Ryan Flynn
Chris Cudlip pulling a frontside flip mid run in SuperPark.
Josh Brooks
Nieratko is pooped.
Well, that's all folks. Turn out the lights. X Games 14 is done and so am I.
Want to hear a funny story?
No?
Cool. Here it is...
Last week I was talking to
Anti Hero, Peter Hewitt and he was telling me how much he hates contests. I told him he should consider entering SuperPark and winning some money. That set up was tailor-made for a guy like Peter. Anyway, I had mailed him out a box of DvDs like I do for so many of my friends in the skateboard world and he was stoked. He texted me to say thanks. Two seconds later, my friend Matt Barker from Tum Yeto, (makers of
Foundation and
Toy
Machine skateboards,
Pig wheels and
Dekline shoes) texted me to ask about doing a demo for my shop, NJ Skateshop. Recently I fried my phone and lost all my numbers. After getting those texts, somehow I saved Barker's number as Hewitt's and Hewitt's number as Barker's. For the past four days I've been texting Barker when I thought I was texting Hewitt. So when I thought I was telling Peter he should come to SuperPark and claim his money, and I got a response that read: "On the way!" It was actually Barker I was texting.
Yesterday, hours before SuperPark elimination started, I thought I was texting Hewitt to see where he was. "Watching motocross. Section 129, top of the steps," was the response. So I went over there to have a drink with him. But didn't see him. Just Barker. "Where are you? I don't see you," I texted.
Barker texted back, "You're looking at me!"
That's when I learned I'd been talking to the wrong guy all along. So yeah, I'm an idiot. And Hewitt didn't skate. He was there. He just didn't skate. But he should, have-in full pads. Just kidding. But he should have skated because there'd be nothing more poetic to me than two Anti Heros grabbing spots in the Top 3 and taking the money and running. Maybe next year.
As for the overall week, in my mind:
1st place went to Big Air for the drama
2nd place goes to SuperPark for being something new.
And
3rd place goes to Street for the simple fact that it's not vert.
As for me, this has been the best experience of my entire life. Better than meeting my wife, better than opening our third
NJ Skateshop in Hoboken, New Jersey this Friday 8-8-08. It's been better than getting married, better than the birth of my un-conceived child. X Games 14. If only I could freeze time and make it never end.
