airbushido

This sounds like one of those lame-brained ideas invented by people who are afraid to tell someone to their face what the beef is. "Let's go whine to someone else and hope someone else fixes my little butt-hurt..." Whaaaaaa! You don't like what an operator does? Vote with your dollar or go tell him to his face and see if he cares enough to change. If not, leave with your friends and go somewhere else.

"Swoop pants" (note that I use the term in parantheses to denote the ridiculous) are retarded. What kind of idiot wears pants that look like shorts or shorts that aren't short? You guys are morons. Wear a freakin' merkin instead. If you want to spend extra money, just send it to me and I'll draw you a neato picture of a retard wearing goofy pants - that will result in the same amount of protection for your landings, and you will be the only kid on the DZ with one of my drawings. That should do the trick.

You HAVE to wear swoop pants. Those are what all the cool guys wear. Every cool dude on the DZ has those neato looking short pants (or maybe they are long shorts?). I don't know. I only know that I paid Firefly $280 for a pair of them and got ridiculed for being a poser. (I jump a Spectre 170 - apparently I needed to be on a Velocicrasher or something cooler) Now I only wear them when I go to the mall.

So, the scuttlebutt of the week seems to be the upcoming takeover of USPA by the Red Bull Team. That's awesome. If you care, that is. I can see all the 'younger' jumpers voting for these guys just because they are the Red Bull Team - high profile, dynamic wonders of the sport. Guys who inspire us to achieve great things, or at the very least, give us cool stuff to watch on You Tube. I've heard a bunch of old fuddyduddies bitching about it, and they have a point - I've seen the Team show up at a couple of DZs to do a practice jump before an event, and they are horrible ambassadors. They are everything a hero should be - cool, aloof, able to do fantastic things, but very distant and apart from the DZ they are at. No respect for local rules and customs. They basically show up like rockstars - too freaking cool for the losers around them (unless you are a hot young chick...) I went to read the synopses of each candidate in Parachutist. Very interesting. These guys have all been around. Very experienced, for the most part. Definitely a younger generation with very pronounced ideas for a brighter future and ideas to implement it. I was impressed. These guys come off as very smart. But no one will vote for them based on that. These guys will get votes because they are affiliated with the marketing juggernaut of the most fantastic sports marketing company the world has ever seen. And that's the cold hard truth. And who are they up against? Business owners and instructors who have had a vested interest in the sport for decades. The very guys and gals who taught the Red Bull Team to skydive. People without trust funds. People who own aircraft and DZs. People who have real jobs. People who have been in USPA for eons. Experience. That's what the Red Bull Team is up against. Experience at dragging out long boring forums at DZO Conferences. Experience at revamping training programs for tens years only to return to what was in use 'back in the day'. Experience at experience. How boring. Maybe the young bloods can do something. Maybe they will be able to revitalize USPA in these frightening times of a dying membership. Maybe they can bring to light modern ideas and modes of governance and leadership and really change USPA into a vital and powerful organization. Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn't work in Congress - it ain't gonna work here. Go for it - vote for whoever you want. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.