SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Current Olympians and others in the ski community are mourning the loss of professional free skier C.R. Johnson, who died in a fall while skiing a steep chute at California’s Squaw Valley.

Johnson, 26, who has competed in the Winter X Games, was skiing with a group of friends when he fell while trying to negotiate a “very, very tight, rocky area,” said Jim Rogers, a member of the Lake Tahoe-area resort’s ski patrol.

He fell face-first, then spun around and struck the back of his head on rocks in the Light Towers area of the resort. Johnson was wearing a helmet, but Rogers said the helmet took a serious blow.

Ski patrol members were called shortly before 2 p.m. but were unable to revive him. Placer County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Ausnow said Johnson died on the slopes.

Johnson was well-known at Squaw Valley, a challenging resort near Lake Tahoe’s north shore that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. It also is the home base for several members of the U.S. ski team, including Olympic alpine medalist Julia Mancuso.

She tweeted about Johnson’s death late Wednesday: “crazy day just got a little bit more unexpected… just learned that my friend and insane skier CR Johnson just died at Squaw.. my heart and prayers go out to everyone at home and CR’s family.”

Olympic snowboarder Louie Vito also tweeted his reaction: “RIP to my homie CR Johnson. He will be missed by EVERYONE. At least he was doin what he loved but CR YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!!!”

Johnson’s father was an avalanche forecaster at the resort for about a decade, Rogers said. The younger skier also had rebounded from a serious injury suffered during a competition in 2005 that put him in a coma for several months.

“This is a man of very, very strong skiing talent,” Rogers said. “This young man had been a fixture here at Squaw Valley for years. … He grew up at Squaw Valley.”
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A statement from Squaw Valley USA described Johnson as a professional skier and member of its Freeride team.

He also competed in superpipe and halfpipe skiing at events such as the X Games. A photograph on his MySpace page said he was “X-qualified” for a skiing competition in France in 2002, while the Web site for the Ski Channel Television Network said he had been nominated for male skier of the year in 2002.

The freeskier.com Web site posted clips of Johnson in several extreme skier movies, jumping off cliffs and sailing through fresh, untracked powder. One clip includes Johnson talking about relearning to use his arms and legs after a severe injury caused by a collision with another skier while filming at Utah’s Brighton ski resort in 2005.

He recalls “being one of the best skiers in the world, overly confident in your skiing, overly confident in yourself. … Right now I’m working as hard as I possibly can to return to the sport that nearly killed me.”

Squaw Valley attracts expert skiers and is known for its difficult terrain. Johnson is the fifth skier to die on the slopes over the past three years. Two of the five died in avalanches, including one member of the ski patrol.

Attempts to reach Johnson’s family late Wednesday were unsuccessful, and a telephone message left with a spokesman for the X Games was not immediately returned.

Johnson, whose first name was Charles, had posted the following statement his MySpace page: “I feel it’s most important to keep it real and enjoy each moment, you know, take advantage of every opportunity life provides, because who knows what tomorrow may bring.”

Source: Huffington Post

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CR Johnson Dead in Horrific Ski Crash

That is until “Brian Westbrook” actually spoke on SportsCenter. The caller’s real identity is Captain Janks from the Howard Stern Show, and it took less than 30 seconds of speaking before the impostor said that he has “nothing but respect for head coach Andy Reid and I look forward to a future of worshipping the prostate of Howard Stern.”

SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt reacted humorously to viewers, saying, “Oh boy, we got that, huh. So that worked out well.” A pause ensued before he passed the baton to co-anchor Steve Levy with a casual “hi.” Scroll down for video of the exchange.

Source: Huffington Post

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ESPN Pranked! ‘Brian Westbrook’ REALLY Howard Stern Show’s Captain Janks (VIDEO)

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11 of the Hottest Sports Uniforms

Overreacting much?

Scott Lago, Olympic bronze medal winning half-pipe snowboarder of Team USA, volunteered to leave the Olympics on Friday after racy pictures of him were leaked online.

Lago, who was awarded his bronze medal Thursday night, was at a party, wearing a Team USA T-shirt when somebody snapped a photo of a woman kneeling below the Olympian’s waist to kiss the medal. A second picture shows Lago sticking the medal in the woman’s mouth as teammate Greg Bretz looks on.

Both images went viral after appearing on TMZ Friday afternoon.

The pics sparked a lively discussion among sports fans online, and by Friday evening, Lago had apologized to officials at the US Olympic Committee and the US Ski and Snowboard Association and decided to go home. Both organizations have been tough on athletes after freestyle skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson got into an alcohol-fueled incident following his competition in 2006.

“Scotty Lago is a great athlete, but with that comes a responsibility of proper conduct, and his involvement in this situation is not acceptable,” Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Saturday. “Scotty realizes his conduct was inappropriate. He has formally apologized and also made a decision to leave Vancouver today.”

Lago was a member of a group of snowboarders called The Frends.

Source: Popcrunch

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Scotty Lago Leaves Olympics After Racy Pics Surface

Thanks to Tiger Wood’s apology video, Youtube is getting a huge spike of traffic. If you missed the news this morning, you can now see the entire video on Youtube, thanks to CNN.

The Tiger Woods’ apology video and press statements are hot news in the Sports world today. Tiger apologized to his fans for his marital indiscretions and said that he does plan on returning to golf, eventually.

In the apology video, Tiger Woods acknowledges that he has disappointed his fans. “I have disappointed all of you and made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did.” He indicated that he has been in rehab since the sex scandal hit the news for “various issues” (those being an assortment of about 11 or so porn stars, waitresses, hookers, models, etc. that he had affairs with).

According to the LA Times, at least one of Tiger’s mistresses feels she is also owed an apology. Represented by attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing mistress Joslyn James, says her client deserves her own apology. Allred and James staged a news conference this morning after the golfer’s speech.

James chided Woods for leaving James out of his mea culpas. Why? Because he told her he loved her. That’s why.

In the conference, James, a.k.a. Veronica Siwik-Daniels, apologized for any pain she caused to Tiger’s wife and kids.

She also said, “I would be open to a telephone apology from Tiger, but I really feel that I deserve to look at him in person face to face, in his eyes, because I didn’t deserve this.

“I have had to deal with a lot, and too much from him, and because of him …. He knows I was very straight and honest with him, but for a long time he lied to me.

“Tiger pursued me, and over time, and I fell in love with him, and he told me he loved me too.”

Photos: Veronica Siwik-Daniels, top left, a former porn star who claims she had a three-year romantic relationship with golfer Tiger Woods, and her attorney Gloria Allred held a news conference in Los Angeles on Feb. 19, 2010, in reaction to Woods’ apology in in Florida. Left, Siwik-Daniels, whose screen name is Joslyn James, answers questions Friday. Credits: Jason Redmond / Associated Press, top; Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images, left.

How Not to Get Caught Like Tiger

According to Esquire, you need Two of everything and a lot of practice to avoid getting caught cheating.

Practice, practice, practice. Up before dawn, in the field, lying, deceiving, beguiling. Day in, day out, until your tongue calluses bleed and you get it right. Then buy a guidebook.

Schedule trysts during working hours, always answer your phone if it’s your spouse, pay in cash, and don’t raise suspicion by suddenly getting in shape or becoming more attractive in any way, just stay the same slob you’ve always been. The rest can be summarized with the “two of everything” rule: two mobile phones (a prepaid one is best), two computers, two credit cards, two addresses (a P.O. box for your affair bills), and, if you can swing it, two dicks.

CNN produced the 14 minute Tiger Woods apology video.

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Tiger Woods Apology Video on Youtube

The New York Giants became America’s team, even if only for a day. The truth is, unless you’re a Patriots fan, chances are you were rooting for the Giants. Let’s face it, nobody wants to hear eternal bragging from Patriots fans about how New England was the best team the league has ever witnessed.

Another win for Tom Brady in Super Bowl 42 would have given them the ultimate statistic to prove their point. Jealousy? Damn right! Lucky for us, a train stopped them dead in their tracks at 18-1. Phew, the Dallas Cowboys still have a chance to be the first to 19-0 .

Move over Tom Brady, Super Bowl MVP, Eli Manning was the lead actor in last night’s show. I must admit, I do feel a bit bad for Tom. I mean, he just lost a huge game, and rumor has it Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bundchen sacked him in his own end zone a few weeks ago.

Ok, I don’t feel that bad. It’s not like he doesn’t have enough women fantasizing over him, and 3 Super Bowl rings already.

1972 Miami Dolphins remain the only NFL team to complete a perfect, undefeated season at 17-0. New England Patriots almost became the first to go 19-0 since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season in 1978.

The game was action-packed. Everything you could ask for in one of the greatest Super Bowls to have ever been played. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots broke record after record this season. They are undoubtedly one of the best teams to ever play the game.

That didn’t scare the New York Giants, who pounded out their own record – an 11th straight victory on the road to become the Super Bowl champions. Hard to believe from a team that started the season at 0-2. Congratulations to both the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. Thanks for the amazing entertainment in the Super Bowl of 2008.

What do you guys think about Super Bowl 42? How about the highly anticipated Super Bowl commercials? At $2.7 million per 30 seconds to advertise on the Fox network during the Super Bowl, they better be good. Did you know that over 30% of viewers watch the Super Bowl for the commercials?

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Super Bowl XLII (42) – Hold on to your seats!