The Skateboard Mag’s YBAm & Damn Am Awards 2008 Presented by Nike SB and Red Bull
Posted on Saturday, January 24, 2009 by Ryan
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Each day as you walk the floor at ASR, you are given passes and wristbands for the “cool” parties of the evening. Then you arrive at those parties to find a long line outside, with the door guys rationing entrance as if royalty only is granted passage. Sometimes you get a glimpse of the inside when a patron is permitted to go in and you see that the place isn’t even packed. In other words, they’re building the line outside for hype. And by the time you finally get in, if you do at all, the free drinks are usually done and it’s “$8 Beer Night.”
So this is where the idea of the Damn Am Awards was born. We were tired of being continually disappointed and claimed, “Let’s just do our own party!” The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place naturally anyway, so we may as well take advantage of it. There were four Damn Ams taking place around the world in 2008 and Tampa Am had been moved to December, therefore providing plenty of footage and good times in need of remembrance.
The next move was teaming up with The Skateboard Mag to get the event a little more exposure. And how convenient that they needed to formally present their Year’s Best Am Award, too. It was the perfect combination for a fun evening.
We’ve done countless contests in so many different locations, but doing the Awards was a new experience for us. The event had to be free, open to the public, and have free drinks. Everyone that wanted to get in would be able to enter, too. That was a must. ASR was gracious enough to let us use Upstairs Ballroom 20D and it was on. Schaefer ordered the audio/visual, lighting, and jumped through the hoops and all of the rest of the formalities.
I must admit that I was a bit nervous on how our first attempt was going to go off, but once the free booze started flowing at 5:45pm, Ballroom 20D started to pack out. The montage played for about an hour and we got things rolling only a few minutes late. The chaos behind the scenes was a sight to behold though. Getting all of the presenters together proved to be a bit of a task, but we greatly appreciated their efforts.
Keep in mind that most of these awards are supposed to be about having fun and not to be taken too seriously. No, we’re not proud of Collin Provost taking up smoking and Justin Figueroa doesn’t really need an intervention. We’re having fun, so lighten up, okay? And yes, we made up the categories and chose who we thought was most deserving.
However, the Damn Am of the Year Award was calculated based on the performance of anyone that made the Semi-Finals or Finals in two different Damn Am events, including both Tampa Ams (January and December) in 2008. Also, the Viewers’ Choice was obviously picked by you at skateparkoftampa.com. With that being said, here are the 2008 Awards:
* Most Improved
Winner - Riley Hawk
Runner-up - David Loy
Runner-up - Ben Gore
* Most Annoying
Winner - Chris Troy
Runner-up - Tyler Adams-Hawkins
Runner-up - Nick Merlino
* Welcome to the Pro World
Winner - David Gonzalez
Runner-ups - Mike Mo Capaldi, Alex Olson,
Sean Malto (all in one award)
Runner-up - David Gravette
* Lil’ Man (Presented by Brian Anderson and Omar Salazar)
Winner - Curren Caples
Runner-up - Louie Lopez
Runner-up - Donovan Piscopo
* Came Out of Nowhere (Presented by Justin Williams)
Winner - Andrew Langi
Runner-up - Davis Torgerson
Runner-up - Vincent Alvarez
* Parents of the Year (Presented by Lance Mountain)
Winners - Shelly and Evan Caples
Runner-ups - Dennis and Cynthia Loy
Runner-up - Anthony Piscopo
* Retirement from Damn Am
Winner - Scotty Conley
* skateparkoftampa.com Viewers’ Choice
Winner - Davis Torgerson
Runner-up - Will Marshall
Runner-up - Rob Maatman
* Team Manager of the Year (Presented by Chris Casey)
Winner - Felix
Runner-up - Rodney Johnson
Runner-up - Darin Howard
* Turned Pro Without Anyone Seeing Him Skate
in Person (Presented by Stefan Janoski)
Winner - Mike Mo Capaldi
* Yo’, Lemme’ Get A Cigarette
(Presented by David Gravette)
Winner - Collin Provost
Runner-up - Chris Gregson
Runner-up - Anthony Schultz
* Time for an Intervention (Presented by Pat Duffy)
Winner - Justin Figueroa
Runner-up - Abdias Rivera
Runner-up - Marquise Preston
* Skates Like A Dude (Presented by Active Erica)
Winner - Lacey Baker
* Eur Cool With Us (Presented by Dan Pensyl)
Winner - Rob Maatman
Runner-up - Eniz Fazliov
Runner-up - Helder Lima
* Thanks to Our Sponsors
Nike SB, Volcom, Billabong, DC, Independent, ASR,
Flip, Mob Grip, Darkstar, Blind, Almost, Dakine
* Tampa Am Winner December 2008
(Presented by Joey Brezinski)
Luan De Oliveira
* Damn Am of the Year (Presented by Paul Rodriguez)
Felipe Gustavo
* The Skateboard Mag’s Year’s Best Am
Nick Trapasso
Thanks to Nike SB and Red Bull for making it happen and be on the lookout for an article in the next TSM. This is going to be an annual event, so please come out and support next year and make an effort to head out to ASR. See you along our travels.
Ryan
A Couple Minutes of Footage From the Awards
ASR – January 2009
Words by Porpe
The economy was the talk at this year's ASR in San Diego. Numbers were being thrown around in regards to who is losing what and who (Big Corp) is gaining who (DC). Regardless of what the numbers are, one thing is clear, people are not going to stop skating. As long as there are metropolitan areas with spots and parks, I am more than confident that skateboarding will get through this tough economic cycle. Now with that being said let me try and give you a quick glance of what happened at ASR.
All three days SPoTlight Productions hosted open mini-ramp demos on the showcase floor. Unfortunately they had us fenced off in the back of the Convention Center, but the crowd still came out to support. There was the usual grip of groms throwing down, displaying their progression from the last show.
For the first time in ASR history there was a not-so-mini-mega ramp on-site. Personally, I found it rather entertaining. I've never seen a human willfully wanting to catapult themselves before. They need to take that contraption to Cirque du Soleil or Barnum and Bailey.
Additionally, there was not one, but two High Ollie Contests. One was hosted by Grind for Life and the other by DVS. Luis Tollentino won the Grind for Life, pouncing his way over 42", and Andrew Brophy won the DVS Hands Free Big Air Challenge with a 42" ollie as well. I guess we will have to wait and see if the 44.5" record will ever be officially broken. Rumors have it that there may be a possible High Ollie Challenge at The Berrics at some point, but don't quote me on that.
That pretty much covers it on the skateboard end of things. I have to give it up to the people behind ASR for understanding the frustration that retailers and manufacturers are going through during this economic downturn. I felt as if they did an excellent job in accommodating those who came to the show. I was able to get free coffee, breakfast, and lunch on ASR throughout the whole weekend just by using the resources they provided. And big thanks to Converse for dinner.
Ride on,
Porpe
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