The newsletter that woke up in a bad mood
That thing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott did made me glad - most other things bugged me.
The technical intricacies of Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s slopestyling escape me but this much is evident: needing to produce the run of her life to win gold, the 20 year old produced the run of her life.
Not once on that final run did doubt creep in around the edges. When you’re spinning around in the big blue, trusting that the hours of practice will land you back safely and in control onto the big white, it requires a clarity of mind that is impossible for those of us who struggle to corral coherent thoughts together to contemplate.
It was one of those occasions where, as a viewer, ignorance was bliss.
Where freestyle aficionados would have found art, the unlearned saw wonderful chaos; an outrageous connection between rails and jumps, between ground speed and flight. Sadowski-Synnott didn’t just laugh in the face of Newton’s Third Law, but she seemingly rejected the limitations imposed upon her by cartilage and tendon.
There was massive satisfaction to be had watching a young athlete leave everything on the course, as she so obviously had, but other than watching her raise her arms in triumph when she (just) landed her final jump I had little idea as to whether she had scored the 88 needed to jump from second to first.
I’m not sure I cared that much either.
Often you hear athletes talk about being process oriented rather than outcome focused. It’s difficult not to stifle a yawn because as an observer or a fan, pretty much everything boils down to the result.
So it was slightly disorienting to watch Sadowski-Synnott’s final run live and be so enormously impressed by the strength of character and sheer athleticism that I almost didn’t care if she scored enough to move from silver to gold.
Almost.
I was hoping to be able to share a great piece of reportage that made you feel like you were with Sadowski-Synnott and all her hopes and fears at the top of the run on Sunday but when all your sports reporters are at home rather than at the event, you instead get endless stories focusing on the family.
Yeah, I get it, the dad had a couple of beers, swore on TV and it was really cool. To quote him from behind the safety of some well-placed asterisks we were all “pretty f***ing excited to be honest”.
But there was such a BIG HOLE in the coverage of New Zealand’s first winter gold that I feel compelled to use block capitals.
As it was, the best wrap of the event I read was from CNN, while if you want to know how her family felt about it, go to any of the major New Zealand websites. You can’t miss it.
Sadowski-Synnott’s dad has gone viral in a good way but I find the whole pivot-to-family exercise dispiriting.
Will we soon have cameras in the living rooms of All Black, Black Cap and Silver Ferns mums and dads? Will we cross to Brett and Sandra Williamson when son Kane scores his next test century - not this summer unfortunately; damn that elbow - to learn how nervous they were when he was nearly run out on 93.
It was out of control last year when every event in Tokyo was followed by a live cross to a family battery farm on the Auckland waterfront where assorted loved ones were boxed and packaged for a live audience.
I’d really, really like a bit more from the athletes, a bit less from those genetically connected to them1.
Excuse the vinegar (I think I got out of the wrong side of bed this grey and mizzly morning), but the broadcast coverage of the Games has been average and the commentary has been horribly short of that. This is not a dig at Sky, who have no say in the matter, but the Olympic broadcaster.
The call of the women’s slopestyle had more cringe moments than a season of Melody Rules. Half the time they didn’t even bother commentating the action until the replay.
The commentary of the men’s downhill was based almost entirely around watching split times and the speed gun. You know the sort: “The Swiss skier has made up nearly a tenth of a second on that part of the course! He was going 113km/h at the top of the Sugar Jump, slightly slower than the Austrian.”
Hand on heart, tomorrow’s newsletter will be full of warm smiles and rainbows, but here’s another thing that annoys me - Eddie Jones.
The whole rugby coach as the Cult of Personality has bugged me for a while. It first started to really grate when the bad-tempered Lions tour of 2017 devolved into a pissing contest between two alphas Steve Hansen and Warren Gatland, and with those two out of the way Jones is now the loudest cock of the roost.
The build up to the Calcutta Cup was dominated by Jones’ claims of Scotland being massive favourites and how they were going to target playmaker Marcus Smith.
“I’m sure Scotland are going to come at him. Scotland brag about being able to get into the psychology of England, don’t they? So let’s see on Saturday,” he said in the lead up to England’s Six Nations opener.
Scotland beat England 20-17 at Murrayfield.
They deserved their win, but were aided and abetted by some tactical implosions from the coaching box, including removing the impressive Smith with close to a quarter of the match remaining, and turning down a kick at goal to draw the match.
Jones is clearly a very good rugby coach, but the bluster is getting tiresome. It’s taking longer than I initially thought, but he’s starting to wear out his welcome in England, with Sir Clive Woodward taking several well-aimed swings in his Daily Mail column.
Slightly more measured was Robert Kitson’s analysis of England’s evolution into a split-personality team under Jones.
England have the resources and the talent to dominate the Six Nations but they’ve got to get out of their own way first.
Moving seamlessly onto another Australian coach with a big personality - Justin Langer.
What a messy situation that is, but a very modern one.
Langer resigned at the end of last week after being offered a final, short-term contract that would take him through to the end of this year’s World T20 in Australia.
Understandably, given Australia has just destroyed England in the Ashes and won last year’s World T20, the nuggety West Australian thought this a desultory offer.
Just as clearly, a significant cabal of senior players - including, most likely, red- and white-ball captains Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch - wanted a change.
Players do tire of intense coaches like the aforementioned Jones and Langer, particularly if they have mood swings, which by all accounts Langer does.
What modern cricketers want most from their coaches is consistency. Players have to ride the peaks and troughs of their own form, they don’t want coaches who ride that roller coaster with them.
Langer’s almost maniacal desire to right the wrongs of the previous regime was what the team needed after the Cape Town debacle, but that smouldering intensity has a shelf life.
In the SMH (metered $), Malcolm Conn calls out the hypocrisy of those former teammates of Langer who are suddenly complaining about player power.
OLYMPIC PIC OF THE DAY
To my mind, Isle of Man TT riders and downhill skiers are the last of the sporting lunatics. Here, Swiss gold medallist Beat Feuz is just keeping it together as he tackles the Yanqing course.
THIS WEEK
After getting a bit of phlegm off my chest this morning, we’ll move light and bright tomorrow afternoon, including The BYC’s latest tomfoolery and some cracking reads from around the globe. There’ll be some as-yet-undecided goodness to accompany The Week That Was and the Weekend That Will Be on Friday.
If you overwhelmingly let me know I have got this wrong and, in fact, find the live cross to family to be a delightful diversion, I will swallow my pride and never mention this grumpy old man gripe again.
You got it right Dylan.............all of it...........non timekeeping, distance measuring, over the line in the basket sports hard to read..............but Zoi and her fantastic skills the latest adaptation of what were rolling, tumbling, flipping, circus events evolving into gymnastics, ice skating and now on snow boards and skiss.........20 seems so young to me, now 75, but then Peter Snell was only 21 that great day in Rome and I was 13 .........
Re coverage of snowboarding, maybe check out the work of Holly Thorpe: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/300512014/winter-olympics-why-zoi-sadowskisynnotts-gold-is-a-win-for-all-women-in-sport