by The Editors on December 16, 2008
This should be entertaining. This Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 1:30 PST Quiksilver will host a “conference call to review its fiscal 2008 fourth quarter and year-end financial results
The broadcast will be hosted at www.quiksilverinc.com and at www.viavid.net. To listen to the broadcast, your computer must have Windows Media Player installed. If you do not have Windows Media Player, go to the latter site prior to the call, where you can download the software for free.
Get your rig ready and listen up.
[Link: Welt.de]
by The Editors on December 15, 2008
One of the biggest reasons we rarely watch Fuel TV is because it was never on our cable system. We always wondered why they couldn’t simply put their shows on their website so we could check them out any time we wanted. Finally, our wonders have been partially answered with Fuel TV’s the new HD web player from Move Networks.
“FUEL TV is the only television network dedicated to action sports,” says Gene Pao, FUEL TV Vice President of New Media and International Development. “Now FUEL TV will be the first place consumers can watch full-length HD action sports shows online. The quality of the viewing experience is really unmatched anywhere online in the action sports world.”
Soon we’ll be able to watch The Standard Snowboard Show, Firsthand, and FUEL TV presents Camp Woodward, but the bummer is that full-length episodes “will only be available on the web site for a limited time.” Huh? Well, at least it’s one step in the right direction. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 15, 2008
City of South Lake Tahoe officials swarmed Marc Frank Montoya’s The Block Hotel last Thursday (December 11, 2008) and shut the place down until the hotel can pay up on more than $100,000 in back taxes it owes the city.
Customers who occupied the hotel (Thursday) were allowed to stay, but the hotels will remain closed until the TOT is paid,” City Attorney Catherine DiCamillo said Friday. . . . The Block failed to pay TOT between January 2007 and January 2008, and owed penalties and interest from September and December 2006, according to the police statement. . . . Managing partner of the hotels — 37-year-old Las Vegas resident Eneliko Smith — appealed Vuletich’s decision to City Manager David Jinkens, who upheld the finance director’s decision on Nov. 21.
Smith said that the back taxes had not been paid because “financial records detailing the unpaid takes were lost.” Nice of the city to close the hotel right before the holidays, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Smith as he was arrested in September over the same issue.
The biggest bummer is for all the shreds who invested in this place and trusted Smith to run the business.
[Link: Tahoe Daily Tribune]
by The Editors on December 15, 2008
Looking for a last minute gift item for the snowboarder in your life? Sam’s Club has a great selection of Burton Snowboards. The prices aren’t that great but they’ll ship them right to you and they are covered by Sam’s Club Member Satisfaction Guarantee. How rad is that?
[Link: Sam’s Club via Tackled-Box]
by The Editors on December 15, 2008
We thought misguided design engineers would stick to skateboarding, but snowboarding isn’t so lucky this year. This monstrosity, The Whip, is reportedly from a company called Cheeta Ultra Sports.
The Whip promises improvements in pretty much every element of snowboard riding including a better fit, a faster, more stable and smoother ride, superior edge holding and sensitivity, plus higher jumps, softer landings and quicker turns. The only caveat – its not designed for deep powder.
You’d think that before designing a new product these designers would actually ride a snowboard at least once. Then they’d know that anything that increases the distance from the foot to the board is almost always bad. But it appears they didn’t.
[Link: Gizmag]
by The Editors on December 15, 2008
The 2008-09 contest season looks pretty loaded up and according to a story in the Sports Business Journal snowboarders are doing well at managing their schedules.
Prioritizing has become a key word for White and other snowboarders this winter. Ever since the Dew Tour announced plans to launch a three-stop winter series, agents, athletes and winter event organizers have wondered if the winter calendar could support the number of events planned for the 2008-09 season. Athlete participation is key to each event’s survival because only stars can generate the interest needed to draw people to the slopes or TV to watch.
Bob Klein, Andy Finch, Shaun White’s agent Mark Ervin, Chris Stiepock, and Hannah Teter are quoted.
[Link: Sports Business Journal]
by The Editors on December 14, 2008
Norwegian rider Torstein Horgmo took the big air and Shaun White took the quaterpipe at the super Nissan X Jam Trail thing, but Shaun’s total score gave him the first 6Star TTR Title and 1000 points toward the TTR Championships.
Follow the jump for the official press release version of the event.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 11, 2008
Turns out it was kids who stole more than $10,000 worth of snowboarding equipment from Podium in Manchester, Vermont. And the police have now recovered 95 percent of the product.
Names of the suspects are not being released because they are juveniles under the age of 18, according to the Manchester Police Department, which handled the case. . . . A rough estimate by the police indicates the value of all the items stolen, which include snowboards, boots, bindings, clothing and helmets, will eventually total more than $10,000, police said.
See kids, crime doesn’t pay some of the time.
[Link: The Manchester Journal]
by The Editors on December 11, 2008
For old shreds who used to go through 15 rolls of duct tape a season trying to get a little heel hold in their old Sorel Caribous this news will bring a chuckle. Sorel, a brand now owned by the giant Columbia Sportswear Company has just signed a sponsorship deal to be the “official boot sponsor” of the U.S. Snowboarding team.
Sorel will outfit athletes, event staff, volunteers, on-air talent and VIPs with Sorel footwear, including the original Caribou boot, which was introduced in 1972 and has become one of the leading winter boots of alltime. . . . “USSA is excited to be partnering with Sorel around U.S. Snowboarding and several of our competitions,” said Ted Morris, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association vice president, sales and marketing. “Our athletes, staff andspecial guests will have warm, dry feet no matter what the weather is like at our events in the mountains where winter can bring varying elements. It’s a privilege to be working with a brand like Sorel.”
The company’s failure to capitalize on snowboarding in the late 80s is still one of the greatest marketing fumbles in action sports’ history. Welcome back, Sorel.
[Link: International Business Times]
by The Editors on December 11, 2008
The nations newspaper gets the details on how snowboarder Louie Vito added two feet of sprokage to his halfpipe runs.
Louie just needs 2 more feet.” It wasn’t a comment on how much bigger he needed to grow (now 20, he stands 5-5). It was an assessment of how much bigger he needed to go — off the lip of a snowboard halfpipe. . . The Ohio native had all the flips, turns and style to be one of the best at negotiating the slick troughs that serve as snowboarders’ playing fields. He just needed more height on his tricks — amplitude, in snowboarder-speak — to win the judges’ highest marks.
And now it looks like he’s done it. The secret: “a no-holding-back start for optimum speed.” Ah, yes. Speed.
[Link: USA Today]
