The 2010 Burton US Open went down about a week ago and since then I've taken some time to reflect on what went down. Here's my take.


When we got to the US Open it was evident that is it was set up and run the same as years past. Hiking to the pipe was torturous, he sponser village was right in your face, and the crowd was there to see some good riding. Being that i've been there, seen that with the sponsor village my husband and I decided to head straight up to the pipe to watch the end of semi-finals and then finals. When we got to the pipe, their honestly wasn't as many people as I'd expected. The vibe was still chill and the bluebird skies plus 65 degree weather was an added bonus.


After semi-finals the announcers broke the 'bad' news that Shaun White was not going to compete because he was 'exhausted and not feeling well'. And no one else was feeling the same way? It's a bunch of bullshit in my opinion.


The competition was still intense but left some stunned when all was said and done. For the women, Kelly Clark won with a run that consisted of a frontside air, backside 540 mute, frontside 720 with a frontside grab, cab 720 mute, and frontside corked 9. Before all was said and done Kelly attempted a 1080 and squatted it out. Congrats to Kelly for pushing women's halfpipe riding. Behind her Kaitlyn Farrington came in second and Ellery Hollingsworth finished in 3rd.


Then came the men, and that's where things got interesting! Louie Vito was the favorite to win being that Shaun White tooled out and didn't show. But once again, Vito got shafted and finished in second behind Kazuhiro Kokubo. Iouri Padladtchikov came in third. Myself and everyone there firmly believe that the results should have been as follows: Vito in 1st, IPod in 2nd, and Kokubo in 3rd.


Kokubo won with a run that consisted of a front 9 melon, mctwist, front 1080, cab 1080 and a front double cork 1080. Now tell me how that won over Vito's run: front double cork 1080, cab double cork 1080, front 9, back 9, front 1080. What makes it even more retarded is that Louie Vito stomped a run of a front double cork 1080, cab double cork 1080, double crippler, back 9, and front 1260 and scored 2 points lower than his firt run. Shaun White won the Olympics with a comparable run but Louie Vito came in second and it's really aggrevating.


Looking through the results, it was evident that 6 out of the 7 first place awards handed out were given to Burton sponsored riders. Louie Vito isn't sponsored by Burton so perhaps that's why he didn't win. Maybe that's why the same people keep winning. It's something that is becoming a huge issue of concern in the industry and needs to be changed. I keep hearing and seeing over and over again how these competitions turn out and maybe the way judges are chosen need to change. Maybe the 'retired' snowboarders need to step up and start judging competitions and make the mediocre no-name corporate slaves step down.


On a lighter note, between semi's and finals, one of the announcers made a phone call to Danny Davis. He was watching the competition out in Colorado with Kevin Pearce which was super rad. The best part was that Davis called out Shaun White and told him to stop being a bum and get out and compete. Greatest moment ever!


Shiny Toy Guns finished out the day and once again another US Open is in the history books. I hope their are some huge changes to next year's Open, because something needs to be done to bring the stoke back to our community.