In my first incarnation as a USOpen super fan I’ll be rocking something along these lines; -My classic USOpen red pants for being seen while poaching the contest pipe or incase there’s a chance of fog or a wintery mix.
-Those fancy pants will be paired with a super stealth hooded jacket complete with a zillion pockets for all my electronic gadgets, namely my Canon G-10 for blogworthy photos of 2010 USOpen soon-to-be historic moments, a blackberry curve for my blow by blow twitter coverage of all the happenings and a flip cam to completely incriminate and document the antics of yet another Open.
-All will be possible thanks to the fingerless gloves, a few hand warmers and a peppermint tea to fight off the Vermonty frost.
-Since the Open is always around good ol’ St. Paddy’s day and snowboarders love their flair, I’ll be donning some sort of Irish pin begging for a kiss or staking my claim to some sort of Leprechaun luck along with my standard issue unicorn goggle pin.
-Eugene my enchanted unicorn friend will be joining us on the sidelines ensuring the magic of the Open says true and authentic to it’s core and if not, I’ll wave my giant foam finger in your face... if only I really had one.
What are you up to work wise?? Commentating? Work wise, I have just started a webcasting production company [We Media Project] so we can help tell the stories of our sports to people who care and engage with the community. There is something so amazing about broadcasting events live to an audience that really cares, plus since it is the web their aren’t really any rules and people are more themselves so it’s a beautiful thing to be able to be a part of the story telling of events and the people who make them happen. I am always looking into doing more tv, web [blog; FeelTheByrnes], radio stuff and being a storyteller in some way shape or form.
I also manage Kelly Clark and do some website and social media management for Gretchen Bleiler. It’s pretty amazing that I get to work with my best friends.
I did a class in LA for retired pro athletes to learn how to become sports analysts; me and like 8NFL players, an NBA player, and some track and field stars. Pretty funny, now it’s a going to be a reality show on Fox Sports Net' in June. I am mortified that I am one of those reality tv idiots but whatever, it was amazing. The people were great and I learned a ton, so it’s all good, right? Don’t judge me to harshly if you happen to see it...
Sideprojects?
I feel like everything I do is a side project and I am open to new ones so keep me posted. My latest ambition, other than building our webcasting empire, is to travel to Africa and do some volunteer work and take improv classes in LA for a month or two. As far as friends' projects; Radish Designs is back up and running and one of my dearest friends has just started up a great little company called Jar of Wonder and they make felt food toys for kids so that plastic toys will be a thing of the past and our kids can use their imaginations more than the tv remotes or something inspiring like that!
What were the Burton madras/lumberjackets like at the Olympics? Liked them have to say, though the ripped jeans -no.
These outfits definitely grew on me and more than anything else they put snowboarding front and center in the “look up and take notice category”. People the whole world over asked the same questions….. “are they wearing jeans?” I guess that in itself is pretty cool.
How was it to have Sundance and the Snowboarding World Cup both at Park City simulateously... nutty I bet.
It’s kind of awesome to have Sundance and the last Olympic qualifier at the same time and in the same town, it is another reminder that just because your head is buried in something so deep doesn’t mean anyone else in the world notices. Both these events are really big deals in their separate worlds but when they come together in the same town, they are both so focused on their own journey they hardly notice the other is there... I however wasn’t focused too hard on either so totally enjoyed the madness of Sundance and the intense suspense of real-life Olympic team-making drama.
How was that Washed Up Cup last year... do it again?
So fun, such an amazing idea and great to bring a lot of the forerunners in our sport together to reminisce and look back at a sport we really contributed to. So rad and am looking forward to it this year!!! Glad that people are taking the time to celebrate amazing times and all that cheesy stuff.
Huge props to TB for taking the time to get all the looks and answers together. If you want to read more about what the grande dame of east coast snowboading is up to, she spoke to RideVermont a few weeks back; great interview.
