Shaun is cutting his hair?!

I´d like your input on this..
Please help Shaun come up with a way to trim his red lion´s mane.

Check out some suggestions over at Spatziba.

What will the people at Wendy´s say?

You tell me.

How a tool like John Brenkus gets to be on tv with a clip like this one? Let alone drive a BMW 7-series to work.

Can you find a more pathetic clip about the evolution of snowboarding online I´ll give you a hug.
And this footage was still shot by talented filmers in the know, but Espn literally killed the footage with their direction, narration and editing. And the worst part is that they love it and will continue to do this.
The end sentence is the best:
The corkscrew has the same shape as the double helix, so maybe Shain was born to do this because it´s in his dna.
Wow.





I had to tag it like they did "sport science" and "sports science".. really. They will get traffic by using those words?




I´m not against Shaun even if I posted three posts with him. He´s just in the spotlight this week.
X-Games tend to turn up my bloggin frequency.

Apperantly you need to train.

Training to me is like going to the gym with protein drinks so you can get some tan on your tribal tattoos while sporting your new Dolce shades and Ed Hardy hat.

It´s jock, it´s lame.

I do understand that exercise is healthy, duh, but I never liked the attitude of people who practice, practice, practice, practice to become great and make money and get medals. I just can´t relate.

Sure Peter Forsberg practiced A LOT, but he has the talent too, and it shows + hockey is a jock sport to start with.

When the jock mentality hits skate/snowboarding I tend to look the other way. I totally understand why it´s there, I just don´t want anything to do with it. Hell, "our" sport is run by skiers, at least the olympic part of it. But then again I´m not associating myself with an olympic snowboarder, half pipe or slalom (haha, slalom.. ). Some of those olympic boarders, well most slalom ones, think like skiers.. old school skiers. Like racing gates skiers..

I like snowboarding that takes place on powder and to some extent jumps. Urban snowboarding is what it is and I like documenting it but it´s not what gets me psyched to get in the car (or subway here in Stockholm).
Gigi, Nicolas, Parker and others take care of that for me.

So while reading this article ( I couldn´t read the whole thing, so sorry if I missed something) on Bud Keene who´s a coach for the US olympic team or national team or whatever.. I got a little confused. Like.. really.. he just said that..?
I was never one to really understand what he had to do with any American taking a medal at the olympics.. I mean yes I understand that there are team managers, friends, filmers, riders etc who travel with the talent and push the riders to do better but a coach? Like, oh your head is a tiny bit lower on your double cork than it was last week.. try chucking it harder.. like that? And full time? And probably making over 10k a month doing it, hell probably 20k a month.

Here´s a quote from the article:
What did you think of Vito's dance career? Good or bad for his snowboarding? Or is it a just a totally "snowboard" thing to do on an Olympic year?
No, not really. He could have been down in N.Z. learning a new trick instead.

Yes, he said that.
I also think that my job as filmer, editor, driver, team manger, baby sitter, drink buyer and coach has been and is rewarding.
I just don´t totally understand Bud´s point of view, or the people who pay him. Cause I do understand it, just not totally.
In the late 90´s a traveled a fair bit with the Swedish and Norwegian national teams and Petter Levin who coached both of them (I think) was a really good guy to have around, but he was more of a friend and possibly team manager and I never saw him as a coach, in the jock sense of the word / profession.

Here´s another:
Do you do any intelligence snooping on foreign halfpipe comps and athletes?
People have been inspired by Shaun's private training ground last winter, and so have been working to get their own special situations set up. We know about most of those situations, and what was accomplished at each, but I can't help feeling that we don't know about all of them. We'll see.

I wouldn´t use the word "inspired". At least that´s not what I´ve heard. And no I don´t see his "special situation set up" comparable to the DC Mtn Lab if anyone made that connection.

I´d like to give the riders more credit and not involve some coach. But when you´re expected (and yes Shaun you will with 99.5% certainty) win the olympics I can see why it would be good to talk to a mental coach who helps you focus and get in the zone. But I´m certain Torstein Horgmo and Halldor Helgason got their gold medals without a couch telling them what to do and they didn´t even get mercy points (Salt Lake pipe olympics + X-Games big air 2009).

My $0.02.

Would have been great to see Danny Davis take the gold.. but not this time. Hope he and Kevin Pearce makes great recoveries and I´m happy Shaun didn´t hurt himself in that nasty, nasty slam from the X-Games (which made Espn hold the broadcast for 30 min.. completely different post/subject though..).


Don´t get me started on the Swedish "national team" and their $2,000.000 budget for the 2006 olympics... gees. Get me into a meeting with those who are/were sponsoring that sinking ship.

Shaun White on 60 minutes..

For those of you who don´t live in the US and aren´t too familiar with Shaun, check this out. Very mainstream, they even mention that he makes over $10,000.000 / year. That oughta get the mainstream looking.

There´s a slam in there that I´ve never seen before and wouldn´t mind not seeing again.
You also get a glimpse of his crib.

There are also some other related links on that site, below the main video.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Did I forget to mention he´ll win the Olympics in about two weeks?

Xtreme!

Shaun´s slam at 0:45 did not look comfortable, at all.

Clip with Hampus and Jakob.

Hampus has his own website where he´ll hopefully post more videos like this one which features him, Jakob and friends. Enjoy:

Preshred Funäsdalen from Holymoses on Vimeo.

Method Mag also posted this flashback video from 2000 featuring a VERY young Shaun White, Romain DeMarchi and Jakob Wilhelmson.
http://www.method.tv/player.php?ch=00034&id=1879

I was wrong.

Even though I thought it was definitely a possibility I didn´t want to believe that Shaun would dress up as the Wendy's Hamburger girl for Halloween and show the photo on all the talk shows claiming he didn't want Tony Hawk coming over to his party to Twitter a photo..

But Tony did come over and posted this photo on his Twitter.


And yes, the outfit was good. But if it was to make money of Wendy's it was imho a really lame idea.
Apparently Wendy's were already sponsoring Shaun's video game and had logo placements in it.
And I think it's cool that Shaun goes to Leno, Letterman etc and plugs his video games and stuff. But I don't think it's cool to plug Wendy's like it was a spur of the moment costume that just happened to spread like Swine Flu and conveniently made it onto prime time tv when it was a planned marketing strategy.

Now I'm sure Shaun and his entourage made some sweet dollars from this and good for them, but I still think it was a lame move. And yes I know, my opinion doesn't matter to about 99.999999999999% of the people who buy Shauns game, snowboards, clothing etc.
He's going to win the Olympics and everyone at Wendy's will be happy.

Who knows.. maybe Wendy's will have a flying tomato on their menu soon.

I don't know what to think of this.

According to Forbes: “Corporate money has been pouring into action sports in recent years as the popularity of these sports has taken off with consumers. Participation in skateboarding increased 74% between 1998 and 2007 to 10.1 million participants, the fastest growth of any sport in the U.S. Snowboarding registered the third fastest growth over the same 10-year period, up 42% to 5.1 million participants according to the National Sporting Goods Association.”
Forbes based its estimates on interviews with industry experts and excluded Motocross racing.The top 10 earners in 2008 were all male. Top female snowboarders like Torah Bright, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter make as much as $750,000 annually, but that fell short of their $1 million cut off.

I wouldn't trust this very far though.. I'm questioning some of these people..
I'm know some people who make more money than 1 million.. Rob Dyrdek and Danny Way for example. There's no doubt in my mind they make more than Kass and Rice, for example.

Anyway, some of you might find this interesting

Here’s the break down of 2008 earnings.

1. Tony Hawk - Skateboarding - $12 million
Hawk retired from competitive skating in 1999, but he has built a business empire that sold $200 million worth of Tony Hawk branded products last year

2. Shaun White - Snowboarding/Skateboarding - $9 million
White was the first athlete to compete at both the Summer and Winter X-Games. He’s racked up 10 X-Games gold medals as well as the gold for the men’s half pipe in the 2006 Winter Olympics. Following in the footsteps of Hawk, White launched his own videogame last year through Ubisoft called “Shaun White Snowboarding.”

3. Ryan Sheckler - Skateboarding - $5 million
Sheckler is a hit with teenage girls thanks to his MTV reality show, Life of Ryan, which just wrapped filming its third season. The skateboard prodigy turned pro in 2003 at age 13. Current big sponsors include Oakley, Red Bull and Volcom.

4. Travis Pastrana - Freestyle MX - $3 million (tie)

4. Kelly Slater - Surfing - $3 million
The nine-time surfing champion is both the youngest and oldest to win the title. We won $260,000 in prize money in 2008 when he captured his ninth title. Slater has won $2 million during his career. The bulk of his earnings comes from sponsors like Quiksilver and surfboard maker Channel Islands.

6. Laird Hamilton - Surfing - $2.5 million
The oldest member of our top 10 athletes at 44, Hamilton has always eschewed traditional surfing competitions for the thrill of big-wave surfing. He has built a reputation as an all-around waterman that has spurred books, movies and a clothing line. His wife is pro volleyball player Gabrielle Reece.

7. Paul Rodriguez - Skateboarding - $2 million
The skater known as P-Rod is the son of actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez. Nike signed Rodriguez to a lucrative shoe and apparel deal in 2004 and has released several signature P-Rod sneakers since then.

8. Danny Kass - Snowboarding - $1 million
Kass won silver medals in the men’s half pipe at each of the last two Winter Olympics. He has sponsorship deals with Gnu Snowboards, Nike and Oakley. With his brother Matt and several friends, Kass founded apparel company Grenade which focuses on winter gloves.

8. Dave Mirra - BMX - $1 million

8. Travis Rice - Snowboarding - $1 million
Considered one of the best boarders on the planet, Rice is a renaissance man on the snow competing in big air, slope style and pipe events. Rice counts Quicksilver and Red Bull as major sponsors and also produces and stars in popular snowboard movies like The Community Project and That’s It, That’s All.

Source:
http://business.transworld.net/2009/02/18/action-sports-highest-paid-athletes

Project X.

Project X might be the best / worst name for this project, or any for that matter. But since most of this world doesn't agree with me I guess it's a very fitting name for the endemic Americans out there who loves Nos energy drinks, Ford Mustangs, Papa Roach, NFL football, Black Flys sunglasses and X-Games.

Watch Shaun invent new pipe tricks at his private Red Bull half pipe. Did anyone say recession?

Foam pit being built:
http://shaunwhite.com/projectx/?fbid=VNlVLZzVAa7#/docvideos/foampit

Double flips:
http://shaunwhite.com/projectx/?fbid=VNlVLZzVAa7#/docvideos/progression



Since Shaun unveiled his new double flips there are 5-10 people who can do them. I'm assuming they didn't have personal pipes with foam pits. But that's usually how it goes. Someone has to be the first one, then people know it's possible and before you know it it's the norm. Just look at backflips on moto bikes and snowmobiles.

I'm betting my money on Shaun winning the olympics. But since the odds of him winning will be 1 to 1.0000002 I won't bet.

At least Shaun White isn´t that good at street skating.

I mean, he can skate vert and snowboard better than almost anyone but street skating looks to be a little tougher for him :)

Some company called Fast Company who does who knows what (I didn´t bother Googling) did this shoot with Shaun (assuming Red Bull was involved too) in NYC earlier this year.

Check out this video if you care.


And if you cared to get to this part of the post you might also want to read this looooong article about how "LA" and other marketing people are just, well... not quite with it.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/shaun-white-lifts-off.html?page=0%2C0