R.I.P., Evel

Already too much death this week, with the passing of Sean Taylor and Dr. Cade. Unfortunately, we had another great sports figure leave our collection of stadiums, arenas and crazyass ramps yesterday.

Evel Knievel passed away on Friday. He was 69.

Just before his passing he had seemingly ironed out his differences with rapper Kanye West.

Knievel will always be remembered for his successful jumps, as well as his not so successful ones that usually ended in a horrific way.

R.I.P. Evel, your wild, brash, living-on-the-edge attitude will be sorely missed.



And really, when you're the inspiration for a character, Capt. Lance Murdock, in Matt Groening's favorite Simpsons episode that really means something.

Knievel And Kanye Settle Their Differences

Just about one year ago, Evil Knievel sued Kanye West over his music video for the song "Touch The Sky". At that time Knievel was quoted as saying

"the video that Kanye West put out is the most worthless piece of crap I've ever seen in my life, and he uses my image to catapult himself on the public".

But as we all know, time heals a lot of things, and apparently so do meetings in Clearwater, FL condos.

Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel and rap star Kanye West have worked out their legal differences over images in a 2006 music video.

Knievel said that he and West met one-on-one at his Clearwater, Fla., condominium recently. They settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

There's no word on what type of settlement was reached, though Knievel did say that Kanye was a "wonderful guy and quite a gentleman". Quite a change from his previous statements.

Real Men Don't Wear Parachutes

If you have ever discussed skydiving, then I'm sure you've heard at least one person exclaim "why would anyone ever jump out of a perfectly good airplane?!?" Well, probably for the huge adrenaline rush, and because it makes your balls bigger. Um, except for the ladies. It makes them better at changing their own oil(I keed, I keed).

But what about jumping out of a perfectly good airplane without a parachute? That has to instantly make you badass, and that's exactly what Travis Pastrana did last month.

Travis Pastrana lives his life on the edge. Recently, he jumped over it.

On Wednesday, September 26, Pastrana hopped a flight from his home in Davidsonville, MD, to Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to perform a stunt he's been dreaming up for more than a year. The next morning, four members of his group skydived from a single-engine Cessna from 12,500 feet. Pastrana performed his jump wearing only sunglasses, socks and surf trunks while holding a can of Red Bull.

He was not wearing a parachute.

You probably remember Pastrana from his double backflips during the X-Games, but this stunt relied much more heavily on other people to make sure he didn't die.

While it may not be the most dangerous stunt Pastrana has performed, it is his most shocking. In his past stunts, Pastrana has taken his life into his own hands. This time, he placed it in the hands of three men he'd known for less than a week.

Wow, that's pretty ballsy. There's always a calculated risk involved in skydiving, but doing so without a parachute and relying on others to make sure you get attached to one is a totally different situation. My hat goes off to Pastrana, and the skydivers involved in the stunt. They sound like they're having a great time with life, and probably do more in a week than most of us do in a year.

Slideshow of the jump.

Photo courtesy of badass Bill Halsey.