Are you living in the middle of nowhere, so much so that despite all the demos and autograph postings we advertise on this site, you’ve yet to see a team in your neighborhood, or at least a few hundred miles of your neighborhood?  One prime example of a lonely skater was featured on THE BERRICS named SKATE KIM.  I bet that’s his real name too.  But that kid was so awesome and lonely at the same time, you’ve got to assume that there are thousands of kids like him all over the world.  It’s humbling. 

A new website called Mycharitablelive.com has come onto the scene with a new business model.  You can bid on autographed gear via auction and portions of that winning bid will go to your favorite charity. 

Now excuse me while I go search out a sweaty Ryan Sheckler t-shirt, or a Nyjah Huston lock. 

You’ve been through that predicament.  You’re watching a sick ROLLERBLADING video with all your closest homies at your mom’s house munching on some Rice Crispy treats and Bobby all of a sudden screams in his girliest voice, “Damn dawg!  Did you see that spot ARLO EISENBERG was totally shredding?  We gots ta hit dat spot up dawgs!  Who’s wit me!??” 

Unfortunately for you, Arlo, and your dawgs, you had no clue where that spot was.  Why?  One reason is because Rollerbladers probably get beaten up at that spot by wandering jocks in lowered S-10 pickups or simply because you and your friends just don’t know.  All of us have experienced this hype from watching skateboard, snowboard, surf, and HEELY vids, just to later be let down due to little or no info on these certain spots. 

Well we now live in 2008, close to 2009 and long are the days when we don’t know squat.  We can literally pull the encyclopedia out of our ass pockets and look up anything in the entire universe, 24/7.  Well ad NEW BREEDERS to your favorites list  (next to HOTORNOT.COM) because now, you can look up any spot in the entire world, any time.  Ever wonder where and how you can get to that spot Arlo was tearing things up?  Look it up on New Breeders.  Ever been on a road trip and you find some obscure city and wondered where to go?  New Breeders will lead you there. 

Check it! 

Yesterday, the Action Sports Tour (AST) was a big deal, with the five-stop summer Dew Tour and the three-stop Winter Dew Tour getting ready to launch.  Today, it’s world got a whole lot bigger as it has partnered with the Maloof Money Cup, King of Wake series and the AMA Motocross Championship to have a monster offering of seven action sports tours comprising more than 25 individual pro events and more than 75 total events (including the amateur Free Flow tour).  It’s name?  ALLI: The Alliance of Action Sports.  It’s co-owned by NBC Sports and MTV, and shows that Viacom/MTV is serious about this action sports thing.

Watch out ESPN, there’s a new big dog in town.

Read on for all the details.

NBC SPORTS AND MTV ANNOUNCE THE CREATION OF ALLI, THE ALLIANCE OF ACTION SPORTS

Alli to include seven national & international action sports properties, adding new partnerships with Maloof Money Cup, AMA Motocross Championship & King of Wake series to popular Dew Tour franchise

NEW YORK – December 1, 2008 – NBC Sports and MTV, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), announced today the creation of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports™.  Alli is a global business that joins the former Action Sports Tour properties (AST) with Maloof Money Cup, AMA Motocross Championship and King of Wake series to create the most diverse and robust action-sports offering in the world. The new umbrella brand, which will continue to be co-owned by NBC Sports and MTV, will offer a schedule of seven national and international action sports tours and events, multimedia content and production, a digital hub and consumer-facing lifestyle brand.

Building on the successful foundation of AST, Alli will serve as the owner and operator of the Dew Tour and Winter Dew Tour, Free Flow Tour, and the China Invitational. In addition, Alli has formed partnerships with industry leaders and premier properties: Maloof Money Cup, the AMA Motocross Championships, and the King of Wake series.  Alli partners will continue to manage their respective events with the added benefit of television programming on NBC Sports and MTV, global media content distribution, sponsorship sales, and marketing and promotion across all platforms. A soon-to-be-launched digital hub will also serve as the online destination for all Alli properties and a leading source of all action sports content and news.

This announcement comes six months after the groundbreaking joint venture between NBC and MTV around the AST and its related businesses.  This wide-ranging, strategic partnership expanded the business across NBC and MTV’s multiple screens, including action sports competition and youth-focused lifestyle programming, cross-promotion, multi-platform content and distribution, consumer products licensing and an enhanced digital offering.  Moving forward under the Alli brand, the partnership will include over 80 hours of original programming offered annually across NBC, USA Network, MTV and MTV2

“Alli’s mission is to facilitate the momentous growth of action sports by showcasing both the competition and lifestyle aspect of these sports.  We believe these are the sports of a new generation and Alli will bring together the best properties, athletes, and brands globally for the fans of action sports,” says Wade Martin, President of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports.

“When NBC Sports launched the Dew Tour we knew there would be an opportunity to expand into other action sports.  We are excited to bring the best programming across the entire action sports genre on multiple media distribution platforms to our audience,” says Kevin Monaghan, Senior Vice President, Business Development, NBC Sports & Olympics.

Added Jeff Yapp, Executive Vice President of Program Enterprises for MTV Networks Music & Logo Group, “This is a major step in building the business we imagined when we first partnered with NBC Sports. Building our online platform, creating a lifestyle brand, and expanding original content will positively impact the network of partners, athletes, fans and the action sports industry as a whole, which is everything that the alliance represents”.

An overview of the Alli properties is as follows:

Maloof Money Cup

Held for the first time in 2008, the Maloof Money Cup, owned and operated by the Maloof family, has quickly become the premier skateboarding event within the community and attracts every top athlete.  Including three professional competitions – Men’s and Women’s Pro Street, and Men’s Pro Vert – and the Amateur Championships, it boasts the largest single event purse in skateboarding with over $450,000 in prize money.

AMA Motocross Championship

AMA Motocross Championship is the top outdoor series in motocross and draws elite rider talent from all around the world. The MX Sports-organized series, which began in 1972, spans 12 races across the U.S., and at the end of each year, the AMA National Motocross Championship titles are awarded based on the riders’ performances over the entire series.

King of Wake

As the elite pro wakeboarding circuit, the King of Wake series has attracted the sport’s top riders from throughout the globe. With more than $300,000 in prize money over the eight-event season, riders compete over the course of the year to be named the “King of Wake” – an award based on points accumulated at each stop of the series. Events include Wake Games, Pro Wakeboard Tour (5 events), WWA National Championships, and WWA World Championships. The King of Wake is organized by World Sports & Marketing – the leading wake event producers since 1988.

Dew Tour

The Dew Tour, the premier season-long series in action sports, consists of five major, multi-sport events, featuring skateboarding (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt), and FMX.  Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world with over 250k spectators, 41 million total viewers and reaches over 100 countries worldwide. The events extend across the country, have a cumulative points system, and a $3.5 million competitive purse. The Dew Tour has been the cornerstone property of AST over the last four years, and its success has now enabled the formation of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports. It crowns year-end champions including past Dew Cup winners Ryan Sheckler, Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Jamie Bestwick, and Nate Adams.

Winter Dew Tour

The Winter Dew Tour is launching in December of ’08, and will expand Alli’s footprint into the winter action sports. It consists of three major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, and a $1.5 million competitive purse.  The tour will feature 29 hours of original television programming. Each event features men and women’s snowboard (superpipe and slopestyle), and men’s freeskiing (superpipe and slopestyle).  Top athletes, Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Travis Rice, Simon Dumont, and Danny Kass, are already planning to compete.

Free Flow Tour

The Free Flow Tour, the Dew Tour’s official amateur series, provides amateur athletes the opportunity to earn a chance to compete against the pros in the Dew Tour.  The Free Flow Tour consists of 50 events across 26 cities in the U.S., featuring skateboarding and BMX. The winners of the Free Flow Tour Finals compete against the pros at the Dew Tour’s PlayStation Pro in Orlando, Fla.  Past Free Flow Tour winners include Chaz Ortiz (2007 Dew Cup Winner, Skate Park) and Mike Spinner (2008 Dew Tour Second Place, BMX Park).

China Invitational

The China Invitational is Alli’s first international expansion initiative. The inaugural China Invitational was held in April 2008 in Beijing, China and featured the top skateboarders competing in vert and park disciplines before a capacity crowd.

Totino’s Pizza Rolls has a contest where you can enter a video on YouTube showing how you “bring the energy of the X Games to your favorite activity” and be entered to win the prize.  So that means it’s not limited to just what you see at the Summer and Winter X Game (Skating, BMX, snowboarding, etc.).   Pretty much everything you can do with a board (wake, skim, kite, etc.) and beyond is fair game and just show in the video how much style and flair you have — like you were doing it in your very own X Games competition.

After you upload your video, judges from Totino’s will pick the top three by Dec. 26 (you have until Dec. 10 to enter).  After that, YouTube users will get to pick the winner, who will be announced by ESPN on Jan. 25 during the ’09 Winter X Games.

The grand prize winner gets a fully-paid trip to Aspen with three friends in 2010 (plus $4K in spending cash).  The first finalist gets $5k in cash, and the 2nd finalist gets a year’s supply of Totino’s Pizza Rolls (52 boxes, to be exact).

Full disclosure — Totino’s advertises on Lat34, but we’d like this contest regardless.

To enter and for more information, check out the YouTube contest page at http://www.youtube.com/RollIntoTheXGames.

Aussie Robbie Maddison continues to build his reputation as this generation’s Evel Knievel with his second-straight New Year’s Eve stunt.

Last year it was a world-record breaking jump (since broken) in the parking lot of the Rio.  Not bad, but any Vegas regular will tell you that no matter how nice it is, Rio is still decidedly “off-strip” and therefore always going to be a red-haired stepchild to the likes of Caesar’s Palace (site of Knievel’s most famous jump).

This year, Maddo moves up in the world by setting up shop with Red Bull at Paris, which definitely ranks as strip-worthy.  The hotel has a replica of the Arc de Triomphe that is about 100 feet high and Maddo will jump on top of the Arc, ride along it, then do a freefall of 50 feet onto a landing ramp below.

This isn’t exactly a world record — unless you count doing something for the first time a “world record.”  But it should be pretty cool to watch.

Maddo won’t be alone on the night.  Kiwi Rhys Millen is going to pull off the stunt he couldn’t attempt last New Year’s Eve due to injury.  He’ll be the first person to attempt to land a backflip in an off-road truck.  Unfortunately, the backflip attempt will take place at a different (as of yet undisclosed) location than Maddo’s jump.

ESPN, as it did last year, will broadcast the event live — assume it will take place around 8:00 p.m. PT / 11:00 p.m. ET (details forthcoming).

Find out more about the event at www.redbullnewyearnolimits.com or keep reading for the full press release.

RED BULL: NEW YEAR. NO LIMITS.
New Year’s Eve Event from Las Vegas to Feature 100-Foot-High Motorcycle Jump and Truck Back Flip By Motorsports Stars Robbie Maddison and Rhys Millen, Telecast Live on ESPN

Santa Monica, Calif. (November 18, 2008) – Deviating from the standard New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking or save more money, two world-class athletes have resolved to break boundaries before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, at Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. in Las Vegas. Robbie Maddison will follow up his history-making motorcycle distance jump with another world-first performance. Rhys Millen seeks redemption for what was supposed to be a New Year’s celebration a year ago before a training accident derailed his plans, but only temporarily.

Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. will be televised live on ESPN/ESPN HD immediately following the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (approx. 11:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. PT). The show will also be simulcast live on ESPN360.com. Viewing of Maddison’s jump at Paris Las Vegas is free to the thousands of revelers on the world famous Las Vegas Strip.

LET IT RIDE Having broken the Guinness World Record for a motorcycle with a leap of 322 feet, 7.5 inches over the length of a football field during the 2007 Red Bull New Year’s Eve event, Maddison will attempt a more finessed, but equally challenging jump this time. The 27-year-old Aussie will jump his bike more than 120 feet high and land on the top of the 96-foot-high and 40-foot-deep replica Arc de Triomphe in front of Paris Las Vegas. What goes up must come down, and Maddison’s not going to argue with physics. Upon completing the jump, he will then drop off the Arc and freefall 50 feet to a massive landing ramp below. Maddison’s impressive resume, in addition to his record-breaking distance jumps, includes a very successful freestyle motocross career. In March, Maddison leapt an astounding 378 feet in Australia.

“I had some doubts last year whether or not I could jump a football field,” said Maddison. “But as I practiced, I got more and more confident and realized I could pull it off; and I did, twice. This year, the doubts are way bigger. The jump has never been done before, but I’m confident in my ability and I believe that as I start training, the dream that seems impossible will become a reality.”

Millen will attempt to become the first person to complete and land a backflip in an off-road truck. The flip will take place at a location to be determined in Las Vegas. Millen’s flip demands the truck to travel a distance of 80 feet at a height of 50 feet. During his final practice before the 2007 New Year’s event, Millen overshot the landing, resulting in injury, damage to his vehicle and his withdrawal from the event. The 36-year-old New Zealand native is fully recovered and more determined than ever. Millen’s motorsports credibility is unrivaled. He was the 2005 Formula Drift champion and 2008 Red Bull Drifting World Championship winner, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb world record holder and has been the lead stunt driver in several commercials and movies, such as Dukes of Hazzard and Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.

“Last year we attempted what was before then thought impossible,” said Millen. “Laws of physics and vehicle dynamics were pushed to the limits with success, but failure came in one small miscalculation. My body can be broken but my mind cannot. This year, people will witness the first ramp to ramp back flip in an off-road truck – ever!”

Maddison and Millen will be practicing for their epic night at the Red Bull Compound training facility north of Los Angeles, which features massive foam pits for each athlete to safely prepare to make history.

Additional details for Red Bull: New Year. No Limits. will be released in the coming weeks. For event information, as well as information on Maddison and Millen, visit www.redbullnewyearnolimits.com.

In the last few years it seems more and more familiar faces from other action action sports keep showing up in rally car racing.  A few years back, freestyle motocross riders Travis Pastrana and Kenny Bartram made the transition, with success.  In fact, Pastrana has conquered the sport with the same intensity that made him a FMX superstar.

Pastrana won his third-straight Rally America Championship this season, edging teammate Ken Block (founder of DC Shoes) and cementing his place among the best of the sport.

Joining Pastrana and Block on the Rally America Championship series this season was BMX rider Dave Mirra, who juggled his rally racing with BMX contests.  Still, Mirra performed better than any other rookie driver this season and was honored as “Rookie of the Year” as a result.

The first of the 2009 season’s nine stops will kick off on January 30 with the SnoDrift Rally.  Visit the Rally America site for more.

While training in west Auckland last Thursday, Prumm mistimed a jump and fell nearly 10 feet, landing head-first with her bike falling on top of her. The 20-year-old was transported to a local hospital where doctors diagnosed her with a fractured back.  She had to wait three days for surgery to fuse three unstable vertebrae to stable ones above and below.

Prumm has won two motocross world titles in a row and was already sidelined by injury earlier in 2008 and was unable to repeat.  Now she’s unsure of whether she will ever ride a motorcycle again.

“As far as recovery goes, I haven’t really been told too much yet, about walking or riding,” she said.

“I think I’m more anxious to find out whether I’ll be all right or not,” she told NZPA.  “Not a lot else matters at the moment.”

Prumm’s accident is the latest in a string of significant injuries to major action sports stars, dating back to last year’s crash by BMX star Stephen Murray.

Read more about the accident here.

This country has come a long way since the days before Suffrage.  It was a depressed time when women in this country were not allowed to take part of one of this nation’s proudest privileges, voting.  Now look at where we are.  Opera Winfrey is one of the most powerful people in the country, Lisa Leslie from the LA Sparks dunked a basketball, and we might have a pig with lipstick in the White House.  What a landmark moment that might be. 

Well in addition to all that, ESPN is proud to announce that the X Games and Winter X Games will feature equal prize money for both men and women in 2009. ESPN has been a leader in promoting and programming women’s athletics, and this recent action sports prize purse increase is the latest example. This past summer saw the X Games feature women’s motocross for the first time, and the upcoming Winter X Games will feature a host of female Olympic medalists from several different countries. Starting with Winter X Games 13 in January 2009, men and women athletes at all X Games events.

Do you tend recycle bottles as hard as you skateboard?  Do you find yourself reusing paper as fast as you bomb hills on your bike?  Or do you try to place recyclable material in its proper place as you roll around on your recycled Roller Blades?  If so, you may be a bigger fan of the X Games now that they are the most environmental friendly action sporting events known to man.  For the second year in a row, the X Games delivered more than an 80 percent recycling rate at X Games 14.

In the four years since the XGE program’s inception, the X Games have now recycled more than 422 tons of material from both its summer and winter flagship events. These results indicate that progressive waste minimization and resource conservation initiatives implemented throughout the planning and execution of the event continue to drive a new standard for environmental excellence in action sporting events.  If you too are an environmental enthusiast, check out the press release below.  It’s pretty extreme. 

These accomplishments were achieved in part through an innovative composting program designed to capture and divert organic materials from the landfill. Spectators and staff alike were encouraged to participate in this program by composting paper and food products. The staff catering area has excelled in this effort through the use of compostable service products such as cups made from corn-based PLA plastic; plates, bowls and to-go containers made from bagasse, a sugarcane by-product; utensils made from potato starch; and napkins made from recycled content paper. Products like these ensured that a majority of diners’ discards could be composted. In addition, 90 gallons of kitchen grease generated by the staff catering kitchen was recycled into biodiesel and more than 3,500 pounds of surplus food and catering supplies were donated to a Los Angeles area food bank.

 
Custom designed, three-way collection receptacles provided sorting for beverage containers, trash and organic waste in public and back-of-house areas, and included colorful graphics to educate participants about proper sorting procedures. In addition, cardboard and wood were also collected for recycling. Nearly 47.2 tons of wood and cardboard, which represented 61 percent of the total waste generated by the event was diverted from the landfill and either reused or sent to a specialized recycling facility.
 
In another XGE initiative, reusable water bottles were distributed to all X Games staff and athletes as water refilling stations were strategically located throughout the event, eliminating the need for nearly 50,000 individual single-use plastic water bottles.
 
In a continued effort to raise awareness about use of renewable energy and ways to combat climate change, XGE introduced Tour de X, an initiative enabling people to learn about and interact with cutting edge alternative energy technology. Spectators were able to recharge their cell phones, cameras and other personal electronics just by riding specially outfitted Tour de X bikes. Additionally, XGE contributed to help the Arbor Day Foundation plant 5,000 Longleaf Pine trees in the John M. Bethea State Forest in northern Florida to assist with reforestation efforts following the Bugaboo wildfire of spring 2007.
 
“It’s a significant accomplishment to have such high levels of recycling at an event this large,” said Chris Stiepock, general manager and vice president, X Games franchise. “It would not be possible without the commitment of the entire staff and key suppliers who keep the environment top of mind when planning and executing the event.”

Anyway, back to Motocross.  Turns out there is a connection.  Corbin Bleu, one of the stars of HSM (He’s the one that looks like Justin Guarini of “From Justin to Kelly” fame), is making a new movie.  About motocross.

Here’s the official description from the production company website.

Corbin Bleu, stars as nineteen-year-old Cale Bryant, a pre-eminent racer on the local motocross circuit. His dream to win the Amateur National Championships is surpassed only by his devotion to his down-on-their-luck family. With the support of his best friend and girlfriend, Cale manages to juggle his passion for his sport with two jobs, in order to help his single mother pay the bills. But on the eve of the national competition, a family tragedy strikes, potentially signifying the end of a dream. In this riveting coming-of-age story, Cale’s guts and determination to compete, and his compassion and loyalty to those he loves, lead him to triumph in the face of adversity.

If Corbin Bleu starring in this flick wasn’t enough to get you watching, did I already tell you he’s also co-producing it?  Thought that might make the difference.

I would love to tell you when this is coming out — it’s probably a straight-to-DVD release, unfortunately — but stay tuned.  I’m sure it will be worth it.  Meanwhile, you can watch <strike>Justin</strike>Corbin in HSM3 starting now…