Jeff Moran Natural Selection Interview
Jeff Moran Natural Selection Interview
Jeff Moran Natural Selection Interview: (I know the title is repetitive but that’s what WordPress and Yoast tells me I need to do to optimize SEO, LOL)
Ok folks – Jeff Moran is hilarious. If you follow the WSL he’s like the Ronnie Blakey of snowboarding. If you don’t, well, just think of your wise-ass cousin that you always invite to your holiday parties – the one who brings the fun. The guy who keeps the whole assembly in stitches and then disappears to the cool party that you didn’t get an invite to.
Jeff Moran is more than that of course. He’s a totally stand-up guy who is the CMO of the Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Team. Some of the richest and most powerful people on the planet trust their kids this this guy. Maybe you should hear him out?
Clearly the organizers of the Natural Selection Tour felt Jeff should be involved and so it was. Alongside snowboard commentary gods like Selema Masekela, Tbird, Mary Walsh and Tina Dixon, Jeff Moran brings a breath of fresh air and comic relief, backed by 30+ years of unquestionable knowledge of the sport and the space.
Originally from New Hampshire, for damn sure, Jeff Moran has called Jackson Hole home for 22 years and knows the culture of the iconic locale better than most. So it’s apropos that Jackson local, and event Godfather, Travis Rice, should call on Jeff Moran to be the man.
I’ve known Jeff for 20 years. In 2001 I was driving cross county and spent the night at his house in Jackson Hole playing drums, playing pool, hitting on girls and remarking how I only knew him because I new his brother, Adam. Talk about sibling rivalry!
Anyway, when I watched the Natural Selection broadcast and saw Jeff Moran doing his thing, I thought, yes, I want to hear what Moran has to say. Here’s our conversation.
Follow me on insta @actionsportsdly – I need more followers to build my status, so I can get a girlfriend.
Actually, no, follow Jeff Moran; he’s cooler: @jeffmoran76
Slainte,
James Sullivan
Jeff you’re from New Hampshire but Jackson is your adopted home.
Yeah, it kinda is. I’ve put my time in here in Jackson. I’ll be honest, I’m just honored that I get to be a part of this team.
How did you get the call to join the team?
I guess it’s been kind of in the works for maybe a year and a half. Maybe even a little longer. Ever since the Natural Selection idea started getting thrown around and I was hearing about it. Especially due to one of my close close friends, who unfortunately recently passed away, Melissa Larsson.
Yes of course – I knew Melissa fairly well. So tragic. God Bless her and RIP.
For sure. We miss her so much. But yeah, Melissa was intimately involved with helping steer the ship and with some decision making and just helping to make it happen. I mean, she’s been a part of Travis’s projects for years. And so she was a pretty big part of Natural Selection‘s inception. So Melissa put in a good word for me with Travis. But Travis himself has also seen and heard me announcing before. And so, over the last year or so there had been unofficial conversations about me being a part of the team.
So you’re kind of the local commentator. Do you feel good about it? Do you consider yourself the Jackson guy?
Haha – yeah, sort of, I guess. I mean, as I said before, it’s just an overall honor. That sentiment goes much farther than just me. It seems like everybody who’s involved with this event, whether it be, the rider side or the announcer side or whatever. Anyone who’s here who got invited to be part of this is feeling honored to be a part of it, so that that’s probably my biggest sentiment. As far as being the Jackson guy, well, yeah, I feel like, after, I guess it’s been my 22nd season out here, I think I sort of fell like a local. I definitely have some… “some” local knowledge, maybe more so than others. So I’m happy to be able to speak to that perspective of the event.
For those that watch the WSL, you, to me are like the Ronnie Blakey of snowboarding commentary. You are the guy who is able to ping pong off the others and create comic relief.
Haha – thanks! Well, I mean, I can’t say that I go up to do that per se. I just try to have fun and do a good job for the event. The event needs to be accessible to both people who don’t know what snowboarding is all about. And then, obviously, the other end of the spectrum, like the core who is very discerning. I want the viewers to be engaged too. I’ve been a viewer and I want to be engaged, so I try to remind myself of that and put myself in the viewers’ shoes.
To finish off what’s your global rundown of the event?
Alright, global run down in the event: I mean, deep in my core of my being, I truly feel as though this is the the coolest thing that’s ever happened to snowboarding. And there’s been a lot of really cool things that have happened to snowboarding, but the new bar has been set. I think everybody going into this had different perceptions of what Natural Selection should be or could be. I feel like it was everything I was hoping for it to be, and more.
Any thoughts on just the sheer logistics of it all?
Yes. There are so many variables and so many moving parts that all came together for this thing to happen. Props to Liam Griffen. I mean, you think about how many riders came from overseas from different countries. You know, everybody had to get here and stay here and be healthy. Ans to just simply be able to get a visa is such a hassle nowadays. And then the actual production! The drones! I’m just blown away at the amount of intricacies that are involved with putting this on. For me it creates a whole new level of respect for Travis Rice because he’s not just a rider. This contest is heavy metal. So to be a rider and to also be the guy everybody’s gunning for, because it’s his contest and he’s the superstar and yet he just takes it in stride and is more focused on making this event happen for the greater snowboarding community. So much respect. It’s so awesome.