A younger Mr. Mag already ripping hard at Sano-Land. Photo: Dave Omer
pros got much worse treatment. Pros today
have it much better, but still, they don't have
it as good as they could. Sponsorships are
not really what I like to see. I know how I'd
like to be treated and that's exactly how I'm
going to treat my skaters. I want to give them
the best.
How do you handle skaters differently?
Financially, we give them the best deal we
can. There is only so much money in
skateboarding, but we give them the top,
compared to anybody's standard. We also
try to be consistent about contests. When
there is a contest, there are certain things
they shouldn't have to worry about. They
should only have to worry about skateboard
ing. All the companies will say they do that,
but that's not always the case. I know, I'm
sponsored by these companies too. We don't
send our skaters by themselves and just have
them send us the bill. That's where Mike
comes in. He's a really good guy. He relates
to the team and he gets involved in the team
on a personal level. Sometimes you see the
skaters and you think they're wonder kids,
and because they can do the no-comply flip-
dip on the mini-ramp they don't have prob-
lems in school or something. We try to be
there for all our skaters and help them out
with specific problems. That's kind of above
and beyond what the responsibility of the
sponsor is. But let's face it, these kids are
50
young and they're growing up while they're
doing this. Growing up when they're starting
to touch on the superstar thing sometimes
makes it even harder. And they need to feel
like people believe in them and support
them. That's where I think we make a big dif.
ference in our company. We really try to pro-
vide support. Not because we want to make
money on them, but because they deserve
that. They make enough money for us that
they deserve to have us sometimes as par-
ents, sometimes as good friends, and some
times just as somebody to go skate the curb
with in the parking lot at the hotel. Mike
coached me for the last couple years. He did
real good job and he made me feel com-
fortable having a coach, because I don't like
being coached. Mike made some critical
calls at contests that made the difference be-
tween making the cut and not making the
cut. That Arizona contest that was held in the
a
huge dusty bowl is an example. It was right
after I was coming back from an injury. Chris
Miller was consistently scoring higher than
anyone else, including Tony Hawk. We were
doing the head to head things and we both
won our rounds. Mike and I were talking and
I said, "This is Miller. He's beaten everybody
by two or three points. What am I going to
do?" Mike said, "You're going first. Hold
back and do about an 89 run because he will
fall. This is his peak and he's going to fall
right here." I didn't understand how he could
say that, but I held back. I scored about an
89 and Miller had been scoring about 92 or
93. Miller went and fell. I beat him. I could
have never called that myself.
Now that we have all these other
guys, Mike spends less time coaching
me and a lot of time with them.
What's your advice for the kid out there
who rips and wants to get a sponsor?
Most companies don't take kids seriously
unless they can send a video or bust out in
a contest. It's pretty hard, especially if you're
not in California. On the flip side of that, I
get turned off by kids who worry too much
about sponsorship. Some kids, all they talk
about is who they're going to get sponsored
by next, who they just got sponsored by, what
stuff they got. They worry about it so much.
What's it like being on the other side of
the desk?
There are times when I go out and skate
and people ask me, "Who do you skate for?"
I tell them I skate for H-Street. I don't want
to make a big deal out of owning my com-
pany. When I skate, I want to be a skater just
like anyone else. But when I'm on the other
side of the desk, on the phones, and people
ask me about skateboarding, I don't like to
talk about it. I don't want them to dis me
because I'm a skater and think that they
won't give me as much respect because I'm
a skater trying to do business.
Can you give me a rundown of your con-
test record since that first win at Del Mar?
Probably fifteen third places. (laughs) I've
won more third places than anybody else in
the industry. Third, of course, is a respectable
position, but I got to the point where if I got
anything but third-fourth, fifth-I would be
stoked. Third was almost a let down.
Who was usually out in front?
First it was Tony Hawk and Stevie. Then
for a long time it was Tony and Christian. I
was always behind those two guys.
Are you ready to bust out this year?
I'm going to be ready. I've been hurt a lit-
tle lately and I'm not in as good a shape as
I would like to be. Every day I skate I make
a point of learning something. So I'm definite-
ly ready. I'm a bit disappointed in the way
the schedule is going right now. I'm also a
bit disappointed in the direction of the NSA
right now, because I think they're missing the
point a bit, although I give them a lot of credit
for wanting to reorganize. They've only done
one contest so far, and they've already done
some things that are a lot better than they
used to be.
What do you mean by direction?
Let's put it this way, it's hard to say that
there should be better vertical contests
because we've had some of the best vertical
contests ever in the past few years. The only
problem is they've all been pretty much the
same. They're good contests, the spectators
like them, but it's monotonous. I'm sure you
guys at the magazine see (Continued on page 102)
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