It was the 13th hour in the car. I sat in the back seat with my legs forcefully cramped up against the front seat, hunching over in fetal position because it was the only comfortable position left. I leaned over my sandwich, sloppily munching on it like Golum from Lord of the Rings, crumbs dropping all over me and a water bottle somewhere on the seat floor. We had 8 more hours left to go. I comforted myself in the fact that if David Blaine could stand in a block of ice shirtless for 2 days, I certainly could sit in a car for 21 hours with breaks.
Once we arrived in Tampa and I shackled myself free of mild cabin fever, I had reached my Mecca. Tampa Pro was like skateboard porn, with at least 90 pros swirling around the venue at all times. The energy was high, with kids running around pointing at them like they were playing a big game of Where’s Waldo. All eyes were on the course as everyone was warming up, no one safe from judgment. Once the heats started, it was hard to leave the area, with constant 1 minute run action, back to back. Luckily, there was an array of free drinks, from Redbull, Gatorade, and my personal choice, Pabst Blue Ribbion. You got to love everyone dumping their money into skateboarding these days. There were some amazing skaters, some disappointments, but overall, the level of competition was high. Below are just some notable skaters to me throughout the day:
Elisa Steamer: I don’t care what she does; it’s just awesome to see her out there on the course smiling. Although her run was pretty lackluster, she landed two or three solid tricks. I also think she got hotter since the old days. Still the most OG girl skater ever
Brian Anderson: Watching videos of Brian Anderson on Youtube do not give his skating justice, because in real life you actually see how big this dude is. Not only is he tall, but broad and skates like a beast. A highlight for me was his boneless lip slide on the down rail.
Milton Martinez: This kid is a full blown shredder, attacking every obstacle like he had a bitter score to settle. His lip slide 360 shove out on the Gatorade box was notable for me.
Luan Oliveira: The footage from the two heats in the qualifiers does not do this kid justice. I stood and watched Luan skate in between heats for about an hour and a half and watched him pop the highest, most clean tricks I practically saw in the entire contest. Right off of winning Tampa Am, this cocky bastard shredded the biggest tricks and smiled after each trick. My prediction is top 3 for sure.
Mike Peterson: This guy was shredding, and to me, notable because he was doing it with the biggest grin on his face the whole time. He looked like he was genuinely having fun, and his skating to the music fit perfectly.
Overall, super successful day, and about to be a better night. Check back tomorrow morning for a review of tonight @ Czar Bar and the finals of Tampa!
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