Tampa Pro is our favorite skateboard event because it involves the least actual amount of skateboarding and most amount of nightlife degeneracy. Every night a bunch of us get ridiculously drunk, embarrass ourselves, scream Jenkem half a dozen times and end up making a lot of new friends. Then wake up, stand around the contest hungover as hell to get “footy” (this rarely actually happens) and then go out and do it all over again.

Ah yes, a familiar sight. This year surprisingly didn’t seem as crowded as the last 2 years we went, which seemed a bit strange, especially with people like Lil Wayne in the building. Even on the way into the park on Saturday, two full blown hicks, gold grill’ed out said to us, “uh i her lilwayn gon bii der.” Tampa’s finest.

Sheckler looked different this year. You can’t tell from this photo but I actually didn’t even recognize him at first. He’s started to wear his hat forward and wear really high Skate Park of Tampa socks, so now he looks more “gnar shredder from burnside” and less teenage heartthrob.

After the contest you better believe we stocked up on the free beverages. We looked like the biggest scumbags walking around with plastic bags we found on the floor, stuffed full of Gatorade and Redbull, but shit, we are addicted to Redbull like everyone else. And at an average of $3 a can, we just walked away with $30 dollars worth of product.

I know Lil Wayne was there and he loves skateboarding with a passion and all, but don’t you think him being in every single trophy shot is getting a bit ridiculous? I mean OK he’s bringing in some good press, and I’m glad for SPOT, but him jumping into every single shot, posing down head to toe with his new skateboard brand Trukfit was alittle bit…. how can I put it lighty… fucking obnoxious? Yeah, that’s it.

This year was special because we hosted the first official Ambien Olympics (A.O.) which is where contestants take a bunch of sleeping pills, go skateboarding, and try to stay conscious. The last man standing wins – It’s that simple! Next year we’ll have it in full swing with a bunch of added challenges so whoever rooms at the Howard Johnson can join in and fall asleep on the sidewalk and get savaged by hobos and hookers with us.

Shane O’Neill has a new board on Skate Mental, and by the looks of it, is embracing his true robot self. Pretty amazing, props to Zigram23 for keeping it real.

The legendary Mons Venus, which we ended up going to on a Friday this year… which you should never do. All the out of towners were there as well as a ton of bros, hicks and creepy hanger ons. How can you get into it when your sitting down front row and you have both some scumbag trucker and a bunch of loud Asian tourists breathing down your neck and laughing like it’s some carnival ride.

See ya next year!

Original Illustration: Michael Giurato
Special Thanks to: Ryan Clements, Rob Meronek and everyone at the Skate Park of Tampa
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