Blood clot.

Let's get ready to Rumble at the Hard Rock Skate Jungle. It seems like nobody really thinks about it much, but in vert skating you use almost every muscle in your body, staying ahead of the curve by defying gravity to maintain or generate the speed needed to pull off these maneuvers. And the timing needed to go from the transition to vertical to maneuver, landing, transition to the next wall and the next maneuver is split-second. The best skaters in the world are able to adapt to circumstances that happen during an intense ride. They maintain balance and keep the flow of their routine without loosing the speed necessary for the extreme maneuvers. Sometimes they will perform a transitional move not as intense as an extreme maneuver, but an intricately technical move that allows the rider to regain timing, balance and/or speed. The best skaters are able to incorporate these maneuvers with extreme moves in a way that flows with intensity. And then there is the all-out insanity rider who does nothing but insanely extreme maneuver after maneuver, mixed with perfect split-second sketch landings--this guy is on a kamikaze autopilot, comatose to the fact that he has just pulled off every move in the book but even twice as radical. The timer then goes off for the rider and he casually flies out while catching his board in mid-air, standing topside, holding his board in hand and says, "Wow, that was rad!" The out-of-body experience was perfected.

In vertical competition you need only the most diverse maneuvers consistently executed using the whole terrain without falling once. Sometimes insanity maneuvers or sketch landings intensify this sport of adrenaline. There are very few things that I uphold in my heart from competitive skateboarding. Never say "never" or "I can't," because "I can" and "I will" are better words to live by. The maneuvers these guys are doing today we only dreamed of. Twenty-five years ago I skated in a professional event called the Hester Pro Bowl Series. The crowds at those events were so loud that people five miles away could hear the roars. Today, athletes from all over the world will need stamina, guts and skill to win this event. Because in Las Vegas it's cool to be hot. Thanks a lot to Thrasher, Boost, the Hard Rock Hotel, and all the other sponsors for hosting this sick event where these guys competed for first place and 40-grand. I can assure you that just as in my days as a competitor, nobody was here to get second place.

Frank Blood

Las Vegas, Nevada