I’m curious… There are a couple aspect of human behavior I understand, and this is one I feel must be dealt with. That’s the question, why oh why have so many unicyclists still held grudges against me? Here are my answers…
You think I’m a dick cause I didn’t give respect to the videos that deserved them.
A - That’s actually not entirely true, if a person hopped dramatically, I gave nothing. That’s riding for the trick, and not riding for the sport. Make the tricks look good and it’ll attract more people than doing amazing tricks.
9/11?
A - This one would be the sadness. Simple because I aim on the physics of a situation, with no credible physics experience from agruers that agrument stands. Don’t be so emotional about things.
3 - That I quit unicycling close to the top.
A - This one is a stretch, and no one would admit to it if it were right; however, that last competition more internationally was Germany WK3, and I won that one. Since I had gathered haters already I could understand some unicyclists wanted to beat me. But since an injury and schooling, riding really couldn’t happen for me anymore. So some never got the chance to actually beat me. (Except Kelly Hickman NAUCC 2008 Street)
4 - That I wanted to make money off of unicycling, so I quit outputting youtube vids.
A - Ever wonder why seriously riders quit riding around 18-20. University calls… Without any promise of money, and a job, unicycling can’t continue aggressively, it’s too dangerous, and damaging towards their future. Just look at the numerous examples. Now unicycling will still improve, but it’s like waves on a shore approaching high tide. The waves get higher and higher, but it’s always a new replaving wave that climbs that bit higher. Youtube makes it difficult for any body outside the sport to take the sport seriously. Because everything is on youtube. No credibility there. Sure it helps you get better, and maybe brings in a person or two, but without any credibility to how good this sport is, it won’t get big, people can’t get jobs from it, and unicycling will always be progressive and agressive for 18-20 and under. That’s sad since i’m 22. I wish I could still ride.
5 - I’m just a dick.
A - I get that I’m like that from online, people have mentioned that to my face at conventions and told me I’m much different in person. Better… But thinking I’m a dick is most likely derived from one of the above. You don’t hate somebody just because they are who they are. That would make you a dick. lol. (Or douchebag).
6 - Jealously
A - This one wouldn’t be told either. Whatever… I did do a lot of good things for a little while there. Chilling with Dan was sick and everything like that. Good times were had.
Haters will go out of their way to “hate” (discourage). A few haters will speak much more loudly than many fans. Even thinking now, fans probably won’t read this, there is no point for them, I understand, and that’s cool, haters will do it on hate alone. But they will get through it. I guess it’s up to them to actually answer.
-Shaun Johanneson
p.s. To catch two insults early, play on the word “fans” or not actually getting through it all.
From my point of view I have nothing against you at all. You stopped unicycling for your reasons, no worries really. Many people stop doing things they are good at either because they are bored or move onto doing other things.
Do I miss seeing your killer uni skills … definitely. But as with everything, there will always be someone better coming along at some point.
At the end of the day you need to do what you enjoy doing and what inspires you … whatever that is.
I think you’re fine, I haven’t talked to you or anything, but I think you’re cool. But I have to disagree with quitting because of age and danger in relation to school and income. We have all sorts of ages on this forum and there are all types of unicycling. I could see quitting doing insane things, but why quit the sport altogether? Was it just not fun anymore?
I was hoping to get more out of that but it’s all good.
I was strict to those riders that were good, cause I wanted to see better, I was jealous of a lot of riders for either learning quickly (more quickly than I) or having amazing climate giving them more riding time. More so, I didn’t want to quit riding but this damn school and life took away progressive riding, and without progressive riding I just found dancing more fun. Sorry about all the shit, though. If that means anything now.
Just trying to be helpful. Anyone who says they quit at 22 because they are to old, is a pussy. I performed juggling shows at twice your age. You are to young to even know if you have quit, apparently this is your first time.
If you want attention and respect for doing something, go for it old man. I suggest you try singing a more catchy tune than, “22 , and to old to ride”. Or find a more receptive audience than a unicycle forum, to chat up the joys of being to old to ride riding unicycles, to people twice your age.
You are not a teenage Chinese gymnast. Stop writing like one, and learn some actual life physics. You may step off the stage, but the stage will never step off of you. If you are prepared at 22 to be normal, accepted as boring and normal, really let it rest, you would suck worse as a champion than you do now. You ow all your talent (and drama queen posts) to the love of the stage. It is normal to turn your back and walk away. It is normal for any artist to do this. It’s just a stage. Then you see being treated as normal sucks, and you start practicing again, getting ready for the next stage. Performers get treated better and have more fun than normal people. You can only quit when you feel you suck. The temptation to make $, show off, met fun people etc. , is what you say you will quit. Good luck with that. I pity your liver if you go that road.
Lol. That was funny. Life physics, um… Too old to have time, it’s the university life, too tough to juggle major, minor, working, and still have time to progressively ride. If i’m not riding progressively, riding isn’t fun. So I switched to dancing (break, pop, lock, krump, hip hop stuff) and it’s much more demanding than unicycling (physically). So please read my story before jumping to such hostility. If you are over twice my age, start typing like it. “Pussy” should NOT be in your vocabulary anymore. (It isn’t even in mine). And as the stage goes, unicycling, ran out of time, engineering, too boring, now youtubing. That’s where it’s been. As far as dancing, it’s only been for entertainment. (I wouldn’t consider dancing ever being my stage.)
on what do you base that pussy should not be in a 44 year olds vocabulary?
A person vocabulary grows with age, they dont have to get ride of certain words in order to make room for more grown up ones.
You can’t pussy out of a show you didn’t have. “Street performers”, showed up and did the show live. The only place jugglers or uni riders would be seen, before “you tube”.
In New Orleans, in 1982, we met in the Alpine restaurant, a block from Jackson Square for cheap excellent breakfast, every morning. It was a small world, where we did our shows live, and felt the stage (Jackson square) and were given $ in hat or, or in my case, in a bag. I really loved the crowds and they loved me. So I made the glad bag to have room for all the cash, a special hand sewn glory bag. Hats were to small. I could make enough in one Saturday to pay rent and live for a month.
You Tube performers are a different breed I guess. They got lot’s of “views”, but did not learn to build crowds in public spaces, collect the cash, and walk off with the glory bag of cash to party. You guys just made videos. You have not tasted true public cheering and $.
So perhaps you are right, you can’t pass the stage you were never on. I am sorry you will miss out on all the free cash and fun woman. Being a performer is awesome. I am sorry if I have mistaken you for one.
I think you can be one. I only hate the quiter part , being a performer is hard unless you are born with the “carny gene”, which, trust me, you are not. It is taking you to long to figure out the obvious.
If you had the “Carney”, you’d be rocking by now. Swimming pools, movie stars.
Any dislike I have for you is cause of the youtube videos thing, I respect you though for all that you’ve done in unicycling. And I don’t like it, but I understand 100% why you quit, eventually you have to move on and seriously look at your future. Who’re we kidding here, college > unicycles.
i have a friend that did the same exact thing you did… i even did the same a few years back. I got bored with riding because i was stuck at one level and i gave it a break. I dont know what happened but now i can do a lot more so im really getting into riding again. My friend had to get a job to support himself, he still wants to ride but its really hard to when you only have one day off from work a week and you still have other things you need to do as well. I still ride with him but his riding isnt nearly as crazy as it was when he was in his prime.
It sucks when you cant progress (at least for me) and it gets to you really fast to. like right now ive been sick for a week and havent been able to ride. It sucks a lot and i hate it, all that i can do is sit down and wait to get better. For the progression part i know how that is, people always expect you to always be better and when you gave it your all at one point in time doing a trick and you cant possibly see how you can do it better its tough to go out and put your body on the line to try something new. Shaun your videos will always be something i watch and just stare at for hours, you were totally ahead of your time and have influenced many people!
Sold footage to Ecko TV, and Wacked out Videos
Gave footage to CNN news to me (that’s really not that big of deal)
Macy’s Passport ($1500, and met a girl out there)
Columbia ($4500, no girls out there)
Then was one of a couple featured riders at WK3. (=Financially helped)
That is a stage. However, unicycling is beyond just side shows, or circus shows. We have really good riders able to throw good lines together. Why are they still only on youtube? It’s probably because no one takes youtube seriously, and any skill shown is still only on youtube. Sure it’s nice to watch videos for free, and it helps a small group of riders get better. But it doesn’t help spread the numbers out to have the sport grow by quantity as well as quality. U1 and U2 blew up, Defect was there but not as big due to youtube popularity, now Rev one is just kind of floating there because it won’t sell as well as the first 3. Youtube is killing the sport and it’s growth. Of course everyone will say they are getting better because of it, and it’s true. But the general public won’t take just youtube videos that seriously since everything is on youtube. No mean to offend, it’s just the way I look at it.
