This weekend at the Morden national, I found myself in a tattered old gymnasium sipping bottom of the barrel booze from a plastic cup that I was very careful not to put too much pressure on, it may have crushed under my immense strength. You're probably asking yourself why I was in a gymnasium while at a pro national motocross race.
Well, I was conned into going there. At first the word was that this "event" was a yearly thing where all of the moto guys got together during the national so, naturally, I was in. When we pulled into this joint I was slapped with a $9.40 cover charge, $10 Canadian, and thrown into one of the most awkward situations I've found myself in to date. Apparently, when Canadians get married they have a large gathering before the wedding where they sell booze, raffle tickets and more booze. The tricky part for an unsuspecting yank like myself is when someone says, "Hey do you want to go to a social?" Dirty trick, I know. It turns out that these "Socials" are all the rage in Canada and, I'm about 68% positive that the entire town of Morden showed up as well as half of the motocross pits. Lets not forget that the legal drinking age in Manitoba is also 18, which almost guarantees a certain degree of hilarity ensuing.
Rusty Dean and I ended up slamming a good deal of 88 brand whiskey and really enjoying this entirely new experience in the great white north. Also, when you order a drink you get the aforementioned cup with only liquor in it, and then you add your own mixer. Another fun fact that was a little odd the first few times I strolled up to the lunch line/Bar counter.
When we first arrived at this old arena, I wasn't too pumped to spend the evening with Aunt May, second removed from the bride's roommate, but it turned out to be an epic event. There were trendy Canadian single girls everywhere and it was overall a killer time. Who knew that a pre-reception for two complete strangers would end up being blog worthy.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BK's brain is single
Hello everyone.
Just a friendly reminder that my buddy Brandon Kruger is currently single and ready to mingle. Brandon is a Sagittarius, brown haired, meat eater who has a knack for writing love songs and strolling down the beach. His boy-band-like smile will make you melt in his arms and, the rumor around the women's locker room is that he's silky smooth when he hits the sheets.
If you're interested in meeting or chatting it up with BK, feel free to contact his agent, me, for an application.
745
Just a friendly reminder that my buddy Brandon Kruger is currently single and ready to mingle. Brandon is a Sagittarius, brown haired, meat eater who has a knack for writing love songs and strolling down the beach. His boy-band-like smile will make you melt in his arms and, the rumor around the women's locker room is that he's silky smooth when he hits the sheets.
If you're interested in meeting or chatting it up with BK, feel free to contact his agent, me, for an application.
745
Monday, June 9, 2008
WT #4
During one of the very first Grass Roots work sessions in the basement that we half jokingly called “the office,” BK and I decided that I would do a monthly installment where I could rant and rave about whatever I wanted and we’d call it Whiskey Throttle. Whiskey Throttle is a term I probably heard for the first time while hanging around the Barnesy Racing trailer back when Yamaha’s were pink and Kawasaki was just thinking about putting a purple tank on their bikes. Monte Barnes was telling me in his very deliberate and all knowing voice how Kris had wadded up during his last ride and he used the term “Whiskey Throttle.” Naturally, not wanting to look like the kid who didn’t know what Whiskey Throttle meant, I just played along and gave a bucktoothed smile. I remember wondering for days what Monte really meant by the term until I finally heard one of the Barnes boys use it for themselves. That was when I started to develop my own personal understanding of the term Whiskey Throttle.
Here it is, after several requests, the explanation of the term Whiskey Throttle, as used in an everyday moto conversation according to the Fisky Racing Dictionary.
Whiskey Throttle- is when a rider comes barreling into a section of terrain and temporarily or fully loses control of their motorcycle. Some examples can include; pinning it through the biggest set of sand whoops you can find and doing the biggest back and forth swaps you can imagine only to save it by, ironically, pinning it. Also, attempting your first bubba scrub and forgetting the second half of the maneuver where you need to bring the bike back to its upright and straight position, causing your to land sideways swap back and forth several times before being launched onto your hind parts at the base of the jump. This usually happens in front a crowd of riders you were hoping to impress or if you’re lucky, in front of some hot coeds who you’ll be able to convince that what you did was a normal and everyday experience for a motocrosser. To put it the most basic way that I can, Whiskey Throttle really relates to the sound made by your bike when you desperately pin the throttle and everyone can here the “RAAP, RAAP, RAAP!” sound made either right before an amazing save or a film worthy get off.
Whiskey Throttle the column name is really the work of part time NDMA motocross announcer Nick Hulberg. Nick and I played hockey together when we were in high school and when I approached him to do the official announcing for the Ruthville motocross race he became an instant hit. Nick’s energy and play by play announcing style was a breath of fresh air at the races and it wasn’t long until he started giving nicknames, literally, to some of his favorite riders. “Righteous Reidman” was one of his favorites and apparently, in the middle of a heated 125 A battle between myself and another rider, he started yelling “Whiskey Fisky” into the mic. People started asking me immediately if I had a wild side that involved Mr. Jack Daniels or Jim Beam but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. At the time I’m pretty positive that most Minot State University freshmen were sailing with the Captain, but don’t quote me on that. Nick just liked saying Whiskey Fisky so I ended up stuck with it whenever he took over the announcing duties at the races. When it came time to figure out what to call my monthly column in Grass Roots it was an easy decision. A big thank you goes to Monte Barnes and Nick Hulberg for unknowingly helping to create what we now know as “Whiskey Throttle, a Grass Roots column by Justin Fisk.” Could you imagine it by another name? How about Lutafisk? It just wouldn’t be the same.
Here it is, after several requests, the explanation of the term Whiskey Throttle, as used in an everyday moto conversation according to the Fisky Racing Dictionary.
Whiskey Throttle- is when a rider comes barreling into a section of terrain and temporarily or fully loses control of their motorcycle. Some examples can include; pinning it through the biggest set of sand whoops you can find and doing the biggest back and forth swaps you can imagine only to save it by, ironically, pinning it. Also, attempting your first bubba scrub and forgetting the second half of the maneuver where you need to bring the bike back to its upright and straight position, causing your to land sideways swap back and forth several times before being launched onto your hind parts at the base of the jump. This usually happens in front a crowd of riders you were hoping to impress or if you’re lucky, in front of some hot coeds who you’ll be able to convince that what you did was a normal and everyday experience for a motocrosser. To put it the most basic way that I can, Whiskey Throttle really relates to the sound made by your bike when you desperately pin the throttle and everyone can here the “RAAP, RAAP, RAAP!” sound made either right before an amazing save or a film worthy get off.
Whiskey Throttle the column name is really the work of part time NDMA motocross announcer Nick Hulberg. Nick and I played hockey together when we were in high school and when I approached him to do the official announcing for the Ruthville motocross race he became an instant hit. Nick’s energy and play by play announcing style was a breath of fresh air at the races and it wasn’t long until he started giving nicknames, literally, to some of his favorite riders. “Righteous Reidman” was one of his favorites and apparently, in the middle of a heated 125 A battle between myself and another rider, he started yelling “Whiskey Fisky” into the mic. People started asking me immediately if I had a wild side that involved Mr. Jack Daniels or Jim Beam but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. At the time I’m pretty positive that most Minot State University freshmen were sailing with the Captain, but don’t quote me on that. Nick just liked saying Whiskey Fisky so I ended up stuck with it whenever he took over the announcing duties at the races. When it came time to figure out what to call my monthly column in Grass Roots it was an easy decision. A big thank you goes to Monte Barnes and Nick Hulberg for unknowingly helping to create what we now know as “Whiskey Throttle, a Grass Roots column by Justin Fisk.” Could you imagine it by another name? How about Lutafisk? It just wouldn’t be the same.
The start
Hello everyone and welcome to the Whiskey Throttle blog space. Writing my Whiskey Throttle column for each issue of Grass Roots is something that I really enjoy and wish that I could do more often. So, here we are. In this little space called the Internet, I can be a bit more "loose cannonish" and just do a quick post if I want to, or talk about something that has been on my mind for a while. I have about a million other things going on right now but what's one more?
Whiskey
Whiskey
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