Creager v HaslamA Grudge Match for the Ages in SPOT's Kiddie Park
The Tampa Pro may be one of the biggest contests of the year, but for the skaters who don’t make it all the way, the final ends up being just a waste of time between the semis and the best trick when it’s probably not a good time to start drinking. Ronnie Creager and Chris Haslam fell into this category, but they had their own score to settle. It all started when Ronnie beat Chris by one place in the qualifiers Saturday. And on Sunday, when Ronnie again beat Chris in semis, this time by two, it was on. Haslam had face to save and Ronnie wasn’t about to let him blame his finishes on the judges. So, while Dennis Busenitz was tearing the pro course a new one, they were finishing their weekend long grudge match in the kiddie park, where only pure skateboard skill could actually make what you were doing look impressive. Instead of playing a standard game of skate, they instead opted for what they called a “learning” game (cause they were trying to pretend it wasn’t personal, but I could see in their eyes that it was) in which one would put together a three trick line and the other would have to duplicate it. The line had to be done first try, if they fell trying the line, the other person got to call the tricks. Once the line was set, the other person had as many tries as they need to get it and once they do, they get to create a line.
Of course, this may seem sort of against the grain of a grudge match, because technically there’s no winner or loser. But the real challenge was more about finding the line that would frustrate the other one as much as possible. “We’re building tricks and consistency,” Ronnie said trying to appear P.C. (after all, he was in the lead going into this). “And maybe there are some bragging rights involved.” Things started out a little slow though, since neither of them was able to land a line for the first 10 minutes. But once they started making tricks, it wasn’t about the hardest ones, but rather throwing basic tricks in difficult variations. At first the field was pretty even. Most lines were duplicated in a few tries. But then, things took a turn for the worse for Ronnie. Chris did a 50-50 to nose manual to pop into the bank and manual across the entire park, over the pyramid and then kickflip to fakie on the bank. Ronnie started trying it, but couldn’t get the manual. “My legs are too shaky for this right now,” he said.
Chris sat and watched with a smirk on his face. “I’m getting stiff,” he shouted at Ronnie. Sixteen tries later, Ronnie got the line and was determined to make Chris pay. “You’re dead now!” he said. Ronnie’s next line pushed the limits of a park where nothing is over 2 feet. He ollied out to 50-50 across the flat bar -- a decent gap that required some of that precision stuff -- and followed it up with a switch rock and roll to switch manual. “That might be a little dangerous for this game,” he said, looking confident.
But Chris sized it up and had the line nailed in 3 tries. It seemed that he was going for serious redemption after losing to Ronnie in the real contest. He knew what it’d take, so he started trying a wallride. “If he makes that I’m going to be here all day,” Ronnie said, shaking his head. And the next try, Chris rode away. It didn’t actually take Ronnie long to get it, I mean, he is pro, after all, but he was obviously feeling a bit frustrated by some of the goings-on, although he wasn’t about to admit it. Of course a little temper tantrum and some board tosses kind of spelled it out, but he kept in good spirits until the grudge match had to come to an end because there was a best trick contest to do that paid in more than just bragging rights. When I asked who won, Chris, good sport that he is, replied, “It was a tie. We’re going to say it was a tie.” But I’m going to venture out on a limb here and say it doesn’t really matter, because they’re both losers anyway. Ahh -- I kid because I love. -BG
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