Totally possible it was just an off day. It was at the recent contest at the Pacifca park in our 'over-vert' pool. He threw a few 2' max frontside airs and grinds and maybe even a handplant, and he does have a great style, but nothing that hot. The little local kids in the sponsored am division owned him - smith grinds across the over-vert, stand-up frontsides to revert, nose-picks, rollout-manual-rollin, miller flips, etc. - and they're lucky to get a box of flow now and then. I don't even think Bennett won his master's division against local guys no one has even heard of. Cool guy, great style, but not much else. That day anyway.
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"the pen is weak. skateboarding is as deadly as all hell" - gonz
Location: Halfway between Dogtown and the Badlands
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Re: the new issue...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slim
Totally possible it was just an off day. It was at the recent contest at the Pacifca park in our 'over-vert' pool. He threw a few 2' max frontside airs and grinds and maybe even a handplant, and he does have a great style, but nothing that hot. The little local kids in the sponsored am division owned him - smith grinds across the over-vert, stand-up frontsides to revert, nose-picks, rollout-manual-rollin, miller flips, etc. - and they're lucky to get a box of flow now and then. I don't even think Bennett won his master's division against local guys no one has even heard of. Cool guy, great style, but not much else. That day anyway.
20' boardslide over the loveseat to 50-50:
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I don't know man, in the last frame it doesn't look like he's going to pull it back in. Maybe the talent level is just a lot higher up here in the bay area than in so. cal.
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Pacifica, CA
"the pen is weak. skateboarding is as deadly as all hell" - gonz
I don't know man, in the last frame it doesn't look like he's going to pull it back in. Maybe the talent level is just a lot higher up here in the bay area than in so. cal.
I think you're used to seeing all the kids in Pacifica. Everyone I see there ####### rips and is always loads better than the last time I'd seen them.
But, I'm not defending Bennett.
Location: Halfway between Dogtown and the Badlands
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Rep Power: 13
Re: the new issue...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slim
I don't know man, in the last frame it doesn't look like he's going to pull it back in. Maybe the talent level is just a lot higher up here in the bay area than in so. cal.
If all you've seen is "a few 2' max frontside airs and grinds and maybe even a handplant", then you really haven't seen anything that he's capable of doing. You can't sum up a person's abilities on a single session. A few years back, I was surprised to find that this guy who couldn't skate as well as any of the local kids, or myself for that matter, at one of my local parks was Jeremy Wray. The 10 year olds were skating way better than he was. I was thinking "this guy's a pro?!?" Checked out a few videos, and saw that he could do far more than what I saw him not even coming close to pulling that day.
For that matter, on a few rare occasions, I've beaten Hackett, Kosick, Maysey, and Olson in slalom races. If you'd only seen them on those days, would you say that they're over-rated, or maybe its just that the slalom talent level in Rosemead is a lot higher than in other places?
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"Life is short, your boards don't have to be..."
(fwiw, my best day could never beat Olson or Hackett on their worst day! I'm better now but I remember the \
first time I actually tried to "race" slalom, I only beat the little kids and one other dude. I even got beat by
O'Mahoney and he was like 57 at the time and was skating a deck with Randals on it! Olson broke
20 seconds and my time was 27.01!).
It was probably an off day for Bennett. I just figured since it was a contest he was at least
giving it a go. But you know, I did see him at quite a party the night before (drunk injuns/los olvidados/clay wheels
gig with all the usual skate punk party legends in attendance. so he may have had a good excuse for
taking it easy the next day!).
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Pacifica, CA
"the pen is weak. skateboarding is as deadly as all hell" - gonz
you know, we've had a very mixed reaction to this cover...as we generally do with a lot of covers...the truth is that I really dig this cover ...for two reasons
one, it is so rad to see Bennets dread's flowing...
two, the gray images really add a lot to the overall mood of the featue story...ghostlike gray...
on a final note, we are working on something very cool for JAN
mags are on their way...
I just wanted to post again to say that there is a post from Stubbs below describing some great skating by Bennett Harada. With that, and MSK's posts above, it's clear I just happened to see him on a mellow day and that he really does rip. Sorry for doubting!
that roger bros article....awesome! and i recognized those pics....Ian Comishin took those of Neil Orta's board at the Madison County Gravity fest. he was about 2 feet from us NY guys when he took those against the tent at the top
Re: the new issue...
Re: the new issue...
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