Bill Johnson

creepycoug

Apparently died recently. Super shitty. I didn't realize he was as fucked up as he was. Not much older than I am. That spill on Big Mountain making a comeback way too late in life really fucked his life up. His coach is interviewed on the E60 piece, and there is no question that he took a calculated and known risk (that he and his coach discussed and planned the previous day) on that cork screw to make up some time. Wound up essentially costing him his life as he knew it, but he was ballz to the wall about winning. Love fucking athletes like that ... damn the torpedoes. I've skied that course at Big that he ran that day and stopped on the way down to take a look at the turn. I said "Jesus" out loud, and a guy skiing by me heard and said "I know; crazy." Unless you've physically been there, you can't appreciate it. You ski down to it doing maybe 25 mph at best, and you just sit there and think, "No sane person would hit this thing doing 70, much less flattening out off edge on purpose to PICK UP SPEED!" Just fucking suicidal.

I really recommend the E60 they just did on him - one of the best sports pieces I've ever seen. Watch it and tell me this guy wasn't all ballz all the time. Came out of nowhere - Complete Oregon white trash - and beat the Austrians and Swiss at their fucking game and told them he was going to do it. The way the Euro circuit skiers hated Johnson to me is symbolic for everything they hate about Americans, which I fucking LOVE. And then the part where they're interviewing Maher and he can't hold back the tears is pretty poignant and tells you the regard in which he was held by the US Ski world despite being a complete wild card and pain in the ass.

He would made a one helluva Cane.

"Go Billy Boy"!

creepycoug

Sorry about the double post. I'm a retard on the computer.