The Vans Pool Party of 2013 was another installment of the most electrifying skateboarding ever witnessed. The intensity and mayhem may not have been believable in the days of yor, but in the modern world where it can be broadcast to your living room via the world wide web, many thousands around the globe would agree with the skaters, media, and frothing fans in attendance that this event is better then all the rest. Read more
Pro Tec Pool Party 2005
The riders were skating like there is no tomorrow. Piles of money on the table. Rune and Patch doing full doubles runs un-planned nearly made me def from the crowd eruption. It really felt like a great moment in skate history was taking place.
Basic Bowl BBQ ’03
big props to dennis lamb, the owner of the basic bowl, as this event is a testimony of fearless dedication to the art of pool skating and party throwing. imagine a couple hundred, heavily loaded and amply wrecked skateboard enthusiasts crammed into your backyard, house, front yard (why is backyard one word and front yard is two??) and street. your shit and your house, all exposed to a load of people who have a ‘fuck all’ attitude. if you’ve ever done it then you know. truth be told, the whole time we were there everyone seemed very respectful to the premises.
Anaheim B3 – Greener Pastures
Now that I have been to a few of these ESPN events over the last few years I can say I know what to expect. It’s there formula to bring you skateboarding on television by the best pros out there. They do this (competition format) and it works out well for them to give what the general public wants to get interested in the sports involved. Show some footage of the best (Usually only the top 3 finishers) and get all excited about them for the on-air broadcast.
But what I’m seeing and the fans in attendance are seeing is so much more than what you get to see on the tube that it comes down to 2 different versions of what’s going on: The Real Version and the T.V. version. Here are a couple examples,
In the Real Version (being there) you get to see a pretty chaotic snake session in progress. You may have Chris Senn wanting to hit the same ledge Pat Channita does. Both skate at different speeds and are coming at the ledge from 2 different angles. Sometimes both will pull away if they see each other resulting in no attempts at dialing their tricks. Sometimes maybe Chris Senn will be moving mach 10 and only to see Channita double heel flipping to 5-0 on the ledge. He can pull out in time again losing a shot at the ledge. Maybe Channita will see Senn barreling down on him and decide to pull back and make room for Chris to fly by. Only when he pulls out Chet Thomas is in mid flight and going to land right where Channita suddenly changed direction to. Slam! (This didn’t really happen but it’s a similar version to reality each event). On T.V. you don’t get to see what happens in between runs. You’ll see Chris Senn (who got 1st place) ripping unobstructed throughout the course like it was easily orchestrated to be able to practice his lines.
In the Real Version you might see some new guy bust out a 900 on the vert ramp and it’ll blow you and everyone there away.
On T.V. you’ll never even see the 900 because he placed 25th and the cameras weren’t rolling on the practice session.
Because of this we seldom bring you the ESPN version of the events and bring you the down home version. In the photo gallery and video clip we’ve got scenes from the practice sessions and some from the finals. We weren’t there to bring you up to the minute play by play. We went to watch the top skateboarders perform and bring back some photos and video of guys you may or may not get to see much of. ENJOY!
Andy Macdonald – Indy Air
Bucky Lasek – Frontside Invert
jesse fritch -kickflip indy
Christiano Matteus
Neal hendrix
Tony Hawk – Tuck Knee Invert
BONDI BOWL O’ RAMA 2008 – A.K.A. BONDI BOWL O’ DRAMA
Thunderous plundering down under and a bit of blunder as well. A tale of the American carpet bombing campaign that invaded Oz and NZ, a heavy art attack, and the fallout that still scorches the ground well below the equatorial line…
NORTH SHORE BOWL JAM 2006
Never send a Haole to do a Moke’s job… That’s why we enlisted David David from Hawaii to provide us with the blow by blow coverage…
etnies Skatepark Grand Opening
No Words – Just Photos.
X Games Dubai 2005
…they are building this theme park 5x bigger than Disneyworld that will contain the biggest skatepark in the world, indoor snow sports (called the snow dome), surfing, and moto-x. This place is unreal. I’m moving here. Come visit.