Schnitz's Latest Statement

[mlange]

Schnitz has made another statement on his website.

I'd like some of the more competitive skiers to chime in on this with their take, but it sure sounds like he is smoking something to me.

“HOLIER THAN THOU” 7/3/2005

This editorial is going to upset a lot of people.  It’s going to start a firestorm that needs to be lit.  In fact, the ones it will upset the most are the ones who have the most to lose.  When you read and listen to the venom condemning me for writing such a thing, remember why I’m being condemned and turn it around for you will be staring the biggest cheaters in the eye! 

The recent incident in Wisconsin brings to a head an incessant problem that festers within our sport, CHEATING.  Whether it’s a long handle or rope at an EP mill tournament or slow speeds and/or an ultra-favorable, out of tolerance, snakelike boat path, it goes on constantly and a blind eye is always turned, that is except in Wisconsin where the scope of the cheating was just too much to handle, especially for all of those who have never cheated, those who speak the loudest.  The message boards overflow with condemnation of the cheater in Wisconsin.  If you kill one man, you are a killer.  If you kill a thousand men, you are still a killer.  If you cheat, regardless of the scope, you are a cheater!  Let he or she who is without sin cast the first stone!  If we are going to condemn this man for his acts of deception, we must first look deep inside ourselves and fix not only the problem in the news, but the problem that many of us knowingly participate in.  Cheating goes on not only in Wisconsin but right here in Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and countless other states.  Who are we to condemn when we too are guilty?  Let the incident in Wisconsin be the wake up call that our sport needs and rather than just attacking the messenger, let us each attack the cheating little demons that reside within each one of us.  Let us each participate in cleaning up this sport from the ground up, from the inside out.  Let us confront all the cheaters and assign them the same fate as the cheater in Wisconsin.  Once we each clean up and clear out our own personal demons, only then will we be able to participate with a clear conscience in this wholesome, righteous, passionate and beloved activity we all love. 

Schnitz!

[summerfun]

Sounds like HE must be a cheater.

The first thing guilty people cry is "EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT".

[2 ThumbsUp]

Schnitz has that ballcap a little too tight on his dome and has obviously cut off the oxygen supply to his brain.

[Okie Malibu]

Having been a tournament skier for the past ten years, I'm sad to say there is a lot of truth to his article. At a class "C" tournament I've always found it interesting when a slalom skier couldn't run an opener one week and then runs an EP the next. Record tournaments are "policed" a little more....typically.

Who ever thought a guy would go to all the expense to rig a course up to narrow the turn balls!

ALH

[mlange]

Ok, so if cheating is more prevalent than I at least was thinking and you're seeing it at tourneys, can you fill me in on what people are doing?

Are people really going through the trouble of getting handles that are 6" longer. I gotta believe if someone was using a handle much longer than the standard that it would be very obvious when it was put onto the rope by the boat crew.

The only thing I can think of that could occur pretty easily would be cheating on the part of the driver for a particular skier by doing something like giving a slow time to a skier.

Mike

[Okie Malibu]

A handle out of tolerence is one of the tricks....once witnessed a top skier show up with a handle bridle 18" too long. The article outlines some of the other things that have been known to occur.

Also, I certainly don't want to imply everyone cheats.

ALH

Edited July 5, 2005 by Okie Malibu

[responselx03]

It sound like you said he is a cheater too, OR maybe, i say maybe Schnitz knew about the system DR JiM was using...

HO one other thing... i will never buy something at Schitz.com again...

JP

Edited July 5, 2005 by responselx03

[doughickey]

I'll say this as calmly and nicely as I can.

Mr. Schnitz is full of crap. First he tells us we should be thanking old Dr, Gumby Course... and now he says (indirectly) that cheating is ok 'cause everybody's doing it.

Would I want this guy teaching my kids to ski or board or anything that resembles competition or sportsmanship? Not on your life!

Would I trust anything this guy ever says again about anything? Nope.

These guys are marine Emron clones.

[andyb]

Cheating can't be all bad if you take the good Dr's house into consideration. I need to be able to lie straight in bed at night though.

Imagine the cheating going on inthe dentist practice - "Yes Mrs Moonface, another root canal at $10,000 will be required next week and I have a very good anaesthetist Mr Small Weiner s***zel who can put you to sleep for just 2 large."

[skisix@38]

No cheating goes on to my knowledge in the Rocky Mountain region. I'm not tooting my own horn, just there is none that goes on.

Our drivers use PP to get as close to actuals as they can and if it's not right on the first skier it's right by the second skier. As for handles being too long, I'm sure there are a couple but, you'd have to have to pretty long handle to make much difference.

I think that there could be something to what Schnitz is saying. I consistently go to regionals and nationals and a lot of folks skiing after me don't seem to ski near their average, the averages I'm talking about are into 39 or deep 38. I can understand that someone has a bad day, I have them. It just makes me wonder how a guy can get an average into 39( that's 5 performances into 39) and then consistently fall early into 38 at the nationals. I would like to know where these EPA factories are so I could go enter those tournaments just to see for myself how I would stack up.

[HRemington]

We might be coming down on Schnitz rather harshly, given that he wasn't the cheater in this instance, nor do I believe he's condoning cheating because everybody's doing it...rather the opposite in that he's just saying it may be more rampant than the average Joe like me may realize and this is a good wake up call to clean up the collective act. I personally don't care for Schnitz and think he goes way over the top in his eloquent waxing (skiing is fun, but it's not righteous, for instance). I also e-mailed him last year when he was selling the Ronny dry tops for like $80 plus shipping when you could order them direct from Ronny for $45 to your door, suggesting to him that he would be doing his readership a service by letting them know of the much better deal available to anyone. His response was that he had a website to pay for...

That aside, I don't find it very edifying to rant against him or suggest that Jim Michaels is a fraud in every area of his life. It's easy for us to remain very self-righteous as we bask in the anonymity of the internet while someone else has to broil in the blinding light of public exposure.

[2 ThumbsUp]

Sorry but Schnitz! opened the door on this one. While his editorial may be accurate re: rampant cheating at tourneys, I don't recall any of his rants errrrrrrrrrr comments before the Open. It was only after the doc was "apparently" caught. All the meanwhile, Schnitz! was pouring glasses of the Dr. Jim Kool-Aid for anyone who take a drink.

Maybe he should re-read the title of his editorial...seems rather appropriate for Schnitz! himself.

[WakeGirl]

I don't know what to think about the cheating aspect - I mean come on people, if you can't do it proper then you can't do it, accomplishing it by cheating doesn't say that you can. But as for how rampant it is....I don't know if I buy it. One thing that does strike me is that Schnitz is coming off more & more loony with every statement that he makes. He needs to be careful that he doesn't completely alienate himself, he does have a business to run after all.

[Addictedto6]

I don't know what to think about the cheating aspect - I mean come on people, if you can't do it proper then you can't do it, accomplishing it by cheating doesn't say that you can.  But as for how rampant it is....I don't know if I buy it.  One thing that does strike me is that Schnitz is coming off more & more loony with every statement that he makes.  He needs to be careful that he doesn't completely alienate himself, he does have a business to run after all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like he's starting to figure this out. his initial rants are no longer on his home page, and the July 6th "buoy gate" update is a much more reasonable response from him....

Edited July 6, 2005 by Addictedto6

[mlange]

Yep, looks like Schnitz is starting to see the light.

In regards to him taking hard knocks on this one... I'm pretty darn sure he had an article on Dr. Jim titled something along the lines of "The Man That Would Be King" and predicting that he'd break the WR this year. Any

I'm past the angry stage regarding this whole scandal at this point. I'm now frustrated that it cast a shadow on an otherwise great event at his place.

Furthermore, I feel bad that his two daughters and wife are enduring what I'm sure is a difficult time. I have seen posts claiming that any suffering they are enduring is at his hands. Maybe, but that certainly doesn't make it an easier for them to work through this. I won't even comment on attacks to his business practices, etc... that are totally unrelated to anything even remotely related to water skiing.

Finally, while it will probably be impossible for him to make ammends with the rest of the skiing world for what happened, I do honestly believe that he can work to smooth things over with the local community by continuing to open his home to tournaments at his site. While his love for the sport is surely to blame for what happened, it can also help to bring others into the sport and enjoy it more by having an oppurtunity to ski at an incredible site.

Mike