TEXANS
(From page 108) now it's like getting
together with old family that I haven't
seen for a long time. And as far as
where it's going. I think skating has
gotten really huge again, like it was.
It will probably get weeded out a lit
tle bit, which will be good, because
you'll lose a lot of people who are do
ing it because they think it's cool. I'm
stoked those people are skating, but
I wish they were skating because
they really like the feeling of going
up and grinding the pool coping,
making it over the light. You see
these guys rip a run then throw their
board off the ramp, 'I wasn't as rad
as this guy. Well, that's not what it's
about. It's about expressing yourself.
My outlet has always been skate-
boarding, that's how I show who I am.
I wish more kids could use it like that
and not have the wrong idea about
it. Then people who don't even skate
wouldn't have this idea that skating
is just for kids.
Gibson: When you skate, you've
just got to show the feeling. That's
how it should be-individual prefer
ence. How you skate is how you ex-
press yourself. It's not who's best, it's
to satisfy yourself, show who you are.
MoFo: In conclusion, can you guys
individually say, when you kick back
in your easy chair and think of
yourself and your lives, that you ac
tually did grab the bull by the horns?
Johnson: Yeah.
Gibson: Grabbed the bull by the
horns and took it to the ground..
Phillips: At one time in all our lives
we were the top skaters, the guys go
ing, 'Fuck you, we're from Texas, and
we shredded on everyone. Man, I
thought we were dead five years ago
and here we are still going around
the world for free.
Johnson: Yeah, I think we're goos
ing it for another round. We'll take
this generation for another spin.
We're not going anywhere, man.
We're growing old, making noise all
the way. Another year on the grinder.
Gibson: The clock's ticking. Tick,
tick..
FISTFUL OF YEN
(From page 76) over the platform, float
ing an incredible distance of fifteen
feet, to tailslide on the rail then over
to the wall for a vicious grind at the
top. Guerrero rivaled the daring of
this maneuver by flailing an ollie-to-
helicopter hellarial over the same
platform, landing in a crouch beyond
the railsliding device and into a big
carve through the vertical wall and
back again over to the staging area.
On the halfpipe. Jim Murphy ex-
plored beyond the senses of feasi-
110
ble ability by remaining in the edge
zone for longer than possible.
Hackett flushed out some deva-
stating slash work, complete with his
newest trick-the kneeslide. He was
very proud of this accomplishment.
Tokyo locals who stumbled onto
the scene gawked in amazement. A
small group of pimply faced teenage
girls admired the abilities of these
wild and crazy Americans who dress-
ed weird and spoke in a strange sort
of English dialect. They learned new
words and sentences they could
mess up their English with, "What
up?" "Hey Bro. It is Bro, isn't it?"
"Muchos Gracias, Senor" "How
much for the girl?"
Two unsuspecting schoolgirls,
about seven years old, strolled
through the practice area. Two local
boys rolled through on a scooter and
one kneeboarded on a toy skate-
board. They paused and stared at the
incredible things the big boys were
doing on their big boy skateboards.
When it came time for the limousine
to take the skaters back to the hotel,
the little boys waved, screaming.
"Goodbye, goodbye. Good bye-bye!"
Those on the bus returned the i
farewell from the windows.
BIG BASH OF A BANQUET WITH
BUCKETS OF BOOZE: They called
it a welcome party for the visiting
competitors, but the boys in the crew
only knew that it was a major free
skarf and they were going to make
the best of it. For starters, the host
bar brought out two large trays filled
with scotches and sodas. Gone in ten
seconds. The banquet spread was
bigger than anything Henry the VIII
could have come up with: five or six
twenty-pound turkeys, giant escar-
gots, ten yards of cold cuts, twelve
trays of beef, a giant fish with its head
still attached to its roasted carcass,
enough pate to choke a yuppie army
and half the cheese in Wisconsin. Oh
yeah, a couple colas and some
mineral water too. TV Tokyo wan
dered around doing on-the-spot in-
terviews with the skaters, who stood
in front of the cameras holding their
plates, answering the questions with
their mouths full, nodding and bow-
ing. A lot of bowing went on. If some-
one didn't know what the Japanese
questions were about they just bow
ed and smiled. This was as good as
an in-depth answer in most cases. In
one corner of the banquet facility
Rodney Mullen held court with a
group of young enthusiasts. A few
faces who weren't on the flight over
appeared-Butch Sterbins, Chris
Miller and Mark Rogowski. The
Japanese hosts sure knew how to
throw a bash, and those present were
totally filled with food and ultra-good
spirits, then it came time for the
festivities to draw to a close and for
the cowpunks to be let loose on the
city again. One of the distinguished
leaders led the group in a traditional
three-hand-clap closing ceremony
accompanied by Mr. Hackett and Mr.
Johnson. It only took about four tries
for everybody to get it right.
Those who opted to stay in and rest
for the evening settled in front of
Japanese television for the sumo
wrestling championships, held in
Osaka. It didn't take long for the
Americans to become absorbed in
this big-bellied contact sport. Soon
everyone was picking their favorites
and wagers flew through the air like
fish stories
'89 LOTTE JAPAN CUP SKATE-
BOARD WORLD CHAMPION.
SHIPS: When the limousine pulled
up to the contest site, a large crowd
had gathered about the building and
a loud cheer rose as the riders
disembarked and made their way
through the stage door entrance to
the arena. Some of the riders had
taken taxis to the location an hour
earlier in hopes of getting some ex-
tra practice runs. Well, as the arriv
ing riders saw, some of the street
ramps had large punctures due to
lack of support beneath the plys.
Somehow this dilemma proved minor
and the skrats just skated right over
the gaps. For a while, the riders had
one of the ramps up against an arena
wall and were riding up and off it, but
alas, this was called to a halt. The
sashimi started to fly when Natas got
angry, hit one of the ramps with his
board and put a big hole in it. Soon
a sub-contest began, and the
streetstylers tried to see who could
wreck a ramp by skating on it. The
frustrated wizards took to the assault,
resulting in a spontaneous, frenzied
tornado of aggression.
Meanwhile, over on the halfpipe,
the vertical riders sized the struc-
ture's competitive potential and
began dealing out doses of calcu-
lated strangeness with the style and
grace of nuclear surgeons. Christian
Hosoi, a favorite of the local
populace, performed as if united with
his instrument of propulsion. Others
in the vertical force savaged the ter-
rain with unabashed vengeance.
Malba lashed out like a rabid lynx
and Schroeder made the ramp look
like a toy. Things were beginning to
heat up when someone landed on
the transition and put a wheel
through the ramp. Then one of the
metal supports broke. This didn't halt
the enthusiasm. The skaters were
pumped and primed for this day, so
why stop now? They took off their
pads and began to play games on
the ramp-two, three, four riders at
a time. Ollie over the hole. Fakie ollie
over the separated sheets of ply-
wood. Ollie over each other. Then the
ramp was closed down until repairs
could be made.
At about 9:30 an announcement
was made that the riders should
gather around a stage set up in the
center of the arena for the opening
ceremonies. At 9:45 a second an-
nouncement was made: Would the
skaters please stop riding the street
course and participate in the open-
ing ceremonies? Around 10:15, the
ceremony finally got underway, in
Japanese and English. The first
event of the day was freestyle. Out
of a field of twenty entrants for this
event, six weren't Japanese and one
Japanese contestant was only seven
years old. He made a lasting impres
sion on all of the veteran skaters. The
Japanese freestylers posed definite
opposition to the more seasoned
visiting riders. Most executed the
more difficult moves. (If this is what
can be expected out of Japan's skate
crop-watch out US, Japan has only
just begun to cultivate its resources,
and if their excellence in other fields
is any gauge, expect a great deal
from this competitive nation.) Rodney
placed highest in this event and took
home 500,000 yen (U.S. $3,448). His
near flawless runs, composed of the
most difficult and current tricks, as-
tounded the crowd. He capped his
run with and impressive finale-a
long drawn out g-turn, gradually
slowing to almost a dead stop, then
finally thrusting his body almost ob-
scenely, perpetuating the move until
his time was up. The other riders'
performances weren't overshadowed
as all performed eloquently.
STREETSTYLE: This event also had
a large field of competitors. A total
of four structures dotted the course,
including the holey ramps, which
were "repaired" by throwing scraps
of ply over the holes without even
tacking them down. Good enough,
in the best of skateboard-lazy tradi-
tion. The best of the streetstyle world
were in attendance to make the best
of this course that offered little. The
necessity for more flatland tricks and
all-around precision determined the
differences in runs. As for the vertical
corner wall, everyone had their own
way of going about that thing. Some
carved it short and quick, while
others held out for long drawn-out
carves, nearly grinding the edge on
the downswing. Bill Danforth
stretched laybacks on the top, Scott
Oster whipped his trademark front-
side thrusters and Hosoi pumped
mean high-speed frontside carves.
Japanese standout Isamu Sakai
embellished his runs with a flair that
resembled the old Dogtown slash
'em up stylee. (Continued on page 114)
HOLLOSS
Ex
COMBU
COND WOVEN BRODELET
FOR STICKERS INFO BROCHURE a
SUITE E SON DIEGO CO 92126 (619) 578-4722 Fax 5784339/Dall214821-6590
SEND THREE BUCKS TO ZORLOC ZOмBU WHEELS 7945 DUNBROOK
VIRGINIO BEDCH(8044565264