So I have that bumper sticker plastered on my garage wall and it always gives me a chuckle. I grew up a skier and my kids are now growing up skiers. The wifeage is a skier, my brothers are skiers, my sister in laws are skiers, my nieces and nephews are skiers, some of my greatest friends are skiers. And up until yesterday, I used to dismiss snowboarders as those that could not ski.

For some reason, well probably the fact that he is nine years old and has a thing for the Flying Tomato, the boy wanted a crack at snowboarding. I've heard some parents say that they will let their kid take up snowboarding when the kid can pay for thier own ticket and rent their own equipment. I have a much softer stance (not to mention left foot forward) believing that it is far more important to be out there doing it, than to not be active at all. So I obliged and took the boy to the little neighborhood hill and rented him the tools. Upon reaching the Snowbird lift, the one that had long since been discarded by the kids as being "too easy", we found Mr. Oz strapped to a board. With my planks affixed squarely to my feet, I suddenly felt like a nun at a nudist colony. So I went back to the rental shop and ordered up some knuckle-dragging finery for myself and joined the fracas. I was a little behind but had no problem spotting our crew (Steve Oz, Sam Oz, my boy, Steve Griff our resident pro and instructor, and his boy Spencer also imparting wisdom) because Oz, Oz and the boy were attached to the hill like giant starfishes. Which made me chuckle until I saw that it was my turn to get off the lift. Luckily, the two directly in front of me crashed (it being the beginner lift and all), so I had somewhere soft to land. Anyway, about two hours later and three solid runs under our belts, the boy and I retreated to the deck where we sat silently sipping our Cokes. I finally uttered, "Jackson, we just got our asses handed to us." He chuckled and then we put on our ski's and vowed never to snowboard again. Oh, and to never give a knuckledragger crap either. It remains a mystery and will for some time. Anyway, hope you are well.

Johnny SnowboardSlow