My mom left a voicemail on my phone..."Simon was on Ellen today. She gave him funny goggles. He's a cute kid when he's not in all of his gear and you can see him. Oh, just calling to say hi. Call me later. Love ya."My mom has heard of Simon Dumont. After her son spent a week in Maine watching the Dumont hurl himself into the record books, she should. Does your mom know of Simon Dumont? After yesterday, she might. Yesterday, Simon Dumont appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show. I didn't get a chance to watch the full broadcast but watched the short recap on youtube: For the immediate shit talking recap that took place in the forums, click here. Not surprisingly, most of the comments were goofy, poorly thought out, and ludicrous. I get it, these media appearances are a bit awkward for "skiing's core" but in time we'll get used to them. In the recap, a few things stood out for me:1) Ellen's joke about Simon being "high" to which he responded beautifully with a mocking laugh. This stereotype has been around for too long and Simon's reaction was perfect. Thanks for showing them that we're not all potheads. Some of us have intelligent thoughts and on that note, here's some more of mine...2) When explaining what his cork 900 is, he first said, "Well you've got your dancing...." proving he prepared for this show, something that shows class and professionalism. Too often action sport athletes over simplify and sound moronic (see: TJ Lavin on MTV's The Gauntlet where he uttered the phrase, "killin' it" 100000 times an episode). He wasn't "stoked", he was articulate and spoke like (GASP) a normal human being. 3) Towards the end of the show Simon had Ellen say hello to Barbara, his mother which effectively made American moms everywhere collectively say, "ahttp://www." According to the Nielson Ratings from early April, The Ellen DeGeneres Show gets about 2.3 million viewers a day with Monday being the highest traffic day. That's a lot of moms. As most of you should know by now, media is a game of demographics. I guarantee there's only one mom (my mom) reading this blog entry. Simon's appearance on Ellen showed a bunch of other people's moms, sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmas a face to go with freeskiing. Let us remember most of these moms, sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmas are also doctors, teachers, lawyers, and other professionals that probably had no idea what freesking is. The ripple effect of one of these appearances is endless. Ok, maybe not endless but let's say Simon's appearance on Ellen gets one more mom to understand what her son or daughter is doing at the mountain and that mom drives her son or daughter to the mountain one more time a week. It really happens this way folks. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why you see what movies you do, drink what you drink, and eat what you eat. Chances are, there's a sliver in your reasoning, and that sliver is called the media. Congrats to Simon on a cool appearance. I wasn't watching but that's the point!The media is an all powerful tool. Start paying attention and on that note, all of you should send me $5.Until next time,Rogge