Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
Have you ever seen that old John Candy movie,
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Instead of me telling you all about our lay-overs, cancelled flights, cab rides, lack of food, waiting, sitting, running,
cancelled car rental, security checks, lost boarding passes, and so on, just buy the movie. It’s a classic and it’s probably $6.95 at Wal-Mart.
Step one is getting the make up treatment. Brian seemed to enjoy it quite a bit
I wonder if they give Ian there on the right a beard trimming before he goes on TV. Ryan Clements looks like he's getting some crows feet smeared out
Not looking so macho with a chick brushing foundation on you
It was nice to see that I'm not the only one that drinks while working. The Fuel TV staff offered us some of their beers during filming. I think they were
really trying to get Schaefer and Clements liquored up like the guests on Jerry Springer so they would get in a fight and chairs would start flying
It's not good for the Park's image when they act very unheterosexual in front of Fuel TV's 15 million person audience. I think the alcohol is starting to have
the opposite effect that the Fuel TV staff intended. They're getting a little romantic instead of violent
They should have gave them more beer. Schaefer would have smashed that guitar over Clements' head. Instead, Brian did a singing promo spot for Fuel TV - "Hi,
this is Brian Schaefer and you're watching Fuel TV!" Watch for those commercials all this week and next
The Fuel TV staff gave us a "Just for Showing Up" award like we give out at our events. It was a CASL trophy from 1987. Watch for Brian and Ryan's Grammy
award winning acting skills on the show - the first take with the real "surprise" trophy presentation didn't work out so they had to reshoot the surprise
presentation
In between takes, the crew pretty much doesn't have anything to do except mess around behind the scenes
This is the guy that gives you the cue, "On in five, four, three, two, and..." then he points at you to start talking. Then he goes back to goofing off behind
the scenes
Ryan Clements needs a make up fix
Ok, Clements gets more make up fixes than a high maintenance chick
That's Zeke, the Daily Habit host, with his mode of transportation. Zeke has a website: You
Have Bad Taste In Music.com. It's like a Truth commercial for crappy music
The Daily Habit
After finally arriving in Mission Beach at 2am we only had a few hours to sleep before having to wake up and drive to LA. That’s generally about a two hour
trek, but considering we had no luggage or rental car it took a bit longer.
We showed up at the FUEL TV studio to film our episode of The Daily Habit just after noon. What an amazing experience. Brian and I have both done a bunch of
interviews when just someone is holding a video camera and asking you questions, but neither of us has ever filmed a TV show. It was full-on Hollywood, with
about 10 people on the set and “takes,” “retakes,” and “cuts.” We’ll let you know when it airs. Thanks to Ian Hill, Zeke, Theresa, and the rest of the staff
for making us feel so comfortable.
The Zero TF
I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but LA traffic is pretty insane. It took us four hours to make it back to just outside of San Diego, where we met up with
Mike Sinclair, Fallen TM, at the Black Box Distribution facility. It’s an understatement to call it a ‘facility,’ because this thing is like a city block long.
It houses Zero, Mystery, Fallen, the entire staff for all three companies, all product, and a gigantic training facility for the crew.
There was a small gathering of a few staff members and Thrasher photographer
Mike Burnett. That’s when we found out that there was a photo mission about to
happen and it was confirmed when The Chief rolled in. Jamie has built himself quite an empire. I know that I get up and work every single day, but how someone
the same age as me has accomplished so much and is still able to hold down a professional skateboarding career is beyond me. Jamie rolled around with us for a
bit and then we all packed it up and went our separate ways.
The scene was beautiful. It was a perfectly sunny California day, just the right temperature, and we were a block from the ocean. Paul from Sun Diego, a chain
of boardshops in SoCal here, put together quite an event. There were about 20 supporting companies with tents aligning the entire parking lot, kids literally
skating everywhere, and a
huge crowd forming to witness the carnage that was about to go down.
It started with autographs in the store and was followed by a two-hour demo with top ams and a few pros here and there killing it. But everyone knew what was
up and what everyone was there for...the Rincon Replica Contest. There was $15,000 to be given away and at 4pm on the dot it went down.
Total Carnage
Shuriken
Shannon - nollie backside flip over the bank to bank (800k gif file)
I let
go of the shutter button too soon on Cody McEntire's nollie 360 flip over the bank to bank, but trust me, he rode away from it clean like it was just an ollie
(500k gif file)
Terell Robinson - nollie big spin over the bank to bank (800k gif file)
Jereme
Rogers' half cab flip was after the Contest was over (800k gif file)
Cody McEntire - nollie inward heel over the bank to bank (800k gif file)
Jereme Rogers -
full cab down the big four (900k gif file)
Cody McEntire - hard flip revert (800k gif file)
Danny Dacola - finger flip boneless over the flat bar (900k gif file)
Tommy Sandoval
- frontside nosegrind on the short rail (900k gif file)
Greg Lutzka covered
up the landing on Cody McEntire's nollie big spin down the big four (800k gif file)
The crowd was huge. Here's a quote from Schaefer on the mic: "You guys need to make more noise. If we took this Contest to the mid-West, everyone would have
huge boners."
Tommy Sandoval took home seven grand for first. Who the hell spelled his name wrong?
Tommy Sandoval - back lip on the long rail
Terell Robinson - kickflip boardslide on the long rail
Alex Moul was one of the judges. Watch for his interview on Fuel TV
Who dat? I think his last name is McNeal. This is a lipslide on the short rail
Marius Syvanen and Craig who used to work at Shorty's and now is with Toy Machine
Jereme Rogers warms up with a switch ollie
Watch for Cody McEntire's interview on Fuel TV
Jamie Thomas came to watch the carcass toss. Look at everyone sizing up the jump back there
Darrell Stanton - 360 flip
Cody McEntire - switch heel
A small sample of the girls with perfect tans and bodies hanging out everywhere. I'm not really into these Cali girls. Something just doesn't seem right with
them. They're nice to look at, though. Check the hole in them jeans
Photographer Mike Burnett is using his best photo gear at this
event
Brandon Turner was killing it. This is a switch ollie over the flat bar. He almost made a backside flip over it but ran out of time
Sun Diego booked us on a flight to San Diego that went through Minneapolis for some reason. Once we got there, we sat on the runway for three hours with no
beer or food. Then the flight was cancelled just in time for us to miss last call at the bar. Several more hours later, we finally got on another flight with
our luggage remaining on the other plane. It was an airline disaster on the way out there, but we did make plenty of random new friends such as this crew of
business women. They're all on myspace right now
This is what flying out of Tampa looks like - that's the Courtney Campbell Causeway
This is the view from our hotel room down the road from the Contest. It's very pleasant here in San Diego. Tampa's still better, though
That term, “total carnage,” is used around Skatepark of Tampa for pretty much everything, but I will say that this Best Trick Contest was truly TOTAL CARNAGE.
I don’t know the exact dimensions, but it was definitely pushing 8’ tall, and the gap out to rail was pretty damn intimidating, as well. I’ve never been to the
real Rincon, but I heard that this was an exact copy.
There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of people hucking themselves down this thing for just over an hour. The Contest was open to both ams and pros, which
definitely made it better. If you had something for the rail or big four, then you were in.
Here are some notables that were there, but didn’t make the money. We should have had cash all the way down to 10th place:
Danny Dacola (I’m sure this is spelled incorrectly) – this guy was a crowd favorite with boneless 360’s and
boneless finger-flips over the bar. He then
combined the two by trying frontside boneless 360 finger-flips, but couldn’t roll away from it
Jereme Rogers – the second biggest smile in professional skateboarding (with first being Malcolm Watson who was also there) showed up halfway through the Jam
and graced us with a perfectly executed cab down the four
Josh Kasper – where has Josh Casper been? The last time I saw him was at the Wallenberg Contest and he did the same exact thing...360 flips for over an hour
without making one
Terell Robinson – since I was actually announcing, I didn’t get to take any notes, so I can’t remember everything Brother Darkness did. I do recall him doing
the kickflip boardslide on the big rail, but I think that the judges weren’t feeling the toe drag. Terrell is still one of my favorites
When the Jam was finally over, here’s how it broke down:
6th – no money – Darrell Stanton (nollie gap to fs board) – his move was tough, but not quite tough enough for the money. Darrell did it on someone else’s
board because he broke his right away on a nollie to flat, so that should count for some extra points, right?
5th (tie) – $500 each – Tyler Surrey (nollie flip)/Kevin Romar (nollie heel) – I was standing next to Salman Agah when this went down and he said, “I remember
when it was a big deal when I did a nollie flip on flat.” That’s a powerful statement
4th – $1000 – Tony Tave (nollie bs heel) – Tony skated the least out of anyone in the Contest. He tried his trick a few times in the beginning, a couple during
the bulk of the event, and then busted it out right before time. He’s the least sore out of anyone the day after
3rd – $2500 – Cody McEntire (bs nollie biggie) – Tampa Am’s champ nailed his move...and for those that remember, that’s how he closed his winning run in Tampa,
too
2nd – $3500 – Brandon Turner (nollie boardslide and many more) – where’s Lil’ B been? Who cares, because he’s killing it! He kickflipped the bar on his first
try!
1st – $7000 – Tommy Sandoval (a bunch of $h!t) – I still can’t believe that Chris Casey called Tommy “Lord of the Thundercats” at Tampa Am, but I know that
Tommy could literally care less. Just like I wrote about last weekend at Phoenix Am, Tommy is a contest machine. I don’t think he’ll be an am much longer
(hint).
After seeing how gnar that obstacle was, I can’t believe how many tricks went down. Just ollieing the damn thing was impressive. A kickflip? Give it up.
Thanks to Paul at Sun Diego for making it all possible and the rest of his crew for working together so well and making the even such a success. Let’s build a
Clipper replica and do it again next year!
Random chill shots leading up to our trip to San Diego for Spring Break Yo'Self 2007...
What's Up at SPoT: Random Posts From Over the Years
I've been posting random ramblings to this What's Up blog on the SPoT site since 1999. Here's a random list of some of my favorite posts over the years...Rob.
You can get a free SPoT logo tattoo during Tampa Pro.
Check out Sarah's hot one. Thanks to Atomic Tattoos for hooking it up. There must have been about 40 people that got one yesterday. Semi-Finals are about to begin. Photos from the weekend should be up on Monday.
One of these days I’ll start taking skate photos again. Still way too much real work going on for me. Party photos with the chill cam are way too easy, though, so here’s another batch from another night of burning stuff and other general debauchery at the Park:
Hold your hand up to the computer screen. I'm high fiving you all over the internet. Although my skateboard was taken before I even entered the courthouse building, followed by my camera being taken, and then my phone getting taken right in the middle of court proceedings, my ticket was thrown out. Yee haw! Check out my story and some video footage of Officer Doofy fumbling about before he caught me filming him: I Fought The Law And The Law Lost. Again. Thanks, Doofy.
fake wristband
Check out Sarah's hot one
