I watched in amazement as the media immediately jumped on Lindsey’s case for falling at the finish line. She fell—big deal. Let them talk who have never fallen. Her life is more than snowboarding.

I’m proud of Lindsey for being there, for making the effort to be the best. She, along with the other Olympic athletes, inspires me in my small way to put forth my daily best regardless of the outcome. The Olympics are a celebration of the human spirit to never give up. Lindsey is part of that celebration.

I dont understand why you people are still talking about it. i am a huge fan of lindsey and i will stand by her no matter what happens. the poor girl is never going to forgive herself and everybody grilling her about it getting pissed isnt gonna change what happend. she screwed up. she admitted that. what do you want her to do? turn back time? im sure if she could she would. shes young. she will learn from her mistake..like all of us do. let it go its not the end of the world.

What do people want her to do, feel worse?
Lindsey Jacobellis made a mistake, but all great champions have a brain fart now and then. Babe Ruth got caught stealing to end a World Series. Fred Merkle cost his team a pennant. Brian Sipe threw an interception when a short field goal could've won the game for the Browns in a 1980 playoff. Referees err, umpires err. But we seem determined to define individuals in one extreme or the other - as great for five minutes of achievement or losers for their failure. This is oversimplification thanks to our own laziness.
The true test of Lindsey Jacobellis is not in a press conference with negative media types, many of whom have predetermined what they're going to say about her. It's in how she fares NEXT, when she competes and more significantly as a person. Will she be a good daughter? A good mother perhaps someday?
This is what matters. She made a mistake in Torino.
Let's not ask her to become the next Donnie Moore and be destroyed by her error.

Don, you seem to have a lot of time on your hands. While Lindsey is out there busting her [butt] year-round training and devoting a significant part of her life to the sport, you seem to be spending your time exercising your mouth. I know Lindsey personally. Don't worry, she'll be hard enough on herself. And, she'll pull through, learn something, and be a better person because of it. If your intent is to get a message across to the young people in our country, then please do not let one moment in time define a person. Lindsey is a wonderful role model to all young people. She is smart, caring, and has her priorities straight. Fortunately, she is strong enough not to let stone-throwers make her believe in herself less.

Francesca, as to me having a lot of time on my hands, appearances can be deceiving.

I have only deleted one non-spam comment out of 800+ comments in the 21 months I have had my blog. And that commenter made a grossly inappropriate, off topic comment that anyone would agree should have been deleted. Otherwise, it all comes through uncensored...even though I have zero obligation to do so. And, despite my history of non-censoring, I still reserve the right to censor as I see fit. Your post got caught up in my filters because of the word "a$$" which I have changed to "butt." This is, after all, the Danz "Family" website.

I am glad to hear that Lindsey is as good a person as you say. Whether she or anyone else likes it or not, she is a role model to thousands, so I'm glad to hear you speak so highly of her. If I haven't already been clear, I certainly do not wish her any ill will. I am simply critical of her actions and comments (the ones I have heard). And then curious whether such was an anomaly or indicative of something more. If Lindsey weren't as strong as you say, I might have suggested she try something a little less public and non-competitive.

You call me a "stone-thrower" but if no one was critical of Lindsey wouldn't people possibly take away the message that her hotdogging was acceptable? Some in the snowboarding community still argue that she did nothing wrong. I, and people like me, are simply tyring to point out our position to the contrary. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Finally, since you "know Lindsey personally" maybe you can answer this question which has been bugging me: Why do snowboard cross racers wear baggy clothing while every other winter racing sport wears slick aerodynamic form fitting clothing to help them go faster? I admit there's a lot about the sport that I don't know but this gives the impression that the competitors care more about how cool they look than what will make them go just a little faster. And, I don't believe because it's more comfortable is a good reason because I'm sure other sports' competitors would like to be more comfortable just as much but they make the comfort sacrifice in order to pick up those last few hundredths of a second. Nor, is range of movement a problem with today's modern materials and designs. Besides, if it gives skiers enough range of motions it should give snowboard crossers sufficient range of motion. Any guidance here to dissuade me from the hopefully inaccurate conclusion that snowboard cross racers are again putting style over substance would be appreciated.

p.s.- There are snowboarding racing events, like GS in which athletes do wear spandex.......... because those last few hundredths of a second are critical and the win is based solely on the speed of the race (unlike boarder-x, which involves being able to maneuver over differing types of terrain, speed-changes, safely passing others, hole shots, etc.).

My guess is that the people who criticized Lindsey Jacobellis for "hot-dogging" did not see the competition heading into the final race. It was brutal, with many athletes wiping out in the preliminary races. Jacobellis herself nearly came crashing down in one race when a competitor hit her board. Heck, two of the four finalists crashed in the gold medal race, and one was hauled off in a stretcher.

Jacobellis did her country proud by making it into the final and earning a silver medal. She made a mistake, perhaps, but snowboarding is a sport where "styling" is part of the game and the fun, so I think she can be forgiven for showing a little exhuberance when she saw the finish line. Bob Costas' interview of Lindsey in the studio later that night was tacky and disgraceful. He should be ashamed of himself, and NBC should be ashamed of their sensational and unnecessarily harsh coverage of Jacobellis' mistake.

Those who feel "cheated" out of a gold medal should get out on the slopes and start working on their snowboarding skills for 2010. Let's see how far they make it in the snowboardcross competition.

I, for one, am proud of Lindsey Jacobellis.

Don ur a [edit]!! Lindsey is frikin amazing and all you can do is critisize her for what happend!!! And then your saying her additude is bad?! I'm a snowboarder and i've seen bad additudes at its worst and Lindsey is far from one! Do you not think she felt like [edit] after that!?? Do you think she just came down the hill after that and was like oh wellllll...yea she didn't do that! If I had that lead and I was goin' down about to get the gold, HELL YEA I WOULD HAVE PULLED THAT!! Shes prolly landed that trick a thousand times and this once she fell. Why don't you give her a break and pick on someone that couldent kick your [edit]!! GO LINDSEY!! :)

Haley,

As critical as I am of Ms. Jacobellis, at no point have I or anyone I know, expressed any "embarrassment" over her fall. Disappointment, frustration and a little anger, sure but the only comment that has been made about about embarrassment was about the fact that "Jacobellis embarrassed herself."

I agree that her race was "not a silver medal win, but a gold medal loss." But, your comment that Americans show off when they have nothing to be cocky about makes no sense. Americans are, unfortunately, cocky sometimes because we have the best damn country in the world.

What is interesting, though, is non-Americans finding humor or taking pleasure in Lindsey Jacobellis falling. Your laughing at another's misfortune is far more telling about the inadequacies of you and your country than anything Lindsey Jacobellis did in the Olympics says about America.

Whatever happened to Lindsey Jacobellis anyway? Did she lose all those corporate sposnsors? I guess people do care about hotdogging.

Has francesca finally stopped whining?

Terry