We feel sorry for sports writers. It’s seems their whole game is spinning babble-filled yarns about nothing so they can justify getting paid to write stories about silliness. USA Today’s action sports specialist Sal Ruibal worked overtime on his recent Shaun White story. Here’s what we mean:
Shaun White is a major league mench.. . . The Yiddish word for a person of honor and integrity wasn’t coined with red-headed, board-shredding millionaires in mind, but 22-year-old White has grown into it. . . . The former uber-grom has emerged from sixth-grade phenom status to become one of the world’s best athletes in snowboarding and skateboarding. He owns multiple gold medals from the Summer and Winter X Games, Summer and Winter Dew Tour and 2006 Winter Olympics.
How’s that for a mainstream sports pitch? Major league, Mench, Yiddish, shredding, uber. . . We can almost hear the paper’s editors: “If that doesn’t make every fat-assed, couch plowing, football fan put down their beer and read a newspaper, nothing will.”
Looks like Bob McKnight and the boys at Quiksilver have finally dumped Rossignol off on Chartreuse & Mont Blanc for EU30 million in cash and a EU10 million note, according to Forbes. As we mentioned before, it’s way less than originally planned, but at least they’re out.
“The completion of this sale represents the culmination of our efforts to eliminate our exposure to hardgoods manufacturing,” Chief Executive Robert McKnight Jr., said in a statement. “We’re delighted that we can now return to our roots, do what we do best and once again fully concentrate our efforts on our core apparel and footwear brands Quiksilver, Roxy and DC.”
And it looks like that is going to take an awesome amount of concentration.
Carleton Curtis and the crew from Transworld Skateboarding went to Rob Dyrdek’sMonster RD 1.5 shoe release party at the DC store on Melrose so we wouldn’t have to. Thanks, Carleton.
The Kahala Sportwear store in Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center will be hosting Dick Brewer on Thursday, November 20, 2008 from 6 to 8 PM as part of their Talk Story Series, according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
The iconic shaping guru will talk story about his path in life as a master shaper. On display will be a rare vintage Brewer Buzzy Trent model surfboard, #22. . . . Brewer is believed to have made only 88 of these boards; #22 is the beloved board of Dr. Mike McCabe, a former fixture on the Makaha surf scene (who, on the advice of his dear friend, the late Rell Sunn, actually slept with the board in his bed).
Nothing says Mele Kalikimaka like an evening at Ala Moana with Dick Brewer.
There are priests who surf so why not a snowboarding Rabbi. Chaim Shapiro is right for the job. The Rabbi moved to Vancouver from New York after marrying Leah Feigelstock, now the two are set on creating “Jewish programming in the alpine resort town of Whistler, B.C.”
Rabbi Shapiro has organized après-ski prayers when a minyan was needed for someone to recite Kaddish, as well as Shabbatons, a mobile sukkah on the back of a truck, Chanukah parties and Rosh Hashanah services.
On Tuesday Sunny Garcia, 38, told the LA Times that he is under no pressure on his Triple Crown hunt to get back on the WCT tour.
I look at it this way. I’m 38 and these guys are 19, 20,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “They’re at the beginning of their careers and I’m at the end. I got no pressure. . . “I’m having fun,” he said. “For me, this is what I love to do. I love competing, I love to surf. I’m here to have fun. I’ve got nothing to prove.”
The LA Times’ Pete Thomas doesn’t believe him. “It’s the right outlook to take into the Triple Crown, but deep down Garcia probably has plenty to prove — to himself.” We wish Sunny the best. The Reef Pro at Haleiwa could start tomorrow.
These chewy “gummy” vitamins, shaped like miniature skateboard decks, skateboard wheels and Tony’s signature hawk skull, provide a good source of 11 vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin C, which bolsters the immune system*, and Vitamin B-12, a major factor in energy metabolism*.
Remember to take a couple of these after eating at McDonalds. You’ll need them.
The book, written by Kelly with master surf journalist Phil Jarratt, is reportedly “filled with never before seen photos and untold stories from Kelly and his closest friends” and features an intro by the surfing crooner Jack Johnson.
Good news and bad news: The good is that Kelly is on a Quiksilver store book signing tour, the bad news: he’s only going to sign 200 books at each location so you might want to get there early. Here they are:
NEW YORK
November 16, 2008 3PM – 5PM 519 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 212.226.1193
November 18, 2008 7PM – 9PM 587 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10017 212.888.7526
CALIFORNIA
November 20, 2008, 7PM – 9PM 1422 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica 310.899.9400
And if you’re a Citibank credit card holder Spin Magazine is throwing one more signing (click here for more info):
November 21, 2008 8-10 PM Malibu Performing Arts Center, 23825 Stuart Ranch Road, Malibu
Probably wouldn’t be a bad book to add to the signed surf collection.
We feel sorry for sports writers. It’s seems their whole game is spinning babble-filled yarns about nothing so they can justify getting paid to write stories about silliness. USA Today’s action sports specialist Sal Ruibal worked overtime on his recent Shaun White story. Here’s what we mean:
