People go to a show to be entertained. You don’t go to a show to be whipped. And if you like being whipped aren’t you being entertained. –Bob Dylan
    
Ok so this is my soap box. A chance to come out and say what I am feeling and discuss issues that I have regarding our beautiful and poetic sport of wakeskating. Are you ready? Can you feel it? Well here it is.

    In the last few years our sport has grown from a sideshow at the beginning of a pro tour event, to a main event sport with many participants and (some) viewers. We have gone from doing shuvs and 180s to 360 flips and 540s. With this growth, websites such as wakeskating.com and even this one, came out and began discussions. These discussions allowed us to stay current, express views and keep each other pumped on this sport. I feel that part of our sports growth is due to discussions forums and blogs on these websites.

    Unfortunately at some point, people stopped debating and began insulting. Blogs started to become more like fights rather than discussions. Now don’t get me wrong, I feel that it is vital to have your own beliefs and opinions in all areas of life. This is what makes us not cookie-cutter-wakeskaters or robots, if you will. I also feel that in order to grow it is vital for people to voice these opinions and share them with all of us. What better place than to put them on the Internet, America’s main source of information. Now part of what makes a good discussion is disagreement and debate. The problem that I am having is that a few of us do not debate with intelligent or helpful facts for or against the subject matter. Instead of answering or adding their two cents, they insult or poke fun at other people. This causes the first person to retaliate, and it begins. No longer is it a discussion, but a match of who can do the best insult. This is where the growth will stop. Who will ask a question if they know they are going to just get ridiculed?

    We need to realize that there is a lot of areas and styles of wakeskating and we are not all going to agree with the guy next to us. We as wakeskaters need to be able to read and write about other opinions and respectfully agree or disagree. If we cannot respect each other what makes you think the world will respect us. With more and more people getting into the sport of wakeskating get ready for more opinions and questions that you will not agree with. Lets make an effort to respect and help each other out. You can disagree or agree but try not to shit all over other people’s beliefs and opinions. It’s what makes us human.

EDITOR: After a few months of doing this website we’ve come to realize opinions are like blogs—everyone’s got one. So from here on out, we’re going to be featuring one person’s opinion a month, such as Darren’s here, in this column called “Soapbox.” Think your opinion should be heard? So do we. Send us your soapbox rant and if we use it, we’ll hook you up with a t-shirt and some other goodies for your effort. Please note: columns will be selected on quality of writing, use of punctuation and general use of grammar, not whether we agree with your opinion or not. Make it good and maybe you’ll see your name in lights. Email your Soapbox to brooke@alliancewake.com.