Mr. Sore

Despite sunstroke, and the fact that I can barely move now, the 13th annual Beasely Skate Jam was a whole lot of fun. The oldschool division was moved ahead to today, so I actually got to enter. My run was crappy. I should have busted out some old, fun bonelesses and airs. Instead I attempted some freestyle moves and ended up looking like a dork. But the rest of the day was fantastic. There was a whole lot of amazing skating going on--and the only thing better than busting it out with a critical mass of other skateboard enthusiasts is doing the same, but to music. Oldschool hooked his I-pod up to an amp system and broadcast his specially tailored playlist while the events got run through: longboard, olschool, 18 and over, best trick out of the bowl, best trick on the box and quarter pipe, and the heated $400 game of SKATE. The whole thing was filmed and will be airing as a two hour special next friday on the local cable station.

There were so many cool tricks that got laid down. My favourites were a couple of 360 ollies. One guy did a nice one out of the bowl; it's amazing that you can spin around 360 degrees on a skateboard in mid air without grabbing it. Another fellow did this trick in the game of SKATE--on flatground--which was even more amazing to see. He did it a couple of times, just spinning through the air like a frisbee, and I thought he would take the prize on the strength of that trick alone. But the winner ended up being another fellow who seemingly had his board attached to his feet with little srings. He was brave enought to wear cords in the killer heat, and he walked away as winner of the 18 and over division too. It was a rockin' time: a real skateboard jamboree instead of the lame contest framework the industry tries to squeeze skateboarding into. Seeing as the whole thing is run by skaters, for skaters, using real, live skaters it makes it a very special and rare kind of event. Expected recovery time: one to two weeks.