[April Fools Day Story 2009] At a press conference today Shaun White announced that he is going to ditch his runs at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver so he can focus on his acting, according to a story on Methodmag.com.
White has apparently signed a “multi-million dollar deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures to star alongside Miley Cyrus in a feature film about a snowboarder who “foils a terrorist plot to set off a dirty bomb during the Winter Olympics.”
White seemed enthusiastic not only about his new career, but also about filming alongside Miley Cyrus, who has been cast as his love interest in the upcoming blockbuster, whose working title is “White Heat”. “I can’t wait till principal photography starts, I will miss competing but I’ve been doing contests for as long as I can remember and the time is right to start a new phase of my life and career”, explained the young superstar. White’s main sponsor, Burton Snowboards, decided to continue to support him despite the “Flying Tomato’s” (as he is commonly referred to) decision to forego competitive snowboarding.
According to Methodmag, White Heat will be in theaters in early 2010 “just in time for the Winter Olympics.”
This chart was obviously designed to show how Kelly Clark won the 08/09 TTR World Snowboard Tour, but honestly, after looking at it we’re even more confused. Guess no points in the last two events really messed it up for Jamie Anderson’s sweep.
After losing nearly $77 million and being sold off last year by Quiksilver, Rossignol is doing some cost cutting of its own according to a story on France24.com.
The group. . . is to cut about 450 jobs in total. . . . Company chairman Bruno Cercley said in a statement that the layoffs were “unavoidable,” adding that the group was “determined to get back into balance in the next two years.”
That adds up to about 30 percent of their workforce.
The headline to this Canada.com profile on Jasey-Jay AndersonAnderson shows passion for both fruits and labour comes off sounding more like a political story from some British tabloid than a piece about the legendary Alpine snowboard racer turned blueberry farmer.
At age 33, the Canadian snowboarding veteran has broadened his horizons to include a four-acre blueberry farm in Quebec, but Anderson hasn’t lost his zest for the slopes. In fact, Canada’s overwhelming success on the World Cup circuit — a 26-medal haul this season — has rekindled his competitive passion.
For the rest of what Jasey-Jay has been up to lately (in addition to labouring with fruit), click the link.
No surprise. Kelly Clark edged out Mercedes Nicoll, and Sarah Conrad to win the Roxy Chicken Jam at Mammoth Mountain, California.
Kelly lived up to her reputation today as ‘Queen of the Halfpipe’ and took home her second consecutive Roxy Chicken Jam 6Star win. This puts her in excellent position to go after her first Swatch TTR World Title in tomorrow’s Slopestyle competition. “The title would be an amazing bonus to a really great season to me right now” said Kelly Clark setting her eyes on the prize. “It would just be like icing on the cake.”
If you liked that sample then follow the jump for more official PR writing from the Swatch TTR. [click to continue…]
The idea behind the Ultimate Boarder event is a cool one: a contest to decide who is the best boardsports tri-athlete. Problem is the sports have become so specialized that no one anyone cares about will be able well. The big name players event organizers list in their press announcements all either have one really weak sport, or are just not that great at everything.
Last year’s winner Aaron Astorga is undoubtedly a bad ass and we care about him immensely, but we all know what’s going to happen this year: some random 19-year-old shred dog from Ventura or HB is going to win the whole thing. And maybe that’s the way this thing should go. It can be just like a triathlon with 1,200 entries and a beer garden at the finish. Get some participants involved. The organizers have never been afraid of a little main stream sponsorship.
UVM Snowboard Team rider Michael Schwarz had a little trouble at the World Quarterpipe Championships last weekend at Vermont’s Timber Ridge, according to a story on Yobeat.com.
Micheal got bucked off the log jib, bouncing on his head not once, but twice. Not even his helmet, which he was wearing, helped. In the midst of the mayhem he was taken away by ambulance, then airlifted to Dartmouth. He underwent minor brain surgery to relieve swelling and was put in an induced coma. Last we heard, there was no brain damage and all his vitals were good so we have high hopes for a full and speedy recovery!
No surprise here, but looks like Burton was also forced to make some changes to the way they are doing business thanks to the current “no buy” economy, according to the Burlington Free Press.
The cuts include layoffs of “less than 5 percent of its staff in North America,” and a decision by company founders Jake and Donna Carpenter to eliminate their own salaries. . . . “This has been a very painful process for us, and considering the global economic situation, we’ve done everything in our power to save as many jobs as possible,” Burton CEO Laurent Potdevin said in a company news release. . . . “Our goal this entire year has been to cut as many costs as possible on a global level, like sales meetings, travel and new hires so that we could avoid cutting people. Instead of a much larger number of layoffs, we decided to take a different approach, which is temporarily reducing salaries on a sliding scale from 0 to 15 percent for employees in North America.”
[April Fools Day Story 2009] At a press conference today Shaun White announced that he is going to ditch his runs at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver so he can focus on his acting, according to a story on Methodmag.com.
