Big Air event coming to Fenway Park

soxhop411

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What exactly does “big” mean when it comes to the “Big Air at Fenway” skiing and snowboarding event officially announced on Tuesday?
How about a ramp that will rise 7 feet higher than the top of the light fixtures atop the Green Monster? A drop-in run that will be about 38 degrees steep? And athletes reaching speeds between 35 and 40 mph and then soaring from center field to around the pitcher’s mound?
“To do a big air event in Fenway is the call that you want to receive your entire career,” said Calum Clark, the US Ski and Snowboard Association official who is tasked with making the event on Feb. 11-12 come to life.
“It can be done, and it will be done,” Clark said. “It’s going to be iconic and special. We wanted to show to the world that this is going to not only meet the world at what they’re doing” — a similar event was held at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympics venue — “but we’re going to surpass it.”
The event, a stop on the US Grand Prix freeskiing and snowboarding tour, will attract the highest caliber of extreme athletes, including Olympic and X Games medalists.
“I was so pumped when I heard the idea,” said Sage Kotsenburg, who won gold in snowboarding slopestyle at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. “It was something that I think was a long time coming, and something of this stature needed to happen inside the states for sure. It’ll be the coolest big air event I’ve ever been a part of, and I’ve been a part of a lot of big air events in my day.”
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Tickets for the event will go on sale Nov. 12 on the Red Sox website.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/09/22/big-air-event-will-push-fenway-park-extreme/pahK7JYDX60QhDNIYPV4hK/story.html
more at the link
 

JimBoSox9

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Saints Rest said:
They should have positioned the end of the ramp in front of the Green Monster so that the jumpers would go over the Monster and over Lansdowne Street.
 
Proving, once and forever, that a ski-jumper can't reach the Pike on the fly.  FINALLY!
 

staz

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
What's the problem?
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 

Lose Remerswaal

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 
 
Should we tell him?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 
Too late.  Fenway played host to a week-long circus in 1943 (according to the team's own history website) and *gasp* it was during the season.  Guess the genie's out the bottle on that one.  Bring on the Big Air!
 
 
So is it your contention that the park should just sit quiet and empty for 250ish days a year if there isn't a baseball game or some other "special" event to be held? ("special" apparently having to meet your rigorous standards, of course)
 

Pilgrim

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 

AlNipper49

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 
I think that it's pretty cool.  It's freaking winter.  What else would they do with the park?  
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 
You realize that the Red Sox, who make their home in Boston, don't play baseball in the winter, right? And really, who gives a shit about Fenway's legacy? It's a big green field in the middle of the city where grown men get paid millions of dollars to chase a small white ball around. If the want to have a big ski jump in the winter, just find a fainting couch so you don't get too hurt. 
 

shaggydog2000

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staz said:
 
Listen, I get the allure of an occasional special event. The NHL Winter Classic has become just that, a classic. Premier League Football is a global draw and acts like Springsteen and the Stones only add to Fenway's legacy. But this gimmick lowers the bar significantly. What's next? Monster trucks? Ringing Bros? Up With People?
 
They let Billy Joel play there, and he's basically the most mediocre schmaltz dealer of all time.  Why not some snowboard (does this involve snowboards?, maybe?) event thingy? I have no interest, but complaining about what other people pay to see is pretty silly and always makes you sound like the old guy who doesn't get this hip new music with their hair and those outfits, blah, blah, blah, in my day.......
 

Cumberland Blues

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Yeah, I don't get the hate here either.  There's a demographic that will love this....a demo which includes my ten year old who may get tickets for this in his stocking at xmas.
 

Mike F

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Cumberland Blues said:
Yeah, I don't get the hate here either.  There's a demographic that will love this....a demo which includes my ten year old who may get tickets for this in his stocking at xmas.
Aw come on Cumby, you mean your ten year old's Dad may get those tix on his stocking.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
 
You realize that the Red Sox, who make their home in Boston, don't play baseball in the winter, right? And really, who gives a shit about Fenway's legacy? It's a big green field in the middle of the city where grown men get paid millions of dollars to chase a small white ball around. If the want to have a big ski jump in the winter, just find a fainting couch so you don't get too hurt. 
 
This. I have very strong feelings about what is and isn't appropriate at Fenway during a baseball game. When there's not a baseball game going on, I couldn't care less, as long as it doesn't have a negative impact on the groundskeepers' ability to keep the field in game shape.
 

staz

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shaggydog2000 said:
 
They let Billy Joel play there, and he's basically the most mediocre schmaltz dealer of all time.  Why not some snowboard (does this involve snowboards?, maybe?) event thingy? I have no interest, but complaining about what other people pay to see is pretty silly and always makes you sound like the old guy who doesn't get this hip new music with their hair and those outfits, blah, blah, blah, in my day.......
I guess the question is if a "line" exists or not.

The "if they let X in, why not let Y in" reasoning suggests no line should exist, a perfectly defensible position if you don't give a fuck about the brand.

But if there are certain events deemed by management to be in conflict with the Fenway brand - and you bet your ass MANY suitors have been rejected for any of a number of reasons - then you have to admit a line does exist. Where that line is drawn, and the direction it moves indicates where management sees the brand heading.

IMO, a line should exist, does exist, but it's moving south with Exhibit A being depressing visuals of a half-empty ballpark in the dead of winter.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the response blows me away. I hope this is a successful connect with an important demographic. But I think hosting events with such narrow appeal, and the direction it signals, is a mistake.

Apologies for expecting more from those who run one of the most significant sporting venues on the planet.
 

shaggydog2000

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staz said:
I guess the question is if a "line" exists or not.

The "if they let X in, why not let Y in" reasoning suggests no line should exist, a perfectly defensible position if you don't give a fuck about the brand.

But if there are certain events deemed by management to be in conflict with the Fenway brand - and you bet your ass MANY suitors have been rejected for any of a number of reasons - then you have to admit a line does exist. Where that line is drawn, and the direction it moves indicates where management sees the brand heading.

IMO, a line should exist, does exist, but it's moving south with Exhibit A being depressing visuals of a half-empty ballpark in the dead of winter.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the response blows me away. I hope this is a successful connect with an important demographic. But I think hosting events with such narrow appeal, and the direction it signals, is a mistake.

Apologies for expecting more from those who run one of the most significant sporting venues on the planet.
 
You believe a place that is regularly coated in stale macro brewed beer, peanut shells, and rat droppings, and has multiple times seen concerts by Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, and the New Kids on the Block, high school football games, BU Football, and Women's college hockey, is too sanctified a place to see dudes jump on snowboards?  (Are there skis involved as well? Are there just skis? I have no idea, and really don't care, just don't want to mis-represent things.) I don't think Fenway Park is a brand in risk of implosion, and why debate a line that seems to only exist in your mind?  Surely they'd turn down a NAMBLA convention, but short of that I think they'd be open to most anything.  
 
Maybe living two blocks from it and having been in and out of it for over 30 years has colored my judgement, but it's just a venue like most others.  It exists to host events.  Let it.  
 

swingin val

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The first sentence in the link - there is indeed skiing as well as snowboarding

"What exactly does big mean when it comes to the Big Air at Fenway skiing and snowboarding event officially announced on Tuesday?"
 

shaggydog2000

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swingin val said:
The first sentence in the link - there is indeed skiing as well as snowboarding

"What exactly does big mean when it comes to the Big Air at Fenway skiing and snowboarding event officially announced on Tuesday?"
 
I have to click on a link, and read?  You demand a dedication that is beyond me. But I admire your effort. You do a yeoman's work. 
 

JakeRae

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staz said:
I guess the question is if a "line" exists or not.

The "if they let X in, why not let Y in" reasoning suggests no line should exist, a perfectly defensible position if you don't give a fuck about the brand.

But if there are certain events deemed by management to be in conflict with the Fenway brand - and you bet your ass MANY suitors have been rejected for any of a number of reasons - then you have to admit a line does exist. Where that line is drawn, and the direction it moves indicates where management sees the brand heading.

IMO, a line should exist, does exist, but it's moving south with Exhibit A being depressing visuals of a half-empty ballpark in the dead of winter.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the response blows me away. I hope this is a successful connect with an important demographic. But I think hosting events with such narrow appeal, and the direction it signals, is a mistake.

Apologies for expecting more from those who run one of the most significant sporting venues on the planet.
Yeah man. Hosting a competition in an Olympic sport is totally demeaning to Fenway. 
 

shaggydog2000

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Spelunker said:
It's Boston Olympics gateway drug. Boston skijumping: not even once.
 
You are so right.  Look at LA, they let Esther Williams make a few harmless movies with synchronized swimming, and next thing you know, 40 years later they're having an Olympics.  And now they're jonesing from that first hit so bad they're planning to do it again! 
 

Leather

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To appropriately honor Fenway's storied past, they should roll Ted's frozen head down that thing to open the event. They can mark where it lands with a red spot.
 

doc

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Can they get Eddie the Eagle to do the first run, or even Vinko Bogataj
 

amh03

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Is anything going on with this during the weekend or is it all done and gone after Friday?
 

staz

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I guess the question is if a "line" exists or not.

The "if they let X in, why not let Y in" reasoning suggests no line should exist, a perfectly defensible position if you don't give a fuck about the brand.

But if there are certain events deemed by management to be in conflict with the Fenway brand - and you bet your ass MANY suitors have been rejected for any of a number of reasons - then you have to admit a line does exist. Where that line is drawn, and the direction it moves indicates where management sees the brand heading.

IMO, a line should exist, does exist, but it's moving south with Exhibit A being depressing visuals of a half-empty ballpark in the dead of winter.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the response blows me away. I hope this is a successful connect with an important demographic. But I think hosting events with such narrow appeal, and the direction it signals, is a mistake.

Apologies for expecting more from those who run one of the most significant sporting venues on the planet.
Holy shit, simmer down asshole.
 

Koufax

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It's really hard to have a problem with this. It looks like a lot of fun and a good use of the facility. Great photos.