What are you up to right now?
Just trying' to get ready for the day, I'm gonna take [my son] Wyatt out in a minute.

How old is he now?
He's 4.

Does he roll around yet?
Oh yeah, he's been skating for a while. We usually go up to Black Box and ride bikes and stuff.

How do you think the Maloof Money Cup differs form other contests?
Well, all the way up until Maloof came around, the purses for skate contests were good. They were seemingly good. But skateboarding was never up with the rest of the sports world, although it's becoming more and more of a legit "sport." The Maloofs were the first people to really come in and amp up the purse. Which was only part of the magic of what they did. The other part was that when they revved up the purse, the also created an actual street contest, with a concrete street course. Built for just that, which had never been done as well. That's pretty much what differs. The course is so good that people will sign up, even if they don't necessarily want to skate the contest, they just want to skate the course. And that's not just once or twice. There's a cool 15 or 20 dudes that … they don't have their sights set on winning in any way. The only thing they want to do is skate that course.

What about judging? Is it sort of the same all around, or does the judging differ, depending on the contests you go to?
Hmm, generally it's pretty much the same. I mean, I wish I could say it wasn't. But the fact of the matter is that the guys judging the contest are almost always the same dudes.

And it's such a subjective thing to judge a skate contest anyway. Is the size of the prize purse an added incentive, or do you approach them all with the same attitude?
Personally?

Yeah.
It's kind of the course that sets the pace. I don't think about the money. And that's not even a lie, I actually don't think about the money while I'm there skating.

I can see how it might distract you.
Yeah, I'd start to trip out. All I think about is, "This course is awesome, I'm having a good time."

(photo: Shigeo)

You never get contest jitters anymore, do you?
The only time I get anxious is when I show up and people are already ripping. If people are already riding around and warmed up and getting gnarly tricks, and my mind hasn't opened up to the possibilities of the course yet. Your mind has to open up to the possibilities of what you can do. And if my mind hasn't opened yet, I don't have a warmed-up brain. It's honestly scary.

Especially with a brand-new course.
Yeah, that and the best skaters in the world skating it. I mean, you're not competing with that one dude, who happens to have that one trick, you're competing with the best dudes who have so many tricks, and combined, they have every trick. That one guy's really good at frontside. The other guy's really good at backside. This guy's a handrail chomper. And you have to battle everyone. It's pretty weird.

When the contest season kicks off, do you try to put more time in at the parks?
It's all the same. Honestly, when I get out to go skate, I'm just excited to go skate. I try to skate a little bit more, when the contests are coming up, but not so much "practice" as much as just space time with my board.

Just getting more comfortable on the board? I know when you're coming off an injury, that first time you step on the board is like trying to speak a foreign language.
Exactly. I try to get away from that as much as I can. That's what I'm doing now, actually. I don't have an agenda or a set list of things I want to do or anything.

Let's talk about Street League for a minute—where does the Maloof contest fall into the mix?
Well, the Street League is its own complete thing.

That's what I thought. But you're Maloofing it this year….
This year we have two wild card contests that we can skate. So... this year you'll see all the dudes that are in the Street League in all the other contests. But then after that, it goes pretty much exclusive.

How about the Tampa Pro contest? Does that get a pass?
Yeah, all the contests that don't have major network backing are free and clear. Like the Crossroads contest, your average contest that isn't amped up by super money and super power.

Okay, that makes sense. So you're living in in San Diego now, right?
Yeah.

You still have your other house? Are you living Bi-coastally?
No, I bought a place out here, and I sold my place in PA. It was too much to keep up the property. I'm looking to hopefully save up some money and buy a farm back east.

…With a skatepark in the barn for the winter months?
It's possible. I'd try to get some kind of a TF out there.

When you travel to all the contests, do you go solo, or with teammates, or do you fly the family out? How do you like to travel?
Back East? Me and the family, without a doubt.

Your wife's from Pennsylvania as well, right?
Yeah, we're both from there. I'm from the suburbs, and she's from the city. So we go back any chance we get.

Spend some time with the grandparents?
Yeah, now that we have kids, even more so.

Cool. Well good luck at the contest, and have fun.
Thanks.

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