May 31, 2011

Bambi and the Tramp

So Vid Day Monday was all set up last week as it was Memorial Day and I was way to busy skiing, drinking and grilling out in honor of our vets. We honor our fighting men by eating artery cloging burgers and drinking gallons of South Paw (whatever your fav beer is) in our back yards, just seems like an odd way to do honor those that protect our nation.

Well what is more American then a English bull dog playing with a baby deer at the lake?

Apple pie you say...hmmm

May 30, 2011

Vid Day Monday

We avoid politics like the plague on here, for good reason as politics blogs get all dragged down with people commenting and reading it and so on. AND THAT IS SOMETHING WE WILL NOT TOLERATE HERE!!

But with that said, here is a clip from the Conan O'Brian show. Apperantly he got video of Obama getting drunk in Ireland, or maybe he just slowed the vid down. We are going to go with drunk, cuz that is what we would be if we went to Ireland.

The Masters - Critical in-depth Analysis

"I wanna be like Freddy!!"
The Masters happened over the weekend, results, and for the last three or four years or so we at the CRB have been trying to figure out a way to pack all of us into the contact Chevette and make our way there, it has not been to be and it was not to be this time either.  Which is to bad because it looks like a good time.

So, we did what a few other million people* did and catch it on the webcast, with our boy Tadd and friends.

Not only that, twitter is awesome for following events when you are not around a computer AND the b.o.s has as nifty app that is sort of a catch all for tweets, results for the events, which you can download from the itunes.

With that being said the results were:

Jump:
Mens:
1) Freddy (229)
2) Dodd (221)
3) Sharman (212)
4) Llewelln (212)

Womens:
1) Natalia (182)
2) Carrol (179)
3) Regina (163)
4) Lund-Jepsen (163)

Trick:
Mens:
1) Siemers  (11,730)  (ed.note: well DUH!)
2) Poteau (11320)
3) Zharnasek (10620)
4) Llewellyn (10560)

Women:
1) McClintock (7750)
2) Natalia (7410)
3) Cambray (4700)
4) Nightingale (3800)

Slalom:
Mens:
1) Travers (4.5@39) (ed.note: wow!!)
2) Larkin (3@39)
3) Asher (2.5@39)
4) Degasperi (2.5@35)

Womens:
1) KARINA (3@38)
2) Truelove (2.5@38)
3) Amade (1.5@38)
4) Jaquess (1.25@38)

Wakeboard:
Mens:
1) Clifford (91.67)
2) Soven (81.67)
3) Malinoski (71.67)
4) Murray (58.33)

Womens
1) Wing (71.67)
2) Butler (66.67)
3) Merritt (60.00)
4) Smith (51.67)

Wakeskate:
1) Hansen (86.67)
2) Shinn (76.67)
3) Grubb (63.33) (ed.note: nom nom nom nom)
4) Thomas (56.67)

IN DEPTH CRITICAL REACTION:

We were only able to catch the slalom portion of the webcast on Sunday (odbf was able to watch alot more, but, we are afraid that odbf is "out of pocket" this weekend.  Meaning = lost somewhere)

But, from what odbf said prior to going all Alexander Supertramp on us, there was some techincal issues with the webcast, which were frustrating but the camera work and general production was fantastic. 

So, tuning in on Sunday we were pleased that everything was working great and Tadd and Company were ice ice baby'ing the mic. 

The camera work was real nice, various camera angles, shots of the crowd or people under a tent, various shots of the skiers on the water and picked up Karina's pink shorts like crazy! :)

Of note: Kristy Overton was awesome.  She worked really well with the other two announcers, Tadd and Tyler Boyd.(Thanks Tony!)(sorry other guy I cant remember your name), and had nifty insight into the skiers and came across very polished and added quite a bit to the broadcast.  We come to expect greatness from Tadd on the mic especially with the gravely voice vibe going, but, needless to say it was a very nice presentation. 

On the water, there was what appeared to be an ice fishing hole or something because we all thought that after Karina and Travers went down earlier then expected that Regina and Asher would just come swooping in and win the damn thing.  And they certainly looked strong and we just figured it was done and then BOOM! explosions! 

Regina may have been snipered or something because her crash was awesome and Asher just wiped out.  From our untrained eye it almost looked they were carrying way to much speed into the buoys, but, then again the last time we ran at that line length was never. 

Congrats to Jon Travers too, if memory serves he qualified late for the event and then totally took advantage and won the damn thing.  He was pissed after falling and I am sure he was thinking that there was no way a 4.5 @ 39 would get it done. 

Long story short, it was cool. 

Unfortunatly, that was all we were able to catch live from The Masters, running a global empire like the CRB and its various factions (tumblr page, global logistics, server farms, etc) requires many hours of high pressure work and nary a day off to enjoy the finer things, like scotch or gardettos. 

TECHNICAL CURIOSITY

When events are being webcast like the Masters or Night Jam or whatever, can you watch them on your phone??  Friday and Saturday of the event we were stuck at the Auxillary CRB compound where our I.T department blocks streaming video (assuming its because the top secret government work being done), but, we all have our phones...does it work on those?? 

That would be awesome.  It would be like having a minature Tadd talking to us!!  Or a Mini Freddy!!  hahaha!!  A Mini Anais Amade swerving in your pocket?? HI-OOOOO!!!!!!

Anyways, thats all we got.  It was cool to watch and looked like nice weather. 

"I had a great time!!" said someone who participated...we assume. 

Maybe next year CRB can be on-site and do critical in-depth interviews in front of port-o-potties or strap on a trick ski and take Siemers down!!!

Oh well, good job all.

One more final note to the production team, anyway we can incorporate helmet cams and explosions? 

*100% accurate

Vid Day Monday

Sticking with the trick skiing Go Pro vids here is a slick one. Music is bad but the skiing is solid. The best part might be the start with the prop turning.
VROOM VROOM
/Flips

Vid Day Monday

ODBF: This is Julie trick skiing.
You: Who is Julie?
ODBF: No idea.
You: How old is Julie?
ODBF: No idea.
You: Shes cute.
ODBF: Yep
You: She looks young, I suggest keeping the CRB Minion away from her.
ODBF: Good idea.
***update***
Tony Lightfoot: its Julie Deshayes from the French team.
France: /surrenders


May 27, 2011

Masters on the webz

The 2011 Junior Masters started this morning and if you want to watch it then get on a plane and go there, as the webcast does not work. A professor in a marketing class back in college liked to say "under promise, over deliver". We love all of the work everyone does for these events, but it is disapointing to see the webcast out there all black and sad looking. Companies that stay in business do not ship out products with out making sure the product they put out works...well in most cases they don't. If you are not 100% sure it will work, then go to the site early and make sure it does.

/rant over

So....it looks like grumpy ODBF showed up at the office today. Need some happy thoughts.

@WhitMcClintock and @H2OProShop are tweeting the results.

Well that is a start...

ITS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 3 day weekends rule!!


And there is always the hope that the webcast guys get it figured out and you can grill out and watch awesome skiing. Of course its about 35 degrees here because somehow the north forgot what summer is this year.

Update: as of 11:20 cst the webcast is working again. Soooooo, ODBF is a douche

Update 2: Ok, so the Masters webcast is working now and it was well worth the wait. The camera work is fantastic, great angle and not to bouncy. And as usual Tadd is rocking the mic like a vandal.

May 25, 2011

Laurentano, The New Trick Hottness


CRB Girl Alex Laurentano showed her determination at the NCWSA Nationals last year when she took to the water again right after a hella crash that left her with a dislocated shoulder and still put up a solid jump score. She showed that same determination at the Polar Bear Classic in Conroe Texas this spring where she beat the previous NCWSA Trick record by 400 pts. The Mens trick record was the one expected to fall at nationals last year with the Dylan Schaffer on the leading edge of the charge to take down Jimmy Siemers record. While those who pay close attention to skiing knew that Laurentano had it in her and to see her take it down at the end of her college career made it all the more...words words words. JUST LOOK AT THIS RUN!!

Ski Line Back
Front
Back
Wake 540 Front
Back Flip
Back Flip Half Twist Back
Front (repeat)
Reverse Back Flip Half Twist Back
Back Flip Half Twist Front
Back (repeat)
Back Flip Full Twist Back To Back
Reverse Back Flip Full Twist Back To Back


DOMINATION!!! TAKE THAT CLEM!!! ITS ALEX'S NOW!!! EXCLAMATION POINT!!!

May 24, 2011

Manawaka

Lots of friends on the Facebewks are "Like"ing a new company called Manawaka today. Who are they? No idea
What do they sell? I just said I have no idea, get off my back!
Why does their ad have girls making out with each other? CUZ THEY RULE!!


No idea what is going on or what this company is, but girls making out is always approved of at the CRB headquarters. In fact the CRB Minion has gotten us sued for sexual harrasment about 40 times because he keeps demanding that the women in the sales department make out with each other to get their pay checks. It would be a lot easier just to tell them that the CRB is a cash flow negative venture and we have no money, but his way is pretty entertaining.


I woke up today with the desire of being different! Desire to work, improve my appearance, healthy diet, no more cursing, stop smoking, do exercise, stop drinking, run every afternoon, go to bed early, desire of becoming a better person, So... I went back to bed!

Quote from their Facebook page.

May 23, 2011

Vid Day Monday

Would rather not see this thing on my lake when trying to ski. Might be fun to drive around though...

/jumps out of water in middle of course
//scares the shit out of skier

Ski Day Monday

So the rapture was supposed to happen on Saturday and thus* we did not prepare anything for Vid Day Monday.
*drunk on a boat

This past weekend was the Last Chance Qualifier for the 2011 Masters and it saw some sweet scores put up. Russel Gay put up a big 11,490 to get the last spot in tricks while Jaret put up a solid 228 to get the invite for jump, and Jon Travers beat out Jason McClintock with a huge score of 4@41 off. Scot Elis booted a solid 226 but Jaret just edged him out.

We could be reading the results wrong so if we are incorrect feel free to correct us in the comments.

Results are here

May 20, 2011

Rapture

I am going to pick up the Ski Masterbu tomorrow so if the world comes to an end I am going to be super pissed. Its finally warming up and some dude has to say the world is going to end, what a jerk. If the world wants to end after the summer ski season is over I am fine with that, just saying.

And here is Johnny Cash with a awesome tune.

Morning AHHHHHHH

No idea where this pic was taken and all I can say is 'Awesome!!!'. That is how you do a flyer!



Also @JackSunSetLakes is live tweeting the Last Chance Qualifyer going on right now.

May 18, 2011

Karina is the Hottness

CRB Girl Karina ran 1 at 41 off this past weekend which just a few years ago would have tied the world record but Regina beat that last year. 1@41 this early in the year is a very good sign, we will see big things out of the girls this year.

May 16, 2011

Vid Day Monday

In skiing we don't really run the same risks that pro field sports have with drunk fans running around on the fields. Here is an example of what happens when you run on the field to shake hands with a player.



They beat your ass.

And here is what happens when you use that stupid fucking hill that the Astros had built in the back of their park thinking it made it look like the historic parks of MLB. ITS A BRAND NEW PARK, LET IT BE AWESOME FOR ITS NEWNESS AND OTHER COOL FEATURES, NOT SOME STUPID HILL!!!!11!!!TEN!!!

Vid Day Monday

You guys out there are getting lazy! Where are the vid suggestions?? Are we really supposed to look for this stuff on our own? Come on now!
/yells at random people on the street
//youtubez

Sweet a crash vid, this should work.

May 11, 2011

Send Me On My Way


There are a million different things that irratate us all as we age, gray hairs, moderate sense of responsibility, family obligations, losing sense of wonder, etc.  The music of your youth, sounds that helped shape your formative years becomes classic rock, or becomes fodder for jokes or maybe becomes a spectacle of what it was.

For example, at the Super Bowl two years ago (not the Black Eyed Peas), but the Bruce Springsteen performance, you had to cringe for the people who grew up with the boss and saw him totally sell out everything to become, basically, a cover band of his own stuff.

He was playing a part, the crazy energetic 4-hour concert guy, but, wrapped in a marketing shell and doled out to all of us in our homes in a small bite size package.  It was awful.  You would never see someone like Neil Young or Jimi Hendrix allow their own legacy be used in such a manner.  Granted, Jimi Hendrix is dead, so, his 2013 Superbowl performance may not be quite as good as U2...but hella better then The Who.

Somewhere in the mid-90's...well, more specific the summer of 95, at our ski site Rusted Roots album "When I woke", was every god damn where, it was inescapable, like a fly in your car that won't go out the open window.

Every day, over and over, we would show up and strap on our gear and that GOD DAMN drum trip song would be blasting, you couldn't get away.

Now remember, this was after Nirvana and Pearl Jam had burst on the scene and cleared the tables of that bullshit from the 80's, poison and warrant and what-not...now, don't get us wrong, this is fun stuff when you are at the bar and sing along...or at the strip club when the JV crowd is around and can't think of a song.  "Oh, just play pour some sugar on me and some drunk will stick bills in my cooter"

This was a grungy type time still and we were all wearing flannel shirts and being all emo about things and girls were wearing big baggy sweaters and not having random sex or doing drugs or whatever people do now.

The Dave Matthews Band was around then, but, they allready had the stain of frat boys popping their collars and girls geeking over Dave's scruff, and there was this Rusted Root people who brought the hippy to our little ski world and it was, at the time, annoying, but, in retrospect awesome.

They brought such a different vibe, not everything is life or death, you can wipe out trying to do a inverted-dick-ski trick and its ok.  You can lose your shorts on the boom and the resulting poop issues are funny, not something to shoot heroin over.

Long story short, This album became somewhat of a soundtrack for the summer.  You know how when you hear a specific song and it transports you to a time or place or feeling?

The opening beats of Drum Trip or the extended intro to Food and Creative Love instantly transport us to the deck, where the warped boards and glint of the sun of the waves still permeate our conscious as if it was just yesterday.

We can remember the sort of droning, white noise, whatever of the lake and the boats sort of drowning out real life, the quiet noise of a busy lake and the beating of the sun and the exhaustion from trying to learn helicopters overtaking the worry of going to college, or your fight with your girlfriend or the splitting hangover or trying to score a bit of weed.

Years go by and life shapes us all into what we are, drunks mostly, but, grown ups doing grown up things.  Like, learning spanish or putting a childs bed together in the middle of the night or figuring out how to write a re-cap article about a waterski event that you didn't go to, but, have a GBH award to give out.

So, here we are in present day and a commercial comes on for Enterprise rent-a-car, you know the ones with the stunningly awful "we will pick you up" ads?  Yeah, that one....anyways, their new batch of ads uses "Send me on my way" by Rusted Root.

Observe, begins at the 33 second mark.


:(

Ignoring the fact that the song is in diametric opposition to and/or does not vibe with the stylistic atmosphere of what Enterprise has cultured, i.e, campy nonsense..instead they are going for this earnest family type thought process in promoting a rental car company.

NO. NO and NO.  You are a rental car company, no one cares about being family owned.  Get me a working auto for cheap and throw in some pine tree things and don't charge me extra for the 100's of burn outs and we are cool.  We know families and 90% of all our families drive stupid cars.  Yo! Moms, nice freaking Kia Rondo...its still a piece of crap.

Rusted Root is better then that, but, like any surrender to age, we do realize that what was important to us in the past is now just a marketing jingle to get people to rent cars.

A song that played a large role in our waterski history now is used to get you to drive a silver fucking Camry.  If Rusted Root was still alive they would be rolling over in their graves.

As an artist who made that music as an expression of self resulting in hella money and groupies and hash, you are entitled to do whatever you want with your music.

As a consumer who listened to that music in 100's of varying states of mental aptitude, we are totally entitled to dislike your song being used in a marketing promotion.

It feels vile, it feels like you are taking our memories and using them in a twisted way to get me to rent a car.  NO!

We all get older and, just like the first time you hear a song from High School on a classic rock station, or get that quizical look when you mention that Dave Grohl is more then just Foo Fighters to a young punk, you realize that the things that made up our youth are no longer important to anyone but ourselves.

Thats the fun part, we think, all those things that are disposable to people now were the things that made us who we are.  This is similar to how we think of things from 10 years prior and what 18 year olds will think in 15 years regarding whatever the hell people listen to now...Justin Beiber?  The Grenade song guy?

The worst thing that people can do is chastise others for not "respecting" the things that they liked, trying to impart their values, viewpoints, whatever onto other people, other generations.  We would have loved to grow up now and do cocaine and text pictures of boobs all over (thats what the news says anyways), but, that isn't the case.

Meaning, we can sit here and opine all day about our irratation over this song being used in a damn commercial, while, at the same time dismissing Selena Gomez for being a talentless vapid creation of Disney.

Thats hypocritical...somewhere there is someone who listens to her music and that is her/his/its soundtrack for their ski memories and in 15 years she/he will be running the CRB empire and getting blind rage / cold sweats / menapause over her song being used to sell instant pregnancy kits.

This, we think, is the hardest part.  Not taking the things that we take as foundations or cherished memories and building them up to something that they arent'...which would be things that are important to anyone else besides ourselves.

Aging sucks, it happens, life moves on at the speed of life, but, no matter how that song is used now to sell cars it does not take away from what that song represents.  And NO, its not that specific song, its that time of life, the memories that are ingrained in our minds and soundtracked in ways that time won't alter, despite the circumstances surrounding it.  Those won't change, but, wow...does father time poke his head in to our lives in unexpected ways.  Like a god damn Enterprise car commercial.

May 10, 2011

Lake Trout Carry Out

Lake Trout Carry Out is the CRB's version of a link dump. Bunch of articles that we could write about but are to lazy to so we throw them all at you at the same time. Deal with it.

Wake Nation Houston, the newest cable park in the country, opened on May 7th. We knew it was opening and instead of posting about it got drunk and slept in a homeless shelter. Good Times...

vid from Houston Fox station

While on the topic of wakeboarding, Mastercraft, who dropped out of the pro ski tour due to money problems last year, has announced the new Pro Wakeboard tour.

After all that happy wakeboarding news here is someone whose wakeboard was stolen. You take our sponsers we will steal your boards! Jerks

Australians are still out skiing even with it snowing in parts of the country. Well not on skis as it was the Australian Barefoot championship.

Slalom Ski Mag does what they do best, play softball with a product test. 2011 ski test.

May 9, 2011

Vid Day Monday

Sticking with the older guys, here is Tony Klarich busting out some solid hot dog slaloming. Tried some of this stuff years back and damn do those falls hurt.

/tick
/face plant
/tock

Vid Day Monday

I skied with Mike Murphy a few years back. He brought a sky ski and we went nuts on it, flips and spins all over the place. Well he did that, I crashed on my face and landed upside down a bunch.

Vid Day Monday

We had a ping pong table in the basement when I was YDBF. There were some epic games down there, hours and hours of easy shots missed and fault after fault. I was unstoppable...or the exact opposite of that. This guy on the other hand is the KING OF PONG! By pong we do not mean the Atari game.


Vid Day Monday

Whats that you say? Its warming up outside?

Well damn...fuck it, this vid is dope and supports my obsession with go pro cameras.

Late 2010 from Andrew Whiteford on Vimeo.

May 6, 2011

Ace Nails NewTrick World Record

Aliaksei (Ace) Zharnasek tore it up at Trick Jam 3.1 at the Isles of Lake Hancock in Florida. Unlike the rumor of Jimmy setting a record last year, this one sounds legit. Some posters on the Ski Flies are claiming one of his tricks will be no credit but we will have to wait for the big dogs at IWSF to make their ruling to find out if its good or not.

Ace was a power on the ULM ski team and has long had the potential to catch Nic's record. Tricks is getting exciting with Jimmy, Ace, Herman and others at the top of their games. This is just another reminder that the "pro ski tour" is off base by ignoring tricks (and womens jump). I doubt Dana will take notice of this but we can only hope. Tricks is an awesome event that truly shows off how technical our sport is and the level of skill required to compete at the top level.

Of course now Jimmy needs to get out there and take this back from the Soviet Union. Can't have those commies taking records from NATO countries.

What do you mean the cold war is over and the Soviet Union is gone?

/reports make believe commenter to the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HCUA)

May 2, 2011

Vid Day Monday

Dudes got spinning skillz!

Vid Day Monday - The Start of Something

Celebrations were all over the place Sunday night after the news of Osama's death and everyone did what they did in their own way, but, at Penn State...oh they went off!  The following is a fantastic video of how it started.  Watch it all the way through.  Amazing.  Alot of the great images from the night were not from any "real" news source but from Scott Van Pelts twitter feed, @notthefakesvp, dude has his ear to the kids and, really, captured the night better then anyone.  Also, below the video is a great picture from Ohio State's with the kids jumping into Mirror Lake.




May 1, 2011

Vid Day Monday

The Go Pro camera is my new love. I have divorced my wife* and gotten involved with a very complicated love triangle with a go pro and a camel...its a long story.
*no lady at all :(

This vid is another example of how shrinking technology and digital recording has changed how we can view the world.



Thanks to Danny S for the vid, good stuff.

Its to Dang Cold!

Enjoy this weather you hot piece of ass! Dispatch from the CRB weather desk Guess what???  ITS COLDER THEN A WELL DIGGERS ASS OUT THERE KIDS...