TORINO: Snowboard: Zany champs White, Kass revel in halfpipe glory

TORINO: Snowboard: Zany champs White, Kass revel in halfpipe glory{mosimage}After winning the first U.S. skiing or snowboarding medals of the 2006 Olympic Games, Shaun White and Danny Kass are the lords of Bardonecchia.

White took gold and Kass silver in a halfpipe competition taken in by more than 11,000 rabid fans. The two were in rare form after the competition Sunday, cracking jokes about lasagna, family and Fabio as they awaited their Olympic hardware.

In displaying the good-natured irreverence that — along with gravity-defying tricks — has made the pipe an Olympic sensation, White, 19, and Kass, 24, were not without awe for grandeur of their respective accomplishments.

‘Man it’s amazing’ White said. ‘From not going to the Salt Lake Games, barely missing out by three-hundredths of a point, to getting a medal is insane. My family’s freaking out. I don’t even think I have the full impact of what just happened.’

‘I couldn’t be happier’ said Kass, the 2002 silver medalist. ‘To [win silver] again is amazing.’

Whether from joy or from lingering dizziness from the big air and spins they displayed in their runs, the interview then spiraled into a White/Kass comedy hour.

When asked what they might do to celebrate their one-two finish, Kass said he would hang out with his team, friends and family and, ‘who know, drink a little wine maybe, since we’re in Italy, and eat some lasagna …’

‘Dude, you love the lasagna’ White interrupted.

‘I will eat lasagna every day while I’m here’ Kass replied.

When asked about the support his friends and family gave him, Kass began reeling off a 21-person list of relatives in attendance in Bardonecchia, to which White (again) interrupted: ‘Damn! I had like five or six [family members] here!’ He then added, ‘But I know the rest of my family got ‘Go Shaun’ T-shirts and extra TVs to watch at home.’

The bit crescendoed with the two reflecting on a life-sized Fabio cutout they — ahem — celebrated with après halfpipe.

‘Fabio’s one of our biggest fans’ Kass said. ‘He was screaming louder than anybody. Me and Shaun consider ourselves some of the best snowboarders-slash-actor-models. Fabio’s not really into snowboarding, but he gives credit where credit is due.’

Then the two could then be heard cracking up in the background as the pool of reporters waited respectfully, hanging on the duo’s every utterance.

White and Kass might have gone on indefinitely if not for the tunnels their car had to travel through as they were driven to Torino for tonight’s medals ceremony.

As his cell service cut in and out, Kass had time to pass on some advice to White on dealing with Olympic fame.

‘A lot of people respect people a little bit more for having a medal,” he said. ‘You’ll get a lot of recognition from people you wouldn’t expect it from.’

Despite their postpipe antics, both White and Kass brought an intensity to the halfpipe competition worthy of respect, if only because of the enormous pressure the respective shredders shouldered leading up to the Games.

X Games champ White needed to stomp his second qualifying run just to put himself in contention for gold. Once in the finals, he nailed his first run, six hits, all with perfect landings: a huge frontside air into a McTwist, a stylin’ frontside 1080, a Cab 1080, a frontside 900 and a backside 900. All in all, White spun a dizzying 4,680 degrees in that winning run.

Entering the Games as the lone U.S. rider with Olympic experience, Kass botched his first finals run before laying down his silver-medal run. It featured a big air to fakie, a Cab 1080 into a frontside 1080, a Cab 720 into a frontside 720 and a switch alley-oop backside rodeo.

But all that pressure was in the past Sunday night. As they prepared to celebrate newfound Olympic glory, White and Kass said they hoped to be celebrating with members of the U.S. women’s team tomorrow.

‘Watch out for the U.S. girls — Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter‘ Kass warned. ‘All the other girls should be scared because they’re good and [Clark’s] going absolutely enormous.’

‘Enormous’ White echoed.