Welcome to In The Xone, your guide to the world of X Sports! Well, ok, it's not going to be about ALL X-Sports...I freely admit to bias. Mostly, this will be about men's snowboarding and skateboarding. I don't really follow the women that much, nor do I follow snowboarding outside of the Halfpipe, Slopestyle, and RailJam competitions.
The "Xone" (The "X" is pronounced as in "Xanadu" or "Xavier") will be offering up news and opinion, some reviews, looks at the athletes involved, and coverage of top events. I'm thrilled that Dave Scherer and the gang over at PWInsiderXtra offered up some space, for in all honesty, X Sports have been where it's at for me for years, and especially since the wrestling scene has been so darn dismal lately...
This blog is a continuation of that column, and will have lots of additional features, including links, shopping, and more, as well as the weekly PWInsiderXtra column.
So let's get things started.....
PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK: The US Olympic Mens' Halfpipe Team
In case you missed it last Sunday, The Men's Halfpipe team took Gold and Silver medals at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Shaun "Flying Tomato" White grabbed the Gold he has been very vocal about wanting, while Danny Kass became the only repeat Olympic medalist in the sport, snagging the Silver, which he also snagged at the 2002 Salt Lake games. Mason Aguirre, this year's most improved snowboarder, just narrowly missed the podium, coming in 4th, and Andy Finch, who was battling a serious injury to his arch sustained during a practice run at the X Games three weeks ago, still managed to turn in several high amplitude runs to land in 6th place.
White very nearly blew his "sure thing" gold medal, though, when he decked out on one of his easiest moves and very nearly went down; he was the only member of the US Team forced to take a second qualifying run, as the Olympics take the six highest scores from the first qualifers and THEN the six highest scores from the makeup run to the finals. Aguirre, Kass, and Finch all made it to the finals based on their first runs. But White came flying back on his second run to land the highest score so far during his second run, and from there it was clear sailing. He won the Gold on his first of two finals runs, posting the highest score of the day, and as the last rider dropping in on the second run, was able to just have fun and take a 'victory lap", spraying the crowds atop the halfpipe with snow and ice as he started clowning around near the end of the run. He was uncharastically in tears when NBC's Tina Dixon finally caught up with him after the Gold medal run, and also almost lost it again twice during the medal ceremony later that evening.
Kass also had trouble; on his first run in the finas, he took a spectacular spill midway through his routine, and had to look towards his second run for vindication - which was no problem for the 2002 Salt Lake Silver medalist and 4-time US Open champ.
Markuu Koski of Finland, an amazing performer who is often overshadowed by his flashy Finnish teammates Antti Autti and Risto Mattila, snagged the bronze away from Mason Aguirre at the last minute. Both Autti and Mattila had problems during all their runs, a repeat of the problems both also had at this years' X Games; Autti was the 2005 Halfpipe Gold medal winner at ESPN's annual event, and was one of only three Olympic competitors to have ever beaten White in competition, the other two being Shaun's teammates Andy Finch and Danny Kass, who finished with Silver and Bronze respectively at the 2005 X Games ahead of White, who was knocked off the podium at the last moment by Finch's final run.
All in all, it was an exciting competition, and the Xone congratulates our fantastic Olympic team once again!
OTHER OLYMPIC WINNERS AND LOSERS
Seth Westcott of the US team won Mens Snocross, the first competition for that sport in the Olympics, while a little hotdog maneuver at the very end of her run cost the US' Lindsay Jacobellis her Gold medal. Jacobellis was leading the race when she tried a halfpipe-like move and fell, allowing Switzerland's Tania Frieden to race past her and capture the Gold; Jacobellis had to settle for Silver. And Vermont's teenage moppet Hannah Teter captured the Gold in Women's halfpipe.There's one more snowboarding event at this years' Winter Games - The snowboard giant slalom, which takes place this Wednesday for the men, Thursday for the women. It will be covered in primetime by NBC Sports. I'm intrigued by this one, and will be watching myself, and I hope you will be too..."
FIRST DESCENT" HITS DVD
To see some more spectacular snowboarding, the feature film documentary FIRST DESCENT hits DVD this Tuesday. A amazing trip to Alaska for freeboarding combined with an ersatz history of the sport, it's worth a look. I saw it in the theater opening weekend in December, and while it's great fun for snowboarding fans, a lot of other people (including my fiancee) might not be so enthusiastic. For more information on this movie, which features Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Travis Rice, and five others, and my overall impressions of it, I strongly suggest you check out my movie-oriented site, Popcorn N Roses, where my fiancee and I offer up all kinds of movie information, reviews, opinions and the like. You can check out the review here, or check out the whole site at http://popcornnroses.typepad.com!
ON THE TUBE THIS WEEK
2006 OLYMPIC GAMES - Mens Snowboard Downhill Slalom, Wednesday, Feb 22, 4 PM ET NBC
2006 OLYMPIC GAMES - Womens Snowboard Downhill Slalom, Thursday, Feb 23 4 PM ET NBC
Also airing at other times on those days, and on NBC Olympics On Demand service
2005 BURTON US OPEN -last years' US Open coverage (already covered in depth over the past several months by NBC, OLN, and Vans OFF THE WALL programming) airs through March 5 on high definition channel INHD
And as always, there's also FUEL TV for the latest in skate, snow, and in-line...and unfortunately, WE DON'T GET IT! I WANT MY FUEL TV!!!!! But YOU might! Check your local cable and satellite listings for this Fox-owned extreme sports network! You can check out the Website HERE!
UPCOMING EVENTS TO WATCH FOR
WORLD SUPERPIPE CHAMPIONSHIPS - March 11-12 2006
Park City UT
Park City is Shaun White's home halfpipe, and it should be a top notch place for him to show off that Olympic Gold!
BURTON US OPEN SNOWBOARDING CHAMPIONSHIPS, March 14-19, 2006
Stratton VT
The US Open is THE premier snowboarding event of the year in the US. Two-time Olympic Silver medalist Danny Kass has taken this one home for the PAST FOUR YEARS! He set a record for wins last season...can he make it five in a row? Coverage on NBC runs Saturday, April 9th from 2-4 PM.
THIS WEEK'S POLL QUESTION!
Who is the most important snowboard star of all time?
Who's snowboarding's answer to Tony Hawk? Who makes you get chills down YOUR spine? Are you a fan of "The Flying Tomato" Shaun White? Is Danny Kass your main dude? Do you root for the Flying Finn Autti Autti? Or is it someone else - Ross Powers, Tommy Czechin, Keir Dillon, JJ Thomas, Risto Mattila, Travis Rice or any number of others? Write to me at slamjamzpwi@yahoo.com and let me know! We'll post some of your responses in the next column (provided, of course, we get any....)
GOT ANY IDEAS?
Any ideas about what you'd like to see "In The Xone"? Write and tell me, because I'm looking for ideas on what you'd like to see covered!
THATS IT FOR NOW...
Next week, we'll have coverage and winners of the Olympic Mens and Womens Snowboard Downhill Slalom, a peek into some other stuff forthcoming in the weeks and months ahead, a review of Grenade Video's SMELL THE GLOVE, and a whole lot more...
So until next time....KEEP SHREDDIN' IN THE XONE!
