Maloof Money Cup: Finals day! Wow… I didn’t know it was possible to cram so much amazingness into one single day, but Maloof Money Cup is kinda like that. I hope you watched the webcast. One important thing you need to know out there… colored wheels are officially cool again. All the pros are doing it. Go get some. Cole annihilated the universe. I kinda knew he’d win, but was scared to make the actual prediction on the blog and be wrong. I suck. Sandoval second… him almost dying during the prelims trying to 50-50 across the roof gaps will be burned into my mind for quite some time. I’m a prophet! So, if you’ve been following, you’d know that I called Alex Perelson out a few days ago. Not only did he win; he landed his first-ever 900 in his run and became only the fifth person in the world to do one. Gnarlyyyyyyy. You know what other trick he did that was pretty sick? The one where he decided to become a vert skater at such a young age rather than going the route of every other kid and focusing on street skating. Love that kid. Congrats, Alex. Broken boards for days! Gosh, so many broken boards in the last week. I dunno how these companies stay in business having to give so many away to the pros! Nah, just kidding… when dudes are shredding this hard and jumping down Rincons, a few boards are gonna break. I think Brian Anderson has the highest broken board count of the weekend and half of them were loaners from other dudes. You know what’s pretty sick though? How many dudes land so much crazy stuff on other dude’s boards. I mean, a setup is pretty particular to the user. Ask any pro about how they like their trucks and you’ll get a million different OCD-laden explanations. So when someone like Mike Mo borrows Shane O’Neill’s board and lands a switch backside flip down Rincon, or Pete Eldridge lands a switch heel over the Rincon rail on Elissa Steamer’s board… well, that shit is tight! Puking… redux Some of my informants clued me in on more puking news today. Evidently Ryan Decenzo puked during the Am contest in the hallway under the roof gap. I missed it unfortunately. Peter Ramondetta puked last night during the semis. I saw it, but my camera missed it. Then, today, Adam Dyet puked during the Best Trick and I kinda shot a photo. Lucky you. Oh yeah, in keeping with the logic that puking can indeed be helpful to your performance, like I mentioned the other day when Torey qualified first after puking a few times during his runs, Adam won 10 grand during best trick after puking. How many times can I say “puking” in this blog? I dunno…a lot. Puking. Broken girls for days! So Rachel Reinhard smacked her head and wrecked her knee. Evelien Bouilliart got whacked in the skull with a stray board. Alexis Sablone smacked her dome piece as well, but not before ripping hard enough too win the Zumiez Destroyer award. Lauren Perkins was on crutches too! WTF!? The girls were going for broke and breaking themselves in the process. Everywhere I looked I saw another one biting the dust and in a wheelchair. But that’s the name of the game. These gals aren’t out there crying about a broken fingernail if you know what I mean. In the end, Leticia Bufoni, who also qualified first in the prelims, came out on top, Lacey Baker in second and skate legend Elissa Steamer in third. Congrats girls, and get well soon! Mad Hatter This is Ritchie Jackson. I ate a hamburger at Hensley’s Flying Elephant with him once. Nice enough guy, but I often wonder where and how he gets all his clothes and how much it costs him. All Teched out. So these three kids were playing on the Tech Deck Maloof course. And Dennis Busenitz and I go up to them to check out the scene. And Dennis says, “Hey, why don’t you guys go out and skate the real street course instead?” Seemed like a logical question and amazing opportunity if you ask me. I mean, Dennis Busenitz approaching you and suggesting you skate the course with him? Come on! What would you do? Well, instead of obliging, the trio of Tech Deckers all stopped Tech Decking… looked at Dennis with blank stares, as if UFOs just came down from space and erased their brains with tractor beams, paused for a moment, and all went back to Tech Decking. Pretty remarkable. I guess there’s something to be said for dedication, huh? More livestock! Today, thanks to the OC fair, I saw the biggest cows I’ve ever seen. Someone told me they are Oxes. Or Ox. Or Oxen. But I say they are just big cows. 4:30 AM. Time to call it quits… these late nights are gonna kill me one day. Thank you world, for reading my Maloof updates. And thank you Maloofs and skateboarders for suck an incredible weekend of skateboarding. I’m exhausted, sun burnt and hungry… but more importantly, I’m happy. See you next time, Mr. Brink

Alex & Bob I warned you all about Alex Perelson yesterday and today he was nearly making 900s. Can’t wait to see him make one tomorrow in the finals! As for the results… well, Bob got first. Is anyone surprised? Dude was ripping. Famous people Then, the hour of the famous people happened. Kobe Bryant showed up for a few minutes with 65 security guards around him all to chill with P-Rod, and then Snoop Dogg came and played a few songs on the stage. People were hyped! Maybe Obama will come to the finals. That would be sick. And now some more from Saturday, all rolled into one because it's bedtime... My friend Janae stabbed herself with an eyeliner pen last week. Learn from her mistake ladies… learn. That zany whild ‘n crazy snowboarder dude showed up in lots of fashionable layers… because, you know, it’s pretty cold in Orange County in July. Right behind him was a guy with more of the right idea. He was topless and lookin’ good. tank top tan lines and all! Kinda seemed like something you’d see at the fair in the ‘70s, not 2009, but hey, come one come all! And whilst on the topic of fashion… check out Brian Anderson’s post-semifinals relaxation outfit. Looks pretty comfy to me. Malto and Dennis look sweaty jealous actually. Let’s see… what am I forgetting. Oh yeah! The Street semis! Holy crap! How can I even describe it. If you weren’t watching the webcast you blew it! A pure fail on your part, kiddo. I don’t even know where to begin. Ramondetta, Busenitz, Malto, Sheckler, Torey, P-Rod... and Chris Cole. Jeez, I’m pretty sure no one’s ever seen anything like the display of premium skateboarding that Cole dished out tonight. I know I haven’t. If I had to take a guess, Cole, if anyone, is going to be the dude that takes the title from Paul this year. I’m out of snarkiness for the day. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say except I am really, really excited to see what finals bring.

Am finals! I was close! Shane got second place! But who’s counting really? Not to take anything away from the winner and one-time Tampa Am winner, Felipe Gustavo, who took first. Might have something to do with ridiculous amounts of flipping in and out of tricks on handrails and stuff like that. The P-Rod-esque precision, tech and perfection probably doesn’t hurt either. Congrats, Felipe… a well-deserved win. Shout outs to Nick Merlino for a switch back three down the Rincon four. That’s no joke. Try it down a curb and see how you fare. Fair food Mic- E Reyes knows food. And this weekend he knows fair food. I have to say, I’m pretty jealous. There’s nothing more I’d like than a cheese steak, turkey drumstick, funnel cake, French fries, chocolate milkshake, cotton candy, corn on the cob, bratwurst and a sausage and peppers sandwich right now. Instead, I’m sitting here starving whilst blogging… all for you. Anyone wanna try jumping him and nabbing a hot dog for me? I’m too scared to.

Ams! And now, we interrupt the nonsensical blogging for some conventional and informative skate contest coverage! Buzz buzz buzz… for the first few days of practice, pretty much everyone was talking about Shane O’Neill. Then guess what? He qualified first in the Am contest. This coming off two very recent video parts in Nike’s Debacle and Skate Mental’s Am Chowder, which pretty much makes him one of the “it” dudes of the moment out here in skateboardland. But that’s a good thing. Shane is a joy to watch on a skateboard. Don’t be surprised if he wins the whole thing tonight! Other honorable mentions include Davis Torgerson and Vincent Alvarez… once again, purely based on the “exciting to watch” factor. Davis killed the 6-stair UC Irvine hubba and Vince is just sped around the perimeter of the course like he was in a Nascar race or somethin’ like that. So sick. Keep an eye on these’ boys tonight during the webcast for sure. Vincent Alvarez Torey Pudwill and the Pros This isn’t the first time this has happened and I doubt it’ll be the last. But Torey Pudwill often pukes during his contest runs. I’m not so sure if this can be attributed to nerves, too much beer, bad food or some other lifestyle choices that may not be anyone’s business, but it’s pretty awesome. Because while everyone else is taking their runs, Torey has the added element of vomiting to contend with. So he’ll bust out a few tricks, run to the side and puke a bit. Hop back on his board, bust out some more tricks, run off and puke again, and on and on. And while most would tuck their tail between their legs and surrender at that point, or not even have taken their runs at all, Torey is out there absolutely killing it. And by killing it… I mean he qualified first in the pro prelims… vomit and all. Congrats, Torey. A few other highlights include: everything Lizard King does. Mark Appleyard kickflipping off the roof into the brick banks, Rowley ollieing off the roof into the banks, Tommy Sandoval’s roof gap 50-50 hang up to flip and almost falling 20 feet to his skull, everything Trujillo, Westgate, Brian Anderson and Ramondetta did. Anyone can do tricks these days… not everyone can make you trip out while you watch ‘em skate in person, and that’s why these guys are the best. You know what else? That’s only the half. Today we get to watch ‘em all over again with new guys like Leo, Busenitz, Malto, Sheckler, Cole, Koston, Olson. Hells yeah it’s gonna be sick! Brian Anderson Vert and Maloof Miscellanea Vert sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of things. Not because anyone hates vert, but one might attribute it to the fact that street skating is far more accessible to the common skateboarder across the world, whereas with vert, you gotta know someone with a ramp. Here at Maloof, we like vert and we support it. Hell, these guys even built a Mega Ramp! Friday was full of ams and prelims, but one guy that people are talking about is Alex Perelson. It’s pretty rare to have a young guy coming up in vert these days, much less qualifying first at Maloof Money Cup like Alex just did. More often than not, vert contests tend to have the same skaters from the last 10, 20, even 25 years competing in them. So here’s a quick cheers to Alex and a note to you to keep an eye on him throughout the weekend and beyond. A quick note on some sideline miscellanea going on: I saw some people doing some really weird stuff with sheep. I’m not an expert but I think that’s what fairs are all about. I saw blondes in training. Not sure what for… probably about how to be blonde. I’m gonna have to look into that more today. I also met a young man named “Perez” who is such a huge Ryan Sheckler fan that he got a Sheckler back tat with his own last name on it. So shout outs to my man Perez!

Return of the flat rail Let’s get back to the topic of the flat rail that everyone was getting nutted on yesterday. Today, my camera caught yet another victim getting claimed. This time is was Jason Dill, who, in all honesty, was probably the one dude everyone was most happy to see today. He brings the sickest energy to a session. One of skateboarding’s true eclectic personalities who isn’t afraid to stray from the herd. In this instance, a straight on backside 5-0 attempt up the rail went awry. Dill’s back truck rolled off and Dill went straight to the ribcage and bounced off the rail. Ouch… Lots of people saw. “Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh.” Rail 3, skaters 0 But, as you can see, Dill was all good afterwards… rolling around with protective head, leg and eyewear on because he too, was tired of dealing with the all-powerful sun. Brandon Westgate Ok, so a ton of pros showed up today. And a lot went down. So much sick stuff going on at different spots for like, seven hours, man. There’s just no way to see it all. But one thing I did see, that stands out to me (other than Brian Anderson boneless to lipslide the 6-stair and frontside slappy on the bank-to-ledge) was this beast of a kickflip Brandon Westgate (or “Westnailer,” as some Emerica teammates like to call him) did on his own sponsor’s obstacle. The Zoo York brick banks thingy. These bricks are not smooth. They aren’t some perfect skate plaza type shit. They might actually be a little rougher than the bricks at the actual Brooklyn Banks. And you know what else? This hip is steep as hell. Not many pros have been hitting this thing. And if they have, it’s been way more timid than this kickflip. This is one of those kids you are gonna be so psyched to watch all weekend. Trust me. Hopefully you already knew that though. Tony! Tony is one of Ryan Sheckler’s best friends. I think he’s on the Life of Ryan show. I’ve never seen it, but that’s not really important. What is important is that Tony, even though he might be perceived as the OC equivalent of one of those NJ fist pumper, Growing Up Gotti-type dudes, rips at skateboarding. Like, no joke, he’s way better than the average kid. And he’s way better than the above average kid too. So seeing him out there on the course today with his styled, spikey hair and diamond earrings is just so friggin’ sick. Truth be told, sometimes a guy like Tony is more original and refreshing than most of the people in skateboarding who look like every other guy in skateboarding but think they are original and refreshing. Get that? Yeah. You know what I’m saying. Stop dressing like your favorite pro and go be more like yourself… if you can figure out who that is. A brief tale of Heath Kirchart and his stalker So this dude walks up to me and some homies who are just sitting on some chairs on the lawn near the street course and he’s like, “Where’s Heath Kirchart? I met him in Iowa (or somewhere in the middle of nowhere like that) and I have to give him something!” And it seemed important, so we’re fully down to help…. like, “Hmmm, I dunno, man. He’s around here somewhere in a white tee and hat. Oh, wait, there he is! See over there!” As we pointed to the six stair. So he pushes over (mongo-footed, mind you) to the UC Irvine rail. And catches Heath at the bottom. Heath, being notoriously standoffish and whatnot didn’t seem stoked. But who knows, we were far away. Maybe they are best friends. The dude unsuccessfully tried handing Heath some papers. Maybe a flyer or something of the sort. Then the two parted. The whole exchange was quite mysterious. I’m still reeling with confusion and wonder as to what urgency this guy had to get in touch with Heath about. Shortly after, he skated back over by us; very sketchily kick turned on the bank-to-ledge and left the course. As you can see, he looked pretty defeated. Sorry bro! Why am I telling you this? So shamelessly pointless…. Thank God for V-necks If you fellas out there don’t agree with me on this one, then I don’t know what the hell your problem is. But, in the last year or so, the huge influx in young, attractive females wearing low-cut v-neck tees has got me psyched! I mean, something that collectively brings all of us closer to seeing more cleavage, while also encouraging us to use our imagination can never be a bad thing. I’m fully supporting the v-neck on ladies. It’s definitely a way better trend than those Ugg boot things. And if any of you ladies out there are reading this, v-neck it up! Who knows, you might just end up on the Maloof Money Cup blog as a result of your fine v-neck skills… just like this lovely young lady did.

Of all the obstacles at the Maloof Money Cup this year, the sun is the gnarliest one. I mean, a Rincon replica that would merely break a bone or two or give you a concussion is nothing when you consider the sun can give you a life full of cancer or scorch the entire Earth in seconds. I mean, just look… Eric Koston, Ryan Sheckler and Heath Kirchart are three of the gnarliest skateboarders on the planet and they are like “No, sun, please stay out of my eyes! I’m sorry! I’ll do anything! Just stop!” Or, maybe I’m totally wrong and they are saluting the sun… like out of respect… by putting their hands to their forehead the way some old school veterans do at baseball games when the National Anthem plays. However, there are instances… occasionally… where the sun can help you out. Take, for example, this totally artistic and beautiful portrait of your favorite skater’s favorite skater, Guy Mariano. Notice how the westward setting sun gently shines upon his face, giving it a warm, golden aura… the aura only someone as legendary as Guy Mariano could possibly have. Now that’s teamwork. Me and the sun. Collabo! So, love it or hate it… the sun is here to stay… in our eyes and living as ultraviolet half life in our epidermis… for the next three days. But maybe that’s a good thing, because with a course as sick as Maloof, without the sun in our eyes there’d be nothing for us skaters to bitch about.

Rob Brink will be hanging out at the Maloof Money Cup all weekend, updating you on whatever crosses his path. David Loy survives UFC beatdown! So, as the story goes, David Loy was chillin’ at his local Starbucks, ordering a vanilla latte, when this real famous UFC dude, Kimbo Slice, comes rollin’ in and cuts in front of him in line. So Loy’s like, “Hey homey! I think you need to get to the back of the line!” So Kimbo Slice is like, “Fool, I’ll crush you! I’m Kimbo Slice and I’ll cut whoever I want!” And so Loy is like, “Whatever man, you ain’t nothing, Slice!” So Kimbo Slice picks up Loy by the neck and by the crotch, holds him over his head and throws him through the front window of the Starbucks. Glass was everywhere. Unlucky for David, his head shattered the glass and as he flew to the sidewalk, superman-style, breaking his fall with both arms and snapping each wrist in the process. Actually, David just broke ‘em both skating recently. But that would be pretty cool if Kimbo Slice tossed him through a Starbucks window, right? “Oooooohhhhhhhhh!” So, the flat rail on this year’s Maloof Money Cup course looks like it’s got the potential to render a few unlucky men infertile if they aren’t careful. Lucky for Tyler, his pants are a bit baggy. And lucky for Mikey Taylor, he’s over six feet tall and the rail isn’t high enough to crush his family jewels. However, upon nearly falling victim to this reverse crotch splitter, the entire chorus of skaters and spectators let out one of those long, low, half-concerned half-entertained “Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh,” which was actually way funnier than the near-nutting itself. Mikey Taylor Tyler Bledsoe Adam Dyet was destined to be a rock star This photo was just too good to pass up. Adam Dyet is an amazing guy. But he’s the kind of dude in skateboarding that many would refer to as the “rock star” type. He’s got rock star hair. He often skates topless like many rock stars play guitar or drums topless on stage, he wears cool shades, he parties hard and he’s got a “bad boy” image. And here his is… the lone wolf in front of an empty stage, looking totally rock ‘n roll. Like Bon Jovi or something. He’s a cowboy… on a steel horse he rides. And he’s wanted… waaaaanteeeeeddddd… dead or alive! Being Ryan Sheckler These notes are hanging up in the Etnies RV. They are notes from fanatical teenage girls who are in love with Ryan Sheckler. Ryan wasn’t on tour with etnies or even in the vicinity when they were found left on the RV for the driver to discover. Seems Rochele has a really vivid imagination though. Plus, she likes the way Ryan “takes control.” Sounds like a fun time. As weird as it is being Ryan Sheckler sometimes, not many of us will ever have the joy of receiving notes like this at any point in our lifetime… so we are stuck living vicariously through people like Ryan for a taste of the good life. Cameron the intern and Monster’s “Revolutionary new lid” The world is changing fast. Nanobots are fully operational, we are finding new planets in the solar system, we can artificially inseminate women so that they have lots of babies and get reality shows and so on. That being said, it comes as no surprise that Etnies web intern, Cameron, discovered that Maloof Money Cup co-sponsor, Monster Energy Drink, has introduced a revolutionary new plastic, re-closeable cap to their canned drinks. Now you can enjoy your Monster longer, colder, fresher and debris-free… all while giving your friends the scoop on the newest groundbreaking technology in the beverage industry! Cameron! The lid!

I'd like to start this blog off with giving a big shout out to two of our guys Simon and Victor. Most of our team had to work or had prior engagements they had to attend to, so these two crazy cats stepped it up so everyone had a chance to win something...thanks guys!

We started out in Buena Park and these two wild and crazy street team guys played over 23+ games of skate with the skaters here....in a row! Kids were winning tickets and shirts left and right and have a great time. This is my home park, so i'm always partial to this place and it's great to see everyone sporting their Maloof Money Cup shirts they won! Next, we were off to Vans. We ran into some people we knew from last year and one of the skaters sponsored by SPUN Skateboards (on of our supporting partners). If you haven't been to Vans Skate park lately, we highly suggest you go check it out. They changed the whole design in the last year and it's pretty wicked!

Laguna Hills is always a chill spot to go to. Some of the locals like this one guy (aka Marley. He's the shorter one in the 3rd pic down on our Street Team Schedule) flows through it like he owns the place! Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of skaters out there, but we still had good times. At the last stop in Irvine, some parents were out there supporting their kids and encouraging them to skate; now those are good parents! Kids were have a great time playing skate and doing their best tricks and mostly everyone was able to get a shirt. To everyone who one tickets, we wanna see you all there and when you see, say what's up!

Come out Saturday the 20th to the Special Meet and Greet with Paul ‘P-Rod’ Rodriguez from 2:00PM – 4:00PM at Carl’s Jr 5760 Imperial HWY South Gate - Listen to Latino 96.3 for more information!

-Nick

Check out more photos from the MMC Street Team!

Check out more photos from the MMC Street Team! Week 4 was rather interesting. Usually by this time, the sun is beating down and we're all getting sunburned, but the weather has been good to us this year. We started off at El Dorado over in the LBC and ran into Darrell Stanton and Kurtis Colamonico! We saw these guys at the Maloof Money Cup launch party in Vegas earlier this week and these guys were back out skating and tearing up Long Beach! Then we headed over to Cerritos to get some games of skate on. This is a pretty chill park with good seating for the parents and lots of different types of skating. One kid was gettin' some crazy air (about 6ft!) and was just taking this park to town; he made it look so easy!

Sunday started off on the wrong foot. We apologize for Downey, but we couldn't skate with guys due to lack of helmets, etc. We hope you guys can come skate with us at some of the other parks we have scheduled over the next couple weeks; we'll take care of you. So over to paramount which the pics online don't do this park justice. This park is actually a lot larger and has got some awesome talent there! Guys were hitting the ledges and rails like they were going outta style. Everyone there was pretty cool to hang with, so if you're in that area, check it out...

See you back in the OC next week!

-Nick

Hey everyone, Nick here from the Maloof Money Cup Street Team. We just finished week 3 and we are getting a great response from all you skaters out there, so thanks everyone! The vibe was great week 1 when we went down to San Diego; the place was packed and the park was off the hook! Skaters big & small were there tearing it up and people were talking to us about the MMC from last year; thanks for your support guys. Laguna Hills/Niguel & Irvine were good times. We had a great time checking out best trick and all those games of skate. We wanna see all you who won sportin' your shirt at the MMC this year!

Week 2 was crazy! The Anaheim park has high everything! High banks, high transition, high pyramids, etc. One of our MMC Street Team guys, Adrian (aka Turtle), was ripping the place up! Doing 3 trick runs and 1 foot crookin' ledges, this guys' awesome! We met a lot of cool kids there and had a great time. Ending the day at Fullerton is always fun. This place is close to home for Rob (MMC Street Team Manager) and a lot of skaters remembered us from last year. We met some cool guys and kept everyone hydrated,as always, with the sweet, chilled taste of Vitamin Water (who supplies drinks for us at every Street Team event)! Just a quick blurb, every time we show up to a skate park, EVERYONE is so happy to us, but it doesn't even compare to how much the LOVE the free Vitamin Water. They're so thirsty and it gives them a 2nd wind to keep skating, so thanks to Glaceau for providing it to us! Sunday, Chino was HUGE and everything went quick there because there were so many skaters. Then there's Brea. Brea is always fun, especially when we move over slightly to the 12 stair rail! We always gather a crowd and have skaters rip this thing apart!

This past weekend we first hit Volcom and Etnies skates parks. Volcom was great and filled with different types of street and pool skaters. Skaters from 9 - mid 40's were there ripping everything up! We met a lot of cool people there and then headed of to Etnies. We played a lot of games with the guys there and we expect to see everyone who won tickets to go to the MMC and say HI when you see us! On Sunday, we saw some good skating at Westminster and even the bikers there had some great tricks to show off. We ended our weekend at Centenial skate park in Santa Ana. This park is pretty large and had a ton of people there! We played a lot of different games and gave away some good stuff, but when these guys start competing on the 7 stair and 11 stair, everyone gathers around to watch. The skaters at this park hit these stairs like it's nothing! Everyone lines up and sits on the bank or 40 ' ledge to watch; at times we have up to 75 people watching these guys tear it up!

Some of the Street Team will be at the Palms Casino & Hotel this Thursday for the launch party for the Maloof Money Cup and will be back in town afterwards to see everyone this weekend, so if you happen to be in Vegas at the Palms, come find us and hang out! Check out our schedule - http://www.allisports.com/tour-blogs/maloof-money-cup-street-team-coming-skatepark-near-you - and come skate with us and win some shirts, tickets, etc!

2 last things: We want to give special shout out to our current Street Team guys that skate with us: Victor, Simon, Walter, Adrian & Aldo and our supporters/street help Tarah, Jason and Matt. You guys are the best!

We have 2 new skaters that will be joining our team: 1) Roberto from Westminster and Marissa who we met at the Volcom skate park.

See ya this weekend!

-Nick