Damn Am Select Series Chicago 2015: Semi Finals, Finals, and Best Trick Photos

Deep Dish, The Chicago Style Damn Am

There was one major storyline going into the third stop of the Damn Am Select Series that went down in Chicago over the weekend, and it’s what we at SPoT have been referring to as the “Battle for Damn Am of the Year,” like some WWF Main Event type of thing. Dashawn “The Destroyer” Jordan and Yoshi “Bolts” Tanenbaum, each with a 2015 win in his pocket, would be going at it in the Windy City to see who would take the lead.

Other, more minor storylines included the fact that this was the first time the Damn Am would take place in Chicago, which isn’t surprising when you consider how much skateboarding overlooks Chicago in general, even though it’s one of the biggest, raddest, and most skateable cities in America. On a side note, when you show up at Grant Skatepark, with its central downtown location right off Lake Michigan, if you’re not blown away by how great the place is then you are probably not a skateboarder. Sorry.

The City in general was going OFF when we showed up. Concerts in the park, NHL finals, Spring Time. If you live in a place where winter is an actual thing you can appreciate the locals’ excitement about getting out of the house and hitting the streets. Unfortunately the last story of the weekend was the weather. The forecast looked like this: Rain. Rain. Rain. More rain. Etc.

Fortunately Mother Nature must have a kid who skates, because she decided to chill and let us get through the contest with just enough sunshine to dry the course up in time for dudes to kill it. The Midwest skaters weren’t phased, David Dixon and Tony Christopher from Detroit, Cole Wayka from Wisconsin, Henry Gartland from Minnesota and a grip of shredders from the greater Chicago area. Things in the Finals worth mentioning: Marcus Sarsycki was the only Chi-Town local to make it in. With butter style and tricks like the front blunt big spin out down the handrail (which he did in Best Trick), he could have won if he’d stayed on a few more moves. Dashawn Jordan and Alex Midler, who qualified in first and second, both skated great in the Finals but not great enough to win. Midler made the trick of the contest though with a backside 270 kickflip to lipslide on the A-frame. And finally, the aforementioned Yoshi Tanenbaum wasn’t even IN the finals, due to a few too many bails in the Semi-Finals, which left us thinking, “Well looks like Dashawn will definitely be grabbing the lead for Damn Am of the Year then.” And we’re not haters but we kind of forgot all about Micky Papa’s chances. Because while it’s true that he always rips and that he placed 2nd at Tampa Am last year and 2nd in LA in May, he ALWAYS places 2nd and doesn’t ever actually win. In fact, looking at his results over the past few years you’ll find like 10 top two finishes, no wins. Always the bridesmaid…

But DAMN if Micky didn’t come out on his first run in the Finals and kickflip into every crook, 50-50, and back tail, and put such a hurting on the course that there was absolutely no question that he won it. I think he might have been the only person at Grant who was surprised that he did. Curse broken and congratulations (!) Micky. Sorry we overlooked you.

The next stop of the Damn Am Select Series will be popping off at the Volcom TF in Costa Mesa, CA August 7 -9, and after his breakthough in Chicago, Micky just might do it again.

@paulzitzer Video by Frank Branca
Words and photos by Bart Jones.