Mike Posts

Do you have too much snow in your backyard and you don't know what to do with it? I hate it when that happens. If you have that same problem, here's your chance to do something creative with all that white gold.

Burton Snowboards and SNOWatHOME are working together on what could be the coolest (pardon the pun) contest of the season and the winner will receive a complete snowmaking system courtesy of SNOWatHOME. Burton is looking for the best backyard snowboard video you can put together. Build a park in your backyard, or use the natural terrain of your favorite urban spot. Call up your crew, get creative and get it all on film.

Put together a sweet edit from your footage and upload it to the Burton website. Burton is going to review all videos and pick the best, so pull out that video camera and get outside. This is your chance to take your backyard park to the next level with the ultimate home snowmaking system.

Contest deadline is March 15th, 2009. Check out the Burton website for more details.

The fantasy realm is crossing over into the action sports world. Again. There's been a fantasy surfer site for a little while and now there's something for Moto fans. MotoXDream.com gives supercross fans to live the life of their favorite motocross athletes. Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned vet, playing MotoXDream Fantasy Supercross is pretty easy. All you have to do is choose four riders from each class every week. Then you just sit back and enjoy the race, because MotoXDream will keep track of your points and position throughout the series.

Headlining and offering up the grand prize, MotoSport.com has provided Tommy Hahn's 2008 MotoSport Xtreme Kawasaki KX450F team bike. This isn't a replica, it's the real deal. This race bike will be given to the overall winner of the series. On top of that, the weekly swag prizes for the top finishers of each race will be getting quality goodies from this year's sponsors like Von Zipper, FMF Casual, No Fear MX, Cycra Racing, Fox, Shift Racing, Sixsixone, EVS Protection, Spy Optics, Rider Down Foundation, MotoSpace.com, and MotoSport.com.

There is a cost to play (when the prizes are that good, I suppose you'd expect that). Before you wonder why you should pay the $25 fee, besides the opportunity to win a fabulous Race Bike and weekly swag, MotoSport will donate $5 of the signup fee to the Rider Down Foundation. And you'll receive a $20 gift certificate to MotoSport.com. Basically, it's only going to cost you a donation of $5 to a great organization helping our fallen riders. Sounds like a good trade-off to me.

Life-changing opportunities that come around in our lifetimes are far and few between. That's why Julian Wilson is making the bold and daring move to skip next year's WQS. But this is no shot in the dark. Julian was given the opportunity to star in a film with none other than the Irons brothers (who will also produce the film). We're not talking about chopped liver here, we're talking filet mignon. Surfing with two living legends while getting paid for something that will forever live in surfing movie history, why not?

The 20-year-old Aussie will hit some of the best spots in the world during filming and he may do some competitions here and there, thanks to wild cards that may be available through his sponsor Quiksilver. Wilson finished ranked 247th on the WQS in '08.

Check out more about Wilson's decision at TheDaily.com.

One of the O.G.'s of surfing Gerry Lopez has a pretty in-depth interview in the Los Angeles Times. Now 60 years old, you might recognize Gerry for a number of reasons. In the '70s, Lopez was widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, tube rider in the world by winning the Pipeline Masters two years in a row. Or you might recognize him for his innovations in surfboard designs. Lopez created the simple but eye-catching Lightning Bolt jag that every surfer in the 70s wanted.

But not me. I don't recognize him for those things. I don't even surf. I recognize Lopez for his groundbreaking film role as "Subotai" in one of my favorite films of all time, Conan the Barbarian starring California's Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. That film really showed the ruggedness that can only be portrayed by an extreme sports athlete. He is by far the best thing about that film other than Conan himself.

FYI, Gerry has also appeared in other films such as "Big Wednesday," "North Shore" and "Riding Giants."

Check out the interview over at the LA TIMES.

How often do you explore the backcountry of any mountain range only to find yourself lost? All you wanted to do is experience some gnarly, untouched, virgin snow, right?

Well, I'm with you brother. Once too often have I veered off puny Double Black Diamond slopes to take on whatever Mother Nature presents to me. But once too often have I found myself stuck in a hole or lost in a ditch somewhere, just lying lifelessly as bears or wolves drool at my succulent meaty exterior.

Well those days are over my friend. Two of my favorite companies, Apple and The North Face, have teamed up to create a new and very useful application for your iPhone. Sorry Razor users. This new app will allow skiers, boarders and ski-bladers (such as myself) to navigate through the rough terrain of some of the biggest and baddest resorts around the globe. And with the help of Google Maps, you will be able to see a high resolution map of your surroundings. No more getting lost for me, suckers!

Read the press release for more.

China has recently experienced the major excesses of life due to their blossoming economy. They are a good example of how communism can work in a capitalist world... after all just a few years ago, you would never see a Ferrari weaving in and out of busy streets. And snowboarding, what the heck is that? But now, they are experiencing levels of spoils like never before. Indulging in money, cars, and smog, they're headed in a new direction.

As you probably already know, Quiksilver is one of the leading brands in board sports, fashion and all out bro attire. So how fitting is it that Quiksilver has announced that they will be a major sponsor of the Nanshan Snowboard Park in Beijing, China. Quiksilver is teaming up with the country's top park construction firm Mellow Constructions China and the result will be the Quiksilver Nanshan Mellow Park, scheduled to open December 2008.

Of course in the Quiksilver press release there is no acknowledgment that this used to be the Nokia Nanshan Mellow Park with a very similar set up.

When the Globe Pro went down in Fiji earlier this year, it was the return of the World Tour to the island after one year off. The location didn't disappoint, with spectacular waves greeting the surfers and resulting in some of the best surfing of the year. Kelly Slater led the field, taking the final over CJ Hobgood -- a rematch of the final from 2005.

Changes are you didn't get to see much of the action from Fiji. Maybe you don't like how webcasts look. Or maybe your computer doesn't play video well. Whatever the reason, now you have no excuses to catch up on all that went down since Globe's come out with a new DVD that will give you full coverage from start to finish. Shot in HD Video and Super 16mm film, I guarantee that this will look a lot better than anything you saw online -- plus the soundtrack is no doubt top-notch.

Go buy this DVD now and see how Slater made it to world title number nine.

In front of a jury Tuesday in a San Diego Courtroom, Seth Cravens was found guilty for the murder of professional surfer Emery Kauanui. Cravens was charged for the murder of Kauanui outside his mother's home in La Jolla California. Seth and his crew called "The Bird Rock Bandits" tracked down Seth at his mother's house after an altercation took place at a local bar.

Cravens punched Kauanui, who fell to the ground and suffered a skull fracture. He died in the hospital four days later.

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 12. The four others who were with Cravens have already had their day in court. Three pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and received jail sentences from 210-349 days. The fourth pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and received a 90-day sentence.

As far as I'm concerned, they should lock up all these Bird Rock Bandits for life. Let them rot in there. Read the entire article at signonsandiego.com.

The PXM International Vans Pro complete competition yesterday in Puerto Escondido, Mexico yesterday and it was a local, 21 year old Angelo Lozano who took the ASP World Qualifying Series 3-Star title. The day saw a consistent 6-8 foot surf with plenty of tough competition from all over the world including Gabriel Villaran of Lima, Peru, Ryan Turner of Huntington Beach, CA, and fellow Puerto Escondido native David Rutherford.

Lozano had an impressive showing the entire event at the Vans Pro event, but eventually stepped it up a few notches for the finals beating out former Puerto Escondido event champion Rutherford, and Turner, who posted a perfect 10 and netted the event's highest heat total yesterday.

"I'm very proud and I'm proud of all the local surfers," Lozano said. "We have a lot of good tube-riders here and if we can get some more events I think we can see a lot more Mexican surfers on the WQS."

Find out more about the event here.

PXM International Vans Pro Final Results:
1 - Angelo Lozano (MEX)
2 - Gabriel Villaran (PER)
3 - Ryan Turner (USA)
4 - David Rutherford (MEX)

We have a new president. Big Wow. Our economy is in a huge crisis. What? Where? Shaun White's new video game is about to come out. Hell yeah broooaa!! Ubisoft's new video game has been all the talk lately in the world of snowboarding, video game nerds, burn outs, and inactive teens everywhere and it's due in stores this weekend!

MTV and Target teamed up with Ubisoft to present the videogame with a huge launch party this past Tuesday at one of Hollywood's coolest shiny shirt clubs, on the ever so shiny shirt street, Sunset Blvd. Shaun White was the guest of honor. And in perfect theme with the night, all was "White"... the ladies, REAL snow, an antler chandelier and even a polar bear! The venue was decked with a snow lodge feel, open bars, and Shaun White Snowboarding video game stations throughout for all to test drive.

MTV's reality TV show's whose IT list was out in full form. Audrina from The Hills (never heard of her), Tila Tequila (Myspace chick?), Kelly Osbourne (dating Luke Howell and pro skater, Bam Margera were just a few of the celeb faces seen out in the crowd supporting the new video game launch. Check out some pics here.