X-Games XII Street Finals

Nyjah Huston's growing a little and it's making his dreadlocks look a little smaller. So the human body grows faster than dreadlocks? This is a frontside nosegrind

What teenie boppin' 15 year-old girl isn't going to love this ass shot of Ryan Sheckler's back tail on the hubba?

Eric Koston nollie crooked grinds in his new Lakai's. I'm skating the Lakai Guy Mariano Skate Pirates right now and they are some damn good ones

Those tiles make Chris Cole look like he's noseblunt sliding in a Spanish shower or maybe a Rubic's Cube

A plain old kickflip from Andrew Reynolds down the Rubic's Cube set is still looking pretty damn good

I bet if Rodolfo Ramos solved the Rubic's Cube he's throw his hands in the air like he's doing on this backside over crook. I know I would. I wasn't smart enough so I always had to either take the stickers off or take the thing apart to solve it

Nice - I wasn't the only one illegally skating the course. Lacey Baker is probably going to take home $15,000 large tomorrow for first place in the Girls' Street event. I have to skip that because I got hooked up on the list for a surprise Wu Tang show going on at the same time the Girls' Street starts. I'll show up early and get some photos from practice, though

I like seeing someone who isn't in the 30 and Up Club do a nice grabber. This is Greg Lutzka mute tucking it over the pyramid hip

Chris Cole is backside flipping the hip higher than you and I can ollie it

That's Tim Payne with Christian Hosoi. His company is called Team Pain. He builds ramps and has been doing it since 1971. He built the X Games street course

Nilton Neves gets some air time for ESPN Brazil

This was a real fun step up with the decline on the other side. I didn't get to skate it for very long, though. That's Paul Rodriguez 360 flipping into it

Paul Rodriguez hit the step up the other way and switch flipped fatty to flatty off it

Another photo for the teenie boppin 15 year-olds. They love Riley Hawk. That's him with his pops, Tony Hawk

Chris Cole - airwalk the Rubic's Cube

Chris Cole definitely has this Rubic's Cube solved. This frontside flip is caught like a criminal

Jereme Rogers - switch crook with an elbow on fire in the stadium lights

Why is Ryan Sheckler riding a blank deck? Does that have something to do with another rumor floating around in the sketchy skateboard industry about a possible board company switch up? This is a kickflip back lip

How many teenie boppin' 15 year-old girls are going to have this shirtless photo of Ryan Sheckler posted up in their locker at school?

Eric Koston playing 20 questions with a crew of TV guys, including Ty Evans there in the background. I saw his new Ogio bag. You should get one. I have his old one and it rips

Wow, Andrew Reynolds frontside flips into the clouds. Look how low he is when he lands. He still doesn't patty cakes it. Amazing

Chris Cole's backside kickflip 360 is worth the $50k he took home. I'd pay $50k to be able to do that. I'd be like a small mortgage payment. I'd have my car payment, house payment, and backside kickflip 360 payment

Chris Cole definitely owns the Rubic's Cube. This is a backside flip down it

Greg Lutzka big spins down the Rubic's Cube set with many flashes in his face

Mark Waters told me that Ryan Sheckler's shoes are a special colorway for that one mail order place that has a lot of back orders. Well that doesn't narrow it down too much. We won't do that to you in our online shop. Sheckler's 360 flip is definitely not on back order either

But then again, with only $1 at stake per bet, what’s there to lose? The news quickly spread and next thing you know I had about 10 guys trying to place bets. I should have kept 10%.

You had to bet on the top two places and if no one got it exactly correct then the next closest person wins the pot. Here’s who bet, who they work for, and their top picks:

- Tom Curran – Unemployed 1. Jereme Rogers 2. Chris Cole
- Ryan Clements – SPoT 1. Eric Koston 2. Ryan Sheckler
- Brian Young – Split 1. Chris Cole 2. Jereme Rogers
- Ryan Dewitt – Element 1. Chris Cole 2. Nyjah Huston
- Matt Sharkey – eS 1. Ryan Sheckler 2. Chris Cole
- Jason Rothemeyer – Unemployed 1. Chris Cole 2. Eric Koston
- Mike Burnett - Thrasher 1. Billy Marks 2. Eric Koston
- Jason Maxwell – Plan B 1. P-rod 2. Eric Koston
- Timothy Nickloff – Sole Tech 1. Andrew Reynolds 2. Nyjah Huston
- Ryan Kingman – Element 1. Chris Cole 2. Nyjah Huston
- Dallas Rockvam – Element Am 1. P-rod 2. Greg Lutzka

How about those guys that didn’t bet on the skaters from their companies? When $11 is on the line loyalty is thrown out the window. The format was pretty interesting. Each skater got one, one-minute run that counted for 25% of their score. Then they had three separate 15-minute jams…one on the hip, one on the tech area, and one on the handrail/stair/hubba spot, each counting 25% of their score to equal a total of 100%. Here’s how it broke down:

10th – Gugu Ramos – even making the cut is a huge accomplishment with the group that skated in the Qualifiers yesterday, but Gugu’s perfect kickflip tailgrab over the hip and 180 switch crooks on the rail couldn’t get him higher than 10th

9th – Billy Marks – he started his run with the most perfect nollie flip and on the hip obstacle he nailed a kickflip footplant over the guardrail that had the place cheering

8th – Nyjah Huston – the ‘hype’ of the X-Games ripped, but it’s tough to come up against seasoned professionals. He still did heelflip front boards and a kickflip back smith on the handrail that were picture perfect

7th – P-rod – “Last year’s gold medalist.” You have no idea how many times I heard that today. Pops and his entire familia were there, but even though he nailed a nollie heel krooks on the ledge and a nollie tre (I think he landed it – couldn’t see well from my viewpoint) down the stairs, he didn’t quite have the juice to pull a three-peat

6th – Greg Lutzka – one of the most consistent skaters out there by far, Greg annihilated the handrail with 270 fs ollies to swith front board and then took it to the next level with the same move, but going to switch front blunt instead. Total carnage

5th – Eric Koston – one of my all-time favs, Sparkles smiled the whole time with nollie krooks and a kickflip to fs 5-0 on the cement hubba and even a bs noseblunt on the handrail. He was also the participant with the most near-collisions with the crazy TV camera

4th – Jereme Rogers – too many switch tricks to even begin to name, Jereme started checking them off the list one by one during the last Jam on the handrail. He also commented earlier over the mic that he had no tricks over the hip, but that didn’t seem to matter much since he ended up in 4th anyway

3rd – Andrew Reynolds – The Boss came through to show everyone that he can still turn it on whenever he feels like it. He did the absolute most gigantic kickflips over the hip and a half cab flip and bs heel down the stairs…not to mention the fs flip lipslide on the handrail. Andrew squeezed his way into a podium finish

2nd – Ryan Sheckler – ending up 6th in the Qualifiers just isn’t good enough for young Sheckler, so he had to step it up in the Finals. He skated every obstacle like a true pro, but especially shined on the handrail with a cab back lip…damn. Sheckler also threw down a switch flip and bs flip down the stairs and a textbook 360 flip over the huge hip

1st – Chris Cole – Cole was pretty much unstoppable, dominating the entire course. He sort-of played the ‘safety dance’ in his run, but he proceeded to dominate and destroy each Jam. Here’s what I recall of him doing down the stairs/handrail: 360 bs ollie, 270 bs ollie to boardslide, nollie bs flip, bs tail to fakie, bs 360 ollie kickflip, and I’m sure he threw in some others, too. Oh yeah, and then he did a 360 flip to fs 5-0 on the hubba, which I’m sure sealed the deal on his $50k prize

Brian Young walked away with the pot. Had he bet on his boy Billy, well, then he would have lost his $1 investment. The Contest today was a fun atmosphere, but I don’t think that anything beats the course and courtyard setting from last year’s event. Security was as cool as possible and really not hassling anyone that I saw, but the stands and other VIP spectators were pretty far away from the actual course. No complaints though because the amazing skateboarding made up for the lack of views.