Three of the amigos over at Flip skateboards have signed on to compete in Rob Dyrdek's new competitive skateboarding creation, Street League. Geoff Rowley, David Gonzalez and Luan Oliviera have decided their going to Hate, Kill and Destroy the new skate contest series, and apparently from the photo evidence above Steve Berra is passing himself off as Luan Oliveria these days.

In more Street League news the schedule has been announced. It will be a three contest per year circuit, and the 2010 stops are: August 28 in Pheonix, AZ, September 11 in Ontario, CA and September 28 in Las Vegas, NV. Stay tuned for more updates from the league that is street because there are still a few more spots that need to be filled.

The much anticipated premier of the new Flip video, Extremely Sorry, will be September 16th in Orange County, CA with an international premier tour to follow. DVDs will be available shortly after. More info will soon be announced.

The arrival of the third installment of the Flip skateboards Sorry series is getting closer and closer every day. Flip's a funny company because they were around for awhile before they released a video. It just took them a little bit to get their act together, which is expected. This is skateboarding, as much as some other companies want it to be more like baseball or something, or even snowboarding for that matter. We're not in the fucking Olympics, and let's hope we never are.

Alright, well back to my point. It took this British skateboard company some time to release a video, so when they did in 2002, they called it Sorry. Then a year later they released some leftovers under the name Really Sorry. That was six years ago, and now it's time for Extremely Sorry. This much anticipated video is going to have some new guys, and is expected to be one of the videos of the year.

Here's a MORINformed Top 10 list of reasons and questions as to why you should be prepared to cruise by your local shop, cough up the money, and pick a copy up for yourself.

1. Mark Appleyard's part. May just be the best section of 2009.

2. Geoff Rowley as usual has a lot of say in what makes the cut, so you know it's going to gnargit.

3. The young-new guys who haven't been in a Flip video yet. Names like: David Gonzales, Rodrigo TX, Luan Oliveira Louie Lopez and Curren Caples are going to show you what the future holds.

4. The old-new guys who haven't been in a Flip video yet. Lance Mountain and Bob Burnquist have been in the game for longer than most, are still on a pro team, and still kill it.

5. Tom Penny? You never know what you're going to get with this guy.

6. Shane Cross tribute? I wonder if they've been sitting on some unused footage of the one we lost way too soon.

7. Will Johnny Rotten, excuse me, I mean John Lydon make another appearance.

8. The sound track. They hired this guy Baron from England to make an original soundtrack for the movie.

9. Will General Rowley take us on a Mountain Lion hunt, or show us some footage from the secret skate facility in the desert.

10. If Rune has an absolutley killer section of pool and park destruction, and since Rowley, Appleyard and Burnquist already have one, could Phelps make it a foursome and declare Rune the Thrasher "Skater of the Year," aka S.O.T.Y. He has been killing transition everywhere, and winning contest after contest along the way. Plus, you know Jake Phelps is all about the pool/park guys. Fuck, Tony Trujillo has a S.O.T.Y.

1. The puking frenzy (seen above, demonstrated by Adam Dyet). For some reason everyone was throwing up. I had a five count on the number of times Torey Pudwell spewed during one of his runs. And after Adam Dyet stuck his kickflip back tail, which would later win him 10K for Best Trick, he ran off the course to water the grass with the contents of his stomach. I think the phenomenon had something to do with the heat, the alcohol being consumed everywhere and the fact that Carl's Jr catered the event.

2. The girls. Skate contests usually lack a decent supply of hot chicks. The only girls that are usually there are jail bait, lets face it there aren't too many adult women that are into skateboarding. It's not like surfing where they get to go to the beach. This year though, the Maloofs brought the vageen to skateboarding. I don't know if they shipped them in from Vegas or what, but I do have a hunch...The money. There's usually one thing that follows money more than anything.

3. Dennis Busenitz and Tony Trujillo. These two guys skate so fast, and just make the craziest lines, it's fucking rad to watch.

4. Smolik's tre flip to fakie on the bank section of the mega-vert, that nearly went down. While everyone was watching the Street contest, Smolik was trying it over and over. He just about had it, when the contest staff kicked him off because he didn't sign the waiver, since he wasn't in the contest.

5. The course. Just like last year it was insane. The Maloofs do a great job of letting skateboarders like Geoff Rowley design it.

6. Lizard King, Adam Dyet, Tommy Sandoval, David Gonzalez, Corey Duffel and Ryan Sheckler going huge. Lizard just about had a backside flip over the big rail, which Geoff Rowley put up $500 out of his own pocket to see go down. Duffel ollied from the Rincon rail area, over the biggest fucking gap. Tommy was getting close to a backsde 50-50 across the big wall to drop-in into the Brooklyn Banks area.

7. Torey Pudwill turning skateboard industry heads. The 19-year-old made it apparent he's one of the next big things. He finished 4th, and the talk amongst the riders afterward was he was robbed.

8. Being able to enter the fair through the back area, and not be searched. Allowing me to bring a backpack full of beer, because as you may know, everyday at the OC Fair is $9 beer day.

9. Not hearing a single Michael Jackson song. I'm so fucking tired hearing MJ songs everywhere I go. Nothing against him, but everything against all the DJs that go for the cheap hype by playing them.

10. Having my backpack stolen from the rider and industry area, when I went to shoot some photos, there's always a creeper. Congratulations asshole, you got a sweaty pair of cut jeans, a really sweaty Deathwish shirt, 3 Pabst tall cans and a backpack that has gotten pretty creepy. You better wash that thing out. It was a Volcom backpack with Mark Appleyard's art on it. If you have have it and didn't steal it, it's mine email me at tmorin@grindtv.com.

On day two of my New York adventure, it was time to go Back to the Banks. This is the event I was looking forward to the most of this past NYC skate weekend. The Brooklyn Banks are just such a rad place. They've been a legendary skate spot forever, and the actual banks have withstood numerous renovation threats from the city. Even though the place has changed over the years due to construction, the heart is still there, and will always be there, thanks to the NYC skate warlords that protect them.

One in particular is 5 Boro founder, NYC skate legend and Brooklyn Banks protector, Steve Rodriguez. He's been able to have the place turned into an actual skate park, free from the greedy hands of developers. Steve also is the man behind the Back to the Banks contest, so stay tuned for an interview with him about 5 Boro, The Banks and NYC skateboarding in general.

Alright, back to the contest. It goes like this: four obstacles, four winners, one overall winner and five $2,000 cash prizes. The obstacles are as follows: bank to wall, bank to ledge, bump to spine and the rail. In the end it was just a super stoney kind of day, with all but one of the cash prizes going to a Volcom rider. Huntington Beach's own, Colin Provost, was the most consistent spot killer, and the overall winner. Willy Akers slayed the actual banks so hard he took home both the bank to ledge, and bank to wall. Then on to the none bank sections, Chris Blake won on the rail, and David Gonzales took it on the bump to spine.

Like always, it was a great event, it seemed like the whole damn NYC skate scene was there. The kids had a great time, the adults had a great time and the bums had a great time. It seemed like the only ones not having a great time were the bicycle riders, who having a tough time getting through the crowd.

Here's some shots from the day most taken by me, except the three labeled Remy Stratton:


Colin Provost with a noseblunt on the bump to spine.


Colin with the Southern Californian mean mug after sticking the blunt.


Neckface and Braden Szafranski getting their bank on.


Steve Rodriguez pumping everyone up.


David Gonzalez getting his blunt on. Photo: Remy Stratton.


David amped after sticking it.


Willy Akers ruling the actual banks. Photo: Remy Stratton.


Yeah Willy!


Colin with a f/s 3 over the rail. Photo: Remy Stratton.


The man behind some of these shots, Remy Stratton, and an injured, Caswell Berry.


Mark Nardelli was pumped on how it went down.


So was Felix Arguelles.


And so was Billy Rohan.


Of course Reda was there.


A statue of George Washington on the walk back to Kadillac's place.


And George's camel toe.


The banks are directly under the Brooklyn Bridge, hence the name the Brooklyn Banks,
even though they're technically in Manhattan.