Alrighty then, so it has been a while since posting.  Moving house will do that to you.  Anyways, the BBC just came up with this documentary on the Swans, which will show you exactly why the club means that much to me and all the supporters….  Its 40 minutes, and if you were at the games, it really means a lot.  Its quite something….

Click here to view the embedded video.

Its funny as people always claim how bad the weather is here in Portland, but I suppose coming from the UK, a pretty volatile country in terms of weather, anything better than grey skies is a bonus.  Yes it rains here a bunch in winter, but well, the trees and grass and flowers need it, and if it doesn’t rain, we don’t get snow, so its fine by me.

This evening I took my camera out with the sun setting and aimed to capture a little of how nice a weekend its been here in the north west.

There must have been a dozen photographers shooting this same scene..

Meanwhile this scene has been well seen on instagram this weekend.

Its pretty damn beautiful though.

This is the docks and some flowers.  Some there isn’t more description than that.

Regular street, nice trees.

I thought this easter bunny could have done with some chocolate.

Thats the union station right there.  Pretty nice light all round…

Yesterday was the Mt Hood stop of the Snake and Hammers event which Bobby Meeks has been masterminding.  The event is an amazing idea as it combines the best elements of a banked slalom, with a slopestyle, so you see kids who normally might be just mellow cruising around the mountain charging down the hill hitting everything at mach 10.

Johnnie Paxson, giving it a once over.

The good thing about this is that kids who learnt to snowboard on a trampoline need not apply.  You need to have great board control, technical ability and know how to use your edges properly, no skidding or scrubbing speed this is using your board for all its worth.  Guess a few people realized the beauty of regular camber again.  This above is the lookout from the drop in, like a 8 foot drop into 3 berms, followed by 3 rails a jump a big box, a step down and then 3 gates on the steepest face in Hood, meaning it got slushy, rutted and people were washing out all over the place.

There was over 70 riders, and was a throwback to when snowboard contests were more of a gathering of friends wanting to ride together and have a good day, instead of the made for TV spinfest that we are fed on TV these days.  More events like these will be great for snowboarding in future as it will teach kids to be able to ride besides hucking tricks and spinning on boxes.  There was a bunch of amazing riders, who were managing to throw 7s in the middle of high speed runs and land perfect into the next berm and ride on for a good time.  It was also amazing as there was riders of all ages, not just 16 year old national team heroes but dudes who just like to turn their boards.

Mt Hood in spring is pretty amazing, the air is so nice up there, and has a definite appeal for a days riding.  Cant wait to get up there for a few more spring laps in the sun.

On the way back down we stopped at The Resort at the Mountain just near Welches which has a great 27 hole course made up of 3 – 9 hole courses.  Really good after a days riding on the hill!

Not sure if the altitude made my shots slice into the next fairway each time, but well, you can but try,

This movie, full length, free to watch, is easily the greatest piece i have ever seen on the history of snowboarding.  Maybe it just speaks to me in a certain way, but this is really a special piece, and anyone who says free content is killing creativity, needs to watch this.

The folks at Burn put this together, with one of my good friends Orlando Eisendal, who was one of the people I enjoyed most riding with, he was one of the best, and probably can still through a rodeo and backside 5 better than most.  I haven’t seen Orlando in a couple of years, but to know that he is doing great work like this, and a lot of other insane projects over at Grain Media, I am very proud of him.

There are a few quotes which I think just sum up snowboarding beautifully, and they are all captured perfectly.

Brad Stewart – “Snowboarding will change your life if you let it.”  - Now anyone who has ‘become’ a snowboarder if you will, knows what this means.  Committing yourself to a passion is one of those things that will take your time, it will take your money, it will rob you of time with loved ones, but it gives back in so many ways, as many snowboarders around the world know.  For me personally, I remember trying snowboarding at 17 and then instantly, i just knew that I wanted to be a snowboarder.  I remember just committing and saying I’m going to do a season, working hard to finish school, save up some money and then working any crappy job it took for me to be able to ride.

Mike Baisch – “People are always gonna snowboard for how it feels, the passion.  There is no good byes in Snowboarding, I have friends who I won’t have seen for a couple of years but I know they’re out there and I’ll see them when it gets cold”

I think this is very apt.  If you have friends through snowboarding you know that your down for each other.  It can be months, years, decades and you know that you still have a connection.  There is never that “you didn’t call me back last week”, its just a connection, which we all share, and understand.

Now, I ask you, to get a cup of tea, make yourself comfortable, and whether your a pro, a beginner, or even someone who has never snowboarded before, spend the next 90 minutes, on some amazingly well crafted, beautiful content.  You’ll want to watch this again and again.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is one last quote which sums it all up.

Chuck Barfoot – “As long as I can eat and breathe, and get the chance to board with a couple of my friends, I’m good with it.   I hope to be riding powder when I’m 80, will you join me?”

This year, marked the first time for the US Open to be in Vail, and in its 31st year the first time outside of Burtons home of Vermont.  Now for those of you who have been to Stratton Mountain you will know why they relocated, because the snow is way more reliable here, and its very accessible, but now with all 3 major US events being in Colorado, you do feel its a big shame for the east coast events.

So what went down this week?  Well Scotty Lago as always showed he has style till the cows come home.  The camera guys on the deck just love getting the guy in the sky shot.

He has been doing a run with front 9 double nose this week, which to me just seems insane.  I have trouble grabbing nose with one hand, in fact i remember for a good two years trying backside 5 nose grabs before I could do them properly.  Such a nice trick, and way easier than a front 9 in an icy pipe with both hands driving the ship.

Mr, Sir Louie Vito was in the house, riding good as always, and trying to avoid having to hug any trees with Henry Jackson and Doom, the legend that he is.  Henry is quickly building himself a name as the voice of snowboarding, but the good news is that if it all falls through, at some point with his side parting, mustache and school uniform, he could quite easily get a job on local TV presenting the days news about lost cats and dogs.  Keep it up Henry you and Doom are crushing it.

In the pipe Louie got on the podium with a solid 3rd place, with a great run, and you can really see that he has been adding a lot of amplitude to his riding this season.  He is such a crowd favorite too with the assembled masses, they love him.

In the women’s there was a snowstorm, and the ladies got to use their semi final results, meaning that Spencer took the win.  That meant that I needed one of those classic TM pose photos which I hoped I would never ask for.

 But hey, she is a winner, and I’m merely here to get the dinner and make her look young and vibrant whilst I look a bit as the mrs would say “used”.  Thats what a week with Doom will do for you.  I need some sun.  Spencer has again this season been a huge inspiration to the whole crew as she just goes on even in rough conditions and if she isn’t at 100% she keeps on trucking and brings it home.

 Meanwhile.  Christian Haller decided that he should use his first hit to let Shaun know how Methods are supposed to be tweaked.

 Doesn’t matter if your not winning Hitch as we all appreciate your style.

Vail has a pretty all time park with about a million features throughout the run to the slope style course, so Jamie Nicholls was lapping as hard as humanly possible.  He also rode amazing in the main event, with a great run including back 12 to cab 10 to make it into 5th finally.

Thats all he has to say about it.  Oh that and “why do i have to spend 10% on the bar tab?”.  I guess you can take the boy of the north but you cant take the northern out of the boy.

Thats it?  I know, not the greatest conclusion, but what can I say?  Oh yes, we had a powder day, but being a desk jock, I enjoyed those runs for all they were worth and so don’t have any evidence of said event.

Damn good work from all the guys at Nike Skateboarding right here for Kostons new shoe.  Even Tiger Woods and Danny Kass make an appearance…Oh and Neymar, not a bad turn out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m sure you all have seen this one, but yeah, this was one of the Paul Rodriguez commercials, today was a good day.  Pretty legendary stuff here too.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I just saw this edit of Jamie with his usual mix of technical wizardry.  However the graphics and filming, i must tip my cap to the person responsible.  Nice work.  I remember making Hungerpain and Pete Ellis made graphics much the same, which at the time seemed revolutionary.  Now this guy is doing it overnight.

Anyways good stuff.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This weekend, I made the long journey home from Portland to the UK.  It’s all in a good 15 hours of sitting on planes, in airports and awkward sleeping positions.  Being home for just 48 hours means there isn’t much reason to get used to the sleep patterns, so early wake ups, was the name of the game.

Yes it seems a bit much to fly all that way home ‘just for a game’ but if you know the history of the team I follow, Swansea City, then you will know why it wasn’t even a question.  I’ve been supporting the Swans since I was around 11 I suppose, once I realized that watching Premier League clubs at the time, was a bit like going to the circus.  Your entertained, but you definitely don’t belong.

The Jack Army in full voice.

So my dad says I probably went to my first Swans match in a push chair when we were n the old division one, under John Toshack, before being relegated 3 times to the 4th division.    So most of my early years when other kids at school were wearing Man Utd shirts, I was coming in to school with my Swansea shirts.  I always loved going to the away games, as all the fans are so committed, and this is something that with the premier league we have really seen, the erosion of atmosphere at stadiums,  whilst seating is safer and hopefully ensures we never see another tragedy such as that of Hillsborough, it has meant that football at times has gone from participation to purely spectators watching.  You saw it yesterday at the league cup final.  The Bradford fans need a huge show of respect for their fans.  They were up for it from the beginning, and were making a right old racket.  However on the 69th minute they all started clapping, flag waving.  I’m assuming this was because we scored around the time they were going to re,ember to 59 people who lost their lives in the tragedy at their stadium, so anyway, they were up waving, clapping, singing, and in turn, the whole Swansea end, we all stood up and clapped them as a mark of respect to their fans, and the fans they lost.

Sheepshaggers, facepainters,Daffodils, jack army.

That is where football is special.  It nots about the plastic fans that ‘follow’ Man Utd because they are successful, or are on TV,  Football is about those Bradford fans, who at 4 nil down, sing their hearts out, and make their town and city proud.  The Premier League is really going about pricing out real football fans out of the game.  I think the 62quid tickets for the Man City Arsenal game are testament to that.  Whilst the premier league has made the world watch English football, it is also cutting off the football league in terms of player progression.  When was the last time a player moved up the leagues to great success.  One of the few is Swansea’s very own Leon britton who moved to us from West Ham 10 years ago, and played Midfield alongside Roberto Martinez, and was one of those who kept us in the football league.  Little did he know. The next 10 years have been like a fairy tale for Swansea fans, and should serve as a reminder to all football fans, with a good structure, a chairman who is solid, won’t be messed around by agents, and has a philosophy, anything is possible.

This is how pre drinking looks at Wembley.

Swansea are owned 20% by the fans, and in Huw Jenkins we have a chairman who knows how to run a club, well, he does come from a history in local business.  There have been players through our history who have tried to upset the wage structure and make huge demands of the club, and he has sent them all packing.  Gylfi Siggurdson, Darren Prately, Doris De Vries, Scott Sinclair, the list goes on and on.  None of them have done as well as they thought they would, and yet we Swans rise higher and higher.  First promotion to league one, them to the Championship, with an unforgettable season under Brendan Rodgers, then promotion to the premier league, and them after another great season with Brendan he went the way of Liverpool and we were blessed with Michael Laudrup, the legend himself who has taken us top ten in the league and into Europe through a thumping win at Wembley.  People will say that we were lucky with playing Bradford, but remember we won 3-1 at Anfield against Liverpool and over two leagues against Chelsea.  In winning the league cup, we have achieved what Everton and Arsenal haven’t managed in a combined 18 seasons.

Wembley way.

Quite how much it means the fans who were there yesterday or in wind street watching is each to his own, as everyone has their own story of their love hate relationship watching the swans. Mine for example would be yesterday and the play off finals as some of the best times, and losing  7-0 at Fulham away a few years back.

I suppose that’s what football captures the emotions so much.  The game is a part of it, but the rest of it is what makes it special.  Going to the football with your dad, taking your son, whatever it maybe, it’s something which means a lot to everyone there.  The pre match drinks, the banter on the stands, the talking to a police horse after a game, the fact everyone thinks they are a manager, it’s what makes it so special.

The days watching your team like this make it all worth it, and yes there will be tough times again in future, but for now, we are enjoying it, and pinching ourselves that the team passing rings round everyone is our team.

Thanks for reading,  hope you enjoyed Sunday as much as me.

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Just saw this with some pretty insane blokes in this bunch….

It took a while but here is the Moscow update…

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On the way back from Sochi, we decided to make a slightly longer than usual Layover in Moscow and spend 24 hours checking out the city.

Its funny, in the last post, you saw all my pictures of Sochi looking all warm, sunny and a bit like a southern european resort, and not really Russian.  Moscow on the other hand, is quite simply where its at.  Its so awe inspiring when you cruise around, everything from churches to Red Square is instagram gold.

This is on Red Square, pretty damn impressive.  Whilst we were there, they had the most snow in 100 years, but it promptly rained, and everything froze up.  Every concrete surface became like an ice rink, which made getting about pretty interesting.

Even our hotel was worth a picture…

This was the entrance to Gorki park, which is an area with the most amazing ice rink ever.  Its like ice rink, but with almost like a cross country ski track for ice skaters.

Burton also has built a pretty insane jib park in Gorki park.  FairPlay to them, its epic.  Free to use, and kids are mobbing this place.

The ‘chill out’ zone, its chilly as hell here in Moscow.

What you can’t see here is this girl is trying to get in this car which already has 5 people in it, and she’s trying to squeeze herself and her set up in there..

Meanwhile across town, there is actually a pretty sweet little hill with a chair lift.  There are so many people out and snowboarding in Moscow, its great to see that what Sochi lacked, Moscow has tons of.

Gotta get yourself the russian hat whilst your here.

This is the state University.  Looks a little different to where i studied.

I was pretty happy I invested in there batboys for the ice, mud, snow, rain.  Warm and comfy and like romper stomper boots.

The funny thing when you see these insane ornate buildings is that they were built by hand, hundreds of years ago, and the amount of wars they have gone through, and are still standing.