#13: hello, my name is ocean howell and this is my chrome ball incident.

ocean howell. 540 varial kickflip. 1992.

now this dude was a beast. stuff like this is why i started this operation. let's list what's at play here:

1) that's a 540 VARIAL kickflip, not a 360 with some dinky kickturn/slide b.s. at the end. straight video game technique being displayed.

2) that's a photo sequence. 9 shots. with film. in 1992. not video captures and not digital prints. so how many tries do you think he got? clean.

3) when was the last time you saw someone do something like this? But for real, this was a jawdropper back then and a real dummy smack today considering that i doubt no more than 10 modern pros can probably do this trick now (rodney doesn't count). I remember the first time i saw this over 15 years ago... it was like, straight up, looking at "the future"... flying cars, laser beams, robots, and this.

for real, Ocean never got his due. not only could my man blend crazy hippie vibes and Brand Nubian together seamlessly, he also made crazy mismatched socks, floppy patouli stank hats and the Doors' "Peace Frog" forever cool in my book... answer key.

(yeah, i just learned that html link shit and i'm makin' the most of it, chump)

...but I seriously think that if dude would've had a Rocco-owned board sponsor, he'd have legendary status right now. unfortunately, Ocean stayed on post-Plan B H-Street (who never turned him pro for some reason) and sorry Birdhouse, who's only saving grace on street at the time was Willy Santos, Klein and Andrew Reynolds... when he was, like, sperm-years-old. All I gotta say is, imagine if that clip was in Questionable instead of Next Generation!?!? dude be tre flipping the Great Wall of China right now.

last I heard Ocean was becoming an architect. he still pops up every now and then, but damn... back then, dude was official like a ref with a whistle.

I'm getting a headache.