Up at CMH right now shooting a segment for Warren Miller. Been snowy so been skiing a lot of pow in the trees. This is a shot of Andy Mahre in front of the heli and the fire that our pilot Roger builds for us everyday during lunch. Yes, this place is awesome. Be here til Sunday then headed straight to Vancouver for the Olympics to commentate on Freestyle for NBC. Bummed that Daron Rahlves got hurt at X games. Have not heard the final prognosis.
I ran into the legendary Franz Klammer during the world cup at Beaver Creek. I love watching his Olympic run from 1976 in Innsbruck when he won the Olympics. Check out the ruts in the course and minimal fencing in the video below.
I always liked “Loveline” when it was on MTV. Dr. Drew was cool and provides a great service to people. It was very hard to try to be entertaining while dealing with peoples’ messed up situations. I learned a lot. I could ask Dr. Drew questions all day. He skis so we will get him out there one of these days. Here is a link to a small clip of us on the show: Loveline
My favorite paper, the Wall Street Journal, interviewed me for an article on Shaun White. I guess he had mentioned my 02 “Dinner Roll” performance when talking about his plans to unveil new tricks in Vancouver at the Olympics. Most of what I have to say about the subject is in the video which I embedded. The written part is very brief and my quote is little out of context. Of course, I do have some moments of bitterness when thinking back on my 4th place result but I don’t mean to disparage my competitors. In general, my performance there has been a highlight in some ways equal in satisfaction to my gold in 98, X silver in 99 etc. although it has taken me awhile to realize that. It has been a great part of my whole career. I love hearing people recounting the 02 games. There was no hesitation for me. Had I known ahead of time that I would not be able to win, I can’t say that I would have done the same thing but I felt strongly about presenting the myself and the sport in its most advanced stage on the worlds biggest stage, the Olympics. I am flattered that my performance pops into Shaun’s sphere when he is thinking about his strategy, even if it is as a “don’t.” I remember what I did as do others and my performance contributed to the evolution of a sport that I love. In the end, I was true to the spirit of Freestyle competition and I can live with that.
Video portion:
Check out this pic of a bench in front of “The Grove” cafe in SF Marina District. Billy Kidd still being represented with a pair of his signature Hart skis. Billy Kidd and Jimmie Huega (son of lift op in Squaw Valley) were the first American men to win medals in the Olympics in skiing (1964). Four years after the first televised games in Squaw Valley which celebrates the 50yr anniversary of those games this year. Ski history is cool. Read “Skiing Heritage” my favorite ski mag. You can check in out on Google books.
Sailing with World Champion Paul Cayard and Knarr owner Sean Svenson. Paul got us on top of the podium. Thanks, Paul, you are man.
Got back into Olympic style weight lifting. Used to do it when I competed, but stopped for awhile. This video of Pocket Hercules is awesome.
The thing I remember about this ad was that they brought in a stunt double to ski for me. I did not use him, but that made me feel really big time. Also, notice the awesome trap door they built on top of the mountain in the first scene. The second scene is a huge refrigerator in LA built by John Hammer.
Sprint Commercial: “Is That A Sandwich?”
