By Justin Lynch

First of all Jeff Philips did not end my career, I effectively ended it myself by continuing to skate with major injuries. I got a concussion from Jeff and he basically blind sided me while I was going to fakie in a practice session because he thought I was taking too many runs. Out of respect for the dead and the fact I think he was one of the best I will only say that I would have preferred he get in my face and say something about me snaking him that day in Munster. He basically fractured my skull and put me in the hospital for three days. I was still able to skate in the World Championships taking 13th but I would have done better since I was skating with a concussion. I was sad that I never got a chance to tell him how great he was while he was still alive even after that incident. I skated with him a few times in Dallas with Mike Crum and those guys knew I admired him as a power rider, I never said a bad word about him ever even after that day. I forgive him because I got a hot sponge bath from a German nurse in the hospital for three days in a row! The funny part of that was that my board shot off the ramp and split open Steve Rocco's head - a guy who publicly proclaimed vert was dead on t-shirts and made skating more about small boards and even smaller wheels effectively killing vert.

I asked him if he may have any room on his team that day and he dissed me saying vert is dead and he has no vert guys on his team. Funny my vert board felt offended when it flew off the ramp and split his noggin open when Phillips tried to "Take Me Out."

As far as the claim I was never heard from again....... well, I went on that year to win a contest in Germany, placed 3rd next to Bod Boyle and Christian Hosoi in Kansas and 3rd next to Mike Crum and Chris Gentry in Dallas, as well as 4th next to Danny Way and Christian Hosoi in Dallas earlier that year as well as qualifying in 1st place over Tony Hawk and Chris Miller in the Spring of 1991 at Kona but ending up with 7th. Those were the only contest I entered that year I would hardly call that never heard from again.

In 1991 I was doing a photo shoot at Transitions Skatepark in LA for a Transworld Pro Spotlight. Dave Swift now Chief Editor of Transworld was taking the photo's. I was riding with Ben Schroeder and Bucky Lasek with Tony Hawk watching from the platform. Ben and I dropped in did a few walls and I thought he had left the ramp. I went into a trick to fakie and when I came out of it we collided and my legs and back flipped over my head fracturing my back. That was the end of my career since I have never recovered from the nerve damage and loss of strength in my back and by the time I recovered and got all my tricks back 8 months later vert was officially dead and all my sponsors dropped me and the paychecks came to a grinding halt. I left the sport primed to eventually reach the level of today's skateboarding and the nice paycheck we all deserved for killing ourselves. Ben swore it was an accident but I guess it does not matter anymore since I was never the same.

In 1998 I rode with Cab, Tom Boyle, Neil Hendrix, and Chris Livingston at the Warped Tour Demo. That to me was the last time I think I ever officially skated well, or without major pain. I managed to come out of my shell for one last Ollie fakie for 411 with Muldoon and that about wraps it up for me due to a major spinal injury and a bad knee.

I hope the ones that knew me can remember me for my skating and the good side of me. I know whoever reads this who has taken the time to read past the BS knows I am simply a very intense person and very driven and focused on anything that I do. I will never apologize for any of those comments and it is sad that after 15 years some retard at Thrasher has to drag up a bunch of twisted misinformation.

The comment in the interview was from the prospective of not believing that I beat someone who was in my eyes one of the best of all time in the world and to this day is one of the most admired and respected skaters period. I know Cab, I have skated with him many times after Thrasher took me out of context and he knows that I think he is one of the greatest and a damn good musician as well. Come on folks the ally oop Cabalerial was my favorite tricks for years.

Cab never mentioned anything to me and we have hung out at his hotel when he was in the cities a few years back. We even hit the Jacuzzi to rest our old bones after skating and talked about his new kid on the way, music and his wife.

I know Thrasher took quite a bit of good photos of me that they never printed and it would have at least been nice to be acknowledged for the impression I made for my skateboarding instead of this. Maybe the prints were out of focus since I must have been over their heads in the photo. Just kidding - see I just can't help myself.

Sadly memories fade, VHS tape gets old and so do paperback skateboard magazine articles written by Faceless Jealous Dinosaurs.

Tony Alva, Danny Way, and countless other including Andy Mac have said and done similar or worse things that have caused some very interesting talk and controversy so let it go, it was out of context then and spun with a twist, and now twisted further to fill some empty fodder for lack of better content in a mag that should focus on the future and who is skating VS. kicking someone when they are down and out.

I remember Christian Hosoi being celebrated as an absolute rock star for being very confident, proud, and of course having an ego. We loved him for it, he deserved to have it, and he was the shit! Despite what you would think about him he is actually the nicest guy and stayed at my house years back.

I guess back then in California if you were not a native, having any type of attitude in your skating or speaking your mind is just wrong especially thinking that California is not the Mecca of skateboarding and that there are guys all over the world ripping. Is that not what is celebrated in this art we call skateboarding? The swagger of Tony Alva, the determination and competitiveness of Tony Hawk, or Bucky? How about the Ego of Gator yelling off his tricks at Chicago Blow out, or Mike V. kicking everyone's ass?

I was never the first nor the last to cop a little bit of an attitude as far as being confident and wanting to barge in and show these guys what my skating was all about. Everyone can pretend that everything is so laid back and that nothing matters but the reality is that skateboarding is a totally competitive thing between who is doing this and who is doing that.

Come on this is what makes it so killer! We now have top rated TV shows with guys like Bam Margera acting like "Jack Ass Sk8ers we have all been" and getting paid millions.

Now imagine Bam Margera saying what I said in this interview, do you think anyone would give a fuck, or twist it out of focus? No and that is why this is bullshit.

You do not see Simon from American Idol getting slammed for speaking a little of his mind, once again celebrated as the guy who tells it like it is. I did not mean to hurt California's feelings I had no idea they were so sensitive back then especially the media. They said I never paid my dues but I believe I paid them by beating up my body for 4 years to become pro as fast as possible is paying dues and so are the slams I took to get there that anyone who has seen are some of the narliest out there.

I never dissed Cab, I dissed the over inflated ego's of some of the guys who treated me like trash, wouldn't let me ride there ramps, pools ect. I simply reacted to my first couple of experiences. I eventually had some great times in California and hung out and skated with some great people.

It is easy to get the wrong idea and think I am totally blasting California and the whole scene and that was part of my ignorance and lack of communication skills as a young dumb punk skater.

I was never told this was a Thrasher interview, nor did the guy interviewing me ever say who he was. You would think out of respect they would have cleared it with Alva my sponsor who had dumped thousands in ads, or cleared it with me but they just printed it the way they saw fit obviously with the intention of making me look like an ass.

This is pretty much what they did to kids back then, there was no big money or big sponsors. You had no control over how you wanted to be portrayed and frankly I just wanted to skate so after that was printed I just laughed and never did anything about it.

I called the editor Jake Phelps who may have interviewed me back then and I told him that this was total bullshit, the facts are wrong, and to call me back or let me respond.

Sure I was a young punk but is that not the image all young kids are trying to portray now turned into a marketable image to be purchased at the new skate shop at the mall? What an oxy moron that is. Thrasher is supposed to embody the Rebel, the tough guy against the world, hell they Celebrated it as there niche, but only for the selected club or the demographically correct.

Funny how all of the guys I never had a problem with understood this, then there were a few who hated me for a stupid article. The guys who really knew me and rode with me more than a practice session know who I was. Thank you for setting the record straight about who I was and what I was about. For me it was about hardcore do or die skateboarding and never looking back.

It was very simple, you just Pop in the AC/DC and try to destroy the ramp. Sure I used to be a conceited 18 year old kid, but I did back it up with good skating and no one can tarnish that, not Thrasher or anyone who had some vendetta.

I never skated to get friends, or be a part of anything. I skated for how it made me feel and I spoke my mind. Thrasher is supposed to embody that same paradigm of individuality but they sadly missed the mark. They black listed me the day I spoke my mind, them and a few other sad cry babies decided I had crossed the imaginary line.

Most of the memories I have of skating are good ones, this crap just makes me laugh and is ridiculous.

What is even more sad is most guys out there are ripping their asses off un-known to the world and itching for the 1/4 of a page of wasted ink space thrasher used on this article.

My respect for this magazines journalistic integrity is blown.

See you all I the next life when I am a shitty skateboarder, boring, and everybody just loves me. The plan was to "Skate and Destroy" as Cab's band "The Faction" put it so well in there most popular song..I know many others back then had a very tough time understanding what I was all about. It was about breaking through the glass ceiling of the then California domination and making a dent. It is just sad that I may be more remembered in the Thrasher Administration for one interview VS. the skateboarding that I did which I thought was pretty cutting edge for it's time.

I made up a number of tricks I never got credit for, that someone else was shown doing in a Thrasher after seeing me do it.

• Tinkerchink 270 2 nosegrind reverts up vert extentions
• TinkerToy 270 backside smith the wring way to revert. Originally done half way by Chris Miller as a backside smith.
• Fakie 2 Inverse Feeble Grind Fakie.

So when you see that young skater with a chip on his shoulder ripping, remember that it is skating that gets him through the anger, frustration, and awkwardness that is being a teenager.

Justin Lynch

For more on Justin click here.