The Crossfit Games are Boring

In case ya didn’t know The Crossfit Games were this weekend.

This is the first year that I actually buckled down and decided to watch a bunch of events.

Mainly because there were two Canadians who had a chance at placing in the top three, and also because who doesn’t like watching a bunch of dudes who got called ‘short’ and ‘lil’ guy’ as they were growing up overcompensate by jumping rope really fast?

Anyways there was something that I noticed in reagards to the entertainment factor of Crossfit as a sport.

Crossfit lacks creativity.

You see, we watch sports to see moments of sublime athleticism.

We go back and marvel as Barry Sanders shape shifts his way through 11 rabid linebackers, hell-bent on ripping his head off, and ends up standing sheepishly in the end zone.

We get, in quick succession, confused and then elated as Lionel Messi dead sprints past his man and then wills himself through a swarm of defenders emerging on the other side with the ball at this feet and a goalkeeper in front of him who has pleading eyes that say ‘not again’.

All these moments excite and entrance us because they are expected and unexpected at the same time.

We EXPECT Crosby to score, but we didn’t EXPECT him to score like THAT.

We EXPECT Tom Brady to pull off a comeback, but we didn’t EXPECT him to do it like THAT (Sorry Atlanta).

The creativity that is afforded to athletes in the sports that we know and love is what draws us to them.

They are on the razors edge of success and failure. One false move and they could be pile driven into the 40 yard line, or one misstep and the ball could be in the back of their own net.

This is what enthralls us.

Crossfit doesn’t have the same opportunity for its athletes to be creative.

The workout is written down in stone by our Lord and Savior David Castro and there is no changing it.

You can either pick it up or you can’t.

You can either keep moving or you can’t.

And yet there were quite a few moments when I did find myself at the edge of my seat willing on my fellow Canadians. (by ‘willing on my fellow Canadians’ I mean jumping up and down, obnoxiously clapping, and yelling ‘LET’S GO!!!!’ while my wife rolled her eyes.)

Why?

Because I know that they put themselves through more suffering than any other athletes I have ever seen.

4 days full of 13 grueling events.

They put their hearts, bodies, and minds on the line for each and every one.

There is never a moment when they are sitting back and biding their time. It is all out all the time.

My cheers are not out of shock at the creativity of their movements, my cheers are to somehow in the collective consciousness of the universe will them to take one more step, and then another, and then another.

Because as I can see them shut their minds off and just work I realize that I too can do the same thing.

I can hear to that voice in my head that tells me. ‘Not now, or maybe later, or you can’t do that, or you should take a rest.” And not listen.

I may never know what it feels like to make a catch like OBJ or skate like Pavel Bure, but I know exactly what it feels like to suffer through a workout with a silent yet seething mind.

I know exactly what it feels like to but aside my mental bullshit and PR a lift.

I know exactly what it feels like to think I’m at the end of my capacity only to be willed on by the performance of a fellow competitor.

 And so, as I watched the men and women of the Crossfit Games lay it all down on the line, all I can do is will them on, each and every one of them, because I know how they feel.

And that is where the creativity of Crossfit lies.

In it’s ability showcase men and women suffering together for the common goal of pure competition.

The word ‘compete’ comes from two Latin root words.

The first ‘com’ means ‘with’ or ‘together’.

The second is ‘petere’ which means to ‘strive’ or ‘seek’.

It’s 18th Century translation is something like: ‘to strive alongside another for the attainment of something’.

That’s pretty cool eh?

To strive together.

This is the true essence of the Crossfit Games; men and women striving together.

Win or lose they are there to push each other to their own personal limits time and time again. If they were alone they wouldn’t be able to do half of what they do alongside able competitors and in front of a cheering crowd.

To witness this type of resolve, determination, and passion is inspiring to say the least, and to see the camaraderie and respect that the athletes have for each other is doubly so.

And so Crossfit may not have the same sublime creativity of an Alexander Ovechkin laser top cheese, but it does highlight the cerebral battle you and I go through every day in a way that no other sport can.

It shows us that we CAN keep going and that we MUST do it together.

That is why I’ll be tuning in next year…but only if there are more Canadians.