RAMMER
CONTESTS USED TO BE
a really big deal, and
kids would practice
their asses off to win
the coveted trophy-a
hunk of woodlike material
topped with a little plastic
skater in short shorts, forever in
Above: Bob slices and dices the
coping. Truly an amazing machine-
backside 270° to frontside pivot to fakie.
Below: A telescopic view of some manual
mastery in the form of Koston's switch
zinger to switch manual.
ation.
W
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Station.
Ws
a stoic tail drag position. No, but
you could get sponsored from
winning contests. If you placed
well in some contests you could
even turn pro. It was expected.
People started hating contests
about the same time that skating
started getting super tech. Creagers
and Kostons aside, it's just really
hard to land super-tech tricks
repeatedly and on command. Your
favorite pro would come in last
place while some jump-ramping
freak would walk away with the
gold. It's hard to be serious about
contests when your friends are hav-
ing fun, smoking weed under the
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vert ramp, and you are probably
going to get beat by a guy whose
arsenal includes the cess slide.
Everyone hates it when the wrong
guy wins. I should know-that used
to be me. Whenever I entered con-
tests, I would always carefully plan
out my run days beforehand. With
images of victory parading through
my head, I would strategize. I was
always sure to hit every obstacle,
doing safe, low-risk tricks I knew I
could land. I would even try to pace
myself so that I would fill up the
allotted time, squeezing as many
crappy tricks as I could into my 45-
second run. Even worse, all my best
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tricks were quarterpipe tricks-tired
moves left over from a decade of reli-
gious mini-ramp skating. As I would
walk up to the announcer's stand to
grab my first-place trophy and compli-
mentary Dave Crabb model, people
were still cheering the guy who got sec-
ond-the genuine street skater, the guy
who should have won, but darn it, took
too many chances and didn't stay on.
My runs were flawless.
Hard Rock
Hard Br
My contest career came to a
screeching halt in 1990, at the NSA
regional championships in Springfield,
Missouri. I was entered in the mini-
ramp event and, as ridiculous as it
seems, was skating in the same heat as
Eric Koston. In fact, I skated right after
he did. I had arrived at the contest
three days ahead of time, and in that
time had been skating the mini-ramp
approximately fourteen hours a day. I
was carefully figuring out my runs and
then going through them over and over
again. By the time the contest came
around, I was a wrecked piece of shit.
The nose of my board was half broken
off and I had two hippers. Rounding
out my appearance were some stylish
wrist guards. I did one-footed tailgrabs
over the hip. Koston did tailgrab 540's.
I think I got 89th place.
But back to the cash. The Vans Triple
Crown people seem to do a really nice
job of running contests, and are able to
round up all kinds of dough, including
Koston did
tailgrab 540's"
the $15,000 first-
place prize that
was up for grabs at
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132 THRASHER
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tion.
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on.
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