How it went down in the Masters final
Posted 05/17/2009 03:22:00 by i am vans
Here is the stark and overwhelming reality. Potentially no one can ever beat Chris Miller in the Pool Party Masters Division. When rumors of his possible withdrawl from the contest this year surfaced, some of the other top Masters might have thought that this would be their year. Of course the rumor mill was churning out pure fiction and Miller came out with his A game as he always does. And the way in which he does it is purely mindblowing. As the final heat was getting underway, all 10 riders were making a heavy argument for the top spot. Spots 10 through 4 could have gone any which way, with some placings seemingly impossible to call. Josh Nelson, Lester Kasai, Eric Nash, Tony Mag, Pat Ngoho, Steve Alba, and a battered Steve Caballero all nearly matched each other in terms of raw performances. Each having a unique style and body of work. I don't envy the judges one bit, sorting out these guys cannot be easy.
The top trio of Nicky Guerrero, Christian Hosoi, and Chris Miller were also looking almost too close to call. Nicky brought his decades of vert ramp prowess back to the Combi this year and showed that he can adapt quickly to treacherous concrete terrain. One highlight of his smoking runs was the knee-on invert he threw up directly in front of where I was sitting and anyone in the crowd who knew what they were seeing, erupted in lung-ripping cheers. Guerrero ended up in 3rd. Christian Hosoi was matching Miller run for run in both style and variety and for the first 3/4 of the final he was looking like he might take it all down. Hosoi's amazingly smooth air game combined with impossible lines incorporating every hip like a complex jigsaw puzzle sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy with each wall he hit.
Enter Chris Miller, the assassin. This is the way it looks to someone who is viewing it in real time. Miller forces each and every rider in the heat to turn their volume knob to 10. His knob actually goes upwards of about 25 by comparison. Upon further inspection of the fuelTV coverage, you can easily see where he cranks it up. In the end, Miller simply surpassed Hosoi with some moves that no one else has. On any given day, in another venue, Hosoi might take Miller out, and Christian skated superbly in his first ever Combi contest appearance since the original Upland days. Congratulations to Hosoi on taking 2nd his first year out, next year? Who knows... but for 5 years running, this has been the Chris Miller show, and it doesn't look to be getting cancelled any time soon.
The top trio of Nicky Guerrero, Christian Hosoi, and Chris Miller were also looking almost too close to call. Nicky brought his decades of vert ramp prowess back to the Combi this year and showed that he can adapt quickly to treacherous concrete terrain. One highlight of his smoking runs was the knee-on invert he threw up directly in front of where I was sitting and anyone in the crowd who knew what they were seeing, erupted in lung-ripping cheers. Guerrero ended up in 3rd. Christian Hosoi was matching Miller run for run in both style and variety and for the first 3/4 of the final he was looking like he might take it all down. Hosoi's amazingly smooth air game combined with impossible lines incorporating every hip like a complex jigsaw puzzle sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy with each wall he hit.
Enter Chris Miller, the assassin. This is the way it looks to someone who is viewing it in real time. Miller forces each and every rider in the heat to turn their volume knob to 10. His knob actually goes upwards of about 25 by comparison. Upon further inspection of the fuelTV coverage, you can easily see where he cranks it up. In the end, Miller simply surpassed Hosoi with some moves that no one else has. On any given day, in another venue, Hosoi might take Miller out, and Christian skated superbly in his first ever Combi contest appearance since the original Upland days. Congratulations to Hosoi on taking 2nd his first year out, next year? Who knows... but for 5 years running, this has been the Chris Miller show, and it doesn't look to be getting cancelled any time soon.