Latest Update: July 5, 2001

Travels With Ike Update
Too much has happened in the past few days. Ben Marcus has written letters to Patagonia, Steve Hawk, and even prereleased an obituary for Swell.com. He's also lost his boots, entered Canada, and run out of money. Still few fish. Clickto read on.

Billabong In Its Element
We told you about this deal over a month ago, but now it's official. Billabong has purchased the Element Skateboards brand. Skateboarding continues to be the industry's savior.

Primedia Buys emap
You've all heard the news. Now it's time to wait and see how things sort out. The big question is: where will the consolidation begin and who will get canned? Because you know there isn't enough room for all those egos in two small buildings? Another note: while the story is huge and getting play all over, the magazines that matter to us are rarely (if ever) mentioned.
-Nick Carroll weighs in
-TransWorld Surf
-Money UK
-Independent UK
-International Hearld Tribune
-The Standard
-Financial Times Market Watch
-ABCNEWS.com (Reuters)
-CNNfn

Ben Still On The Road
Fear not. Ben has not forgotten the Sacklunch faithful. Catch up on all the latest from Idaho.
-July 2
-July 1 and 2
-June 30

Flatbar Kills 10-year-old
A 10-year-old boy died at a skateboard park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado Saturday from a massive skull fracture when a heavy steel rail used for tricks toppled onto him. He was not skateboarding at the time. Officials are now questioning the safety of skateparks.
-Aspen Daily News story
-Funeral services held for boy

A First Person Report On Moriarity
It was a busy couple days in Southern Idaho for Ben Marcus. First, the world's greatest surf journalist sneaks into a Patagonia sales meeting and speaks with Yvon Chouinard, then gets a first hand account from a diver who helped with the search Jay Moriarity first disappeared death from a diver who helped with the search.

Ben Breaks a$500 Fly Rod
He's claimed to be a fisherman for quite sometime, however, Ben Marcus just caught his first keeper (of this trip). Ike the cat has been running off a lot lately and was nearly eaten by a badger. Catch up on the latest episode of Travels With Ike.
-June 24, 2001
-June 23, 2001

Getting Pickled with Billabong
The SoCal debutante season kicked off Wednesday night June 20 with a huge party at Anaheim's Sun Theater to premiere Billabong's new Jamie Mosberg film Pickled. If you didn't go, you blew it. Seriously. The place was packed with Orange County's finest. And the movie, well, it centers around some middle aged goofball (Robert Earl Wells) floating in a raft and eating pickles. Apparently there was also some surfing in the film. Good surfing at that.

Ben Meets A Boy Who Catches Fish
You'd think with the amount of time Ben Marcus spends "flogging the river" that's he'd bring something home. Nope. The trout goes to a 10 year old bait fisherman named Austin. More from Montana.

Jay Moriarity's Death Makes Waves
Swell.com's Steve Hawk updated his comprehensive story on Jay's death. Jay died in Maldives but the out pouring of support for his family and friends has come in from around the world. Here are just a few of the stories that have run in recent days:
- Mavsurfer.com's front screen
- Grief, shock follow famed young surfer's death
- Surfers mourning Moriarity's death
- Santa Cruz mourns well-known surfer
- Death of world-class surfer stuns coastal community

Ben Eats Elk, Ike Kills Chipmunks
The tip from Mike and Rich's cabin cleaner was, if you're going to eat elk make sure you marinate it. Ben shops for fixin's and prepares to begin work on his Jay Moriarity memorial story as Travels With Ike continues.

Skateparks Are Springing Up All Over
The LA Times notices a trend: skateparks are being built in city across this great nation. And skateparks are saving todays youth, just ask Kevin Boland in his "Arrest Me I'm a Skateboarder" T-shirt.

Revisiting the King of the Surf Guitar
It was 15 years ago that an LA Times writer Martin Smith visited Dick Dale. The king was down on his luck, getting kicked out of his Newport Beach mansion and things were looking to get worse. Now Martin looks back and compares his first impression of the man to the realities in 2001.

Random Quote
"I've spent more than two years writing about dot-coms, and I'm kind of sick of them and their latte-chugging, snowboard-toting CEOs who promise to "change the world."--Eryn Brown, Fortune Magazine talking about people we know.

Rocky Winter Returns In June
When a freak Rocky Mountain storm dumped three feet of snow on Big Sky Montana the owners could do nothing, but fire up the lifts and let 'em ride.

American Skiing Company Down 66%
Things are not looking rosey for the ski resort company that owns Heavenly Valley, and you can blame that on "nonrecurring charges" because everything else at the companies resorts was up, up, up. Right.

Fake Reef on Florida East Coast?
You know it's scary when people in Florida are saying things like, "It's been done in California," as a reson to build an artificial reef on Florida's coast. Even funnier, they hope to generate "8-10 foot waves" on the Gulf coast. Good luck.

Juno Profiled in Seattle Weekly
Pro snowboarder and journalist Arlie Carsten's band Juno gets written up in the hometown weekly. This ran last month, but somehow we missed it.

Ben Gets The Sad News
Jay Moriarity Dies In Diving Accident
Op Pro Boat Trip on Surfermag.com
Donna Frye Sworn In

Previous Bags o' Crapola:
-June 19, 2001
-May 9, 2001
-April 27, 2001
-March 30, 2001

Special thanks: to Jim Romenesko's MediaGossip.com