BREAKING NEWS: Koston left Lakai!

[K05T0N]

Its true he's gone!

dont believe me...

http://www.theberrics.com/dailyopspost.php?postid=947

http://www.crailtap.com/indexz.html

http://www.lakai.com/

[Madsser3200]

I think hes going to DVS..

Since Berra is on DVS..

[quetonto1]

woah crazy

[Demzilla]

(a---- here)


does it matter...
does it change anything....
does it make him worse or better...

not is 30 years has a announcment been so useless and un important..
yet..
receive more talk and speculation than most contraversies concerning the gov...

koston...
destroying the hobby one aspect at a time...

lets turn transworld into cosmo...
and thrasher into people magazine...

you know what would have been better...
koston on a skateboard doin tricks....
maybe even good ones....





why does koston feel he needs to make a announcement like this....



end rant....

(demz here)....

koston is koston..
id rather see him skating.....

[greenlake]

him leaving lakai at this point would be a purely financial decision (people always claim he's part owner of lakai, but he isn't. lakai was around a looooong time before he came along.) if lakai couldn't give him the big bucks, dvs won't be able to either because the money for both companies comes out of the same wallet of podium distribution.

there's also a lot of talk about a berrics sort of shoe company, which wouldn't work either. steve berra hasn't put out a bar raising video part in, well, his whole career, and his newfound popularity is only due to him owning a skatepark and a website. if history is anything to pay attention to (it is) websites have a very short shelf life. the berrics will only remain as popular a site as it is untill probably around the end of the year or something else comes along, whichever happens first.

the only things koston would be doing are: starting his own brand, which with the current economy i sincerely doubt anybody would be doing

or


going to nike, which is entirely possible. they passed on koston in favor of P rod years ago, and P Rod's switch to plan b and subsequent hiding of nearly all of his footage has left something to be desired with nike. koston has the coverage, iconic status, and personality to bring the customers to nike that P Rod hasn't.


also my first impressions on hearing koston left lakai was "i don't care." i still pretty much don't either.

[quetonto1]

good points

[jest118]

Occams Razor people. If he's left Lakai with no other company in mind he could very well just be creating his own company.

Edit:

And for clarification... Nike didn't "Pass on Koston in favor of P-Rod." Koston never tried to get on Nike in the first place.

[Nelson]

Koston is at that point in his career when he should be allowed to ride it out on a big company making lots of money. And he fits in with nike, He is the MJ and Tiger Woods of skteboarding right now.

[aggroman_]

For me, Koston blew it when he appeared as the "skatboarding lime" for Budweiser's internet ad campaign. I agree that I'd much rather see him actually skating rather than doing skits.

[Demzilla]

(a--- back)

"Nike didn't "Pass on Koston in favor of P-Rod." Koston never tried to get on Nike in the first place."

true...
he didnt try...

they offered....
and he declined....
that...
was smart...


"He is the MJ and Tiger Woods of skteboarding right now"

where was everybody 10 years ago...


rant...

koston...
in the game since forever...
but...
hasnt done shit with his career to change the hobby...
in any way shape or form...

unlike carrol and mj...
(carrol is a personnal opinion but mj has influenced the creativity for this last 10 years.....15 years ago...aka...go watch modus operandi...((random film refrence)))


im very sorry everyone...
but...

robley is right...
shoes co are hella exspensive...
the economy sucks...


(demz here)

this what happens when you smoke at work...

koston..
get over yourself and skate more...

[jest118]

Koston doesn't need to put up all the money for a Shoe Company himself. He can just do with Rick Howard and Mike Carroll did and go talk to Brian and Kevin Dunlap and have his company distributed by Podium.

Podium is responsible for DVS, Lakai and Matix currently. They're one of the top 3 grossing skate distros (if not the top). So yes... while the economy isn't the greatest right now, starting a new company wouldn't be out of the question. Especially if it's from a limited standpoint. Rather than hitting with a full line of shoes and a full roster of skaters, he can put out 1 or 2 price point shoe models and keep the team limited to himself and do quite well. Then slowly build and expand.


The reason why I think starting his own company is most likely is because Koston is someone who sticks rather strongly to his convictions. Despite being one of the most marketable names in skateboarding he's been quite decisive in his sponsorship choices and his careers direction. If money was a major factor... he would've stayed on eS where he was making much more money. It would also be a much smarter move to back out of the whole Berrics situation seeing as how it costs him money while not generating any for himself.

I could easily be wrong.. but it's not often that someone who's lived their entire life under a certain code of ethics to throw it out of the window for a little cash.

[greenlake]

Occams Razor people. If he's left Lakai with no other company in mind he could very well just be creating his own company.

Edit:

And for clarification... Nike didn't "Pass on Koston in favor of P-Rod." Koston never tried to get on Nike in the first place.

and for clarification, read some interviews from when P Rod got on and his eS contract was up for grabs.

[greenlake]

ah i wrote out this big thing and was struck by how little i care who has what no their feet.

koston used to ride for boost mobile and gatorade, also there was sony getting girl dist. in their pockets with "share the air." loyal, sure. questionable, double sure.

not like i'm one to talk if bagel bites gave me a check i'd be all over their box. i'd do it right now for $25.

[jest118]

and for clarification, read some interviews from when P Rod got on and his eS contract was up for grabs.

Let's not turn this into tit for tat. I remember quite well what happened because at the time I was skating with Paul on occasion and working with his roommate.

[EmmitBrown]

Let's not turn this into tit for tat. I remember quite well what happened because at the time I was skating with Paul on occasion and working with his roommate.

someone say tits?

[Demzilla]

"I was skating with Paul on occasion and working with his roommate."

no offense but..
its the interwebs...
thats a hard pill to swallow...


but..
rants be damned...

i just wish koston would use his talents for somethin positive in skateboarding...

as of 99...
he kinda reminds me of a "show boater"...
(sorry lurking koston fans)




eb...

tits...
was definitly mentioned...
but not executed...

rob...

on the back of the bagel bited box theres a ticket to fill out to get sponsered...
costs 3 dollars shipping but you get checks for the rest of your life..
and "exsperimental" bagel bites...

[jest118]

The Berrics certainly does attempt to do positive things for skateboarding... though a lot of those things do get ignored in favor of Buttery Ass Mondays.

[greenlake]

the berrics seems like berra trying to stay relevant. that's maybe extra cynical because he seems so corny to me. "hey you guys want to be in our club? want to be cool? too bad!"

it's 95% cleverly disguised ads.

[Demzilla]

i missed the pizza party..
should i go back to watch it...

berrics is ok..
robs right about the ads but thats a givin...

and i like the berrics idea..
but its always a little list of the same 50 people...

like..
you would think more pro go...
or would want to go...

now im just talkin shit again...

[jest118]

Well my genuine question would be then... where's the balance? I mean... a lot of skaters don't like when pro's get endorsed by non-skate companies or major brands that cover multiple sports. Ok. So the pro's stick with the accepted brands. Cool. But then the skaters themselves don't support those accepted brands. They buy blank decks or buy from chain stores and complain about Skate companies having ads on skateboarding sites.

Seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

It does seem like a lot of the same guys go there. But that's like anything else really. I mean how many new faces do you guys see here and at skatethis putting out full length videos? Not many if any at all. And there's those like me who frequent the site but don't put out material.

Also of course... they probably don't get along with every pro out there.. so there's that.

Then there's people like P Rod, Burnquist, and others who have their own parks they can skate with or without camera's and all that. And I'm sure there's quite a few people who've skated and filmed there but haven't had any segments released for whatever reason. I know Terrell Robinson has skated there (for example). Though nothing's been released to my knowledge.

[Demzilla]

i like jest....
he can carry a conversations....


the blance?...
that would have to be personal prefrence...
i would assume that most of the skateboarding communty frowns apon big corps and heavly endores multi sport companies...
to me...
i dont care...
as long s it doesnt afect the skating...

in this case with koston...
it seemed to me that he got sorta lazy after his es sponsership...
he was on his way to somethin impressive...
not just nice to watch...

ive yet to see a truly epic koston part...
or..
a part that i can see him trying his hardest on...
(sorry lurkin koston fans)
yes he is smooth but thats not what I want...
personnal pref again..

id like koston to live up to his name...


"damned do...damned dont"..
completly agree...

new films...
ive been here for a hot min so i can sorta anwser...
fluckit has a few members that film like theres no tomarrow..
triple threat cant be slowed down...
but we trikle in folks from ea and .this ever week or so...
today we got gym from triple to join...
hes heavily active at ea...
might not have another new for a week or so...
but there is at least a film or two that is new every week...
its not as slow as it would seem..

even though this is game..
completly irelevent to real life...
filmng in real life is hard...
like i said before..
the berrics is ok..
cause somethin is better than nothin...
trainig or not...
incredible tricks need to be captured if your pro...
and need to be seen in order for a mark to be made...

(a---- here)
to me...
these days skateboarding isnt really about the skatebording...
i really appreciate richie jackson and patrick meltchler for havin fun..
but no one sees that in films these days...

todays media skateboarding has no "feeling"...
its about artsy angles...
hd...
and company logos were they need to be...

i know that sounds shity....
but its kinda true....

im pretty sure mo didnt ask for 3 tshirts for his victory
if he did..
cool..
"strokes and folks"


(back on topic)

berrics is ok...
i go there when someone tells me too....
it is a website...
people do have to go for ad revenue...
and skate or dice is sweet...

koston...

does w.e. he wants cause thats how he acts....
but it would have been nice to not deal with this kind of exsposure to himself....


i miss the days of reading the back of thrasher for team info...

[greenlake]

yeah i won't bag on anybody for collecting a check from anywhere. i'd do it if i were in a position to. pointing it out though, for me, isn't directed at the dude getting paid, it's at the person saying they think that person "would never do that" because honestly who can know that.

i'm not saying the berrics shouldn't have ads. gotta keep the site up and the lights on. i'm saying they shouldn't assume everybody's stupid enough to not realize it's an ad. if you're gonna sell me somethig, sell it to me.

fluckit seems to be where people come when they're sick of wading through the doo doo at ea and .this, and where people can get their videos seen and commented on with something more than "siqqq" or "ur gay" and nobody's competing with each other for anything. a lot of us (me me me) put out a lot of stuff because while i have a deep unending love for skateboarding, i can't do it too much anywhere. physically. i'm old in skateboarding's world and pretty damn broken. it's like fantasy baseball or football, but more personal and enveloping (for me). i also have dickloads of free time on my hands lately, so there's that too. please god i hope that changes.

anyway.

i don't mean to make it sound like i'm arguing or seeing who's pecker is bigger with you jest, not at all. just a discourse. sorry if i came off like a dick.

[Nelson]

fluckit seems to be where people come when they're sick of wading through the doo doo at ea and .this, and where people can get their videos seen and commented on with something more than "siqqq" or "ur gay" and nobody's competing with each other for anything.

Truth.

[aggroman_]

a lot of us (me me me) put out a lot of stuff because while i have a deep unending love for skateboarding, i can't do it too much anywhere. physically. i'm old in skateboarding's world and pretty damn broken. it's like fantasy baseball or football, but more personal and enveloping (for me).

Well said.

[K05T0N]

if i had a longer attention span and knew how to read id manage to read that all...

anyways koston is goin to nike, he was seen in them recently so that about says it, people may say hes selling out but he probably doesnt want to stick around forever and ruin his name in skating, so get some money to live with, get out of skating, pursue a golf career.

[Nelson]

if i had a longer attention span and knew how to read id manage to read that all...

anyways koston is goin to nike, he was seen in them recently so that about says it, people may say hes selling out but he probably doesnt want to stick around forever and ruin his name in skating, so get some money to live with, get out of skating, pursue a golf career.

In WWR he was seen in Vans, pros wear different brands all the time. Him wearing Nike doesn't have anything to do with him being sponsored by them.

Check out this article


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ArnDomWlpTc/SedIBUZn02I/AAAAAAAAD-U/dje1FmoCKD8/s400/Frosty+Feet.jpg

Man Koston has the internet going nuts like Paul Wall. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there were skate paparazzis hanging outside of Koston's house hoping to get a long lens photo of his feet to see what shoes he's wearing. I actually wouldn't be surprised if skate paparazzis were invented based upon this one sponsor change. Someone should start a skateboard tabloid. Oh wait, I think that's exactly what we're running here at YouWillSoon. Ouch.

In any case, everyone's watching the Frost Man's feet lately, and the internet got buzzin a little when Koston showed up the day after the announcement that he's off Lakai wearing what appears to be Vans Eras on Wednesdays With Reda. I don't blame anyone for paying attention to this, but let's just keep in mind that this really doesn't mean shit yet. There's several reasons for this.

1. That WWR was most definitely filmed and edited much before Koston made his announcement that he was leaving Lakai.

2. I think it's pretty common knowledge that pros don't wear their sponsor's shoes at all times. When you're out chillin, pretty much everyone slips into Vans or Nikes. Hell I heard that Carroll showed up to Braydon's shoe release party wearing Eras too. Don't mean shit.

3. In what may be a YWS exclusive, I got an e-mail from a friend of ours who was talking to one of Koston's close friends today and was told that Koston is a free agent, and is waiting for offers. So it looks like Koston did not in fact leave Lakai for a better offer, but in fact left Lakai in order to find a better offer. So wherever we think he is headed, nothing is set in stone yet.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go camp outside of Koston's house waiting to catch a glimpse of his feet.
http://youwillsoon.blogspot.com/2009/04/koston-update.html

[jest118]

I've seen Justin Eldridge skate in Nike's before (this was before he got his pro model on eS, but still while he rode for them). Obviously he still rides for eS though.

Not only do Pro's not always wear their sponsors shit... they don't always skate their sponsors shit. People will use other companies boards and sticker the shit out of em. Ride different trucks or bearings sometimes. Just depends on the skater.

[K05T0N]

haha i remember paul wall

[jest118]

Well... I was wrong. Koston went with Nike SB.

[SeksulChokolate]

(a---- here)
to me...
these days skateboarding isnt really about the skatebording...
i really appreciate richie jackson and patrick meltchler for havin fun..
but no one sees that in films these days...

todays media skateboarding has no "feeling"...
its about artsy angles...
hd...
and company logos were they need to be...

i know that sounds shity....
but its kinda true....

well said demz...i completely agree
even from a high school kid who skate for fun this sport has gone from a fun thing to do with your friends to an all out competition...

when i go to the park nowadays it's all about being the best and showin off infront of everyone else. It's 10000x better when your with friends and fellow skateboarders and just going out and skating....isn't that what skateboarding is about? havin fun and doin what you love...regardless of skill level

I wish the skatepark was the fluckit...
everyone here is chill and no one bashes on eachother
when you post a video...you arnt harassed on the bad things...its all a learning process

idk...just my 2 cents

[needmoretime]

do you guys forget the huge deal when he left es? its only cause its koston. who does fabrizio skate for? you know what i mean? now is everyone going to go and buy the new koston nike? i won't. i don't care. he is super good. and nike is paying stupid cash for koston. good for koston. makes no difference to the skateboard world. same tricks....different shoe. its all just flair anyways.