A TV crew from New York knocked on Mike Forrester's front door last year.

The director, coordinator and two cameramen standing in the Idleyld Park resident's living room were from the Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report,” and they were equipped to film Forrester do what's made him an outdoor-sports celebrity — chiefly, turning enormous logs into matchwood.

Within minutes, Forrester could tell he would be doing a lot of explaining to the timbersport neophytes.

“They are asking you things they don't have a clue about and they'd repeat the same questions over and over again,” said Forrester, who lives just outside of Glide. “Just basic stuff, but they were from New York City.”

After 14 hours of non-stop filming (for a six-minute clip), Forrester said he was exhausted, and still a little skeptical — after all, the 43-year-old had just been encouraged to act like a backwoods lumberjack for the amusement of a national audience. But after seeing the final product last June, Forrester said the experience was well worth it ... even if it did playfully poke fun at the sport he's used to travel the globe and pay for his children's education.

“They did a great job,” Forrester said. “They tell me Stephen Colbert likes timbersports and he's really into it. It was a fun deal.”

Forrester will soon be back on your television, only this time on the network he's more accustomed to appearing on — ESPN. The father of two sons, Forrester is set to compete at the STIHL Timbersports Series finals in Columbus, Ga., with some of the best lumberjacks in the world this weekend. The semifinals and finals will air on ESPN 2 at 9:30 a.m. (Pacific) Nov. 29 and at 9 a.m. on Dec. 13.

Some call Forrester's timber-cutting sport recreational deforestation. Forrester calls it clean family fun.

Forrester will compete Saturday in the second of two pools at the softball complex that hosted the 1996 Olympic softball competition. Sixteen athletes will be narrowed to eight for the finals, which begin Sunday. Competitors are awarded 1-8 points for each of the six events they perform in.

Forrester has chopped his way into the Timbersports semifinals all but one year since the late 1990s. The third-generation lumber-sport athlete competes in more than 14 events per year in the Western U.S. and Sydney, Australia. He's also participated in meets in Germany and Canada.

The 6-foot, 250-pound Forrester left for Georgia on Monday and made a stop in West Virginia along the way to visit friends. The televised meet he'll be a focus of is the second longest running show on ESPN after SportsCenter. It was founded in 1985 in Wisconsin, where a single camera and forklift were all that were used during filming. Now the production is so grandiose, Forrester said it often feels like it competes with the competition itself.

“We could probably finish in an hour, but it usually goes four hours with all the set-up and television time,” Forrester said. “The hardest part is waiting. You get warmed up and then sit around for 20 or 30 minutes and start to tighten up.”

The trade-off, of course, is being on ESPN.

The disciplines showcased at the STIHL competition are the springboard, stock saw, underhand chop, single buck, standing block chop and hot saw. Athletes speed-climb up poles and sprint across spinning logs in pools of water in pursuit of prizes, records and goals.

New Zealanders Jason Wynyard and David Bolstad are both favored in this weekend's competition, but Forrester said he's pleased with the pool draw and hopes he can play the role of spoiler.

Forrester said the horizontal (or underhand) chop is probably his weakest event. He said he's strongest at — and perhaps fondest of — the hot saw.

“You are running a 70-horsepower saw in your arms,” Forrester said. “It's a kick in the pants.”

Forrester is coming off a photo finish in the single buck event at Lehi, Utah, host of the Wild Outdoor Festival. Both himself and Carson Bosworth broke the 13-second barrier, but Bosworth captured victory by a tenth of a second. Forrester also placed second in the standing block in Pool C as an ESPN crew captured the action. The competition airs on ESPN 2 at 9 a.m. Nov. 15 and at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 29.

“The saw skipped a beat on me and it was a photo finish,” Forrester said of the single buck event.

Mostly though, Forrester dominates at these meetings. The 2005 Timbersports Series finalist is a two-time World single-bucking champion. Forrester is also a world-record holder in the 27-inch hot saw, a seven-time world choker-setting champion and the world-record holder in the two-man 30-inch cross cut ... on Douglas fir, to be exact.

So what happens to all that wood the family tears through during their training sessions? If it's alder or fir, it gets used as firewood in the winter. But cottonwood, which does not dry well and rots quickly, burns outside.

A CUT ABOVE

Forrester watched his first competition when he was two and began competing when he turned 12. Gabe, his oldest son, has followed a similar path. Most of the money they make is poured into a college fund.

But being a serious competitor sometimes means missing out on family activities. Forrester was in Lehi, when Gabe, a junior outfielder for the Umpqua Valley Christian baseball team, was playing in the 2A/1A title game in Keizer. As they've done before, Forrester's wife Sandra filmed the contest while their youngest son, Jake, gave play-by-play during Gabe's at-bats.

“I was a little upset about that,” Forrester said. “I was getting updates via text and calls. It's not the same as being there.”

Forrester met Sandra in Glide when the two were young teenagers. The 1984 Glide High graduate was an All-American nose guard at Oregon Tech, where he played from 1984 to 1987. He was asked to play for Mouse Davis and the Arena League's St. Louis Lightning, but the league folded four days before their first game. The family used to travel with Forrester to all his events, but now the kids are older and busy with summer baseball.

Though Forrester said Sandra can hold her own with a saw, Sandra said she prefers to stay out of the spotlight.

“That is their thing,” Sandra said. “Did you see me on “The Colbert Report”? No.”

At shows, Forrester becomes a celebrity. Spectators ask for his autograph and request to be photographed with him. Forrester is happy to oblige.

“We enjoy it,” Forrester said. “We don't go out there just to butt heads with each other. We like to put a show on.”

Said Gabe: “He was really nervous back when he was my age, but he's gotten used to it.”

Being on television has earned Forrester athletic credibility among the youth in Glide, where he's been involved in the wrestling program since 1995 and in youth football even longer.

“Kids get to have a little more respect for you because you are out there training in the summertime and working out just like they are,” Forrester said.

Jake, 13, has been chopping wood and throwing axes on the family's 30-acre property. Gabe, who's 17, has been a part-time lumberjack since he was 12. The two-time state wrestling champion helped top-ranked UVC win a state crown this spring. But his flannel-friendly sports, like the choker race, are helping him pay for his education.

“It's how I make my money during the summer because I don't have any time for a part-time job,” said Gabe, who's been ranked internationally in a handful of events and once made $350 competing. “I do it in between baseball. My dad gave me a sense of drive to push myself in everything I do. And it really helps.”

Forrester owns Honey Creek Logging and Excavation, the long-running family business. With the timber and housing markets in shambles, he and his company have had to become more versatile.

“I do everything from house sites to logging," Forrester said. “Whatever I can keep my equipment on, because it's been slim pickings.”

The Forrester family has been in the business of competing for decades. Mike Forrester Sr. was a seven-time world champion choker setter.

And the Forresters are in the business of fun, too. Gabe and Jake also appeared in the Comedy Central show. The crew provided the props and bought the family lunch. Gabe said he even got to miss school that day.

“Pretty cool experience, but we're just an average family,” Gabe insists.

Check out www.stihltimbersports.com and www.espnoutdoors.com for full coverage of the STIHL Timbersports Series.

• You can reach sports reporter Dan Jones at 957-4219 or by e-mail at djones@nrtoday.com