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.”