Posted by Mark Love, thanks and praises,
on 5/1/2002, 3:00 am
So, at U.S. Nationals, Jeremy Bloom was pronounced U.S. Champion, despite the fact that they knew his second jump was mis-scored as a mixed quad. In actuality, he did a quad twister, which is a non-mixed quad. Non-mixed quads have a lower degree of difficulty, (dd) and after recalculating, Travis Ramos was declared the real 2002 U.S. Mogul Champion. Sadly, he did not receive the credit he deserved during the awards ceremony due to this heinous mistake. Congratulations to the National Champion, Travis Ramos.
Word has it that Ramos is retired now from Amateur Moguls. Warning: The following sections contains speculation and opinions. During his career, he has faced adversity from U.S. Skiing Association and coaches. It has been a sad story to follow, in my opinion. Ramos has not been well funded or supported by his family unit as other top skiers, i.e. Mosely, Bloom, Hager, and others, and as a result, he opted to skip some of the mandatory U.S. training camps. While he faced criticism for this, and often was kept from receiving coaches` discretion decisions because of it, I am of the opinion that if you ski at his level, and meet the U.S. Selection criterium, you should be able to be on the team and represent at World Cup competitions, without unnecessary adversity from your governing body. That seems to be far from the situation that he encountered. I say `Boo!` to those who judged Travis for running his own program. `Boo!` to those who held him back. For making it as far as he did, (Sunday River World Cup Champion, 2001, U.S. National Champion, 2002) without the support that other skiers had is a far more difficult and impressive feat. I give him more props than nearly anyone else in the world for doing what he has done.
Travis has always tried to support Predator Mogulwear along the way. USSA mandates that all U.S. Team members wear the Phenix outfits provided by the U.S. Team at all events that the U.S. Team attends. On occasion, Travis Cabral and Travis Ramos have crossed the coaches by wearing their Predator Mogulwear in high level events including U.S. Selections and U.S. Nationals. At Predator, we feel badly that this can cause conflict with U.S. Team Coaches and administration, but we feel truly honored by their heartfelt freestyle expressionism in doing what they feel.
Travis Cabral won the 2002 U.S. Selections wearing the 2003 prototype `White Canine Pant`, and Travis Ramos won the 2002 U.S. Nationals wearing the 2003 prototype `Black Convertible Pant`. I cannot do them justice by thanking them. Their actions have touched my core, and I am inspired. Please take note of how major of a statement that is about these guys. Both of them deserve nothing but props. You guys are the shit! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And may you be blessed with great fortune in your pursuits and endeavors from now on. The force is surely with you!
Mark Kendrick
Message Thread:
« Back to thread