Wednesday, August 3, 2005
One Chuck WonderBy Vince Castellanos for EXPN.com

Chuck Carothers became an instant star at X Games '04 thanks to MTX Best Trick. When Carothers landed the first-ever body varial, which he dubbed the Carolla, he forever etched his name into action sports lore. But while little-known prior to the stunt, Huck-a-Chuck was hardly an overnight sensation. The 27-year-old already owned mass respect among fellow riders for stomping several 200-foot jumps—an extremely rare motorcycling feat. He's also earned props for a killer creative streak; Carothers is credited with inventing a few major tricks. And now he'll try the best trick of all: Winning back-to-back gold at X Games.

EXPN.com: Why were you so confident entering Best Trick last year?
Carothers: "I'm a confident person; I always think I can do whatever I set my mind to. And last year I had a great feeling going in to X. I felt like it was my turn—my turn at the top, my turn in the spotlight—and I was gonna take it."

How many times had you attempted the body varial before X Games?
"I tried it about seven times into the foam pit, but it hadn't gone very well. The first time was in January ['04] at Mike Metzger's house, and I broke my foot and knocked myself out of Winter X. The next time was into Travis Pastrana's foam pit, and I dislocated my shoulder. I tried it again right after that and broke my collarbone. That was bad because I was broke and couldn't afford to go home to Texas and then back to Travis' [in Maryland], so Travis let me stay at his house. I hung out for like three weeks and didn't do anything. When it healed up enough I tried it a few more times and then went to X Games."




The one-handed backflip is yesterday's news. Carothers hopes the Carolla isn't last year's trick.




How did it feel to land the Carolla?
"It was so awesome. It was completely satisfying. Not satisfying in a 'that's enough' way, but satisfying because I was so happy and relieved. It was the best day of my life. A huge thrill went through my body, and the crowd was so loud. I'd never heard a crowd at X Games get that loud for anyone before, and to look up and see all of that excitement was incredible."

How has winning at X Games changed your career?
"It's made me a recognizable athlete and a common name in freestyle motocross. That's really helped with sponsors; it's really helped a lot with money. I don't have to worry about how many shows I have to do to survive. It's not like that anymore."

But it was like that. You were so broke you had to borrow money from your mom just to get to X Games. Then you won XG gold and scored $50,000. What was your first big purchase with the cash?
"First of all, it wasn't $50,000. I lost $3,500 of it right off the top to California taxes. I got my check and wondered, 'Hey, why is this short? Where's the rest of it?' Then I paid my mom back right away. This will sound funny, but one of the only big things I bought was a new mattress. I'm a pretty cheap guy, but I had always wanted a Tempur-Pedic mattress, so I paid $2,300 for one of those. That's a lot, especially since the last mattress I bought was like $150, but it's so worth it."

Tell me about Camp Chuck?
"In December I closed on a house that has 70 acres. There's the house, a bunkhouse, cook's house pond, foam pit and enough land for an awesome freestyle course. It's so cool. I've got 10 ramp and dirt hits and I'm getting more. Every morning I wake up, see my backyard and think 'I can't believe this is my course!' Probably 15 to 20 people have ridden there, and everyone pitches in to maintain it. It's a lot of fun."



Chuck "Big Spender" Carothers won his biggest paycheck last year at summer X -- $50,000. Then, he bought a mattress.




You suffered a serious concussion at an event this February in Memphis. What happened?
"I remember being in the air, and the next thing I remembered was a day or so later in the hospital. I did a huge whip—it was more like a 180, really. It was maybe the biggest whip ever. People say I almost landed it, but I guess I went over the bars. I was unconscious for about 25 minutes and had collapsed a lung, so I didn't breathe for a while. My friends and the other riders there totally freaked out, a lot of them had to turn and walk away because it looked so bad.

"I remember almost nothing from the hospital, and the month after that is really fuzzy. It was horrible; I had constant blurriness, my coordination was way off and it was six weeks before I saw any improvement at all. It was three months before things cleared up, and even then symptoms would come and go. I couldn't start riding again until June."

How have you spent the past couple of months?
"I went to the ESPYs because I got nominated, which was cool. I competed in an ATV event at the Great Outdoor Games, and I already told them I'd do it again—it was that much fun. For the last couple of weeks I've just been working on the Carolla into my foam pit."

What are your expectations at X Games?
"Oh I'm gonna win again. There's no doubt in my mind. Of course, there never is. I didn't have any doubts before Winter X, but that didn't turn out so well [he crashed]. I've done a lot of Carollas in the past few days and I feel good about it. I'll get frustrated after a few bad ones, but I know I can do it."

You've heard the "one-trick-wonder" stuff. Do you feel any pressure?
"People keep asking me if I've got anything new for X Games, which is kinda crazy. I wish I did, but I'm no one-trick-wonder, and the people that ride with me know that. They've seen what I can do. I landed the one-handed Kiss of Death two years ago and nobody else has done that yet. People can say whatever, but it doesn't bother me at all."

Tuesday, June 21, 2005
X Games 11 Live Telecast ScheduleEXPN.com

DATE/TIME NETWORK EVENT
Thursday,
August 4
9 p.m.-11 p.m. ESPN BMX Freestyle Vert Finals; Moto X Best Trick Finals
Friday,
August 5
9 p.m.-11 p.m. ESPN Skateboard Vert Men's Finals; Moto X Step Up Finals
Saturday,
August 6
1 p.m.-3 p.m. ESPN Wakeboard Women's Finals; Wakeboard Men's Finals; BMX Freestyle Park Finals; Skateboard Street Men's Finals
3 p.m.-6 p.m. ABC BMX Freestyle Park Finals (continued from ESPN); Moto X Freestyle Finals Part 1; Surfing Finals
9 p.m.-11 p.m. ESPN BMX Freestyle Dirt Finals; Moto X Freestyle Finals Part 2
Sunday,
August 7
3 p.m.-6 p.m. ABC BMX Freestyle Dirt Finals; SuperMoto


The Summer X Games Start on Thursday. I'm a big fan and they are always fun to watch. I admit I do get Fuel wich is an all action sports station but I kinda forget that I have it or the shows I want to watch are on when I'm watching other stuff. For more information on the X Games you can go to expn.com . I copy and pasted a chart of when things are on TV. But it is also good to check local listing or to check on TV to. Sometimes the times and what is on can change with it being live or if other sports on before run late.

ESPN's SportsCenter will air LIVE, every day, from X Games 11 at 11 p.m. ET. ESPN will also feature daily late-night highlight programs from Friday, August 5 through Sunday, August 7 from 3-4 a.m. ET, and Monday, August 8 from 2-3 a.m. ET.

• Times and events listed are Eastern Time (ET) and are subject to change. Please consult your local listings.

At work we listen to The Lake. It is an interesting radio station that plays a good mix of rock music. During one of the commerical breaks I heard an ad for the Elmwood Collective. They also Mentioned Tru Teas as part of it and said they are across the street from the New Co-op. I don't remember everything but it sounded like they where also encouraging people to come to the Elmwood Area not just them. If that is true I'm sure it will help the area out a lot. I also read and article in the Buffalo News about the guy who owns Faherty's and Toro. The article wasn't only about him. It was about how Hertel had improved a lot over the last few years and how they kinda modeled what they did after elmwood. I'm sorry I can't remember the guys name or the new place he will have on Hertel. I'm not sure if it was her or not but I saw someone running down Elmwood today that looked like Lilho but I couldn't tell cause people kinda look differant in person then in pics so.

First of all the two pictures above are from the Caribana Parade. You could pay and go see it. But you could overlook it for free along the parade route. I lot of people did that they sold lots of food. Hopefully when I have more time on line I will be able to post them to webshots and maybe a few more here and provide a link to all my Toronto pictures.

I thought I would post in mutliple colors in honor of the multiple themes. I won't do white here kinda hard to read. I saw the multiplethemes when I came here but once I logged in they disapeared. Also a couple user pics stayed up when I went to the next user. maybe I should just stay in turtle or slow mode as opposed to fast mode.

I had a lot of fun in toronto. The Blue Jays lost but the game was still fun. I bought a few Blue Jays things like a little bear. I wanted to just eat at the game but I was out voted we found this little food court there with some resturants. These sexy asian girls where eating McDonalds. I tried some Thai Food, it was called fried beef it had noodles and other stuff. It was good but I couldn't eat it all. I think either my mother or sis had Chinesse food i forget. I wish I would have taken a picture of those sexy ladies it would have been funny to post both pictures but I didn't take one.

After the Game I decided to go to Younge Street I walked about 3 blocks down Bloor. It is amazing how many people where out and about on that street. I don't know where I was going or most of the people where going. There must be bars and clubs or maybe just people watching I don't know. I found a place where I spent way more money then I thought I would. But This one girl was amazing, It felt better then some sex I've had. But it was fun. Plus it was the only place that i knew of that they played rock music in. for those wondering yeah it was a srtip club, some of the music was great also.

Saturday was interesting and annoying also. Don't get me wrong I love my sis and everything but she is verry annoying. She likes to wear headphones. I admit the ones she has are awesome. But the problem is she uses them to shut out the world. When I wear mine I can hear traffic and sirens and cars, talking not sure but if i couldn't I would turn them down. You can see how this would cause problems. Like when she gets ahead of people and goes the wrong way and we have to yell. That part wasn't fun. Then Money issues of who owes who for what, oh I hate that. I used to not order out with friends or coworkers because of that. Now the problem wasn't only her it was my mother to. They really need to lern to communacate. My sis goes into a store to look at clothes and my mother runs ahead to look at a resturant and I'm fucking caught in the middle then A fight between me and Mag break out in the resturant. I say if you want to eat then eat or go look at clothes so gets upset. We are supposed to be go to NYC for Christmas, I'm not going. 3 nights in a hotel and airfair there and back is a lot of money. Being lost and frezzing and putting up with those 2 no thanks. I like to have fun but if there is stress then the fun isn't worth it. Maybe if they both promise to communicate then things will work out ok. Part of the problem is that mag dosn't have a lot of money so sometimes she has to borrow money from the mother and sometimes it is the other way around so things can get really crazzy fast.

Sorry for the bitch fest above but it was verry stressfull. Before we went to Little india wich is a nice area. We went to The Caribana parade (saturday). That was fun but being on in the sun I got burnt some. Not to bad I hope. The parade came in groups sord of. You would wait then a bunch of stuff would come. We watched some of it and enjoyed it. We watched from the CNE grounds. There are some cool buildings there. There where a lot of sexy ladies there and tons of people and food to buy. I should have bought a Caribana braclet. I wonder if they have merch for sale on line, I'll have to check into that. I should mention that on the way to little india we walked through Old Cabagge town. I had no idea we would go through one neighboorhood to get to another. It was my first time in either of those parts of town. So even though there was a lot of stress it was still fun. I would recomend visting there. I think it is fun to explore some place and see what you find. But it is also fun to look stuff up and see exactly what you want to do.

That tittle may not be exactly correct. Toronto is now refered to as TO. It has ben for some time. Not sure if it with the dots or not I think I remember it as with out the Dots. I'm going with my family to go see the Bluejays tonight. Then not sure what we are doing on Saturday but we will find something to do. Not sure how long we will stay the parade is one option the Zoo is another. Wow it is almost time to Leave. I will still need to go to Toronto 2 more times. I still want to go to Mideviltimes that looks like a lot of fun. I also want to go to the Candian National Exhabition also Known as the CNE, I belive now it is Called the EX . If memory serves me correctly admission also includes free admission to just blanked on the place that connects with a brigde and has water stuff and an IMAX place. Toronto is a great place to visit. Hopefully I will write again when I get back.

On Sunday I went to The Great American Bash. I have to admit that I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed myself. I think all the matchs where good. I may have been shown on the PPV there was a part where Batista and JBL fought in the fans right in front of me. That was awesome.

I read a couple interesting ariticles in the City&Region section of the Buffalo news today. One of them was about the Casino and how it looks like it will be in Downtown Buffalo now, I guess Chektovegas ain't to happy about it. The other article was about The Co-op opening up in its new location. Plus there was a short article about some guy being threatend in Love Joy. Buffalo just may make the national news for race riots happening their soon, it wouldn't surprise me. When I was growing up if you didn't live in lovejoy you didn't go there or else. If you did go there you had better be there with someone who lived there. This was if you where white, it wasn't safe. If you warn't from there hood you had better leave if you knew what was good for you. They have never liked outsiders. When the outsider is of another race forget about it.

Last night I was planning on going to see Hotie but it never happend. Out of nowhare I got hit by this fealling of massive tiredness. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe from all the McDonalds food I ate. I saw someone who kinda looked like matt in McDonalds but since I've never met him in person I didn't say hi, plus from what I have read he dosn't seem like a McDonalds guy. Anyway so I go home and decide to lay down for about an hour or so then at 6 go down to the marina. I figured I should get there in Time to see hotie, even though I don't know when they are coming on. But I wake up about 8 and check what is on and Watch The Village. It was ok, but not really my type of movie. So later today I go to The Great American Bash. It will be a lot of fun even if the guys I like lose.

I can't remember who mentioned it in there journal. But someone wrote that they enjoyed the Vietamimese place on elmwood. Some day I want to go there. But I didn't get to go there when they first opened as some other resturant. I always mean to try Toro and I think the place is called Saigon Cafe. I don't know why I don't every try them. I think part of it is because I don't go to sit down resturants by my self very often. Well maybe some day i will try out some places on elmwood that arn't pizza places.

I went with my Sis to go see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. On the way I saw a very sexy blonde Mailwomen or is that Mailcarrier in any event she looked very sexy. Maybe it was just the outfit but I doubt it. We wound up being late but luckly didn't miss any of the movie. Saw a preview for another Tim Burton movie called The Corpses Bride. It looks verry interesting. I liked the New verision. I admit it is the same basic story as the orginal Chocolate factory but it is also very differant. It seems darker and The way Depp Plays Wonka is differant. I don't want to give anything away. But I think it is verry good.

I don't know why but Shawnr's quicktime files have the line through them that means they are broken or don't work. I don't know if that is because something is wrong with the files or if there is additonal Quicktime software that I need, or if I can only watch them with a cell phone.

I was wondering when you log off you hear that concersation and it kinda ends with someone saying they need a beat, who is that?

I forgot Hootie and the Blowfish where playing this weekend. I think I will go to see them. I don't know what time they come on but I think the first opener is on at 3pm. I will see if anyplace on line has times of when they plan for each band to go on.

OK I admit it isn't really in Buffalo, and I forget about it every year, and I never go. But I'm surprised no one hear has mentioned it. I went once years ago and enjoyed it. NOthing like games that I don't really play and lots of places to eat and some games I might try. But then again they have all of that and a lot more at the Erie county fair. I always go for at least one day. Well gotta go and watch smackdown, week before the PPV is always big.