Robert Brink - Writer

Bastien Salabanzi, Tampa Pro '04 and Me

January 5, 2006 | Skip To The Comments (7)

So I wrote the Tampa Pro 2004 article for TransWorld back in March of '04. I ended the article with the following paragraph:

And finally, the Bastien/McCrank show—first and second place, respectively. Rick had consistent runs full of lovely maneuvers— the backside tailslide nosegrab around the bowl corner was especially delightful, as was his 360 flip over the pyramid. But Bastien Salabanzi went above and beyond contest skateboarding, combining the hardest tricks and doing them every try. Big spin flip over the hip, tre flip up the step-up gap to kickflip fakie on the quarter to switch heel down the step-up—all in the blink of an eye with no push or setup time, full Cab kickflipping the pyramid every try. No joke, he must've landed this 50 times over the course of the weekend, which is something most people wouldn't do more than once at this stage in the game. Perhaps Bastien's “self cheering” and alleged ego are a little much to stomach at times, but the kid is young and his skating is undeniable, so hopefully the other stuff will pass with time. Congratulations to Bastien and everyone who left happy, and thanks to Brian Schaefer for always hosting a sick event year after year.

Despite me complimenting the shit out of Bastien's skating before stating the obvious about the "self-cheering" and all that, this was the aftermath of my article:

First, Flip's owners called TransWorld super pissed off about them printing the stuff about Bastien. As is often the case in situations like these, the companies kick and scream and threaten to stop buying ads in the magazine, which I am sure was the case here. My editor had to do his share of apologizing, which sucks for him, and then eventually a resolution was most likely reached and life went on.

Then, the following showed up on Bastien's athlete bio page on EXPN.com:

"Perhaps Bastien's 'self cheering' and alleged ego are a little much to stomach at times, but the kid is young and his skating is undeniable, so hopefully the other stuff will pass in time," was a summary of Bastien by Rob Brink in TWS, Aug 2004. Bastien's comeback is, "If I do good and shit, I like to have fun and f**k around. I totally understand that some people may not understand what's going on in my head, but I don't really care. We're talking about skateboarding, right?"

Interestingly enough, they left out the compliments and only went for the controversy. And ya, as Bastien says, "We're talking about skateboarding right?" Well, yes we are. And it really sucks that the Flip dudes are calling the magazine all pissed off even thought we're talking about "skateboarding" doesnt it? Also notice that EXPN can't even print the word fuck.

Bastien is incredible. Regardless of what anyone says, I still think he is one of the most amazing skateboarders I have ever seen. His performance at Goofy vs. Regular 2004 is one of the greatest moments in skateboarding I have ever seen. I made a comment about the "self cheering" because it was on everyone's mind, including mine, and I felt someone had to say it. Just like it was on everyone's mind how incredible his runs were.

And, as I mentioned in the Tosh Townend piece, ironically, I work for etnies now, writing about Bastien on the website all the time. I've been on trips with him. Everything's cool. Once again, there's probably a lesson in there somewhere.