chrome ball incident #118: legends never die

long weekend coming up so i wanted to do something a little special before i left... R.I.P.

see you guys on Tuesday.

chrome ball incident #117: the late shift

i was lookin at this old interview over at Police Informer earlier today... reminiscing about when Freddie Gall went from just another little dude in the driveway to a grown, full-on ripper clobbering hubba hideout seemingly overnight. One of the first people to really take switchstance beyond curbs and flatground, Gall's always done his own thing with his own trademark style.

and if you've ever seen some of the "spots" this dude skates, you start to get a real understanding and an even greater appreciation of how gnarly Fred really is. legendary status.

big-up to Justin over at Vert is Dead. i was gonna do a julien post yesterday and you beat me to it... i wasn't about ready to change today's for the second day in a row. keep up the good work.

chrome ball incident #116: you beautiful bastard

Another 90's Real head that got lost in the mix, the underrated Joey Bast.

Way too many Deluxe dudes from this era just kinda went missing in action...

chrome ball incident #115: above the clouds

Obviously the more flashy of the two, but many of the things we commented on in yesterday's post regarding Creager could also be said about Kalis... timeless, tech, and seemingly true to self in the face of trends.

and I could watch dude skate all day

chrome ball incident #114: sweet dreams

bonjour chrome ball, i'm still trying to think of this intro to do for the creager post and i seriously can't think of any ideas. i'm having a blank on this one. i think we should just shine it, ya know... forget the intro. put the ads and photos in there... and i guess that's it.

gotta have these.

and these too.

chrome ball incident #113: paradigm shift

I know, I know... another girl post. But this idea came up on the comments section yesterday and kinda got me geeked. I like to do a pretty big post for Fridays and this one fits the bill so sorry for the repetition, guys. Look for ronnie creager to start off an entire week of non-girl related posts next week.

I remember the first time that I heard about girl, I laughed. It was so unbelievable that you almost had to. The sheer magnitude of girl's establishment changed the entire skate world virtually overnight. I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it and actually can't think of a single thing to compare it to. It was that big. Its hard to put into perspective just how powerful rocco was in the early 90s. Simply put, he was the shit... it was almost as if he had some sort of monopoly on "cool". He had the best riders on the best companies with the best graphics and ads... granted the quality of the boards were shit, but nobody cared. Rocco companies were the best companies. It was as if his teams had finally caught up with all his talk and clever marketing and he could now rule the industry. The pros that anybody really gave a shit about that weren't on a rocco affiliate were few and far between... and even most of those dudes were guys that used to ride for steve and left. It was insane. He had everything... and most of what he didn't have evidently wasn't seen as worth the effort of his taking it.

So when those dudes decided to leave their companies (who at the time were rumored to have a combined 80% of the market share, all of which were headed by a man who loved talking shit almost as much as he loved revenge) in order to go out in the marketplace on their own and compete independently... serious balls. But it went down just like that, one day... POOF! They were gone. Nobody saw it coming, not even Rocco. Some benefited from this industry shift (Kareem's stock skyrocketed) while others at the same time found themselves lost in the turbulent waters (Henry Sanchez comes to mind). Granted this move didn't have anything to do with tricks (of the skateboard variety anyway), but it's easily one of the biggest singular events (at least from an "industry" standpoint) to happen to skateboarding since I've been around (and is doubtful anything of its magnitude could ever happen again, post-internet). Politics of the game.

15 years ago... jesus. congrats to girl though. for real.

And for those of you who haven't seen this, what exactly are you waiting for?

chrome ball incident #112: updawg

felt like some rickoo today. gotta love that dude.

several of your requests are on their way. i haven't forgotten... thanks everyone.

chrome ball incident #111: rocketship

Ever since that slick opening line at Los Feliz in the Blind "Friends" section of Virtual Reality, you can always count on J Dubs to kill it with a buttery style, a fresh song, and a big grin on his face. Always one to let his skating do the talking, its good to know dudes like him are still out there.

With some particularly nice flicks as of late and rumored to be gearing up for a full part, I can't wait to see what he's bringing to the new Chocolate video...

chrome ball incident #110: season of the shark

this probably wasn't what you expected to see today and i realize that this one will unfortunately get the gong from some of you*... so be it. Chris Miller has the best style in skateboarding, period. I've barely even dropped in on vert before but there's no mistaking just how amazing dude looks (even to this day) when he's flying around all over the damn place, destroying shit at warp speed. legendary status.

these photos make it awfully difficult to pass by everyday, turning up the nose as I look for that elusive sequence of some other dude doing a tailslide on a bench. i figure that today, i'm gonna indulge myself. that classic pole cam joint up top is easily among my favorite flicks of all time... and i love those cats as well. Miller is too ill.

*for those not feeling this post, click here and make Chris suffer.