Quick Hits Archive: February 7 - February 13, 2008

Mar 20 2008 / Los Angeles, CA

February 13, 2008

New Adidas Spot Featuring Gonz Along with Other Icons
Published: 2:12 a.m. PT by Mike

As seen in the past, Adidas has killed it with another ad campaign, which features athletic icons going all the way back the brand's conception in the 1940s up until today. The spot features so many of my favorite things: the brand itself, a Muhammad Ali boot, a photo tennis great Ilie Nastase flipping off John McEnroe, the unibrow of Liam Gallagher of Oasis, and of course the Gonz. The animation is pretty spectacular and the music is endearing. Check it out here on the Adidas Website..

Cop of the Week: Oh Those Bushs at it Again!
Published: 1:59 a.m. PT by Mike

Man, am I the only person that finds this video awesome? I think Officer Rivieri is my new hero! He struck a chord with me while giving his sermon to poor little Eric Bush in this video. Officer Rivieri has so much heart and passion in his voice, I know that deep down he truly and sincerely cares for these youngins. You can especially hear it in his voice at 2 minutes 7 seconds when his voice gets choked up. I have no doubt that one day Officer Rivieri will be promoted to ride in an actual police car.

Some highlight moments. I won't spoil the quotes for you, but just keep an eye on the following time codes for some profound words of wisdom...

1 minute 30 seconds

1 minute 40 seconds

2 minutes 47 seconds


Sneaker Pimps Montreal 2008
Published: 1:44 a.m. PT by Mike

Sneaker Pimps made their second Canadian stop this past February ninth. Le Studio Juste Pour Rire (Just For Laughs) in Montreal played host to live music from Hatchmatik and A-Rock of Peer Pressure alongside classic hip hop duo Black Sheep. Artist installations from Futura, Stash and 123Klan set things off right. Here we present a unique look at the event, through a series of Polaroids featuring Futura and Stash amongst some of Montreal's biggest sneakerheads including members of the WRG?, Off the hook, Norml, and GDFT crews. Next stop Vancouver, February 21st, 2008.



2nd Annual Pee Wee Sherman Rail Jam at Tyrol Basin
Published: 1:11 a.m. PT by Mike

The second annual Pee Wee Sherman Rail Jam takes place this Saturday, Feb. 16th at Tyrol Basin in Wisconsin. This homegrown contest is what shredding is all about. Josh Sherman returns to his roots for this 18 and under jib fest where local Midwest rippers get creative and compete to win Sherman’s complete set-up from head to toe.Prizes include Salomon snowboards, boots and bindings, Bonfire outerwear, and prizes from Smith, Elm, Breckenridge, Future Snowboard Magazine and Windell’s Snowboard Camp. Registration is open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Tyrol Basin’s lodge. The first 80 competitors get the official tall tee event jersey. Registration is $15. The rail jam begins at 11am.The event sponsors include: Salomon Snowboards, Bonfire Snowboarding, Future Snowboard Magazine, Smith, Elm Company, Breckenridge and Drop.

For more info and to pre-register go to www.tyrolbasin.com.


Riders Announced For Oakley Arctic Challenge
Published: 12:51 a.m. PT by Mike

One of the most exciting snowboarding events is getting ready for its 2008 edition in Norway. The Oakley Arctic Challenge, the fifth of only six six-star TTR events, has announced who will be competing and there are plenty of nice names, including TTR#2 Kevin Pearce, Andy Finch and record breaker/overall legend Terje Haakonsen. From February 18-23, everyone will be competing for 1000 TTR Ranking points, a piece of the $100k prize purse and a $25k Oakley gold watch. Here are the invited riders for the Quarterpipe event:

Confirmed Riders List for The Oakley Arctic Challenge:
1. Kevin Pearce - USA Burton
2. Kim Rune Hansen - NOR Burton
 3. Terje Haakonsen - NOR Burton
4. Jake Blauvelt - USA Forum
5. Arthur Longo - FRA APO
6. Fumyuki Murakami - JPN Forum
7. Takota Taniguchi - JPN Allian
8. Manuel Pietropoli - ITA Burton
9. Andy Finch - USA Rip Curl
10. Colin Frei - SUI K2
11. Markus Keller - SUI Dragon
12. Scotty Lago - USA Flow
13. Nicolas Muelller - SUI Burton
14. Takaharu Nakai - JPN Burton
15. Peetu Piiroinen - FIN Burton
16. Shayne Pospisil - USA Drake
17. Chad Otterstrom - USA Rossignol

Lance Mountain Shares Some History
Published: 12:25 a.m. PT by Mike

Thrasher's Michael Burnett has recently unearthed a mass of skateboarding memorabilia with a visit to Lance Mountain's garage and a viewing of his personal collection. Have a look through the Burnout blog here.

Nick Tershay from Diamond Supply Co. Interview
Published: 12:07 a.m. PT by Mike

Nick Tershay is probably best known to sneakerheads for creating one of the most sought after Dunk SB of all time, the Diamond aka. Tiffany Dunk. Kent Uyehara from FTC (a skateshop/brand from San Francisco) had a chance to interview Nick about several topics including how the Diamond Dunk came about, how he started his career. This short interview can be seen
here.

February 12, 2008

Bam Margera, Mike Vallely, and Chad Muska on 'LA Ink' Tonight
Published: 10:25 a.m. PT by Mike

Check out Kat Von D's show 'LA Ink' tonight where she gets a mini ramp built in hershop and invites Bam, Mike V and Muska over to skate. The episode is called 'Skate Ramp' and airs at 10/9c on TLC.

Click here for the full schedule.

Looks like the show is trying to step up its "extreme" quota to keep step with Carey Hart and the brah's from "Inked".
 


Cliché's Déjà Vu Teaser
Published: 9:45 a.m. PT by Mike

Cliche has taken their best footage over the last four videos and had it remixed by some very special guest editors, including: Ty Evans, Mike Manzoori, Greg Hunt, Dan Wolfe, and more. Look for Deja Vu to be released in early Spring.
With some of the most influential videographers in skateboarding and with Evans being responsible for one of the sickest skate videos in recent memory, this is definitely something to look forward to.

The featured parts are:

• Lucas Puig edited by Ty Evans
• Ricardo Fonseca edited by Greg Hunt
• Javier Mendizabal edited by Mike Manzoori
• Andrew Brophy edited by Dan Magee
• Cale Nuske edited by Scuba Steve
• Jeremie Daclin edited by Dan Wolfe
• Charles Collet edited by Ewan Bowman
• JB Gillet edited by RB Umali

Check out the teaser here.

Reyes, O’Brien Take Top Honors in Freewave Challenge
Published: 4:01 a.m. PT by Greg

Over the weekend we told you about the Freewave Challenge from Billabong -- the top winners have been announced and as expected (since he was the only surfer left), Hawaiian Jamie O'Brien was the big winner by taking the first and second sports for Best Performance. He pockets more than $14K in cash for the honor as well.

"Free-surfing is one of the most important things about the North Shore. The contests don't always have good waves and in the end people remember the tube or the year or the best maneuver of the year. It can happen any day or any second," O'Brien said upon accepting his award. "This year the waves were not the best for a lot of the regular contests, but the winter goes on for months so there will always be epic moments in an event like the Freewave Challenge."

As this was the first year for the Freewave Challenge, O'Brien's looking forward to defending his crown.

"I think the Freewave Challenge can be the future for free surfing as more and more surfers get into it and post more and more video clips," he said. "I think it could be a monster, we could raise some animals. It can inspire surfers to go to the next level. I don’t want to wiggle to the beach, I want to go off — and I think there are a lot of guys who feel the same way."

Timmy Reyes won the Best Tube Ride Award for what was widely regarded as the wave of the year on the North Shore of Oahu. After three hours of waiting, Reyes caught his wave and scored more than $5K for the honor. Garrett McNamara who made one of the first-ever attempts to ride a beach-boy style Stand Up Paddle Board at the legendary Banzai Pipeline came in second for Best Tube Ride.

To see video of all the nominees/winners, plus all the payouts (they're paying filmers, too), check out http://www.freewavechallenge.com/.

Vito, Hight Win at Squaw Valley
Published: 3:44 a.m. PT by Greg

It was a busy weekend for snowboarders, who not only had the Grand Prix event in Tamarak but also the Honda Session. Take those events and close out with the 48Straight contest at Squaw Valley on Monday and you have a full deck, especially for riders like Louie Vito, who won at Tamarak on Saturday before coming to Squaw Valley. It was a smart move as Vito won the contest going away, with Andy Finch in second and Luke Mitrani in third.

Elena Hight wasn't the winner at Tamarak, but she was follwed in first place at Squaw Valley by Clair Bidez and Ellery Hollingsworth, who had those same placements in the Grand Prix. Fourth-place finisher Molly Aguirre won at Honda Sessions over the weekend.

For a full recap of all the action from the halfpipe finals click here.


Stealing Red Bull is Very Bad
Published: 2:01 a.m. PT by Greg

So a second person has been convicted in the hijacking of a truck full of Red Bull that happened in 2006. A first defendant was convicted last month and received a 24 year sentence. This poor guy recieved 18 years. But the kicker is he also admitted to hijacking another truck before he was caught. But he wasn't charged in that one.

You can do the math yourself but apparently there were 1,487 cases of Red Bull taken in the two robberies, worth almost $48K. It was never recovered. But you can bet some New York-area bodegas got a great deal.

Read the whole story.

Oakley ASP Junior Event Best Ever?
Published: 1:22 a.m. PT by Greg

We don't always cover the Jr. circuit of the ASP, though surfers like Courtney Conlogue, Sally Fitzgibbons and Tonino Benson could easily hold their own in most 'QS events and have World Tour stamped all over them. That said, when we heard that Lincoln Taylor won the Oakley Pro Jr. down under in conditions that have been described as epic, well, we pay attention. Check out what Surfline said here.

February 11, 2008

Burke, Wells Notch Wins at Squaw Valley
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Greg

Sarah Burke and Jossi Wells took the top honors in the skier halfpipe contests at 48Straight in Squaw Valley Saturday. Sealing the deal for Burke was her signature 900. There was only a one-run final, making it hard for the top woman freeskier to do more.

"That was not the run I wanted to do today," she said afterward. "With a one run final you can’t really give it your all, which is kind of unfortunate. So I played it safe and did the run I was comfortable with and solid on and held it together."

For the men, 17-year-old Kiwi Wells took first in a final that did not include one of the best men's skiers, Simon Dumont. Dumont is dealing with a separated right shoulder and struggled after a strong start.


FULL RESULTS: MEN'S RESULTS SUPER FINAL
1. Jossi Wells New Zealand - 94 points
2. Xavier Bertoni France - 85
3. Colby West Canterbury, N.H. - 78
4. Justin Dorey Canada - 39

FULL RESULTS: WOMEN'S RESULTS SUPER FINAL
1. Sarah Burke Canada - 87 points
2. Jen Hudak Park City, Utah - 82
3. Roz Groenewoud Canada - 64
4. Grete Eliassen Hollowlay, Utah - 71

For more about the contest, check out Jeep Sports site.

Wiig, Aguirre and Guldemond Win at Honda Session
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Greg

The Honda Session went down in Vail this weekend, drawing some of the top snowboarders in the country. For the women, Molly Aguirre took the rail jam win along with best trick, and Chas Guldemond took the men's rail jam. On Sunday, Wiig scored the top prize in the Slopestyle competition, followed by Torstein Horgmo and Guldemond. Read more about Wiig's win and get all the full results. If you want more about the rail action, click here.

Visit the official site for the Session at Vail here.


Vito, Clark Win at Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Tamarack
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Greg

Louie Vito and Kelly Clark led the field at the second step of the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in Tamarack, Idaho. For Vito, the win marked his first at a Grand Prix event. He was followed in second place by Greg Bretz and in third by Elijah Teter. Teter also placed third in the first Grand Prix event in Breckenridge. "It felt pretty good to win. I needed a little bit of a confidence booster after not doing so well at the X Games," Vito said. "I'm just going to keep doing my thing now. I've got a few things between now and the Killington Grand Prix, so I'll worry about those and when Killington gets closer, I'll worry about that."

The Grand Prix at Tamarack will be broadcast Feb. 16 on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

On the women's side, Clark dominated the field with Clair Bidez in second and Ellery Hollingsworth in third.

"It was great. It was an amazing event. I'm glad the weather held off and we could have a good time in there," Clark said. "It's always good to do good in the first two Grand Prix events in the hopes of taking the overall title. When you have a good first run, in the end you get to do what you want to do in the second."

The Grand Prix at Tamarack will be broadcast Feb. 16 on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET. Get more info about the Grand Prix click here.


OFFICIAL RESULTS
Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix
Tamarack, ID - Feb. 9, 2008
Halfpipe

Men (15 made finals)
1. Louie Vito, Columbus, OH/Sandy, UT, 260.00 points
2. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 208.00
3. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 156.00
4. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 130.00
5. Zac Black, Dillon, CO, 117.00
6. Ben Watts, Bend, OR, 104.00
7. Brennen Swanson, Stillwater, MN, 93.60
8. Trevor Jacob, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 83.20
9. Spencer Shaw, Litchfield, CT, 75.40
10. Jake Black, Dillon, CO, 67.60
11. Michael Goldschmidt, Truckee, CA, 62.40
12. Tyler Anderson, Chanhassen, MN, 57.20
13. Austin Noring, West Bend, WI, 52.00
14. Daniel Longo, Canada, 46.80
15. Bryan Shuey, Incline VIllage, NV, 41.60

Women (8 made finals)
1. Kelly Clark, West Dover, VT, 260.00
2. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 208.00
3. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 156.00
4. Brooke Shaw, Litchfield, CT, 130.00
5. Tricia Byrnes, Aspen, CO, 117.00
6. Kelly Marren, Hillsborough,CA , 104.00
7. MacKenzie Matters, Eagan, MN, 93.60
8. Kait Farrington, Bellevue, ID, 83.20

February 10, 2008

JKOTM Underway in Squaw Valley; Palmer Among Winners
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Greg

The Jeep King of the Mountain Skiing and Snowboarding Championships is underway in Squaw Valley and Shaun Palmer has won the Men's Boardercross contest, with Nate Holland in second. Palmer also won the title in the first JKOTM stop in Telluride last December.

More events are going on but it's a bit difficult to see all the results on the official site..

We've got some behind-the-scenes coverage of the JKOTM contest from Jeff Sadis, a triple threat at the contest (coach, ski tech and team manager). See what Jeff thinks of JKOTM here.

Enjoi In Person in L.A.
Published: 12:33 a.m. PT by Greg

If you live in the L.A. area you gotta love this chance to get up close and personal with the Enjoi team (or at least most of them -- newest member Wieger Van Wageningen isn't on the bill). Active in El Segundo will host a signing next Saturday (Feb. 16) at 1 p.m. It's an event so nice, they had to announce it twice (or at least with two different fliers). The top is from Enjoi's website and the bottom is from Active.

Looks like there will be a best trick contest afterwards but don't exect Hsu, Berry, Barletta and Foster to take part -- but they'll leave some swag for the winner.


Site Launches/Redesigns of Note: Element, ASP, etnies
Published: 12:03 a.m. PT by Me

With the new year it seems there have been some new site launches/redesigns worth noting. Here's a quick rundown:

• Element relaunched its website last week and it looks pretty similar to what it did before, but the Team pages, among other areas, have been overhauled. Certainly worth a check to keep up on all the haps.
• The ASP overhauled its website last year (though it did redo the surfer profiles recently) but the ASP North America and ASP Europe sites were still stuck in the 90s. Not anymore -- now they all share the same look and have better laid-out info, etc.
• etniesskateboarding.com launched on Januray 16th and so far is pretty much just a blog about Eric Fletcher. But it's still a fun read. The regular etnies skate site is still around of course.

February 9, 2008

Sheckler on FKD
Published: 1:33 a.m. PT by Greg

FKD Bearings has let the world know that Ryan Sheckler has joined its team -- he joins P-Rod, Greg Lutzka, Daewon Song and a host of others. Check out the notice below and there's also a short intro video for him...


Rob & Big Want You... To Design a T-Shirt
Published: 12:51 a.m. PT by Greg

T-Shirt website Threadless.com is teaming up with Rob & Big and MTV to find a budding t-shirt designer. The site is hosting a contest where artists can submit t-shirt designs with the hopes of winning a XBox 360, DC Board (signed by Rob & Big) and other stuff including $2K in cash.

Get the details here about the contest. You only have a week until the contest ends on Feb. 15. The theme is not the show, but the theme song of the show ("Let me Tell You About My Best Friend") so all shirt designs should reflect that theme.

Garcia and Smith Get Billabong Freewave Challenge Honors
Published: 12:21 a.m. PT by Greg

You may haven't heard about it but the Freewave Challenge is a new new online surfing contest from Billabong which honors the best wave riding caught on video in Oahu's North Shore during the fall/winter season. Two categories, Best Performance and Best Tube Ride, are honoring five surfers and filmers with winners being announced over a week (the announcements started Feb. 4 and will end Feb 11).

Veteran Sunny Garcia and up-and-comer Jordy Smith are the latest winners announced, taking third place for Best Tube and Performance, respectively. Smith previoulsy won fourth place honors for Best Tube ride.

Meanwhile, Jamie O’Brien is guaranteed of a couple of honors -- he is the final nominee in the Best Performance category, so he will take both spots. In the Best Tube, either Garrett McNamara or Timmy Reyes will take the top spot.

To see video of all the nominees/winners, plus to see how much cash they actually get to take home (and they're paying filmers, too), check out http://www.freewavechallenge.com/. We'll post the final results when they're announced.

February 8, 2008

Tony Hawk Adding to Empire
Published: 1:19 p.m. PT by Greg

And no, we're not talking about the latest installment in his video game series. We're actually talking about the addition of a baby.

Gossip website TMZ actually broke the news, catching Hawk and wife Lhotse leaving some restaurant and getting him to reveal the news. It will be the couple's first child (they were married in '06). Hawk has three sons from his previous two marriages. One of them, Riley, is already following in Pa's footsteps.

Hey, Wanna Go Snowboarkiing? Check Out the Weirdest Contest Ever
Published: 9:33 a.m. PT by Greg

You can chalk this one up under strange contests. Haven't you ever wanted to stop having to say those pesky words "Skiing" and "Snowboarding" together? Wouldn't it be so much easier to just have one word? That's what the folks Ski Utah/Winter at Westminster are hoping. They've teamed up with the site Addictionary.org to run a contest to find new "werds" (werds are weird words, I guess, or stupid, unnecessary words) that 1. Can combine the words "Skiing" and "snowboarding" and 2. Generally promote the sports of skiing and snowboarding with new lingo.

You can win an April '08 ski trip (sorry, I guess you can't snowboard) to Utah plus some other stuff and there are actually some "celebrity" judged lined up to help with the judging, including: Annie Fast, Executive Editor, Transworld Snowboarding magazine; Derek Taylor, Editor of Powder magazine; Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah President; Kendall Card, powstash; Pro skier Julian Carr; and pro skier Kristen Ulmer.

Winter at Westminster is "A semester study abroad alternative program for college skiers and snowboarders" (according to its website and Ski Utah is the marketing arm of the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association.

Read more about it here and see some of the words that people have submitted, including Sloping, Snowskimming, Boardski and the all-original Shredding. Snowboarkiing is all ours, though. You can't use it.

February 7, 2008

Almost Our Last Story About Quiksilver Natural Selection
Published: 1:19 a.m. PT by Greg

Apparently the internet is still a little sketchy in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, site of the Quiksilver Natural Selection that completed Tuesday. I say that because we still don't have full results from the contest -- we know Travis Rice won and that Mark Carter finished second with David Carrier Porcheron in third. We also know that during the second day of competition Wolle Nyvelt dominated the pack followed by Nicolas Müeller. Rice finished third and with his score from the first day of action he grabbed the overall lead.

That said, we do have a lot of info from the comp for you to read here. We'll let you know when the last of the info is posted because, well, we care.

Chris Ward Drops Out of First World Tour Event
Published: 1:02 a.m. PT by Greg

Pro surfer Chris Ward, who's facing criminal charges after a fight last month in Mammoth Lakes, CA, has dropped out of the first stop of the ASP World Tour but plans to compete in the second stop. Ward will be replaced in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast lineup by Nic Muscroft, who barely missed the cut-off for the tour this year. The ASP and Ward's sponsors have already indicated they will make no further decisions about Ward's overall future until Ward's criminal case reaches a conclusion.

The Quiksilver Pro's holding period begins on February 23 and runs through March 5. The season's second event, the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, has a holding period starting March 18th and running through the 29th.

Mike Vallely is a Good Guy
Published: 12:49 a.m. PT by Greg

Here's the set-up: Surburban mom in a small Arizona suburb spots an Element Van in the parking lot of a supermarket. She knows enough about skating to know that's a brand worth noting and tells her son about it. He flips out and starts calling the local skaters. Meanwhile, Mom goes over to talk to the driver and finds out Mike something-or-another is shopping in the market.

Fast forward and the local skaters get a photo op and some skate tips from Mike Vallely himself and on top of that, Vallely promises that he will give the town some help with the Tony Hawk Foundation in getting a new skatepark. Plus Vallely promised he will make a trip back to shoot with his show "Drive."

So we've said it before, and we'll say it again: Mike Vallely is a good guy. You can read the full story here.

Catch Donny Barley and David Loy on "The Daily Habit"
Published: 12:19 a.m. PT by Greg

Looks like there are a couple of interesting skaters lined up for Fuel's "The Daily Habit" later today. You've got longtime pro Donny (Teflon Don) Barley (pictured below) and then super-am David Loy represents Santa Ana.

The show airs at 9 pm ET (6 PT) and airs several times after...


Thousands Gather to Save Trestles!
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Greg

After meeting for more than 14 hours and having thousands of people speak the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to reject a proposal to lengthen the 241 tollway 16 miles.  The project would have developed part of San Onofre State Beach, site of the famous Trestles surf spot, with a six-lane tollway.

Opponents of the measure jammed the Del Mar Fairgrounds and everyone who wanted to speak to the commission had their chance, helping extend the marathon session.

Construction would have begun in 2001 and the project would have cost an estimated $875 million to complete.

Even with the vote, the story isn't over.  There are other avenues for developers to explore and the fight to save Trestles is far from over, though this vote does signal a major victory.

Here's the latest.

View Previous Quick Hits Entries From January 31 - February 6, 2008