I get that he’s not been happy with that part of his life. I respect that. No reason he should have to keep it if it brings him nothing but bad memories. All I was saying from the start is that, when you’ve enjoyed success like that, it’s not all just “me, me, me”. Athletes almost always donate or loan their significant memorabilia to museums or charity auctions because they realize that these accomplishments are bigger than just their ability to hit a baseball or whatever it is they do. Without fans, there are no sponsorships, or World’s comps, or people to watch your protest videos.
The point is that a video that questions the importance of it all is walking fine line between poignant and flippant. Throwing the yoyo into the river, for me, pushed it over that edge just a bit.
As for charity, while I think it would have commanded more than $200 (I’d have paid that), it’s a gesture. He could have made the exact same point, but in a positive way. My life will go on either way but my immediate reaction is that I’d preferred going this route.
Alright well I agree with you he could have donated it. (I dont call yoyoers athletes though) But I also think he made a good point. A possesion is going to be gone, no matter how hard you worked to be champion, or how long you waited for it. It will go away, and so will the glory. You can donate it and help someone out and that will make it do more good, but honestly, if you won the super bowl would you donate your super bowl ring?
Super bowl ring isn’t a good example. That’s a trophy that is intended for the athlete to keep. The baseball you hit for a record number of home runs, however, belongs just as much to every baseball fan in the world as it does to the athlete who hit it.
The difference for me in this conversation is that he destroyed it. Whether he keeps it or doesn’t keep it, who it goes to, where it stays, whatever, is his decision and we’ve all been fine with that since the day he won World’s. Destroying it is something else. You’re really not just throwing a yoyo into a river, and he knew that. I think he made the wrong call.
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
24
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
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He said what has needed to be said for years. And done what needed to be done for just as long.
Its actions as such that make many a player such as myself look up to him with the greatest respect, and hats off to him for making a statement that so many others had either been too scared, or not caring at all to do so.
Still disagree. I think it was silly and irrational. Quite honestly, I think his whole persona outside yoyo contests is pretty irrational and somewhat tiresome. I know of many yoyo pros…but not any others who are so, well, whiny.
But, maybe it just seems that way because we prod him for information. Or, maybe I’m just getting a little old for blind idealism.
Haru Ray? Josh… uh… Yee… We have a very simple problem here; Josh. No matter how good you have gotten at ‘all’ five primary styles of yoing; you are still Ignorant. You chime in on matters with what you think are Solid Conclusions. Sadly they are based on your convoluted view of reality.
‘He said what needed to be said… he did what needed to be done… for years?’
Trusted Fox? <Smart like a Fox? Think again; haha.
You are more like a Self appointed leader of a Drama Queen Squadron.
And looks like Dingo54 should ask you for an application to join your Clouded Club.
Stookie Nails Dingo with Solid Logic, so Dingo keeps changing his Stance to find a middle ground. <Notice Stookie didn’t go for it? < Smart kid/clear view/no drama/pure logic/minimal emotion= Reality.
Old me wasn’t even going to jump into this thread until you fell in with your standard melodrama/dancing crybaby unicorn dreaminess.
Jensen had problems with YYF… well known by now. Jensen won Worlds with that Orange yoyo? Well known by most everyone.
But in winning Worlds with that yoyo, it became more than just an Orange Plastic/metal/YYF yoyo. It became the yoyo used in Winning the World Yoyo Contest 1A division.
That made it a Special yoyo. Regardless of what happened when he was with YYF.
He could have donated the Yoyo to the National Yoyo Museum. He could have put it up on Ebay and sold it for a Charity… You know… kinda like Heath Vizier. Except actually sent the money to a Charity instead of spending it on himself, like Heath. He could have possibly sold it to a Collector.
Jensen made his point well enough with the words he spoke in supporting his view. Throwing the yoyo was more like giving YYF the one finger salute so to speak.
Jensen throwing that yoyo into the river was just alot quicker and cheaper than driving or flying all the way to Arizona to pee on the YoyoFactory Building.
Nothing wrong with Jensen venting. But sometimes the method of expression could be better conveyed.
Josh; you are a very talented guy 1a 2a 3a 4a 5a… you do em all. But deep thinking is not your Strong point. And chiming in like Yoda and trying to validate someones’ misdirected energy is not a good look.
I used to think Jensen acted really petty for the longest time. Then a month or so ago I found that article, it really changed my opinion about the guy… I still don’t think he needed to throw the yoyo in the river though. I also don’t think his personal life should be here to air out infront of us all, but I’m glad it did because I think it really cleared the air at the same time.
I brought this up the last time this video was brought up.
I was watching a CLYW live stream where they were giving away a puffin. And they were having viewers guess the weight of Jensens gigantic trophy. They weren’t even watching the viewers guess the weights, so for all we know… I could have won 200 times over in that contest and CLYW really didn’t pay much attention. Getting that out of the way, they clearly showed that Jensen still has his trophy.
Now I’m conflicted. Now I support the throwing of the yoyo. Hahahaha, I never thought about it like this!
You’ve brought up valid points, but I think that people need to remember that the yoyo community is just like every other community in other fields- there will be certain individuals (like Jensen) whose actions will be closely followed, scrutinized, and talked about. You may like the things these people do, or you may not, but at the end of the day, fighting among ourselves about whether or not what somebody did (or did not do) was right does nothing but split the community and create unnecessary drama. In a community as small and close-knit as the yoyo community, can we really afford to argue about things like this? I get that Jensen is a huge name in the yoyo world, and he’s actually one of my favorite players as well, but do we really need to argue over his decision? Now if you’re dead-set on discussing this choice (and others of his, or any other player for that matter), thats great. Healthy and intelligent discussion is good, but leave name-calling and labeling out of it; acknowledge their points and state your differing (or same) opinion, and move on.
Maybe Mo was right… maybe it was him giving YYF the finger, that’s why he retains his Trophy. But I doubt it considering the things he said in that video about glory etc. Didn’t really sound geared toward YYF, but I wouldn’t doubt if he wasn’t slightly inclined to take such actions out of spite for them. I would have probably done the same thing if I were in the situation.
Regardless, the guy was at a tough time. I’m not going to judge him too critically anymore.
edit: Also, I’d like to correct myself. Jensen’s trophy wasn’t gigantic, but it sure did look large/impressive as it had to be custom sculpted.
This brings up another question for me though. I read through all of Jensen’s account that was posted earlier in the thread…and what I got from it was that Jensen had become so out of control that he was impossible to work with.
Obviously, I don’t know the ins and outs, but by his own description of what was happening during his time with YYF, things like obsessively skyping his gf at the office to argue, generally freaking out, fighting with Tyler…and this is just what he mentioned…these kinds of things don’t really inspire a lot of confidence with employers. Jensen’s main beef in that article was that he didn’t feel YYF was trying their best to expose him and that they were treating him “odd”. This makes me wonder, if his account is accurate and was not isolated only to these events as I would assume, what company would want to put a lot of their effort toward a player like that? He sounds by his own description to be a loose cannon. The kind of player who might just tank a freestyle or not even show up on a whim.
As I said, I don’t know the gritty details, but I do know that YYF gets the rotten end of the stick in this story all the time…and I wonder if that wouldn’t be more accurately identified as Jensen’s perspective. He seems to have a habit, even in the vid from this thread, of finding ways to make it seem as if others “just can’t handle him” or are doing him wrong like it’s some shortcoming of theirs, without regard for what may be the real issue: That the way he acts is unreasonable and does not inspire others to do him right.
…but, blast me if I’ve got the details mixed up. I’m only working from his own writings.
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
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To yoyodoc.
Not at all.
I am not being arrogant, but just saying it like it is.
I am not a believer of beating around the bush to get to a final point or conclusion.
Sometimes people take it as arrogant, but I only speak the truth of a matter.
And no ammount of personal attack is going to change that, because sometimes, people need someone to be the one to say it like it is. Which also is a reason for me respecting Jensen for his actions in this video.
I just think this whole debate here is silly when, the fact is, it’s done, this was a year ago, he made a statement, a statement that is going to change the community for the better, and to try to dissect and judge it now is silly, as what it means, and what is has done is over.
There’s nothing more to it. Other than settling on the truth, and going off to throw something called a YoYo for continued positive actions in our fandom.
Okay i wasn’t changing my stance every time, I was simply making a counter argument. The fact is, it isn’t your yoyo, it’s HIS. HE threw it in the river, and that’s done. And donating it like a baseball players ball would be cool, but they have money coming out of their ears, I am pretty sure the wyyc prize is about as much as the plane ticket(And you have food, hotel etc.)
No need to complicate the matter with petty arguments of who’s right and who’s wrong, it is what it is. It was Jensen’s property so he did with it as he wished, so who are you to say what he should or shouldve done with it?
We all know you guys wish he did “the right thing” and donated it or whatever, but he didnt. So stop dwelling on the past and go adopt a puppy or something.
I wonder when good debaters, politicians, historians, futurists, spouses, etc, will start using this philosophy that “it’s in the past, it doesn’t matter”. edit: I’m guessing when the world turns into 1984, which seems to be snowballing pretty quick these days