But, a few days later, something happened…and the pictures started looking like more than just a blackboard. I’m still an amateur, but its already been damn near a fortnight since my last post…so this is the best I could  whip up on a lazy Sunday. Don’t hate.

Just a few selects to make you think….afterall, what would this world be without light?

Cedar night sky in the High Sierras, June

Boogie Van under the Sierra Milky Way, July 4th

Campfire coals on Grouse Ridge, Sierra Nevadas, August

Sunrise Landing at night, August

Desert Sky at Lake Powell, September

Eastbound and Down, Loaded up and truckin' to Tennessee (Wyoming High Plains), November

Tree of Life, Somewhere in Utah, December

Sierra Buttes, Downieville, October

Moonrise over Solar Panels at The Ridge

People always ask us, “Where is the coolest place you’ve been?” or “What Pro Tournament is the most fun?”

The truth is, our best moments are on public lakes and rivers with some of our closest friends, whether we’re cranking out turns or just chillin.  That is what skiing is meant to be, and that is why we still do it.  I’m not gonna lie, rippin through a slalom course at 60 mph is sick.  The accelerations and crushing forces are hard to find anywhere else.  But we can never escape our roots, on the open water.  Just like the 7,000,000 other people worldwide who hit the water yearly….

So, with such a huge number of water rats in the world, what is wrong with competitive water skiing??  Here’s one take:

Competitive water skiing relies heavily on rules and regulations.  Obviously we need standards, to have records and ratings.  However, I don’t think fairness depends so heavily on such tight restrictions.  The fact that we hold on to records and ratings so dearly in this sport IS the very reason we end up with such a thick rule book, and a large part of why the competitive side of the sport has not been growing.  Competition is “the process by which one athlete interferes with or suppresses the activity of another athlete”.  The governing body in the United States, USA Water Ski, is not about competition. Its not about how you stack up to one another on “any given day”, but rather how close you come to a number or “rating”.  This means that tournaments have to be held on the best sites, with the best conditions if they expect people attend.  That’s not the spirit of water skiing.  Water skiing needs to find its way back to its roots and back to competition.  Skiers should have a reason to care about how they ski relative to those on the same starting dock.  It should mean something.  They should ski for placements, not ratings.  And those placements should be their ticket to the next level.  The current system is broken.

In August, 2006, we hosted an Elite Pro Slalom Event in conjunction with Boardstock, a wakeboarding event.  Toyota’s Last Man Standing Slalom Shootout took place on Clear Lake California, directly in front of Konocti Harbor and Resort.  20 of the top Men Slalom skiers in the world attended, and battled it out in a new format and with a new vision.  In the toughest water Professional Slalom skiing has ever seen, the event was run with 2 boats, 2 drivers and 2 judges….Nothing more was needed.  The skier who could survive the longest, won.  Period.  No ratings, no records, and no BS.  It was pure slalom and true competition, just as it should be.  Points were awarded for placement, and overall rankings were based off those points.  The site was challenging, but it was challenging for all skiers.

If we continue to stay the course and travel down the path of ratings, records and more rules, the dynamic growth of competitive water skiing may cease for good.  On any given day, anything can happen…in true competition.  We should harness the hope that lies in that statement, by getting back to competition based events, or we may have no chance of creating a better future for generations to follow.  Either way, there will always be the open water, always one more sheet of glass to rip, somewhere in the world.  If that’s good enough for you, it’ll be good enough for me.

MB

Ok, I know what you’re thinking….”how did he read my mind?!”.  Honestly, I don’t really know how.  But lets face it, the “how” doesn’t really matter to you anyway.  All you want to see are results.  Money where my mouth is.  And being that this is the most recent procrastination-heavy time killer you’ve come across….you’re skeptical.

Well I can tell you this.  I’ve seen a few places, learned a few things and created a few websites in the past.  Moving forward this here website is going to be the best of it all, in one location.  Nice and simple.

We’ll take journeys into the minds of some of the greatest from across broad sports disciplines…and we’ll go on adventures around the Globe.  I will ask hard questions, get lost in the outfield sometimes and even throw you a few curve balls every now and then.

But at the end of the day, all joking aside, hopefully this will be a place you can come and find something to laugh at, look at or learn from.

My quest in life is to be as curious as possible, learn as much as possible, and enjoy the shit out of every day.  I hope this here project can capture some of that.

Yeah, you may notice a slight bias towards water sports around this place….but lets face it, we all wish we could be as badass as this boss on the water.

Enough said.  Stick around awhile….

MB

And the best part? There will always be the open water….always one more sheet of glass to plow somewhere in the world!

Taken from www.HOSports.com, here’s 9 questions current Master Champion Will Asher (www.WillAsher.com) threw at me a while back.

WA: If you weren’t skiing, you’d be…?
MB: Working at some Civil Engineering firm, solving differential equations by hand to figure out the reinforcement required for an inverted concrete T beam.
Or I’d be a snow chasing bum,… living in Van down by the river.

WA: Paleo way of life,…what’s it all about?
MB: Paleo or “Cave Man” diet is simply the way we (humans) are supposed to eat….the way we really ate, before agriculture and farming began. No grains (no more bread or pasta), legumes or refined sugars. Basically real food: Meat, veggies, fruit, nuts. Simple.

Wanna live longer?…feel better?…ski better? You probably should give it a try.

WA: Do you ski different on a Syndicate product vs. everything else?
MB: To keep things short and sweet, heck yes I ski different on Syn product. I ski better. My moves are better, I’m more balanced, and I’m more dynamic….all because the board on my feet is the best designed piece of carbon in existence. The first time I tried a Syndicate (reluctantly, due to all HO products I’d previously tried & failed on) not only did I ski better than I had on my stock ski…but I skied different. Things were happening that I’d never felt before…good things.

I never looked back.

WA: What’s the best part of Team Syndicate?
MB: Team Syndicate is so well rounded: It’s an idea factory, a grassroots movement and a product development team with more collective competition and R&D experience than any other team out there. Syndicate is pushing the limits of what’s possible, moving in new directions and reaching new heights. Just having a chance to be a part of that is an honor. I have ambitions & passions…fueled by successes and failures…that’s why I ski. Team Syndicate embodies the same ideals. It’s a perfect fit.

WA: Are you stronger than your girlfriend??
MB: Haha…funny, I’ve never heard that one before (jk)!! I hope so…! But who knows these days. She’s a BadA$$….you’ll be seeing more of her in the near future. Anyone ever heard of the CrossFit

Jenny at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games

Games? Keep your eyes open for Jenny LaBaw. AND, maybe we’ll organize a “battle of the sexes” brawl and put this nonsense to rest, once and for all.

P.S. – her nickname is “T2″…as in Terminator 2.

WA: MarcusBrown.TV, tell us a little about it, and when will it re-launch?
MB: When fall and winter comes, it gets cold. Cold = water freezing. That means no lake skiing. That doesn’t mean people forget about it. MarcusBrown.TV was an effort to give folks something during the ‘off’ months.

It was fun, having a live webshow…bringing on a new guest each week. Even had Team Syndicate on at one point!

Basically when we re-launch the webshow (hopefully soon after the new year), it should be legit. Guest experts, speakers, news, videos, stories, prize giveaways, etc… There will be something for everyone.

Keep it locked here to www.HOSports.com for news on the upcoming re-launch and MarcusBrown.TV updates!

WA: You started a new school way of thinking…West Coast Slalom. Where did it all start?
MB: Former world Champion, and friend, Mike Suyderhoud slapped some sense into Terry Winter and I when we were 16 & he said “boys, you could be good, real good…but it’s gonna take some work”. So we went to work. We hypothesized, tested, failed, tested, tweaked, tested, etc… At the end of it, we had a new approach to skiing.

West Coast Slalom was born.

At its roots, it’s an explanation of how to move. Everyone moves, whether they walk, jump, run, skate, board, bike or ski. The basics of movement, no matter what the sport, is almost all the same. We had cracked the code, and come up with a “movement for dummies”.

Try it…it’ll change your life.

WA: Tell us something we don’t know about you:
MB: I eat like a Caveman, The Universe fascinates me, working with wood is a passion, I drive a van…a really really big van & 75.8% of my life has been spent with hair shorter than a Mexican Hairless Chihuahua!

WA: I know people ask you this all the time…but how much do those dreads weigh?
MB: Dry Dreads = 1 lb, Wet Dreads = 6 lbs

Team Syndicate Rider & Ambassador, Marcus Brown