Slam City Jam 2001, eh?
by Brooke Geery
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I used to be a grom. I used to go to contests, sit huddled in between the masses and giggle like a TRL fan every time a pro got within spitting distance of me. That lasted about one season, until I started writing. Then I found myself adorned with a press pass, in the athlete's yurt and utterly bored with the prospect of getting the autograph of a professional snowboarder or skateboarder.
Sometimes I would think, if I was still a grom, still struggling for a decent position against the halfpipe or ramp, I would enjoy contests more. Slam City Jam changed all that.
May 6, 2001, approximately 80,000 people descended on the PNE in Vancouver for Slam City, a lot of them the crème de la crème of skateboarding. As opposed as I was to it, I bought a ticket for $20.50 CDN ($.43 USD) by cutting the ridiculously long line. I made my way into the stadium, which once you were in, you couldn't leave.
As if no in/out privileges wasn't bad enough, I then had to battle for a seat with the entire population of Vancouver and if I wanted food, it was about $8 for a hot dog. I celebrated all this by taking a nap, all the while wishing I had stayed outside and skated the Hastings Bowl next to the contest.
Please disregard the light in the foreground of this photo. I was not going to leave the sky box to take photos. |
I had heard a rumor that Red Bull had a sky box in the auditorium, meaning Matt Barbour would be there, mixing drinks, and eager to let me in. Frustrated with being just another one of the masses, I went on a walk to try to finagle my way up. As luck would have it, I happened to run into Barbour, who escorted me up.
I walked into the small room, one side containing a spread of catered food, the other plush couches and chairs with the best view of the course you could imagine. Immediately, I realized, this is the life. Being somebody is far better than being nobody...
So from my seat in a cushy blue chair, I watched as Bob Burnquist executed a near perfect run in the vert ramp. (Actually, I couldn't see the vert ramp, but who cares, I had a red bull vodka in my hand.) The judges awarded Burnquist with a 99.9 score, far above anyone else in the finals.
Slightly more interesting to the crowd in the Sky Box was the street finals. People packed into the box, including Burnquist, his daughter Lotus and wife Jen O'Brien. You know you're pimp when you're watching with a newly crowned champ, and there's no one there begging for an autograph.
Vert Skaters are cool. |
The finals went something like this: Everyone would take their runs, and someone would preemptively mention how sick the skater had been skating earlier. Mccrank, Coston, Carlos DeAndrede, Dyrdek, Ryan Johnson, Chad Fernandez and a host of others made skateboarding look easy, but it was Koston who did all his tricks switch to earn a 95 and take the win away from Colt Cannon.
Finally was the best trick contest. It was kind of a mess, and I'm not sure who won. On the "snowboard kicker" contest, 11-year-old Ryan Sheckler went really big and flipped his board, then landed and rode away. It was dope. Others did backside 180's and rolled in on the vert to clear the deck and land on the ramp. Then there was a rail contest, too crowded to really watch. Then was the vert best trick, and I'm sure somebody won that.
That's about all from Slam City Jam. The moral of the story, it's all about who you know, because being part of the general public sucks!
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