So this was going to start as a post about a New York Times article titled Out From the Cold, Snowboarder Tries to Duplicate Success that was basically about how Shaun may be a superstar on the snow, but he’s been a failure on the ramp, at least in terms of his struggle to win the X-Games vert event and be taken seriously as a skateboarder. [Source] That’s a bit of an overstatement really. Does not winning the X-Games makes you a failure? Not in my book, but apparently you’re not even a real skateboarder until you win the X-Games. In ‘Flying Tomato’ now a champ for all seasons, the Boston Herald Quotes Shaun after finally winning one this weekend:

“This means the world to me,” choking back tears after his run. “I’ve always wanted to be a skateboarder. I’m finally doing my thing.”

Uh yeah. I guess it was emotional for him. We can cut him some slack since he’s doesn’t appear to be nearly as big of a douche bag as the Sheckler, and he’s already paying a penance by not having any control over being constantly referred to as the Flying Tomato.

Links to a couple more articles about Shaun’s vert title win and a video of Sheckler getting the world’s most ego-centric tattoo after the jump. [Photos: Left – AP / Ryan Pearson from The Denver Post. Right – Buzz Photo from Perez Hilton Hey Perez, it’s Shaun, not Shawn. This is the second time I’ve swiped a photo from Perez.]

If you want to avoid the crowds at the Trifecta this year, but still want a little bit of commotion during your NW Oregon skatepark experience this weekend, consider heading over to Seaside this Saturday for the 3rd annual Skate ‘n Ride Summer JAM. It’s for a good cause.

I wanted to make sure I got this posted before the mayhem starts this weekend in Oregon. The small home grown scene is equally if not more important as all the high profile events in skateboarding. It’s the small companies, crews and towns that you’ve never heard of that are (-ugh-) keeping it real. In this spirit we bring you Danimal’s coverage of Albany Oregon’s annual Summer contest. Seriously guys, next year, don’t have it on a Wednesday afternoon and we might be able to make it down there.

There’s more…

Australia’s Herald Sun has an article titled Skaters shun parks for concrete jungle that talks about how kids still don’t want to be confined to skateparks. While Melbourne is upping it’s skateboard deterrent budget to $50,000 a year, the city of Boroondara has an annual budget of $100,000 a year for skatepark development. 100k Australian is only about $86,000 in US dollars, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at. One of the popular street skating spots that kids keep barging is called Docklands, which near as I can tell is a redeveloped waterfront plaza that used to be, well, docks. The article mentions YouTube videos of Docklands, so I did a cursory search. There appears to be a nicely finished pedestrian park as well as a bunch of more industrial areas that appear to be abandoned or in disuse. You can watch a couple vids after the jump.

Haw haw! The Vancouver Skateboard Coalition received funding from ES shoes to build a parade float consisting of a miniramp on a trailer “that will be in all of the local parades.” And they do mean all of them. Their latest appearance was in the Gay Pride Parade in Vancouver over the weekend. If you’ve never been to one, gay or not, these parades (besides being kind of gay… ) usually have a party atmosphere (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and are a lot of fun for people watching. We had some fun skating in front of Portland’s City Hall, but I can only imagine it would have been a lot more fun if there had been a posse of people in their underwear and bondage gear in the stands. Hats off to the Vancouver Skateboarding Coalition for not being homophobic. This post is rated Extreme!™ for extremely gay. [Update: Video footage added]

But does it cover up pad rot? Jay Meer flowed me this at the Board of Art show where he was exhibiting a cool bronze cast of a skateboard and some great photos. A little dude blunt sliding a kidney pool is way better than a little tree. Check out Hiphopsmellz.com.

The City of Portland held it’s Skateboarding in Portland retrospective art show last night, titled Board of Art. I’m not sure that description is entirely accurate though, as the “history” aspect of the show seemed to be solely visible in the Burnside documentary trailer. The rest was art on the wall of the City Commissioner’s office. Oh yeah, and did I mention, there was a mini ramp in front of City Hall?!! Only in Portland! Check out some pics after the jump.

[Update: Added more photos from MC.]

There’s more…

Jeff Kendall is the new Vice President of NHS. That means he’s the guy who is actually responsible for making sure Santa Cruz and it’s related companies stay in business. If you had to guess 20 years ago, which Santa Cruz pro would end up actually running Santa Cruz, it would have likely been Rob Roskopp. Check out Jeff Kendall’s humble beginnings on former Transworld Skateboarding editor Britt Parrott’s MESS (Mid-Eastern Skateboard Series) tribute site. I just ran in to Britt at my neighborhood grocery store a couple days ago, where he threatened to come session with us again. Let’s see if he Googles his own name.

I don’t watch the X-Games, even if I come across them by accident. I know, it’s hard to believe. When I came into work this morning a coworker in his 40’s who doesn’t skate had already emailed me about Jake Browns’s slam to flat on the mega ramp. It’s every vert rider’s worse nightmare, multiplied by 10. That’s right, he fell almost to flat from 15 feet above the coping. How tall are those mega ramps? 20, 30ft? Unofficial word is that he fell about 45-50 ft. It’s sickening to watch, but he actually walked off under his own power 20 minutes later. Jake Brown is the luckiest skateboarder alive on this day. Cringe through the vid after the jump.

[Update: Added an alternate, extra gnarly camera angle.]
[Update: That was fast! The New York Times has article about Jake’s slam and the inherent dangers of the Mega Ramp. Requires free registration – or read it here]

The Tuscaloosa News has a fascinating article titled LIVING ON THE EDGE – Skate park attracts enthusiasts, competitive boarders. Critical analysis of this thought provoking and controversial article after the jump.