The Old Man Bowl Jam Blue Plate Special Article at Skatepark of Tampa

The Old Man Bowl Jam Blue Plate Special

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 by Chris

Getting invited to skate the Old Man Bowl Jam (OMBJ) at SPoT is a little bit like the offer of a 10% senior citizens discounts at McDonalds or Big Boy. Sort of a consolation prize for sticking it out so long. In the case of the OMBJ, you must have at least 25 years under your belt, which in my world is spring chicken territory.

SPoT celebrated its 5th annual OMBJ on February 20th, proving it’s become something of a tradition, like a Veterans Day Parade. And judging by the turnout I’m assuming many of the original competitors from back in 2010 are no longer living. Or maybe with the temperature dipping into the 50s most of them opted to stay at home and sit in front of a fire or something. But for the 15 or so of us that were able to sign out of the nursing home, we came ready to rip.

We kept the format simple so the old fogies wouldn’t forget. Three runs, best run counts with a one minute time limit. Believe me though, nobody was asking for longer runs. There were also specialty awards for the longest grinds, highest airs, best wall jam, etc. It seemed like everyone wanted to win the best slam award the most though.

Some things I remember about the whole night are as follows: Schaefer turned 44 two days before, was surprised with a cake, and somehow the cake ended up in our friend Street D’s face.

Dan “Booger” Brown won the Oldest Old Man Award at 54. He told me he started skating in 1969. I also know he was a pro vert skater in the ‘80s. He was even kind enough to send me some pictures. That’s how a lot of us geezers roll.
Levi Combs won the contest hands down. He rips like a kid. Back tail reverts, frontside flips to disasters, etc. Definitely not Old Man stuff. He also won the longest grind award with a 5-0 to fakie about 25 feet long and around the mellow corner. Pretty nuts.

Jimmy the Greek Marcus got second. He was born in the bottom of a bowl and is one of the few people in the world who can do a fall guy on vert, aka a frontside invert to fakie.

The judges gave me third, which was a rip off. Not for me but for Michael Wiegner. He did the longest run of the contest by far with the craziest tricks (like some frontside boneless fingerflip type of thing to tail) and even jammed wall during his run. He deserved top three at least.

Kyle Kenneth Randall moved down to Tampa from Toronto about 20 years ago, and I’m convinced he did it anticipating skating the OMBJ some day. He’s won the longest boardslide award every year so far and won it again this year then spiked his board. The backside boardslide is KKR’s version of the 900. Claim to fame.

Omar Delgado won the best FS boneless award, which is hard to do around a bunch of dudes who grew up with the FS bone as their bread and butter.

Bryan Adams cut like a knife around the bowl before besting everyone for that coveted Best Slam on an over-rotated high-speed backside carve around the corner to ground shaking head slap. He was okay though and walked away with a killer trophy. Totally worth it.

- Paul Zitzer

Video by Frank Branca
Words and photos by Marino Nicastro
Chuckie
Old Man Bowl Jam started slowly outside warming up in the concrete section with a free BBQ. It was an Old Man Bowl Jam but that didn’t stop Chuckie from getting in his session.
John
John May was warming up for his run. Switch BS Smith Revert.
Eric
Eric and Jeni get the fire started.
Danny
SPoT regular, Danny Boyd Jr. enjoying the free hot dogs and hamburgers with Danny Sr.
Derick
Derick Glancy went rogue and started Ollieing the fire.
Bryan
This could be the wildest photo I got all night. Fire in Bryan Adams face as he follows Glancy with the Ollie.
Josh
Josh Knight flippin' burgers for all.
Derick
Before the bowl jam happened, we had a quick mop down of the bowl. Derick Glancy gets it clean for all.
Bryan
Bryan Adams starting things off with a fast 50-50.
Paul
Paul Zitzer was not only doing Fakie FS Smiths but he was also announcing. See the mic in his hand?
Derick
Chris and Derick taking a break from Innetech and the Shop to judge the contest. Thanks to PBR for all the free beer!
Levi
Levi Combs No Comply FS Disaster. He’s here every year for this.
Brian
We were also celebrating Brian Schaefer’s Birthday which was the day before. He got a cake thrown in his face, of course.
A small clean up after and we're ready to go again.
Brian
Not even a cake in the face stops Brian from dropping in for his run. FS 50-50.
Levi
Jimmy the Greek with a solid FS Ollie.
Kyle
Kyle Randall got the award for the longest Boardslide.
The contest was in its last heats and the bowl was getting ripped up.
Omar
Omar Delgado - FS Smith with style.
Dan
Dan Brown threw his beanie on this kid and he took his run for him. Surely not above 25.
Levi
Levi killed it! FS Air.
Bryan
Bryan Adams is known for going faster than anyone to set up for his tricks, but it also leads to these sometimes.
Leonard
Leonard Trubia - Eggplant Nosepick.
Michael
Michael Wiegner - Wall Bash Tail.
Michael
The Judges had a meeting with the announcers and were ready for the awards.
Bryan
Best Slam, of course, goes to Bryan Adams.
Dan
Dan Brown with the Oldest Old Man Award.
Levi
Levi took home 1st overall - congrats!
And of course it wouldn't be a contest without a product toss. Thanks to everyone who showed up and ripped, and thanks to PBR for hooking up the beer. See you at Tampa Pro!

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