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April 2008
Danny Hoff, 40, of Glenpool, Oklahoma just wanted to spend more time with his 13-year-old-son Tyler. So he bought a brand-new Tony Hawk skateboard. His life basically ended one minute after stepping on board.
He picked up too much speed and hit a rock, which sent the board flying one way and him the other. His head hit the pavement, causing a penetrating head injury and irrevocable swelling. . . Hoff fell into a coma and was pronounced dead two days later. . . If he’d been wearing a helmet, doctors said, he would’ve had a 92 percent chance of survival.
This is one of the saddest skateboarding stories we’ve heard.
[Link: Tulsaworld.com]
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Don’t know why we even care, but their RSS feed makes it so easy.
[Link: emericaskate]
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Kauai surfer Keoni Lucas, 35, died Saturday night March 29, 2008 in Santa Monica after falling asleep at the wheel in Santa Monica, California.
Hailed as always positive, outgoing and born for the water, mourners for North Shore surfer Keoni Lucas will honor the 35-year-old who passed away Saturday by dedicating this year’s Annual Irons Brothers Pinetrees Classic to him. The event occurs this weekend.
Our thoughts are with Keoni’s family and friends.
[Link: Kauaiworld.com]
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Joe Giangrasso, 18, is at home recuperating from a shark bite to the ankle that he got while surfing at Florida’s Ponce Inlet.
“I thought he was going to hit me and hold on for a second. When I went to pull out, he clamped on harder and shook his head. I tried to reach, grab, and push, do whatever I could do. Finally he let go,” said Joe Giangrasso, the shark bite victim.
This is nibble number four for the year. Mmm. . .
[Link: WFTV.com]
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We’re not really sure EXPN is the best place to read commentary about the X Games in general, as ESPN owns both franchises, however, editor Mary Fenton has written a timely story about the X Games decision to kill the vert competition.
On April 3, ESPN announced the biggest event shakeup since the inception of the X Games. As of this summer, vert, the oldest discipline in the Games, is out, and a new “SuperPark”-type discipline is in for the 14th year of competition.
“It’s time. It’s been time. ESPN’s always a little slow on the uptake. It’s no secret that the vert field has stayed the same for the last decade. It’s no secret that there aren’t any vert ramps for kids to ride outside Southern California. If you want a vert career, you have to move there,” says X Games General Manager Chris Stiepock.
Not to worry, however. We know all the Vert dogs will pretty much do anything to support their rock and roll lifestyles, so it looks like Shaun White is going to have to learn some new tricks. (Wonder if Snowboarder Magazine ever got that SuperPark name trademarked?)
[Link: EXPN]
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A 34-year-old Italian snowboarder died on Thursday March 27, 2008 when he fell from a 250 foot cliff near the Corona Bowl “just outside the ski-area boundary.”
A helicopter crew spotted him at the bottom of a 75-metre (250-foot) cliff, near the area where he went missing. . . . The man was dead when rescuers reached him and all evidence suggested he had fallen off the cliff by accident, Cst. Yakub said. The man’s body was recovered and was to have been transported to Vancouver General Hospital for an autopsy.
[Link: The Whistler Question]
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Can you lay 50 people off on April Fools day? Apparently not. According to reports posted on Transworld Business, the Big B offered the big bye bye on April 2, 2008.
While there has been no official press release from Burton, a source says that Burton has eliminated The Syndicate staff on the West Coast, as well as several marketing positions. In all, nearly 50 jobs are said to have been eliminated.
We’ll see how it spins tomorrow.
[Link: Transworld Business]
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From the Ottawa Citizen:
Canada’s top snowboard cross racers, who should be serious medal threats at the 2010 Olympics, were angry yesterday over the sudden termination of their well-liked coach, Austrian Rene Brunner, on the eve of this weekend’s national championships near West Vancouver. Tom McIllfaterick, the snowboard federation’s chief executive officer, would not disclose the reasons why Brunner, who has been with the team since 2005, was let go.
[Link: Ottawa Citizen]
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On February 15, 2008 Wasserman Media Group, LLC took over administrative control of the Skateboard.com domain and recently posted the following jump page on both its 411vm.com and Skateboard.com sites saying that the two sites will “soon be one.”
Skateboard.com was one of the first skateboarding sites on the web and was originally registered by Tum Yeto’s Tod Swank and partners on June 4, 1996. For a while it was a mailorder site and then slowly evolved into a content and user generated content site covering skateboarding. But it never gained all that much traction in either form.
Now, it is part of WMG’s Sportsnet.com family which also includes: motocross.com, surfspot.com, 411vm.com, freeskier site newschoolers.com, and the offical P Rod, Jereme Rogers and TK community sk8site.com. Follow the jump for the official press release.
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