C.R. Johnson: Lost Love, Rats in the Pressure Cooker, and Walking…
As time goes by, I have come to notice that C.R. Johnson is a much-maligned figure on this site. Granted, if you have enough people giving their opinions on something, without fail a portion are bound to hate it. Nowhere is this more evident than here on good old Newschoolers.com, where most things are treated with general approval or disapproval, but nothing is universally liked or disliked. (Possibly with the exception of Glen Plake, I mean, what scum sucking snot barnacle doesn’t love Plake?) Nevertheless, the issue is that I have repeatedly noticed an uncharacteristic, and what I consider undeserved amount of hate for C.R. Johnson.
C.R. dropped onto the freeskiing landscape like a convulsing fetus at what was then considered the tender age of 15, hucking big spins over big tables when hucking was still cool. (Sorry Tufflemire, you may have started this shit tossing rad heli grabs before Johnny Mo-show blew up back in 98, but you’re washed up.) Of course nowadays, 15 year old pros are a bountiful norm and regularly appearing at major competitions. You can’t swing your pole in the park anymore without smacking some 12 year old prodigy who’s probably going to be better than you’ll ever be. Tomorrow. We should set a pack of rabid wolverines on the lot of em’.
Gaining notoriety and a rapidly growing reputation exclusively in what was then the epicenter of the freeskiing world, Squaw Valley’s cutting edge terrain park, C.R. was labeled a park rat. This despite skiing at the sport’s supreme pressure cooker, notorious for its burly lines and infamous swashbuckling rockstar locals with a walk to match their copious talk. Back then anybody making the assumption that a guy with the amount of natural talent C.R. has skiing at Squaw full time can’t actually ski real mountains was dead wrong. Cue the tumbleweed.
As our young sport has evolved over past few years, there has been much talk about “the future� of freeskiing, taking park tricks and incorporating them into big mountain lines. However despite all the hype, C.R. is one of the few athletes to have actually succeeded in doing it. He has taken the much speculated upon future and delivered it a swift ninja kick to the temple. Not only that, but he has achieved double podiums at the X-Games and US Open, and in the process almost single handedly legitimized half pipe skiing to the world. Many pros are great pipe riders, and many pros are good big mountain skiers, but rare is the skier that is exceptional at both. Let alone the special breed throwing tricks into those big mountain lines. Not only that, but while guys like Simon Dumont are trashing houses, C.R. recently donated his $5000 Paul Mitchell athlete award to Doctors Without Borders through salesforce.com, which matched his donation bringing the total to a nice 10 large. Not to shabby at all, at least when he’s not hitting on Matt Margetts’ mom…
At 19 years of age, C.R.’s advice to all the aspiring young guns was to “become a professional skier, not a professional jibber.� Like many of Squaw Valley’s finest before him, CR talked his talk. Now 22 years old and an accomplished skier comfortable tossing tricks into burly AK lines as he is revolutionizing the X-Games ice ditch, he has walked his walk.
Hunter S Thompson RIP 1939-2005
My heroes don't appear on no stamps.
Our greatest glory consists not in never falling. But in rising every time we fall.
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