In a brief yet complete ribbon cutting ceremony this afternoon at the new Flushing Meadows Skatepark, New York Parks and Recreation Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe led the crowd through the process that everyone involved with the Maloof Money Cup went through to get to this monumental moment. With introductions and brief speeches by Steve Van Doren and Joe and Gavin Maloof, and well-deserved thanks and recognition to Rodney Torres, Steve Rodriguez, Tim McFerran and others, the whole event was a painless fifteen minutes, followed by the actual cutting of a green ribbon, representative of the Parks of New York City. To cap it off, a group of skaters, including close-as-you-can-get local Rodney Torres, barged down the bank and into the crowd of photographers for a few close calls, which always make for great shots.

The rest of today is practice, and the heavy hitters are showing up Dennis Busenitz, Chris Cole, Billy Marks, Anthony Van Engelen, Chris Pfanner, and tons more are out there ripping right now.

More later.

Today's Maloof Money Cup qualifiers was yet another history-making event, taking skateboarding to still new levels, and providing the 10000+ in attendance with some great moments to remember. While Chris Cole, Greg Lutzka and Ryan Decenzo all spun their way onto the rail and into switch front boards and switch bluntslides, it was number one qualifier Paul Rodriguez who set the standard, with smooth and effortless shredding on every obstacle in every section. Paul had great lines in sections one and two, with switchflip front boards to switch crooked grinds on the hubbas, right into ledge tricks over the Flushing Meadows replica grate. Noteable come-backer Bastien Salabanzi worked his magic with backside flips over the big rail, a cab flip down the 9-stair, and half-cab noseslides to 270 out on the grate ledge. Tomorrow's Finals are going to be off the hook, with Torey Pudwill, winner of the Tech Deck Best Trick Contest, in second qualifying spot, and quiet annihilator Peter Ramondetta rounding out the top five.

It's 10am here in New York, and the world of skateboarding has descended upon Queens for the first Maloof Money Cup. The kids are running wild - a stampede this morning had coach Bill Frieter - instrumental in planning and organizing the event - running with the bulls. But everything is back to normal now, normal being chaotic and on the verge of exploding, but never quite reaching the boiling point. Yet. We may see that yet, though.

Right now the first of the skaters are rolling in to get some last minute riding in before the contests starts at 1pm. Don't forget the live webcast. I'll keep photos throughout the day, and well have scores after each jam.

Tomorrow will separate those who are here to simply have fun and those who came to have fun and show their shred. The course is good, low impact, and showcases all styles well. AVE, Billy Rohan, Eric Koston, Chris Cole, Brandon Westgate, Eli Reed, and Zered Bassett have diverse style and all found stuff to rip on. Be sure to tune into Fuel.tv tomorrow for the webcast!