time.
A few people (including a ‘tipsy’ Whitelines viewing panel) thought there were some peculiar judging techniques used at last weekend’s X Games slopestyle finals; Mark McMorris didn’t seem to have to chase Max Parrot particularly hard in order to best his first run score.
We’ve always guessed that really the X Games is judged by who might bring in the most viewers on the night, something to tell a story, which might explain how Shaun White managed to get a perfect 100 even with a hand down.
We’ve also noticed that even stomped, highly technical early runs tend to get marked low, probably in order to leave room for higher scores later on. You can’t give a 99 in the first round only to see better and better runs later on can you?
Cynical us eh? Well it turns out we were completely wrong; apparently the X Games is judged purely on blind luck and gambling! Wahoo, no pressure next year Billy!