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2006 Winter Olympics

Made for America

Snowboarders are fun, funky, fearless, a bit loopy and our new-age Olympic heroes.

By JOHN ROMANO
Published February 14, 2006

BARDONECCHIA, Italy - No need to fret, no cause to worry. The kids are here to save America. And dude, are they stoked.

Yup, that's the United States near the top of the Winter Olympic medal standings this morning. And these are the slackers who put us there.

Meet gold medalist Shaun White, 19, who said he was looking forward to the Games because it was a chance to meet girls.

"I'm feeling all Olympic-y."

Meet gold medalist Hannah Teter, 19, who had to cut her news conference short on Monday because of an appointment with doping control.

"We have to go pee in a cup, guys."

They have Green Day on their iPods and millions in their bank accounts. And today they are the difference between success and disaster for the U.S.

America's freestyle skiing team bombed on Saturday. The Alpine team disappointed on Sunday. Tony Benshoof came up short in the luge, and not even a team of St. Bernards could find our cross-country skiers.

Three days into these Games, the United States has won six medals. And the snowboarding crowd - in particular the men's and women's halfpipe teams - has accounted for four of them.

Think about that. Ten years ago, these were the kids put in elementary school detention for riding their skateboards in the halls.

Five years ago, these were the kids being chased off mountains by ski patrols because no one liked snowboarders getting too close to the yuppies.

And now they are our favorite Olympic heroes.

"I'm hoping Sasha Cohen digs gold medalists," White said.

Okay, so they're a little quirky. And perhaps they don't treat the whole Olympic rings thing as reverently as you would hope.

They tend to see history as anything that happened before Wednesday, and their idea of tradition is somewhat ...

"I think the Olympics is definitely trying to catch on to what the X Games have," said Gretchen Bleiler, who won silver in the halfpipe.

But at least they're not as self-important as Bode Miller. And they're not as conservative and measured in manner as Michelle Kwan.

For the most part, they are just like the teenagers in your home. Except instead of getting an allowance, they're buying beach houses and boats.

"I don't know what I'll do with my gold medal," Teter said. "Maybe I'll staple it to a wall. Is that a good thing to do with it?"

Look, it's easy to make fun of these kids. To wonder if they take anything seriously. To ponder whether their lineage can be traced back to stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High .

But the reality is that they are at the top of one of the fastest-growing sports in America. Snowboarding exploded at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, and it figures to grow even more by the time this week is through.

"I hope this wakes up the people who don't understand what this is all about," said U.S. coach Bud Keene. "This is going to be on prime time in the U.S., so we'll see what the results are. I have a feeling it's going to influence a lot of people."

Keene said snowboarding is made for America. Made for daredevils, and those who are not afraid to be unique. And it's clear that the rest of the world is lagging behind these kids with disheveled hair and a love for tofu.

Think China in table tennis. Think Germany in luge. Think Richard Nixon in 1972. That's the U.S. snowboarding team. "We're in the heads of the other teams," Keene said. "We're coming in here like a freight train, and we scare the crap out of everybody."

Hard to imagine, looking at them. They're sweet. They're funny. They have delightful stories to tell.

White used to stay in a Motel 6 with his parents and hide in the bathroom when his mother set off fire alarms with a hot plate in the room. Today, he makes more than $1-million a year in endorsements alone.

Teter was born to hippie parents in Vermont and was introduced to snowboarding by brothers Abe, Amen, Elijah and Josh. The family once earned money to purchase a trampoline by selling homemade apple pies for a year. And that's not to be confused with the gallons of homemade maple syrup they make by climbing trees to gather sap.

Even with the most important ride of her life coming up Monday, Teter remained true to her nature. Between the morning qualifying and the final rounds, Teter and Bleiler snuck away.

They went up the mountain where the snowboard cross will be held this week, climbed under the ropes, sidestepped security guards and killed time fooling around in the soft snow.

"That's snowboarding," Bleiler said. "We found some powder, we came down the mountain, she won gold, I won silver."

Pay attention America. This is our future.

Radical.

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 04:12:50]