X-Games Skateboarding Finals
This past Sunday, I rolled up to L.A. to check out the Skateboarding Street contest at the X-Games. I haven’t been for a few years since it was at the velodrome at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. I will say, that they have come a long way with creating a course that was functional and looked somewhat legit. It kills me knowing that this thing was tore down within hours of the final hammer being dropped.
I rolled in right as they were starting the prelims for the finals to pick the final six and all you could see was gauntlet after gauntlet being tossed back and fourth between the standouts like Nyjah, Sheckler, PRod, Ishod, Manny and Chaz Ortiz. Enough talky-talk, here are photos that some up the day.
Sheckler with a front feeble.
Oakley Marketing Bro-migo, Dylan Radloff and Nyjah Huston.
Once again, I am at an event where James Haunt’s art is plastered all over the scene. Killing it!
Jamie Owens from Skateboarder Magazine
P-Rod with switch front blunt
Nyjah with a Kickflip 5-0.
Manny throwing down a frontside big spin lipslide
Ryan Sheckler, blunt slide to fakie.
Dudes.
Ishod had these backside grinds on the railing locked
Ishod tossing a half-cab frontside krooked grind
Manny kept nailing these kickflip 50/50’s
Ishod with a tailside to fakie.
David Gonzalez with a backlip down the rail
Ryan Decenzo tossed a few half-cab 270 to front board fakie out
P-Rod Swithflip over the rail
Switch all day for P-Rod. Switch front blunt.
And again. Switch 360 flip.
Sheckler with a noseblunt slide.
Nyjah was nailing with a frontside overcrook.
Bro-hugs when it ended, it was definitely a battle between Sheckler and P-Rod, they were tossing gauntlets at each other the whole time, but P-Rod squeaked out enough to slightly win it.
Me and Luis Tolentino
X-Games taking over Los Angeles
Giant toy cars that had giant kids playing on it used this contraption earlier in the week.
Leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Ya, there was a Anime convention going on next door.
Celebrity’s
The Pete Rose
I Love L.A.
Polite sign!
This is a rarity. The streets were so dead on a Sunday afternoon that you felt like everyone around you was dead and you were in the city by yourself.
After, we went to eat at Salman Agah’s pizza spot Pizzanista, but someone ordered 40 pizzas that night and they had no dough left. So in other words, thanks for leaving me hungry for more after a long day, X-Games crew. (There’s a pun in there, see it, see it!) It was awesome though and look forward to next year.
Photos and story by Brian Jones.
