the chrome ball incident.

Hi there,

I don’t really know how to put this but here we go…

I started the Chrome Ball Incident over 5 years ago, on some level, as a futile attempt at repaying what is easily one of the best and most important things to have ever happened to me: skateboarding. It is something that I’ve loved since the age of 9 and will continue to do so long after I am unable to roll any further. I cannot imagine who or where I would be if skateboarding hadn’t come into my life at such an early age and completely transformed everything.

I know you understand what I mean.

With regard to CBI, I’ve tried to be very careful over the years about not painting my work here as some type of selfless act… because, in reality, it has been anything but. Sure, it can be a pain in the ass to do at times, but I have benefitted more from this admittedly peculiar usage of time than you could ever possibly know. The debt that I had originally sought to settle has only multiplied. The reaction that Chrome Ball has received could never have been expected and the opportunities it has yielded could never be repaid. I sincerely thank you for all of it.

I hope the Chrome Ball Incident has brought some type of joy to you and better yet, served as reminder of how amazing skateboarding and skateboarders can be. I am admittedly very proud of what I have been able to do with a scanner and a bunch of old mags in the middle of nowhere and would like to think that the site has upheld a certain standard in quality over the years, despite my tangents.

The rub with the premise of Chrome Ball, aside from all its inherent copyright infringement, is that I am dealing with a finite resource. That one day, I would have burned through all the stuff that people actually care about, leaving me with only questionable material from the days of yore. Some old bullshit. To continue on at such a point would, in turn, become a silly waste of time for all parties and make this site a mockery of its former self. And while I’m not saying that Chrome Ball has reached this point, it has become a growing concern. My aim has always been to call it a day well before this inevitability even remotely becomes an issue. Add in an admittedly sizable portion of fatigue to this mix and I believe what is to be in the site’s best interest becomes all the more clear.

On July 12^th, the Chrome Ball Incident will cease regular updates.

I’ve hesitated in even making this announcement prior to but a sneaky exit stage left just doesn’t feel proper after all we’ve been through. And while it is true that I would love to continue doing interviews in some capacity, I don’t feel that keeping CBI around for a random handful of posts per year (if that) would be the right thing to do either. We’ll see what the future holds.

I think that brings us up to speed.

So… enough of this somber shit. Over the course of the next two weeks, the Chrome Ball Incident will be presenting a series of interviews and guest posts that will hopefully provide a fitting farewell for this nutty little experiment. I think/hope you’ll be stoked.  

See you tomorrow.

Your friend and humble narrator,

Chops