What is it about vert doubles that is so gnarly? Could it be the near misses or the calculated board swaps? Maybe it's the fact that the same tricks that go down in the Men's Vert Finals go down in the Men's Vert Doubles. It's like getting two contests in one. In fact, now that I think about it, the Men's Vert Doubles provided better skating than the individual Vert Finals.
Making and landing tricks is so essential because your fall could endanger your bro's well being. After all, the last thing these guys want to do is take each other out…and speaking of "out", big high fives to Mike Frazier who came in on a drifting blind air to fakie, landed low in the flats, and back helmet whipped the flat bottom. It was brutal. The entire stadium went silent. He came to, waved the crowd, accepted a cheer from the fans, and went to the bench. Frazier and his partner, Neil Hendrix, had to use their first run score as the one that counted.
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| Andy pulling a f/s rock and roll boardslide under Tony's 540. |
Believe me, there were some close ones. Jesse Fritch and Andy Furlong had, without a doubt, the roughest and most comical evening. The guys were sporting matching homejob tshirts with sharpie pen graphics. One tee read, "I'm with stupid" and the other read "Don't get squirrelly Furly". The two did drop some sick combos, like the blind backside three (Fritch) with the frontside rodeo over the top (Furlong). They also unloaded tight matching kickflip indys. The two did however have some issues. Lots of falling with an impacting "two trains on the same track". Overall, they were a godsend because they kept the crowd focused to why we love skating; "What a great way to have fun with your friends" -Furlong
All of the teams were insane. Some partnered up for the event and others had practiced beforehand. That was evident in the way Andy Mac and Hawk synchronized their bag of tricks. Bob Burnquist and Bucky clearly had some preplanned attacks. After they loaded some over/under 540s and kickflip indy's, the pair finished the run off with the "ol' board switch-a-roo" Bob holds his board a foot or so above the coping and Bucky pops up, ditches his stick, then grabs Bob's and hand flips it too fakie.
Yeepa Yeepa!
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| Bob borrowing Bucky's board for a lein to tail. |
Then there was the digital duo. Rune Glifberg and Mike Crum. If you could have seen the matching gay twists these guys had rolling. The big move for these two? An insane over/under combo…Crum goes big with the backside heelflip indy, as Rune kickflip backside lipslides under him. Booya!
It all came down to Hawk and Mac's final run. Everything was in sync! Hawk even noted, "We skate together so much that we can get in sync without even talking." Their first run was good, but some small fumbalodians (goof-ups) gave them a spot in second behind the wizardry of Burnquist and Lasek. Hawk and Mac dropped in perfect mirror image. Side by side they unloaded some varial Mctwists that were so tight the Back Street Boys were sent looking for some new dance moves. The run continued with gold medal quality combos, but was set apart from the rest by an important factor.
When it came down to it, the double routines required some sort of deck switch-a-roo. Every team had one, but Mac and Hawk had the Mac Daddy. Tony kicks out to the platform and holds his board level to the coping about two feet out. Andy Mac blasts into a frontside slob air, pulls his board from his feet, grabs Tony's board from Tony's hands, and continues his air in regular frontside air style. The key? Andy never let go of his own board.
Andy landed, and in the flat bottom, positions his own board in a backside mute grab position. Still skating on Tony's board, Mac blasts into an indy air, then pulls Tony's board away, replacing it with his own board in a mute air position. Andy Mac then lands the backside mute taking his, and Tony's board back to the other platform to meet up with Tony. They were the only team to actually keep their boards under control during the switch-a-roo.
Tony finished the whole thing off by dropping in and meeting up with Andy's board, which Andy was holding in a frontside disaster position, and he then leaves his board in the tranny, and mounts Andy's board to complete a frontside lip slide. Needless to say – they won the gold.
Related Photos:
Skateboarding Vert Doubles
