Latest Big Dawg Scoop...

[lhoover]

Andy Mapple has entered the Cypress (Houston) Big Dawg. You gotta love it...

[MattP]

WIll he break Jeff Rogers record? I say yes.

[MattP]

It would almost be worth it go to the event to see just that. @OB road trip? wait.. just fly

[MattP]

Yeah that would be cool. Amateurs yes but elite amateurs is really what the big dawg guys are in my opinion if you can run 38 and into 39 at that speed you are elite.

[6balls]

Interesting...smokes everyone and adds to the legend. Gets beat and maybe mortal after all. Given the risk-benefit and that anything can happen at anytime to anyone at short-line on any given day...pretty ballsy...I like it.

[liquid d]

He got beat by Thiery Malhome a couple years ago. If it happens again, it won't be a fluke. All men age. On any given day at 34mph, someone can hang on to anything.

[jdarwin]

Personally, I don't think this is a good thing for the series. It was never designed as a "Senior PGA" type event. But rules are rules.

[MrJones]

Man, this is a tough one. The cool factor of having Andy and Kris at an event is way up there. One concern is that the Big Dawg events are pretty much self supporting off of entry fees. If a number of high level pros start going it could knock out people who might go as they feel they have no chance of making the cut. Also, finals like last year with Tate and Jay would be much less likely to happen. How great of a story was that re: Kyle and his heart problems.

 

On the other hand, more people might go just to ski a tournament and be able to watch their skiing hero on the water. More than that, the chance to be dropping into the water at the end of the lake beside them! We will just have to see how it plays out.

 

[lhoover]

Gentlemen, gentlemen, my friends (just added that to see Wish go crazy), why the long faces and worries about more competition? What in the world could be greater than better skiers coming into a format that, literally, anyone can win? Come on! Chins up! This is going to be the cat's meow, the bee's knees, the greatest show on earth that weekend when these Big Dawgs can't wait to rip into each other. You think Chad Scott or Dave Miller or Kyle Tate or Jason Staab or Marc Shaw or Todd Risto or Ben F or 40 other of the best skiers in the world are peeing down their leg just because AM is in the lineup? You gotta be kidding! This one entry has inspired countless dreams and goals from every one on that list to up their game. I say bring them to town and let's tee it up for a fantastic 2 days of competition at an all-but-perfect site at Cypress. Can't wait, myself. Can't wait.

[Wish]

John McCane just told me that this will be the cats meow, the bees knees.. only confirming my suspicion that this is the Senitor from AZ. What lake does he ski at my friends?

[Texas6]

I love it, and will be sure to be at Cypress to watch the action. As an amateur (not so elite) skier, I do wish the format would limit the field to amateur's only, and not ex-pros. That being said, if I were as good as Scott, Miller, Tate, etc, I would be chomping at the bit to go head to head against Mapple. No pressure either, being first off the dock and all. Although I don't think pressure phases Andy Mapple, can't wait to watch.

[skidawg]

Andy is definately an icon in the sport of slalom. The greatest to date. I will be fun to watch him ski and compete against him. Everyone who has ever skied a big dawg knows it is not easy and it is anyone's game. The boys who hit all of them can all can put up big scores and I'm sure they all welcome the competition. I am looking forward to what should be the best big dawg yet :-)

[Texas6]

Its a cunning move on his part if he is is doing this from a marketing point of view. And who says the guy can't market? Whether its marketing, love of the sport, love of competition in general, he will be welcomed with open arms. Dude is a legend

[danbirch]

Go Andy, Go!

 

It's better for the sport. Make the Big Dawg's train even harder. Give us an opportunity to watch Andy compete and not just ski in the "legends" division, which is boring.

It will draw a bigger audience, for sure.

 

Where was this information found? I can't find any mention of it on skibigdawg.com, or usawaterski.org...

[Razorskier1]

I have mixed feelings. It feels a little odd to have what was primarily a purely amateur endeavor attract an increasing number of ex-pro skiers. However, it seems to me that the Big Dawgs are a competitive group, and if they welcome Andy, Todd, Seth, Ben and the rest, then who am I to balk? Purely from a spectator perspective, I think it should be fun to watch.

[Wish]

If the tourney is web cast that would bring a fare sized audience and the cameras will be on him and his ski.

[clemsondave]

Wish this was near the end of the season, not the beginning. I'd like to give it a shot, but not sure I'll be skiing at 100% by June. Guess I need to move to Florida.

[danbirch]

@lhoover Where did you get this announcement from?

[disland]

Big Dawgs are not attached to their skies. If they think something is better they are the first to try it. And if it works everyone will follow.

 

pretty soon they will need an over 50 Masters Big Dawg division

[Kelvin]

The information is available on the usawaterski.org website under "Events & Registration" - "Check Registration Status" - "Water Skiing"

 

From there, you can see who has registered for any tournament in the country that uses the online registration system.

 

 

[lhoover]

Dan, heard it from the Cypress guys here in H town. You can see the entire entry list if you are interested in a treasure hunt. Ready?

usawaterski.org

Events & Registration

Check Registration Status

Water Skiing

this should bring you to a big calender so scroll to 6/30 to 7/1 and find Big Dawg qualifier

Entry Status

at Type, click Registration Status

Display Report

 

[danbirch]

@lhoover & Kelvin, Thanks! Andrew has entered!

[FischersYearRound]

Ok, maybe we need a new thread on 'Who's going be there?'

 

Andy's entrance will no doubt generate increased shoreline attendance.

 

Yes, Andy is the Legend, but we've all seen that the current group of big dawgs is capable of running 39s back to back to back. For the 'lower' ranked dawgs, luck...you need lots of luck on your side, and perhaps a slight bad luck on your competitors. If you beat Andy et al, you should ask them to sign your ride...'I was beaten by xxx, signed yyy'.

[skidawg]

But the difference is Andy runs 41

[MattP]

I think Andy should just up Jeff's record by a 1/4 at a time to keep things interesting. No reason to smash it right off the bat.

[bishop8950]

So, how deep is the wait list for Cypress? I was planning to go but didn't realize it would fill up so fast.

KB

[SkiJay]

I saw Andy run four at 43 with a legit driver in practice, and that was before he lost all that weight. He was developing the Elite at the time. I'd assume he likes his new ski at least as much and plans on making his 43's official.

[Cam]

Don't think you can complain about Andy competing in Big Dawg when you look at the Elite standings list from 2005 the year Andy retired, a lot of Big Dawg and Senior Worlds skiers in there and some ranked higher than him.

http://www.iwsfranking.com/elite05/FinalStandings/2005EliteMenSlalom.htm

[Chef23]

Quite a few of the Big Dawg competitors skied professionally. I don't see it as a real amateur event but a best of the best 34 mph skiers. If Andy wants to ski why not. Jeff Rodgers certainly was a professional and nobody complained about him competing. Not to mention Chet Raley, Ben Favret, Seth Stisher, Kris Lapoint, Drew Ross and Todd Ristorecelli.

 

I think it is great for the sport.

[A_B]

I'm betting the BD skiers are licking their chops to take a pro down. Whether they will or not, it's all about the attitude, and I bet they would give 150% effort even if AM goes out and runs 3@43 first round. That's how the bar gets raised.

 

Regarding his skis, I think it's great if they are another viable option if they perform and have good customer service. All about raising the bar!

[skidawg]

Jeff has not skied a big dawg

[jayski]

neither has Drew

[Wish]

Anyone know if Wade C could pull off a Big Dawg? How cool would it be to see Andy and Wade go at it again.

[ToddL]

Wish said, "If the tourney is web cast that would bring a fare sized audience and the cameras will be on him and his ski."

 

I hope Cypress upgrades their UPSTREAM Internet bandwidth for this event. Webcasting has always been a little iffy when "borrowing" a local homeowner's wifi... Maybe the event can get sponsored by some marketing-hungry internet provider who would put in a special feed for the event. Maybe Clear or some other WiMax 4G solution would pony up. Or a Time Warner Business Account with Gigabit LAN to the broadcast booth. Just some thoughts...

 

[thompjs]

I'll be visiting with them on camera operators in the boat for this year. Upgrading Internet in some of these suburban areas is a trick.

 

I'd like to find someone to run and tend to boat video while I try to keep the other stuff running. Cypress has been talking about running two lakes of L slalom which adds to the complexity.

[Kelvin]

I have the equipment to do the webcast, but I'm one of the appointed officials so I won't have the time to man cameras, run ads, etc for 2 solid days. If we could get a team of 6-8 volunteers so that no single person has to commit the entire 2 days to the webcast, I think we could put together a nice product for the fans.

[Stevie Boy]

I was at Princes Pro Am, the year he ran 10.25 metres 3 times, Andy Mapple is a Legend, it,s just great to see him compete, the score is does not matter, his presence can only enhance the competition and water skiing all over the world, such a nice guy as well.

[lhoover]

Jim, Kelvin, count me in to help in any way you might need.

Lowell Hoover

khoover@wt.net

[thompjs]

Kelvin, Lowell -- thanks will get with you guys offline.

 

 

[Chef23]

@jayski Drew is on the registration list for this event. My bad on Jeff I thought he skied one last year I guess it was a regular tournament that he ran into 43 at.

[teammalibu]

Kelvin

Sign me up.

[jipster43]

I thought the broadcast of the Big Dawg finals last year was pretty stellar. I'll probably watch the event over and over, so I think both a live feed and a post-produced program have merit.

 

JP :)

[Laz]

@OB I pay to watch movies on iTunes, I would certainly pay for a high quality 30 or 60 min recap.

[danbirch]

I've mentioned this before, but they best way to view a "head to head" competetion would be to split screen the 2 skiers, so the viewer could watch both entrants at the same time. It would also cut the time in half. More exciting, interesting, and better to draw non-skiers into the sport.

 

It would sort of look something like this video (in it's final cut), with each pair of competitors....

 

[Chef23]

I would pay for a good 30 minute professional broadcast of the event.

[GK]

You could take pre-orders for a quality 30 minute production at x amount of money and then when you have enough pre-orders to make it worth while pull the trigger on it and do it. It could be distributed in a downloadable format and would probably need to be completed within a few days of the event. I would pay for a quality production with high def video and quality commentary giving good details on the days events, standings, and skiers.

[MrJones]

Thanks for the split screen Dan. First think that I noticed is that CP looks shoulder heavy on his toe side lean vs Nate. (I was the camera man for that video of Chris BTW)

 

I wouldn't want to watch a tournament that way though. Too much to take in one one screen if you really want to "watch" the skiing. I believe the head to head format is good in making it more interesting.

 

Also. I am not being negative... just realistic. Andy is not going to draw more "spectators" to the shoreline (Okay, maybe 10) and no change in the video format is going to draw "non-skiers" into the sport. We are our own market. Most tournament skiers don't even watch web-casts. I do think doing a time compressed replay would be sweet. (ie spend Memorial Saturday skiing your self then watching the prelims over burgers and beers that evening.) I would pay for it, but I don't know if enough other people would to make it worth the time investment. (Good on ya if you do it though)

[ral]

I am in for the pre-order.

[PT Mike]

@OB Thanks for the list of entries, glad to see Drew Ross in the mix.

[danbirch]

@Mr. Jones, I disagree. But, Anything that could build better public interest in this sport would be good for it. As mentioned, a head-to-head format would work perfectly for this type of review/playback. Unfortunately, watching the same thing over and over gets boring (especially to the non-skiing public, which is who would be good to impress, as well as the major tv networks). I'd sure love to see a Pro Ski Tour back on ESPN & OLN. Didn't go over good enough with the format you and OB seem to love so much. Maybe it's time for some fresh thinking.

 

BTW, if you play the video "full screen" you can "watch" each skier fine. Obviously, proper editing, and an announcer would be important to add interest.