October 11, 2011 in CF Franklin Lakes Blog by wilson

An NFL Reporter at the CrossFit Games By Julie Buehler

At the CrossFit Games,

competitors root for one

another to finish, and the

crowd gives standing ovations

for the guy who finishes dead

last because he still finished.

 A New Kind of Sport

At the Games, I was expecting a sporting event much

like what I’ve experienced covering sports professionally:

athletes displaying grace, power, intelligence and strategy

while fans watch in awe of impossible feats and get in

plenty of drinking.

When covering football, you brace for violent collisions

and watch the human body sustain forces nature never

intended it to absorb. With basketball, you anticipate grace

and fluidity from massive forms. Watching baseball creates

an appreciation for the intuitive desire to buck failure and

pursue success.

As a journalist who’s covered numerous mainstream

sporting events, I was shocked at the CrossFit Games.

It had the sheer ferocity of a football game, the grace

of basketball, and the dissolving of failure baseball fans

thoroughly appreciate. In short, it was a fascinating blend

of jaw-dropping athleticism colliding with unbridled

competition.

But unlike the major sports I generally cover, I found myself

in an atmosphere of support and encouragement, not

derision and dehumanizing objectification.

And it might be true that the CrossFit Games represent

the only place you can get a plate of sliced turkey at a

sporting event. Interestingly, there was no lack of beer, just

the bellies.

The whole thing was entirely refreshing, but watching the

competition unfold only told half the story of the CrossFit

culture that permeated every aspect of the Games.

The spectators were as impressive as the athletes, both in

stature and dedication.

The first day I was at the Games, I met “Josh from New

Jersey.” He worked for the CrossFit Foundation and was in

charge of using an iPad to sign people up for Fight Gone

Bad 6 and increase participation in one of CrossFit’s most

successful charity events. Having participated in Fight

Gone Bad in 2010, I volunteered to help Josh scour the

stands for willing participants. It also gave me a chance to

meet and greet CrossFitters from across the country and

hear the stories of how they got started and what kept

them going.

Julie Buehler noted not one beer belly

in this crowd of cavepeople.