Okay, so I’m not a Shaun White fanatic or anything, but I coincidentally ran into him and several other athletes this afternoon at the Marketing meeting for a major retailer (I work at unsaid retailer to pay the bills).

After a 2-hour meeting (which included a Josh Groban performance), they announced Shaun White and Simon Dumont would be signing autographs, I figured I’d be one of the few that didn’t sneak out early to beat traffic. To my surprise, there was an enormous line of businessy middle-managers eagerly awaiting their photo-op. While standing there, I realized just how much the sport has changed.

When I was competing in the olden-days (1994-1998), only snowboarders and skiers cared about top athletes. I was so excited when Craig Kelly gave me my gold medal at the USASA Nationals, but none of my friends even knew who he was.

Were all those people waiting in line just to see an Olympic Gold medalist or to get an autograph for their son? Whatever the reason, it shows the mainstream admiration of the sport and its star athletes. Even though it was a pain to wait 45 minutes behind a bunch of corporate turds, I was amped up to see that kind of genuine respect for the sport.

Both Shaun White and Simon Dumont seemed burnt-out, frazzled and a bit annoyed by the time I got to the front of the line. I was disappointed I didn’t get to talk skiing with them, but walked away with 2 autographs. Whether it was sensing the community’s love for the sport or just getting Shaun White and Simon Dumont to write “SnowProfessor” in perminant marker, I left recharged and hopeful as my brother and I struggle to build www.snowprofessor.com. I’ll tack-up the autographs in my cubical beside a TPS report and Dilbert calendar to stay motivated.