Skatepunk

I just got back from Tampa--which reminds me, did I ever even write much about the Emerica tour?--and Tony Trujillo won. He rips, good style, nice sense of humility, and I was glad to see him win. Austen Seaholm was about as unpleasant to watch, over the course of the whole weekend, as Tony was nice to watch, but get this: Austen actually seemed to have earned some respect from the kids. Over the weekend, he skated well, in that he did his tricks and stayed on his board. He does about 50% horrible tricks, but they're horrible because they look so ugly, not because they're easy, so he can't help but get some judge and crowd approval. But over the course of the weekend, Austen's ego seemed to be in check, he seemed to have some self-control, and the crowd was definitely getting behind him. So during the finals, he nailed one of three runs, making his line. His line had typical Austen Seaholm tricks in it, like 5-0 to tailslide to switch crooks, and then his little curb-dancing thing where he does a nose stall on the quarterpipe, ollies to tail on the same coping, then does a backside ollie backside revert in. It looks fancy, looks like a jumping bean, and nobody else does the trick, so the crowd always goes nuts. But there's a reason nobody else does that trick--it's disgusting. Disgustingly easy for anyone in the contest, and it looks stale--not flowing, not smooth, and combined with his style it looks especially ugly. Of course Austen did a couple other tricks that were good or OK, but in general he did a lot of tranny tricks spiced up with a lot of horrible or weird tricks (try doing a noseslide, then jumping from noseslide to backside tailslide while moving across the ledge--your board stays in the same sliding position) and a few basic street tricks. (Maybe we're witnessing a Tony Hawk type thing here and these tricks are the wave of the future. If so, when that happens I'll be happy to eat my words and admit that I was unable to predict the future of skateboarding.) So Brian Schaefer and Ryan Clements got the three finalists up to the pyramid to announce the winner, and when they called Austen Seaholm's name, he looked so upset it was ridiculous. He took the trophy clock thing, threw it into the crowd all pissed off, and walked up, got his board, and split, looking like he was going to cry. So ridiculous. He had taken a couple of steps forward, with the public and with his peers, and he just put himself in ruined status for a long time to come. I don't know this kid, I've just seen his act, and it's sad to me that he doesn't have any guidance about how to act. On the other hand, his homies at Illinium kicked him off the team (before they went out of business) and he just got the boot from Vans, so maybe he just won't be told... I want to make excuses for him--he is only 15, but somehow it seems all for naught. Good luck, kid, I have a feeling you're going to need it.

If you think my words are too harsh, keep in mind, you don't have to read this. Also, it would be really easy to dismiss the kid as most of his peers have, and to not even consider him at all. Rather, I've offered my opinion, and also my hopes that he learns some of life's lessons about humility and behavior--how to act. Perhaps it's not enough that it's better than he'd get elsewhere, but it's all I've got.

Austen Seaholm Check Out