Latest Update: January 16, 2001

Happy New Year and welcome to the completely redesigned Sacklunch.com site. We've included a few new icons and a SACK SEARCH making it easier to quickly find all the bad things we've said.

Also, if you have AvantGo installed on your Palm, CE, or WAP enabled device, simply click here to add SACKLUNCH to your AvantGo Channel List! We're moving on up. Enjoy.

More Lay Offs at Swell.com
Email recently received by Sacklunch stated that on January 15, 2001 approximately 15 more employees were laid off at Swell.com. "Last week they laid off a whole bunch of people and all but shut down the Northern California office," said one e-mailer. Another former employee even called it "Black Monday" in the San Juan Capistrano office on Martin Luther King Day. "Today was a day of reckoning," one e-mailer said. "Dead silence as one by one [employees] were escorted up the stairs by Doug Palladini."

Snowboard Life (Dead)
On Thursday TransWorld Group Publisher Tim Wrisley said, "Despite the incredible job the SBL crew did this year editorially. . . it was too late to persuade the general snowboarding public and advertisers to buy it." So, TransWorld is suspending publication of Snowboard Life as of January 11, 2000. It was a magazine that had a rough time from the beginning. Though readers liked it, advertisers did not understanding the product. As one staff member said, "Most of the industry was too narrow minded to understand that there is a giant market for snowboarders who don't subscribe to the theory of just hitting kickers all day long."

Swell.com Story Error
We regretfully admit to a glaring error in a previous Swell mention (which has been removed from the site). The exiting photographer from Crossrocket was not the photo editor. According to Doug Palladini, Crossrocket photo editor Pat Wright is not going anywhere and will be employed at Swell "as long as he wants the job." We apologize for this error.

Major Dave Dies After Snowboard Accident Upcoming amateur skateboarder, "Major" Dave Bowers, died following a snowboarding accident at Mount Seymour in Vancouver, Canada. His head injury was "survivable", but due to complications he died of pneumonia. Dave was a fixture in the Vancouver skate scene and will be dearly missed by all that knew him.

Transitions and Exits
Depending on what you believe Ari Marcopoulos is either a photo genius or snowboarding's biggest sycophant. Either way he and his camera have had intimate access to snowboarding's biggest names and in this book he has done them justice. The book is filled with images of private moments off snow. He captures the sweaty boy ethic like no one else. Homoerotic? Sure. Worth the money? Definitely. Click here to buy one now.

Force Feeding Snowboardermag.com?
Looks like Emap's snowboard site is hitting on hard times. Why else would a visit to Surfermag.com force viewers into loading Snowboardermag.com. (Try it and you'll see what we mean.) And we thought porn sites were the only ones to stoop so low.

Boyer Humiliated On Ebay
"Jeez, I thought I'd do better than this," said Jon Boyer recently upon seeing his own 6-year-old Jon Boyer Model Barfoot Snoboard for sale on Ebay for $49.00. Later when he tired to bid $50 on it he watched in horror as someone sneaked in at the last minute and sniped it out from under him.

Big Waves At Maverick's Yee Haw
It was a big day by any standards and Friday, Dec. 22, 2000, will probably go down as one of the biggest days of the year. At least that's what they're saying in Nor Cal. Parsons and Gerlach were getting towed into the same swell down in Todos Santos. Big wave mania hits the LA Times.

Jeff Clark Named Chairman of the Boards
Jeff Clark has now joined Tony Hawk and countless other action sports practitioners to be profiled by lazy writers to whom "Chairman of the Boards" is the wittiest title they've ever thought of. Cool story though.

Indoor Glacier for Bottrop
Looks like Anaheim, CA isn't the only industrial slag heap of a city to get an indoor snowboard facility. The grimy coal mine spoiled city of Bottrop, Germany has an indoor snowboard dome that is expected to attract 2 million visitors a year. Maybe there's still hope for the Gotcha Glacier.

Sierra Snow Totals Half Off
Snow fall totals won't be the only things that are half off if this drought continues. Luckily, California began getting some weather this week or the industry may get to have some real fire sales this spring.

Skatepark Article Begins With "Dude"
Want to know exactly how you shouldn't write the next time you're thinking about doing a story on the action sports market? Then check this out: it's a virtual how-not-to.

Hermosa Beach Waits for Surf Museum
For more than five years Abel and Corinne Ybarra have pushed for the creation of the Hermosa Beach Surfing Museum but the city won't help them out and donors what to see a permanent resting place for their collectibles.

Remains of Bodyboarder Found
The body of 16-year-old Juan Jose Mejia Jr., who disappeared in heavy surf off Redondo Beach on Christmas Day, was recovered Tuesday when boaters spotted his body.

Pro Skatepark Editorial
It's rare that a newspaper will get the story straight on skateboarding and skateboard parks, this editorial does just that.

Botts Dots Invade Carlsbad Schools
It used to be that you could skate on the roof of a school in Carlsbad without getting hassled. Thanks to more "anti-skate" objects those days are coming to an end.

Parents of Dead Skateboarder Sue City
Ryan Crowley was skating in Temecula, CA when he hit his head and died. Now his parents are seeking $1 million from the city for not properly designing or maintaining the road. Okay.

X Games to Hold Couch Games
This winter's X Games will feature an event for their couch cruising viewers when they host a competition for players of ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding for PlayStation 2.

Aspen So Greedy It Allows Snowboarding
The Aspen Skiing Company will finally allow snowboarding from April 1 forward. Funny thing is, no one really wants to snowboard Ajax anyway as it's slopes are just crawling with tacky, nouve riche assholes.

Oakland Man dies at Breckenridge
Twenty-five- year-old Seth Bender, of Oakland, CA lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at Breckenridge. It was the third death at the mountain so far this year. Come on guys, be careful out there.

Man Dies In Colorado Avalanche
A 40-year-old man from Fort Collins was killed while snowboarding after being trapped by an avalanche on Cameron Pass.

Nick Nicholas III Kicking Ass?
O'Connell Nabs Wildcard Spot on ASP Tour
Crossrocket Launches

Previous Bags o' Crapola:
-December 22, 2000
-December 6, 2000
-November 29, 2000
-November 18, 2000

Special thanks: to Jim Romenesko's MediaGossip.com.