Eric Koston is the Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan of skateboarding; he gets a featured commercial from Nike when he releases a new shoe.

Koston's new commericial highlights the new and improved Lunarlon cushioning system from Nike. The video features cameos by Nike SB riders Justin Brock, Grant Taylor, Daryl Angel, and Ishod Wair.

You decide who has the better shoe commercial?

Koston's


Jordan's


Kobe's


In reality it's probably not even Koston's best appearance in a Nike commercial when he made a cameo in P Rod's "Today was a good day" commercial.

Erik Koston's dream came true recently when NikeSB presented him with the opportunity to collaborate on a shoe with Kobe Bryant. As a life long Lakers fan combining his new skate shoe with Kobe's latest sneaker was a big deal.

They only made 24 pairs of the shoe, which they auctioned off on Nike's facebook donating the proceeds to one of Kobe's charities.

To celebrate the occasion Nike threw Koston a shoe release party in downtown LA this past Friday. Skateboarder Mag was on the scene to capture all the action.



Eric Koston Nike Shoe Release Media Day from Skateboarder Magazine on Vimeo.


Highlights and Photos

Take a German cruise with Girl and Chocolate riders: Eric Koston, Chico Brenes, Cory Kennedy, Sean Malto, Kenny Anderson, Vincent Alvarez and special guest, Lem Villemin.

The Crailtap crew toured the Deutschland and brought along a video camera to document what went down. And now, presto there's an internet video to motivate you to skate.

Watch as they skate through: Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Leipzig and Berlin on this cleverly titledDer Brat Wurst Tour Ever. Get it? The worst tour ever, but since it's Germany they give it a little weiner twist, and reference a favorite German treat.

The video was directed and edited by Ty Evans, and produced by: Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, Megan Baltimore and Spike Jonze. With names like that behind the scenes you know it's good.

Check it out:



Der Bratwurst Tour Ever from Crailtap on Vimeo.

Crailtap has released some more Mini DV raw footage from when Lakai was filming for a little flick entitled, "Fully Flared." This is recipe 54. So check out Marc Johnson, Mike Carroll and Eric Koston at work attempting to get clips for quite possibly the biggest skate video of all time.


MJ went on to win a "Thrasher Skater of the Year" trophy because of his section, Carroll got even more hypie and Koston said thanks for the part I'm off to Nike (and that was after Pappalardo already left for Converse, and Alex Olson for Vans).

In case you don't know, when you're a major skate company that makes major skate video releases, internet shorts and whatever else, there is a lot of leftover footage. That's what the Crailtap Mini DV series is all about, going back and releasing more. The number is actually the number of the tape used, so in this case they're up to 54.

Check it out:

Nike SB has just released the Zoom FP skate shoe. Now, the skate community has accepted Nike from the start with the Dunks and the first Jordans, and all those other classic shoes that were good to skate in as well as steezy. That said, every time Nike tries to bring in the technology that they've acquired from research in their other sports, technology that looks a bit odd in terms of skateboarding shoes, the skate community is like, "Um..."

Street skateboarding happens on the streets. Duh, but the thing is when you're on the streets is it's all about style. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant may wear some crazy, furturistic kicks on the court, but when they're out on the town you can be guaranteed their feet scream steez. And for the most part technology-forward, space-aged footwear isn't very stylish when it comes to casually cruising the town.

Get it. Skateboarding's community thinks of itself in terms of style and art more so than that of sport. If a few minor features of a shoe are going help out only marginally, it isn't worth it if it's going to affect how the skater looks on film and in pictures.

OK, so back to the Nike SB Zoom FP. The boys up in Oregon have tried once again to give skateboarding footwear some new modern "sport" features. This time keeping it as subtle and fashion friendly as they could. And maybe more importantly, endorsed by a skateboard god, Mr. Eric Koston.

This is a guy who has always encouraged progression in the design of his shoes. A few of his shoes on eS were light- years ahead of anything seen at the time in skateboarding, and, he, if anyone can get away with it. "Froston" is one of the most respected people in skateboarding, and can single handily get people to buy things buy simply saying, "these are cool."

Nike SB has set up a mini-site to get across everything that is the Zoom FP. They have the technological benefits, colors and testimonials on display. There's a video of Koston explaining what went into the shoe, and a funny commercial featuring him, Daryl Angel and Ishod Wair going though airport security with their new shoes. There's even a cameo by Chet Childress as airport security. Click here to check it out.