Sherman Poppen, the man most responsible for inspiring the idea of snowboarding with the creation of The Snurfer died Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Griffin, Georgia, according to a story on Michigan Live. He was 89 years old.
Poppen’s legacy as a venerable pioneer of extreme winter sports proceeds him, but in Muskegon, he was known as so much more. The inventor spent much of his life and his fortune helping others through philanthropy and service to his community.
Poppen’s Snurfer was the device that inspired Jake Burton, Tom Sims, Dimitrije Milovich and a host of others to explore sliding on snow standing sideways. For the entire story on the creation of the Snurfer, please click here for an interview we did with Sherm on November 10, 1994 on FLAKEzine.com. He was an innovator and a kind man. We’re thankful for all he contributed to snowboarding. Our thoughts are with his family and close friends. He will be missed, but never forgotten.
This is the list of the news stories we didn’t have time to read, comment on, and/or pass on to you in a more visually pleasing format. Follow the link and enjoy! If you read something you like, leave a comment. It’s certainly okay to speak your mind every now and again.
Today we’re highlighting an amazingly bland new product you don’t need, from a company we don’t like because, well, we got a press release from said company and putting up a press release is far easier than creating original content especially when all we’re interested in doing is fooling Google Ads into thinking we’re still posting content on this site so our rankings will continue to soar.
This banal new product is of course made in China and features several prominently placed logos from the company— both on the front, the back, the top, and the sides. In fact, this product features nine logos (if you count the one on the label). By moving this product around in the physical world you are acting as a sign spinner for this private equity funded zombie brand. You’re adding your youth, energy, and all around sexiness to their brand by being associated with it. Only difference is the sign spinner is getting paid $25 a hour and you’re getting nothing, aside from the pride you feel from sporting a logo that says you paid way more than you should have for this Bangladesh made product. Wait, did we say China before… sorry, same difference.
We’d highlight several of the features that set this product apart from all the other products available to you in this category and encourage you to purchase it, however, there’s nothing about this product that makes it standout from a similar product that can be purchased much more economically at one of the big box retailers.
That said, this product is being promoted as part of a “limited edition” collection which means you’ll be forced to visit one of the brand’s mall-based “flagship stores” or order it online directly from the brand because they don’t want to drop this product in the same massive chain stores where they dump the rest of their product because they’re charging more for this and that means they want you to have to work even harder to find it. As a value add this means you’ll have a product that your lazier, more thrifty friends won’t. And that makes you a big winner.
For more information on this product please visit the brand’s website where you can get the “product narrative” directly from their poorly paid marketing wizards. We’re guessing they’ll offer free shipping and returns so what have you got to lose? Shop, buy, consume. Repeat.
It’s official, Jamie Slater and his Authentic Brands Group of zombie brands (which now include Volcom, Airwalk, Vision Street Wear, and 47 others) has purchased the softcore skin and sports magazine brand Sports Illustrated from Meredith Corp for $110 million dollars, according to a story on Variety.com.
Under terms of the deal, Authentic Brands acquires the rights to market, develop and license Sports Illustrated and its kids’ edition as well as its swimsuit and “Sportsperson of the Year” franchises, along with the magazine’s photo archive. Meredith will pay a licensing fee to operate the editorial operations of Sports Illustrated in print and in digital for a minimum of two years. Editor Chris Stone and Publisher Danny Lee will continue to lead Sports Illustrated at Meredith.
So, Meredith is selling the brand and then paying to run the print magazine into the ground while ABG gets to re-animate Sports Illustrated by slapping it on all kinds of products until no one remembers what SI was all about in the first place. Chalk that up as another win-win for ABG.
We were saddened to learn that pro snowboarder and all-around smile maker Jason “J2” Rasmus died surrounded by family and friends on May 26, 2019 following a battle with cancer. He was 46.
Designer Aaron Draplin visited him near the end and offered up many good words about Tooz’s life and times. Here are a few of them.
Hitting all our favorite skateparks on the road from the Seattle to Mammoth, Phil Hansen, Brandon Reis, Austen Sweetin, Denver Orr, Tucker Andrews, Ryan Paterson, Matteo Soltane, and Zebbe Landmark roll to Holy Bowly 7, one of the craziest snow sculpture parks Snowboy Productions has ever built. Check it, then you decide.
Twenty-four-year-old snowboarder Tucker Shivers died Wednesday, April 24, 2019 while snowboarding on Colorado’s Pikes Peak, according to a story in the Colorado Springs Gazette.
The 24-year-old Colorado Springs man died living out his dream Wednesday after falling while snowboarding above Glen Cove on the eastern face of the mountain, said Patrick Kerscher, El Paso County Search and Rescue operations director. He was snowboarding in a couloir east of Little Italy, Kerscher said. “He had a helmet on, and the helmet was broken, so we do suspect there was head injury,” Kerscher said.
Our thoughts are with Shivers family and friends. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with expenses.
All the headlines, no comments. Scan them, click them, read them, or just ignore them. A couple of these stories are worth reading and we’d point them out to you, but, well, that would take more time. You’ll just have to hunt them out yourself. Cheers.
American Media LLC, the company that purchased a gutted Adventure Sports Network in January 2019 has apparently sold the National Enquirer (and a couple other tabloids) to Hudson Media. for $100 million, according to a story on WWD.
James Cohen, part of the family that founded Hudson News Distributors, is buying the U.S. and U.K versions of the gossip magazine from David Pecker’s American Media LLC (recently renamed from American Media Inc.), which acquired the title 20 years ago. The $100 million deal also includes two other tabloids, Globe and National Examiner. . . Pecker — whose friendship with President Donald Trump and the use of the Enquirer’s coverage to aid Trump’s candidacy and perhaps even his personal vendettas has come under intense scrutinyover the last year — wrote in a statement that the group of magazines actually pull in $30 million in profit annually.
Not sure what this really means other than Snowboarder, Skateboarding, and Surfer Magazine are no longer siblings of the politically embroiled gossip rags and AMI is a little less in debt — only $355 million now. Ouch.
Sherman Poppen, the man most responsible for inspiring the idea of snowboarding with the creation of The Snurfer died Wednesday, July 31, 2019 in Griffin, Georgia, according to a story on Michigan Live. He was 89 years old.
Twenty-four-year-old snowboarder Tucker Shivers died Wednesday, April 24, 2019 while snowboarding on Colorado’s Pikes Peak, according to a story in the 
American Media LLC, the company that purchased a gutted Adventure Sports Network in January 2019 has apparently sold the National Enquirer (and a couple other tabloids) to Hudson Media. for $100 million, according to a story on 
