Confession time. I know he was/is/will be considered one of the all-time greats, but I’m not the biggest Paul Rodriguz fan. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the guy, and I know he’s good, but it’s almost as if he’s too good. All his tricks look easy and effortless, even if they’re technically complex. It’s hard to tell if he’s skating switch or regular, for it all looks the same, which in a way, decreases the “wow” factor of in his skating (especially in his video parts). And he has a tendency of murdering spots by essentially doing every trick imaginable down it to the point where he shuts the spot down. And after the 5^th or 6^th trick, it’s like “Ok, we get it! Nobody can come back!”

The most notorious example of this is with Tom Penny at the chain:

Which makes his skating seem like a blur, and for that I could never truly appreciate how good he was.

That is, until I watched his Forecast part.

It was August of 2005. I was living on a high for winning my first (and only) skate competition (it was only intermediate skill level, but hey, I’ll take it!), and was set to indulge in bibulous activities across the Washington State University campus, as I was still in the thralls of my prodigal tendencies as a college student. But before that, and I’m not sure it was planned this way, but all the finalists from my division were invited to the house of BJ the Wise before the commencement of said activities. Legend says BJ could’ve become pro in the 90’s but chose to get his PhD instead so he could cure cancer. And if it weren’t for the corrupt medical/pharmaceutical industry, he would’ve already cured it, but that’s another discussion for another day.

“Dude, Zack, Congratulations on the skate comp!” he said to me as I entered into his domain. “Have a seat, we’re watching the Forecast video.” Man, did I feel like a million bucks, for one simply doesn’t get a comment like that from BJ the Wise. It’s earned through years of respect, for a wiseman like himself isn’t afraid to slam you for your foolishness. Just ask the scooter kid at the Moscow skatepark who got chewed out when he got in the way and whacked him with his Razor scooter!

Even more humbling was the reaction from my competitors, Tim and Parker, for they all were the further compilatory on my accomplishment, as is the custom of most skaters. “In all honesty, it could’ve been anybody’s game,” I replied in respect of their skill level as we reminisced about the glorious day, unable to stop giving each other props to the point that we almost forgot a skate video was on (which is unheard of with a group of skaters). I reminded Parker that for a minute, I thought he had it in the bag when he ripped off a gnarly indy grab over the hip followed up by a backside 50-50 down the bank to start off his run. But I lucked out after he went for multiple backside flips off the quarter pipe and ran out of time for any other tricks in his run.

The moments P-Rod’s part came on however, all of us seemed to quiet down, as we were sucked into trance. It must’ve been a combination of the mood I was in, with the half-waning/half-driving tempo of his part, but it finally dawned on me, “Oh snap! This guy is good! Like, really good!” I think it was a feeling mutual to the crew, for it was just an onslaught of combo after combo, line after line, and one spot murdering after another—the sheer volume of tricks performed in his part were simply absorbing into my skull like Neo downloading Kung Fu into his brain to fight Morpheus. It was part overwhelming, part amazing, and part, “this video doesn’t do his skating justice, but it comes close!”

That’s the thing with some skaters. You can watch a video part, but it can’t showcase how good that skater actually is unless you see them skating in person. And man, what a treat it would be to skate with him, for I can only imagine the amount of tricks he could pop off on rails, down stair sets, and across other obstacles in a consistent basis.

Being that this was the era before YouTube (or at least YouTube was in it’s infancy) and skate videos weren’t wildly available yet online, I never got the chance to watch this part again. And with a slew of other amazing skate videos that had come out in 2005, among them Baker 3, Zero – New Blood, DVS – Skate More, and Almost – Round 3, Forecast probably got lost in the shuffle. Yet, his part always hung around year after year, and that waning/driving song of his kept popping back up in my head, to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore and I just had to rewatch it.

And I’m glad I did. And even though I get to watch it every now and then online, it still lives rent free inside my head.

Full Video Here (P-Rod’s part starts at the 29:00 mark):

Other articles in the series: Tosh Townend – Sight Unseen (Skate Videos That Live Rent Free Inside My Head)

If you enjoy this, please consider your support by checking out a copy of my book “Waiting on Heaven’s Doorstep,” about a former skater who learns the hardest lesson of all… saying goodbye.