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The BulleTin • Friday, January 21, 2022 B5 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022 TODAY SATURDAY TONIGHT HIGH 50° LOW 30° Partly sunny Mostly sunny and mild ALMANAC MONDAY 63° 35° 56° 32° Mainly clear TUESDAY 59° 27° Sunny TEMPERATURE Yesterday Normal Record 55° 43° 64° in 1994 39° 25° -20° in 1930 PRECIPITATION 24 hours through 5 p.m. yesterday 0.00" Record 1.03" in 1964 Month to date (normal) 0.84" (0.96") Year to date (normal) 0.84" (0.96") Barometric pressure at 4 p.m. 30.30" SUN, MOON AND PLANETS Rise/Set Today Sat. Sun 7:33am/5:00pm 7:32am/5:02pm Moon 9:02pm/9:53am 10:11pm/10:15am Mercury 7:29am/5:27pm 7:21am/5:18pm Venus 5:54am/3:50pm 5:48am/3:45pm Mars 5:29am/2:15pm 5:29am/2:14pm Jupiter 9:07am/7:50pm 9:04am/7:47pm Saturn 8:15am/6:02pm 8:12am/5:58pm Uranus 11:35am/1:40am 11:31am/1:36am Last New First Full Jan 25 Jan 31 Feb 8 Feb 16 Tonight's sky: An hour before sunrise, the stars that appear during early evening in sum- mer also appear just before dawn in winter. Source: Jim Todd, OMSI UV INDEX TODAY 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 2 2 2 1 The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index ™ number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low, 3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme. ROAD CONDITONS For web cameras of our passes, go to www.bendbulletin.com/webcams I-84 at Cabbage Hill: Partly sunny today. Partly cloudy tonight. Partly sunny tomorrow. US 20 at Santiam Pass: Mostly sunny and mild today. Partly cloudy tonight. US 26 at Gov't Camp: Mostly cloudy today. Patchy clouds tonight. Partly sunny tomorrow. US 26 at Ochoco Divide: Partly sunny today. Partly cloudy tonight. ORE 58 at Willamette Pass: Mostly sunny today. Partly cloudy tonight. Sunny to partly cloudy and mild tomorrow. ORE 138 at Diamond Lake: Patchy fog in the morning; otherwise, clouds and sun today. SKI REPORT 46° 30° Mostly sunny and mild Partly sunny and mild EAST: Partial sunshine today. Partly cloudy tonight. Mostly sunny tomorrow. Astoria 50/36 Hood River NATIONAL WEATHER -0s Base 54-54 74-74 40-44 69-69 83-123 50-60 10-100 72-72 36-65 76-155 0-107 40-60 56-86 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s NATIONAL EXTREMES YESTERDAY (for the Partly sunny Yesterday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Abilene 34/22/0.00 Akron 22/19/0.04 Albany 30/27/Tr Albuquerque 45/27/Tr Anchorage 29/26/0.04 Atlanta 52/48/0.31 Atlantic City 43/42/0.65 Austin 37/34/0.02 Baltimore 42/39/0.40 Billings 36/1/Tr Birmingham 38/35/0.77 Bismarck 15/-18/0.00 Boise 35/31/0.22 Boston 37/36/0.15 Bridgeport, CT 38/33/0.21 Buffalo 15/12/Tr Burlington, VT 14/10/Tr Caribou, ME 19/5/Tr Charleston, SC 73/40/0.07 Charlotte 49/45/0.18 Chattanooga 41/39/0.22 Cheyenne 35/2/Tr Chicago 19/6/0.00 Cincinnati 27/20/0.00 Cleveland 22/20/0.02 Colorado Springs 27/16/Tr Columbia, MO 18/5/0.00 Columbia, SC 52/47/0.22 Columbus, GA 56/48/0.30 Columbus, OH 25/21/Tr Concord, NH 36/33/Tr Corpus Christi 45/44/0.03 Dallas 38/24/0.00 Dayton 26/15/0.00 Denver 39/16/Tr Des Moines 4/-7/0.00 Detroit 20/18/Tr Duluth 2/-19/0.00 El Paso 49/33/0.00 Fairbanks -1/-19/Tr Fargo -5/-21/0.00 Flagstaff 44/17/0.00 Grand Rapids 19/16/Tr Green Bay 10/-1/0.00 Greensboro 43/40/0.26 Harrisburg 37/34/0.15 Hartford, CT 36/32/0.06 Helena 34/9/0.00 Honolulu 79/67/0.00 Houston 43/41/0.28 Huntsville 32/30/0.80 Indianapolis 24/13/Tr Jackson, MS 37/36/1.56 Jacksonville 76/43/0.00 Today Hi/Lo/W 45/23/s 21/2/pc 14/-4/s 49/33/pc 38/34/c 39/28/c 28/23/pc 49/24/s 28/14/pc 40/28/c 39/22/c 39/3/sn 38/25/pc 21/13/pc 25/13/pc 15/0/s 5/-11/s 1/-22/s 42/28/r 32/21/sn 37/23/c 35/15/sf 25/15/s 27/12/s 21/5/c 43/19/sf 26/15/s 37/25/i 45/31/r 25/8/s 16/-5/pc 46/36/r 44/25/s 25/10/s 39/20/c 17/13/s 23/12/s 13/3/c 53/33/pc 17/17/sn 23/-1/sn 41/24/sf 22/12/s 15/11/s 29/17/sn 26/10/s 22/5/pc 38/23/sf 81/69/s 48/29/c 37/19/c 27/13/s 40/21/pc 57/38/r Amsterdam Athens Auckland Baghdad Bangkok Beijing Beirut Berlin Bogota Budapest Buenos Aires Cabo San Lucas Cairo Calgary Cancun Dublin Edinburgh Geneva Harare Hong Kong Istanbul Jerusalem Johannesburg Lima Lisbon London Madrid Manila 44/39/sh 60/41/sh 74/59/pc 51/29/pc 84/74/t 30/24/c 58/47/c 35/31/c 70/47/pc 36/25/s 87/75/t 78/57/pc 59/43/s 34/28/c 82/64/t 43/35/c 45/41/pc 37/30/c 74/56/t 68/64/c 49/33/r 46/33/s 82/54/s 76/71/c 58/41/s 43/34/s 50/27/s 84/76/pc Saturday Hi/Lo/W 52/31/s 25/18/s 19/11/s 45/25/c 38/29/sn 46/27/pc 32/27/c 55/32/s 33/20/pc 44/32/c 45/22/s 30/10/sn 37/24/s 26/20/s 27/22/s 25/21/pc 16/11/s 6/-7/pc 42/23/c 41/20/pc 44/24/pc 39/26/pc 29/16/c 33/22/pc 28/21/pc 40/23/pc 39/26/c 42/18/pc 49/26/pc 28/20/s 20/3/s 55/43/pc 49/30/s 31/22/pc 42/25/s 27/19/c 26/19/pc 7/-13/c 53/30/pc 20/15/c 4/-8/sn 37/22/sn 26/17/sn 22/3/c 36/20/pc 28/17/s 26/15/s 36/22/pc 80/67/s 53/33/s 42/21/s 32/22/pc 46/21/s 44/29/sh City Juneau Kansas City Lansing Las Vegas Lexington Lincoln Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison, WI Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Newark, NJ Norfolk, VA Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Palm Springs Peoria Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Richmond Rochester, NY Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe Savannah Seattle Sioux Falls Spokane Springfi eld, MO Tampa Tucson Tulsa Washington, DC Wichita Yakima Yuma Yesterday Hi/Lo/Prec. 39/32/0.25 19/5/0.00 20/17/Tr 61/45/0.00 27/20/0.15 18/-1/0.00 36/24/0.00 74/47/0.00 29/23/0.02 9/-2/0.00 30/20/0.00 81/63/1.69 17/5/0.00 3/-11/0.00 28/25/0.30 59/52/0.19 40/35/0.30 38/34/0.25 53/40/0.14 26/15/0.00 16/-2/0.00 80/50/0.00 79/53/0.00 16/3/0.00 42/37/0.31 71/47/0.00 24/21/0.01 38/28/0.00 37/32/0.11 50/44/0.37 27/-6/0.00 55/26/0.00 46/39/0.48 13/11/0.03 63/35/0.00 20/7/0.00 39/23/0.00 37/35/Tr 68/47/0.00 56/45/0.00 67/42/0.00 39/19/Tr 72/43/0.03 51/47/0.22 13/-6/0.00 37/34/0.54 22/8/0.00 78/53/0.00 67/38/0.00 27/14/0.00 43/41/0.31 23/8/0.00 50/31/0.00 73/52/0.00 Today Hi/Lo/W 40/37/sn 27/19/s 23/11/s 60/44/s 26/7/pc 31/19/pc 37/18/s 74/54/s 31/15/s 16/10/s 35/19/s 78/68/t 24/17/s 14/8/pc 34/17/pc 44/33/sh 24/14/pc 25/13/pc 31/28/sn 38/19/s 26/20/pc 76/57/c 76/57/s 22/12/s 29/17/pc 69/51/s 18/1/pc 17/1/s 24/13/pc 29/18/sn 41/20/sf 48/27/pc 30/19/sn 13/-2/pc 64/45/s 27/16/s 39/24/sn 48/30/pc 64/50/s 62/50/s 66/42/s 45/26/pc 46/31/r 48/36/c 26/13/sn 38/28/c 30/14/s 75/55/c 69/41/s 36/21/s 29/18/pc 35/19/s 43/23/pc 72/52/s Saturday Hi/Lo/W 40/35/r 41/29/pc 27/16/sn 63/40/pc 30/20/s 41/26/pc 46/25/s 73/54/s 37/24/pc 22/5/sn 41/27/s 78/62/sh 29/14/c 13/-3/pc 38/24/s 49/32/s 26/22/s 26/19/s 32/21/c 47/25/pc 35/26/pc 63/49/c 74/54/s 31/17/pc 31/21/s 67/50/c 25/19/s 20/10/s 29/18/s 37/16/c 45/28/c 48/23/s 35/19/pc 23/18/pc 64/36/s 38/25/pc 38/23/s 53/39/s 70/49/s 63/47/s 66/43/s 43/21/pc 43/24/c 47/35/pc 27/9/pc 37/26/pc 41/26/pc 61/47/c 64/42/pc 47/27/pc 32/23/pc 47/26/pc 40/24/s 69/47/pc 76/58/0.00 73/49/0.04 5/3/0.15 27/21/0.28 82/60/0.00 82/67/0.00 64/50/0.00 43/30/0.17 30/25/0.00 0/-6/0.04 45/36/0.02 84/75/0.00 55/46/0.35 82/51/0.00 90/66/0.12 21/12/0.02 34/9/0.00 46/32/0.00 84/77/0.01 28/23/0.12 73/61/0.10 66/59/0.34 57/43/0.00 47/31/0.00 10/1/0.02 52/45/0.58 45/28/0.11 32/30/0.26 82/60/pc 68/44/pc 2/-14/s 27/18/sn 80/58/c 80/68/pc 65/53/pc 42/31/sf 30/22/pc 0/-18/s 42/31/pc 85/74/s 54/33/pc 85/51/s 83/66/pc 28/24/sf 37/17/pc 49/44/c 88/75/pc 29/18/s 73/66/sh 65/63/r 59/44/s 45/34/s 14/6/pc 45/35/c 34/29/sf 32/25/sf 82/65/s 70/44/pc 4/0/pc 27/15/sn 81/58/pc 79/67/r 60/51/sh 48/34/pc 30/22/pc 9/5/pc 43/34/c 85/74/s 50/33/s 84/54/s 84/67/t 26/15/sn 39/23/c 51/48/r 87/75/s 29/27/c 74/67/pc 76/63/r 60/52/pc 47/37/s 24/18/c 41/34/c 37/29/sf 33/25/sf INTERNATIONAL 48 contiguous states) National high: 82° at Plant City, FL National low: -34° at Celina, MN Precipitation: 1.72" at Hollywood, FL T-storms Milder with sunshine and patchy clouds NATIONAL Yesterday Today Saturday Yesterday Today Saturday Yesterday Today Saturday City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W City Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Astoria 52/50/0.74 50/36/c 52/38/pc La Grande 39/32/0.11 42/24/pc 40/22/pc Portland 60/44/0.34 49/34/c 49/33/pc Baker City 33/28/0.09 38/17/pc 34/14/s La Pine 49/34/0.03 47/21/s 50/24/s Prineville 55/39/0.00 51/26/pc 50/27/s Brookings 61/46/Tr 59/47/s 65/44/s Medford 56/36/Tr 54/30/pc 58/30/s Redmond 58/41/0.01 49/24/pc 55/24/s Burns 45/32/0.06 40/17/s 40/18/s Newport 50/50/0.67 50/37/pc 53/40/pc Roseburg 60/49/Tr 50/35/pc 52/33/pc Eugene 57/51/0.09 48/34/pc 46/32/pc North Bend 54/48/0.05 53/38/pc 57/42/pc Salem 59/53/0.07 50/34/c 50/32/pc Klamath Falls 52/25/0.00 46/20/s 49/20/s Ontario 36/33/0.25 41/25/s 36/26/s Sisters 52/36/0.00 51/28/s 57/30/s Lakeview 44/22/Tr 43/21/pc 47/20/s Pendleton 58/34/0.11 47/30/pc 43/30/s The Dalles 61/39/0.03 47/31/pc 45/32/pc Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Tr-trace, Yesterday data as of 5 p.m. yesterday -10s 56° 31° TRAVEL WEATHER Umatilla 48/30 Rufus Hermiston 47/28 48/30 48/31 Arlington Hillsboro Portland Meacham Lostine 48/29 48/31 49/34 39/23 Wasco 40/22 Enterprise Pendleton The Dalles CENTRAL: Sunshine Tillamook 39/21 46/28 47/30 Sandy 47/31 McMinnville 50/36 and patchy clouds Joseph Heppner La Grande 47/36 Maupin Government 50/36 today; patchy freezing 42/24 39/24 Camp 49/27 Condon 46/26 Union fog in the south during Lincoln City 45/27 42/29 42/21 Salem 51/39 Spray the morning. Granite Warm Springs 50/34 Madras 46/27 Albany 40/20 Newport Baker City 51/26 53/27 Mitchell 50/37 48/35 38/17 WEST: Patchy fog Camp Sherman 50/32 Redmond Corvallis John Yachats Unity this morning. Low 52/29 49/24 49/34 Day Prineville 41/21 clouds, then perhaps 51/38 Ontario Sisters 51/26 Paulina 42/28 41/25 some sun in the Florence Eugene 51/28 Bend Brothers 42/23 Vale north; clouds and sun 53/39 48/34 50/30 44/24 Sunriver 44/24 elsewhere. Nyssa 48/25 Hampton Cottage La Pine 45/28 Juntura Oakridge Grove 47/21 42/23 OREGON EXTREMES Coos Bay Burns 42/23 51/36 49/32 Fort Rock 53/37 40/17 Riley YESTERDAY Crescent 45/19 39/19 High: 61° 47/21 Bandon Roseburg Christmas Valley Jordan Valley at Brookings Beaver Frenchglen Silver 53/40 50/35 39/18 38/23 Low: 22° Marsh Lake 41/26 Port Orford 45/18 40/19 at Lakeview Grants Burns Junction Paisley 53/46 Pass 42/25 Chiloquin 41/20 55/32 Rome Medford 46/20 Gold Beach 54/30 42/26 56/49 Klamath Fields Ashland McDermitt Lakeview Falls Brookings 43/27 56/37 46/20 39/24 59/47 43/21 Seaside 49/38 Cannon Beach 49/39 THURSDAY 58° 28° Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. In inches as of 5 p.m. yesterday Ski resort New snow Anthony Lakes Mtn 0 Hoodoo Ski Area 0 Mt. Ashland 0 Mt. Bachelor 0 Mt. Hood Meadows 1 Mt. Hood Ski Bowl 0 Timberline Lodge 0 Willamette Pass 0 Aspen / Snowmass, CO 0 Mammoth Mtn. Ski, CA 0 Palisades Tahoe, CA 0 Park City Mountain, UT 0 Sun Valley, ID 0 WEDNESDAY OREGON WEATHER Bend Municipal Airport through 5 p.m. yest. High Low SUNDAY Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Warm Front Stationary Front Cold Front Source: OnTheSnow.com 42/40/0.77 59/34/0.00 68/66/0.02 50/41/0.00 90/73/0.01 31/18/0.00 52/39/0.00 36/29/0.04 68/48/0.00 41/19/0.07 84/75/0.22 73/68/0.00 57/50/0.00 48/5/0.02 82/69/0.08 43/34/0.00 43/32/0.00 45/32/0.00 78/59/0.00 68/57/0.00 46/28/0.00 45/30/0.00 77/56/0.00 76/70/0.00 59/39/0.00 43/34/0.00 57/27/0.00 86/75/0.05 44/39/c 45/36/r 78/62/pc 54/30/s 87/73/pc 34/20/c 60/53/s 38/36/sn 69/49/r 38/19/s 84/74/t 77/58/pc 60/48/s 46/36/pc 82/65/t 46/34/c 49/40/c 43/32/s 71/56/t 70/67/c 37/32/r 50/42/s 75/54/pc 77/69/pc 57/43/s 44/34/c 50/28/pc 87/76/c Mecca Mexico City Montreal Moscow Nairobi Nassau New Delhi Osaka Oslo Ottawa Paris Rio de Janeiro Rome Santiago Sao Paulo Sapporo Seoul Shanghai Singapore Stockholm Sydney Taipei City Tel Aviv Tokyo Toronto Vancouver Vienna Warsaw COLLEGE SPORTS NCAA ratifies new constitution, paving way to restructuring BY RALPH D. RUSSO aP College Football Writer INDIANAPOLIS — NCAA member schools voted to ratify a new, streamlined constitution Thursday, paving the way for a decentralized approach to gov- erning college sports that will hand more power to schools and conferences. The vote was overwhelm- ingly in favor, 801-195, and was the main order of business at the NCAA’s annual conven- tion. NCAA President Mark Emmert, in his state of college sports address — delivered via video conference to a conven- tion ballroom because he is currently in COVID-19 proto- cols, called the new constitu- tion more of a “declaration of independence.” Now each of the association’s three divisions will be empow- ered to govern itself. The new constitution is 18½ pages, down from 43, and mostly lays out guiding prin- ciples and core values for the NCAA, the largest governing body for college sports in the United States with more than X Games Continued from B3 “For me, I’m defying the odds doing the triple cork in the halfpipe, which I’m su- per-excited about,” said James, a bronze medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, finish- ing behind Olympic champion Shaun White and runner-up Hirano. “I don’t know if you need a triple, but it’s going to be highly regarded is the best way probably to put it. That’s how I’m positioning it in my head. “I think it’s better to have one than to not.” Even without the triple, James has one of the most de- manding — some might say, underappreciated — tricks out there called a switch backside 1260. Basically, it’s riding back- ward and twisting toward the top of the halfpipe while travel- ing down it. 1,200 member schools and nearly 500,000 athletes. The move is just part of a sea change for the NCAA and the first major shift in its gov- ernance model since 1996. It comes with the hope that it will reduce college sports’ exposure to legal challenges after a re- sounding rebuke from the Su- preme Court last spring. “We had to be able to demonstrate that we have the capacity to take this thing and prove we can govern ourselves,” Georgetown President and NCAA Board of Governors chairman Jack DeGioia told The Associated Press. “This is fundamentally a question of self-governance.” For Divisions II and III, where athletics is treated more like other on-campus extra- curricular activities, little will change. Still, most of the dis- senting voices during the open forum that preceded the full membership vote came from those ranks. In Division I, the goal is a po- tentially massive overhaul that figures to be more contentious. James, who felt at the last Olympics that highly technical tricks such as his don’t receive fair scoring, said he watched some contests that he didn’t attend this winter and noticed that, in a strange way, things might be evening out. “I did notice that since I wasn’t there, the riders didn’t tend to actually ride much switch backside or backside,” James said. “And I noticed that they were being docked for it from the judges. I would say that they (judges) definitely rec- ognize it. I guess when maybe I’m not around, it’s not as much of a trick that really gets done. Once I’m back, obviously, it’s one of my strong points.” James has come a long way since that day his dad bought him a tiny snowboard for $10 from a shop that was using it as a doorstop. He’s won three world championship titles, six “ “We had to be able to demonstrate that we have the capacity to take this thing and prove we can govern ourselves. This is fundamentally a question of self-governance.” — Jack DeGioia, Georgetown president and NCAA Board of Governors chairman “Most of our challenges are D-I challenges and we needed to unlock the ability of D-I to be able to address those con- cerns,” DeGioia said. Athlete compensation and benefits figure to be key topics. The new constitution states: “Student-athletes may not be compensated by a member in- stitution for participating in a sport, but may receive educa- tional and other benefits in ac- cordance with guidelines estab- lished by their NCAA division.” Co-chaired by Southeast- ern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio Uni- versity athletic director Julie Cromer, the Division I Trans- formation Committee begins its work in earnest next week. The 21-person panel does not have representation from all 32 D-I conferences. Sankey and Cromer met Thursday with the board for two hours, seeking clarity: Just how transformative can the committee’s work be? Division I has 350 schools, with a range of athletic missions and goals. The questions before the transformation committee in- clude requirements for Divi- sion I membership; who has a say in making and enforcing rules across the division; what schools and conferences get au- tomatic access to championship events; how revenue is shared; and what limits, if any, should be placed on financial benefits to athletes? alex Goodlett/aP file Scotty James celebrates after winning the snowboard halfpipe final at the 2019 freestyle ski and snowboard championships in Park City, Utah. World Cup events and three Winter X Games gold medals. To elevate his game, James retreated to that private half- pipe in Switzerland. It’s a page straight out of White’s play- book. The three-time Olympic gold medalist was set up with his own private halfpipe in Col- orado before the 2010 Vancou- ver Games, where White per- fected the Double Mctwist 1260 (two flips and 3 1/2 spins) on his way to gold. “A model that treats stu- dent-athletes as employees is not one we want,” Patriot League Commissioner Jen Heppel said. But in a new era in which athletes can be paid several thousand dollars by their schools just for staying aca- demically eligible and they can be compensated by third par- ties for use of their name, im- age and likeness, what crosses the line? The wealthiest and most powerful football-playing con- ferences, such as the SEC and the Big Ten, do not want to be held back from spending their riches on athletes. Much of the rest of Division I worries about how to keep up. The so-called Power Five conferences, whose 65 schools tend to dominate Division I competition, also include the Big 12, Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast Conference. The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has recommended moving major college football from under the NCAA’s umbrella alto- gether and creating a separate organization to manage the 10 conferences and 130 schools competing in Division I’s Bowl Subdivision. The NCAA has no jurisdic- tion over the College Football Playoff and the hundreds of millions in revenue it generates for FBS schools and confer- ences. South Dakota State ath- letic director Justin Sell, whose school competes in the Summit League for most sports and the Missouri Valley for Champi- onship Subdivision football, said he believes the Power Five can have the leeway they desire while maintaining Division I’s big tent. But first the Power Five must agree on how they want to op- erate, Sell said. “Then we can weigh how that might end up interacting with a group of schools that certainly has a different fund- ing mechanism,” Sell said. The transformation commit- tee is scheduled to meet weekly, both in person and online, over the next six to seven months. “You get to just be in your own world,” said James, who’s sponsored by Red Bull. “You get to set your own goals. You don’t really have anything in the environment that’s really stopping you from being able to achieve what you have in your mind. So when you get to be on your own, it’s a pretty special moment.” He felt almost like a scien- tist creating in a lab, kiddingly comparing himself to Dr. Evil, a character played by Mike Myers in the “Austin Powers” movies. “It’s where I concoct all my secret ingredients,” James cracked of the private halfpipe. “I look at it from my high tower and scratch my head and won- der, ‘What am I going to do with an evil watch?’” James recently orchestrated a move he’s rehearsed over and over. There were no flips or turns involved, but it provided as big an adrenaline rush as any con- test. He dropped to a knee and proposed to his girlfriend. His heart was racing. She said yes. “I think I caught her by sur- prise,” said James. “You come up with all these great ideas of how you think it’s going to work out. But it usually never goes that way. I was trying to find the right words and any- way, I think she got the idea once I got down on one knee.” There could be more things that sparkle on the horizon — possibly a medal at Winter X and perhaps another in Beijing. One thing’s for sure: He won’t be playing it safe at Winter X, even with Beijing around the corner. “I want to win everything,” James said. “As an athlete, you don’t really hold back — ever.”
