It turns out Chris Cole is a highly skilled mini-boarder. Yes, the “one man demo machine” known as Chris Cole, has skills on even the the most mini of skateboards.

I’d first gotten word from this from Mystery’s Dan Murphy while sessioning the Berrics one night. He kept telling me about Chris Cole’s onslaught of the Black Box park on a mini deck. To say he tore up the park is an understatement. Chris Cole annihilated the park, making you question whether he’s even a human being. To have complete control of a board that small is uncanny. Somebody give Cole a greater challenge!

Seriously the precision of getting that little board on a handrail is extreme. You have to be precise and it’s insanely easier to get destroyed trying it with that little of a board. You could easily slide your ollie foot all the way off the board, getting completely racked on the rail. The risks are high and his three sixty flips are just as good on a skateboard that was meant for little groms.

One of the most unpredictable announcements of the New Year! It is quite a shocker to hear Eric Koston has bounced from the Lakai camp. And in no way is this an April Fool’s joke.

Lakai has posted a pretty hilarious “press release” video about his leaving. You can tell that it’s under no harsh terms due to the fact that Koston would even participate in a good hearted humorous press release with his homies over at Lakai. I’m sure he has something preset and planned as to what’s next. Perhaps his own shoe brand launched out of the Crailtap network? I would think so! If not that, then maybe he will join his long time friend Tim Gavin at DVS shoes. All of these are possibilities but Koston has always made power moves.

I don’t really think he would leave for something as corporate as Nike or Adidas. I mean he easily could but I don’t think that’s his style. Froston footwear perhaps? It has a ring to it doesn’t it? Imagine that the new Froston 1’s due for release May 2nd, 2009. Hey, it could happen nowadays.

Whatever he chooses, its still Eric Koston, one of the most skilled skateboarders in the world. You can sure bet that his following will carry on no matter where he goes and what he chooses to do. I do however find it gnarly how so many riders have been leaving Lakai after such a successful video. Its almost strange to watch Fully Flared now knowing a good portion of its riders are no longer sporting the flare.

Sheckler is at it again. But this time around with his own clothing company. I saw this coming when he split from Volcom. I also saw some of the gear at last year’s Maloof Money Cup. He is 100% sticking by it though and it will be interesting to see if and who he sponsors as well. The clothing line is going to be titled “RS by Sheckler”. He signed the deal with Wicked Fashions Inc.

I’m not sure what’s up with all the strange “by and for” campaign branding going on. Reminds me of “Shaun White for Target” in a way. Strange but either way, whether you support it or not, I am positive it’s going to do pretty darn good.

Expect to see it at a local major retailer near you. I’m guessing this means JC Penny’s, Wal Mart and Macys? According to their press release, the prices for the clothing will range from $15- $55 for young dudes and $12- $48 for the little dudes. Ryan Sheckler will even have a larger than life billboard in Times Square which is pretty all out.

If you’re curious as to who else has sparked under the Wicked Fashions group, you can look upon Southpole clothing as a prime example. Expect to see “Shecks” EVERYWHERE soon!

There have been so many team rider swaps lately that it was inevitable that I’d be giving you the scoop on the latest additions and removals.

First off, Lizard King is off the Circa Combat Division. Now, the Combat Division has always thrown me off a bit because they’re still part of Circa’s regular team, yet somehow segregated to a separate division. Anyways, no one knows who his current shoe sponsor as of late is but I highly predict that it’s going to be Supra! I’m calling it right now, Lizard King will probably the newest Supra rider. All of his homies are there, so why not?

CCS has added Scott Decenzo as its newest Am rider and they’ll also be announcing a new pro rider to their already packed roster. By the looks of the silhouette, I would say Benny Fairfax. But I could be completely wrong. He’s on a roll right now with his induction into the pro ranks and his recent win at Battle of the Berrics.

Joey Brezinski, Bob Burnquist, and Javier Nunez are all new Independent Truck teammates.

Leo Romero has split the Baker boys to join Ed Templeton on Toy Machine. This actually seems like a pretty good fit for the dude. Rumor has it, he had a foundation shape prepared for him previously for a pro model he was “supposed” to have. So expect to see that shape used on his Toy Machine deck.

Last but not least, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki skates for Birdhouse now. If you don’t know who that is, look him up and prepare to have your jaw dropped, completely. He is the definition of “Gnar”.

Have you ever seen those FREE iPOD banners on the internet? Yeah, the annoying flashing ones that basically jack up your computer with one click. I hate those too! Well, you’ll be happy to know that the homies at Odeus don’t play around. They’re really going to be giving away tons of free product. An Ipod nano is one of the many prizes you can be rocking. They also have skateboard decks, hoodies, shirts, beanies, hats, and tons of other products.

Five lucky winners will get hooked up with shirts. But the grand prize winner will win a whopping prize package. You ready for the rules? Well there are no rules! All you have to do to win is comment on their blog post. Keep checking back for more updates or you could also just follow them on Twitter and get updates from them there.

Its super easy, like ridiculously simple to do and it’s a free shot at winning some cool prizes. You don’t have to participate in a carcass toss of any kind and you don’t have to be the gnarliest skateboarder to win. They just want to hook you up. From skateboarder to fellow skateboarders.

So get on it homies. Leave your wonderful comments and tell them why you should win an iPod. Tell them a joke and make them laugh. The top 6 comments they are the most stoked on will win the goods. The grand prize being the iPod package of course. Get on it my brothers!

The contest ends today so you know you have to get popping on it, right now. Good Luck to all!

There are tons of new videos due out this year for the skateboarding world. Some of us have been craving some new footage to feast our eyes upon or some good skateboarding to get us pumped up before a session. Below are three skateboarding parts that surprisingly have gone under radar with many, despite having existed for a good while now. These three skateboarding parts are from three individuals that you should get to know. They might not be household name,s but don’t let that knock your attention away.

Nate Broussard in “Static 3”

(The best pedal push in skateboarding right now. Style beyond perfection and probably the most graceful skateboarder on the planet right now.)

Alex Carolino in “They don’t give a fuck about us” (yes, that is really the name of the video)

(This guy’s part has pumped me up to skate countless times. He pops his tricks to ridiculous heights. He has mad switch skateboarding skills.)

Jimmy Lannon in Westside skate shops “The Good Life”

(Every time I watch this dude skate I want to go outside and pop a nose wheelie on the nearest manual pad)

And for all of you sick of ghetto quality YouTube footage, check the link to the entire DÉJÀ VU video from the Cliché skateboards website. It’s been up for a good while and in full quality and amazing to watch every time. It’s basically a remix of a couple of the last Cliché videos to come out. It’s pretty cool because they get “guest” editors to work on and edit different team rider’s parts. So each rider has his own custom edit and twist or “style” to their part. You be the judge, do you prefer the newer parts or the older ones? If you’ve never even seen any of the Cliché videos before you are in for a treat. Not only that but you are going to wish you lived in Europe so you could skate their beautiful spots.

A guy I know broke a bone in his foot trying to heelflip over a hose! Yes, a hose on the ground. Gnarly right?

Ever notice how you can get hurt trying the least gnarliest things possible? It happens to all of us. Yes, you too and you know it. There have been times where I have felt more pain from a violent shin hit on a flatground kickflip than I have from hucking myself off a giant stair set.

It’s amazing what we’re all capable of pulling off, but getting hurt on at the same time. For instance, a good friend of mine backside lipped a 12 stair rail. We got it on film and proceeded to skate back to the car. He was stoked and happily skated back to the car only to hit a death pebble and go flying like there was no tomorrow. He threw out his arm to break the fall but landed his entire body weight on to his wrist area and basically snapped it. Seriously? How on earth could this dude have escaped death earlier only to break his wrist from hitting a dumb little rock on the ground.

You almost want to laugh until you realize how epic of a situation it is. That experience left me basically phased into an entire “bring a broom” mode. Things happen when you least expect them. Skateboarding is gnarly and will always be a gnarly pastime. Be ready for the unexpected and stay alive out in the streets while your shredding.

The risk comes with the territory but that’s part of the rush and excitement of skateboarding. Right?

Photo courtesy of Odeus Skateboards.

A full on Skate-A-Thon is going down this Sunday in San Francisco for all of you up in that area. I would be the first one there and ready to skate to my hearts content, if only I was nearby. A chance to skate, pretty much all day with a bunch of other skateboarding brothers is a beautiful thing.

It starts bright and early at 8:00am and ends at 11:00 am. That’s relatively short, I guess, but you know you’re still going to skate the rest of the day with other skateboarders you meet there. Trade spot locations, talk skateboarding, play games of S.K.A.T.E. and just overall have a great time.

All that is required to enter the skate-a-thon is for you to be signed up with the SF skate club. If you’re already living in San Francisco, then why not sign up for your own skate club. Might as well, you know?

The skate-a-thon is for a fundraising campaign so you know it’s for a good cause. Anything that benefits skateboarding is a good cause. Reminds of a lot of like Go Skateboarding Day when the masses gather to form one giant skateboard train. Or a Wild in the Streets type of deal.

Don’t forget that if you make the trip up to San Francisco you can be sure to hit up some legendary spots as well. And of course, the world renowned mass array of hills you can bomb. The street luge extremist and daredevil deep inside all of us pops out when in the presence of the San Francisco streets.

The almighty big four has seen many great tricks go down it. But I don’t think it has prepared for what is about to come next. The announcement has been made that the epic and legendary contest will go down once again. This time around the sponsors behind the event are Zero, DVS, Quiksilver and of course Thrasher.

Saturday May 30th 2009 is when it will all go down and history WILL be made. Emphasis on the “will” part because you know some trickery is going down that will be unimaginable to our brains right now. Skateboarding has progressed so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw a dude try to back flip off the stairs and land on his board.

“Big tricks for Big Money” is a properly titled name for this contest. If you have never seen the highlights of the past year’s contests, well then you have been missing out. Most memorable to me would be Andrew Reynolds frontside flip into the epic onslaught of thousands of people. The chant and cheer they give out when he landed that trick is spine tingling. It’s the skateboarding equivalent of Moses parting the ocean with his bare hands. Yes it is that epic. Am I saying Reynolds is the Moses of skateboarding? Quite possibly so. Am I also saying that this contest is the gnarliest of them all? Quite possibly so again.

This contest is one that you will not want to miss. Literally everyone and their brothers-cousins-mom will be talking about it. Peep the video for a reminder of the last one that went down.

Wow! Can you say three peat? This dude has seriously got to be one of the highest paid skateboarders in the industry right now. Honestly, win after win!

Check out his sponsors list with “Toyota” as an official listing. Dude, a car sponsorship is above and beyond the incentive he probably receives from any of his other sponsors. Props to Greg Lutzka for pulling off the win this year and coming back home $20,000 richer.

His run was absolutely flawless. I have seen tons, and I mean tons of message board hate and video comments all over the place about him not deserving the win due to repetition of tricks. But with all honesty, this is the Tampa Pro not a best trick contest. You are judged on your consistency and difficulty of tricks within your runs. Greg Lutzka accomplished all of that and more. He may have done the usual tricks he normally pulls off, but regardless, 270 lipslides, frontside flip 360’s, and his daily 270 to blunt are ridiculously hard. And to be able to pull them off in a consistent line without flaws is gold worthy.

You can check out his run on Fuel TV.