The worst 3 pros in history

[lampshade]

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Chris Roberts
Rob Dyrdek
Steve Berra

And Jose Rojo because the last two don’t really count since they’re awful by default.

[close]

I'd love to hear how Dyrdek was a "bad" pro. He produced a bunch of footage spanned out over his decently long career, sold a ton of product, ripped demos and gave back a TON to skateboarding out of his own pocket in multiple ways.

Agree with this about Dyrdek.  He ripped before all the MTV schnanagins, ad did a lot for skateboarding.  Also- I like to watch Jose Rojo skate.

[SatanicPanic]

the program with this goddamn thread is that it was never said how we're judging pros.

aesthetic? personality? ability on a skate board? all 3 lead to wildly different answers.

The OP did clarify they were talking about personality

[Billy Bitchcakes]

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the program with this goddamn thread is that it was never said how we're judging pros.

aesthetic? personality? ability on a skate board? all 3 lead to wildly different answers.

[close]

The OP did clarify they were talking about personality

Yeah that's boring though, this entire messageboard is shitting on pros' personalities we don't need to rate them. The skill argument is more interesting

[shannamal]

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the program with this goddamn thread is that it was never said how we're judging pros.

aesthetic? personality? ability on a skate board? all 3 lead to wildly different answers.

[close]

The OP did clarify they were talking about personality

[close]

Yeah that's boring though, this entire messageboard is shitting on pros' personalities we don't need to rate them. The skill argument is more interesting

skill argument is way more fun, and makes me feel like im 15 and hanging out at my local skate park again, talking shit with my friends

[SatanicPanic]

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the program with this goddamn thread is that it was never said how we're judging pros.

aesthetic? personality? ability on a skate board? all 3 lead to wildly different answers.

[close]

The OP did clarify they were talking about personality

[close]

Yeah that's boring though, this entire messageboard is shitting on pros' personalities we don't need to rate them. The skill argument is more interesting

[close]

skill argument is way more fun, and makes me feel like im 15 and hanging out at my local skate park again, talking shit with my friends

I feel bad talking shit on pros’ skill because maybe they’ll read it and feel bad about themselves. unless I also think they’re assholes, like Bam

[Backside LameFlip]

Chris dobstaff - awful style, bad tricks selection
Chet Thomas - had a career based on his ability to hardflip
Nate Sherwood - one of the worst style in the game plus he has the face of a trisomic

[OMSK]

this reminds me of the time the Dew Tour came to Portland in the early/mid 00s and some (not all) of the vert dudes decided to go skate burnside. I have never seen so many dudes who got paid by big sponsors, not be able to carve corners or actually skate anything that wasn't back and forth.... glad transition/vert has progressed.

[TheFandangler]

Chris dobstaff - awful style, bad tricks selection
Chet Thomas - had a career based on his ability to hardflip
Nate Sherwood - one of the worst style in the game plus he has the face of a trisomic

While Dobstaff might have one of the worst style's, personalities, and trick selections in pro skateboarding, he also did some really fucked up tricks. He also got a Thrasher cover in the height of the gnar-phase of the 2000s.
I feel kinda the same about Chet. I never liked watching him skate, but he definitely did some tricks nobody else could do. And while I think the hardflip certainly defined the later stage of his career, he was a child prodigy from the late 80s that could fuck up a mini ramp and the streets.
Also, Nate Sherwood is really the low-hanging fruit here, isn't he? Weak pick. He wasn't even a legit pro.

You're going to go pick these three while leaving TK and Felix Arguelles out of the question?

[Croquet temper]

this reminds me of the time the Dew Tour came to Portland in the early/mid 00s and some (not all) of the vert dudes decided to go skate burnside. I have never seen so many dudes who got paid by big sponsors, not be able to carve corners or actually skate anything that wasn't back and forth.... glad transition/vert has progressed.

Who were some of them? This is interesting, I always assumed vert skaters could shred a park at least somewhat. Usually, I remember being surprised by what a lot of vert dudes can do away from the ramp.

[natenola forever]

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Chris dobstaff - awful style, bad tricks selection
Chet Thomas - had a career based on his ability to hardflip
Nate Sherwood - one of the worst style in the game plus he has the face of a trisomic

[close]

While Dobstaff might have one of the worst style's, personalities, and trick selections in pro skateboarding, he also did some really fucked up tricks. He also got a Thrasher cover in the height of the gnar-phase of the 2000s.
I feel kinda the same about Chet. I never liked watching him skate, but he definitely did some tricks nobody else could do. And while I think the hardflip certainly defined the later stage of his career, he was a child prodigy from the late 80s that could fuck up a mini ramp and the streets.
Also, Nate Sherwood is really the low-hanging fruit here, isn't he? Weak pick. He wasn't even a legit pro.

You're going to go pick these three while leaving TK and Felix Arguelles out of the question?

if you've ever seen Chet skate in real life you'd have a much different story, all those quarter pipe tricks he did in video parts were first try at demos

[natenola forever]

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In speed freaks rob roskopp had a single of a fakie Ollie decker on a mini ramp . I’m always triggered by how revered his board graphics are , by how badly he sucked .

[close]

I always wondered how he was pro for bombing a footpath & skating a ditch to shit music, but people were pro for contests at the time, not videos. Never really heard of him at the time though, asides from his board series.

Didn't Roskopp decide to retire cuz he couldn't learn to Mctwist? the timeframes seem off cuz I feel like he had a board till the early 90s, but either wheels or fire or Streets of fire they fake him doing a Mctwist in the intro. a Bailed Mctwist merged with a landed backside air.

[TheFandangler]

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Chris dobstaff - awful style, bad tricks selection
Chet Thomas - had a career based on his ability to hardflip
Nate Sherwood - one of the worst style in the game plus he has the face of a trisomic

[close]

While Dobstaff might have one of the worst style's, personalities, and trick selections in pro skateboarding, he also did some really fucked up tricks. He also got a Thrasher cover in the height of the gnar-phase of the 2000s.
I feel kinda the same about Chet. I never liked watching him skate, but he definitely did some tricks nobody else could do. And while I think the hardflip certainly defined the later stage of his career, he was a child prodigy from the late 80s that could fuck up a mini ramp and the streets.
Also, Nate Sherwood is really the low-hanging fruit here, isn't he? Weak pick. He wasn't even a legit pro.

You're going to go pick these three while leaving TK and Felix Arguelles out of the question?

[close]

if you've ever seen Chet skate in real life you'd have a much different story, all those quarter pipe tricks he did in video parts were first try at demos

I can't tell if you think Chet rips or sucks.

[Willie]

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this reminds me of the time the Dew Tour came to Portland in the early/mid 00s and some (not all) of the vert dudes decided to go skate burnside. I have never seen so many dudes who got paid by big sponsors, not be able to carve corners or actually skate anything that wasn't back and forth.... glad transition/vert has progressed.

[close]

Who were some of them? This is interesting, I always assumed vert skaters could shred a park at least somewhat. Usually, I remember being surprised by what a lot of vert dudes can do away from the ramp.

I was lucky to see a shit ton of pros come through and skate FDR back in the late 90s-2010. It was more common to see "street" pros who had a tough time although I remember Brian Patch and Rune Glifberg showing up the day of some TV contest and having kind of a shitty time. Rune said he had a hard time keeping speed and Patch simply declared the park sucked and macked on jailbait back at Bam's.  (Omar Hassan came three days early, learned a bunch of lines and won it)

[OMSK]

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this reminds me of the time the Dew Tour came to Portland in the early/mid 00s and some (not all) of the vert dudes decided to go skate burnside. I have never seen so many dudes who got paid by big sponsors, not be able to carve corners or actually skate anything that wasn't back and forth.... glad transition/vert has progressed.

[close]

Who were some of them? This is interesting, I always assumed vert skaters could shred a park at least somewhat. Usually, I remember being surprised by what a lot of vert dudes can do away from the ramp.

Mainly the guys who skated the Dew Tour vert ramp, not the park dudes, obviously. It's been so long I wouldn't want to out anyone and be wrong, haha. I just remember a few dudes had their trucks so tight they wouldn't have been able to carve, even if they could. maybe they were having an off day, I dunno, I was just surprised.... I can say it WASNT guys like Bucky or Omar etc...

[Vomit Lust]

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this reminds me of the time the Dew Tour came to Portland in the early/mid 00s and some (not all) of the vert dudes decided to go skate burnside. I have never seen so many dudes who got paid by big sponsors, not be able to carve corners or actually skate anything that wasn't back and forth.... glad transition/vert has progressed.

[close]

Who were some of them? This is interesting, I always assumed vert skaters could shred a park at least somewhat. Usually, I remember being surprised by what a lot of vert dudes can do away from the ramp.

[close]

Mainly the guys who skated the Dew Tour vert ramp, not the park dudes, obviously. It's been so long I wouldn't want to out anyone and be wrong, haha. I just remember a few dudes had their trucks so tight they wouldn't have been able to carve, even if they could. maybe they were having an off day, I dunno, I was just surprised.... I can say it WASNT guys like Bucky or Omar etc...

I came up in the late 80’s and 90’s and took about a ten year break where I never skated on a regular basis. All the concrete parks popped up in that time. I had no idea how to ride a park despite being a huge fan of mini ramps before that. It took a while to learn to keep moving in a flow bowl scenario.

[PlugSkullcandy]

Aren’t the worst the ones that turn themselves pro ?

Back in the day I hated Nate Sherwood skate style

[Backside LameFlip]

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Chris dobstaff - awful style, bad tricks selection
Chet Thomas - had a career based on his ability to hardflip
Nate Sherwood - one of the worst style in the game plus he has the face of a trisomic

[close]

While Dobstaff might have one of the worst style's, personalities, and trick selections in pro skateboarding, he also did some really fucked up tricks. He also got a Thrasher cover in the height of the gnar-phase of the 2000s.
I feel kinda the same about Chet. I never liked watching him skate, but he definitely did some tricks nobody else could do. And while I think the hardflip certainly defined the later stage of his career, he was a child prodigy from the late 80s that could fuck up a mini ramp and the streets.
Also, Nate Sherwood is really the low-hanging fruit here, isn't he? Weak pick. He wasn't even a legit pro.

You're going to go pick these three while leaving TK and Felix Arguelles out of the question?

Not arguing with your picks.
We've seen many pros in companies that are not deserving their spots because low skills and bad style.
But I think this topic is about personal opinions. For me those three pros are awful and I skipped their part everytime I see their name appear.
I think i can add LENNY RIVAS also. throwing gangsta signs with the worst style, low speed and some awful nollie inward heel.

[backside_reacharound]

Chad Fernandez
Dave Mayhew
Dave Coyne

[Atiba Applebum]

KA doesn’t see anything wrong with a love potion/roofie board graphic

[Pete]

damn chocolate really fuckin sucks in 2021.

free max b

[Lowcalcium]

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Chris Roberts
Rob Dyrdek
Steve Berra

And Jose Rojo because the last two don’t really count since they’re awful by default.

[close]

I'd love to hear how Dyrdek was a "bad" pro. He produced a bunch of footage spanned out over his decently long career, sold a ton of product, ripped demos and gave back a TON to skateboarding out of his own pocket in multiple ways.

[close]

Agree with this about Dyrdek.  He ripped before all the MTV schnanagins, ad did a lot for skateboarding.  Also- I like to watch Jose Rojo skate.

[SatanicPanic]

You know who else sucked? The Pappas brothers

[HORSES]

Aaron Herrington has been complete garbage since turning pro.

[quesly]

You know who else sucked? The Pappas brothers

a child Tom Schaar and Mitchie Brusco both landed a 900 before Tas Pappas and they still made a whole "documentary" about how he was screwed over by Tony Hawk.

[cky enthusiast]

i’m basing this off of personal combination of trick selection and memorability (i.e. the ability to communicate your personal style effectively)

1. phil hajal

2. chad fernandez

3. shaun white (i don’t know if skateboarding can truly have an industry plant but if it did it’s him)

[Star Whores Episode I: The Fellatio Menace]

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You know who else sucked? The Pappas brothers

[close]

a child Tom Schaar and Mitchie Brusco both landed a 900 before Tas Pappas and they still made a whole "documentary" about how he was screwed over by Tony Hawk.

Member when his doc failed to mention that Globe put on an entire contest in Australia set up for Tas to land the 900 first and be the hero, and he couldn't do it?

[shopdeck]

Woah! A lot of hate here for Josh Harmony! The pretty boy was pretty good. Suffer the Joy (a weak Toy Machine film in general) starts out with parts from Matt B and Austin Stephens that look like they were played in slow motion. Really not good. Then Josh rips to Lil Richard! Its a good part!

Jose Rojo is a weird call for this list too! But he has that weird Eldridge thing where his best footage came from his am days. His tricks in Man Down were chill but then years later he had like a one minute part in Oververt.

My pick for worst pro is MIKEY TAYLOR. He never developed a style of his own and changed his fit as soon as something else became trendy. In ADDition you have the sins of annoying post-skate career and a terrible social media shtick. An overall annoying and grating skater. I wish i could delete his part from Skate More.

[Uh Oh]

My pick for worst pro is MIKEY TAYLOR. He never developed a style of his own and changed his fit as soon as something else became trendy. In ADDition you have the sins of annoying post-skate career and a terrible social media shtick. An overall annoying and grating skater. I wish i could delete his part from Skate More.

[atheosx]

Chetty Thomas had that akward park ripper contest style look and vibe. Kind of thing where you are sitting back relaxing watching his video part and coming away inspired to go out and roll. Your just watching it seeing whats possible and going huh, weird bag of tricks but he sure does his thing.

Then he sold a fuckload of shoes to a point where they were re-released to a bunch of people that had no business skateboarding and for that, he doesnt count as the worst pro. Because he surely made globe a TON of money.

And he made for a reference in that Jimmy Carlin video.

[No Wave Comply]

jason rothmeyer? no, he could flow but leigh peterson? someone said gagne, he wasn't 'bad' just bad to look at. if he's one of the worst we've gotta add kelch to the list.
serge trudnoski was pretty limited in trick selection.
feel like peter bici didn't do many tricks either.
ryan hickey was great to watch in the few tricks he filmed but for being unproductive, he's up there.

I was totally considering mentioning James Kelch. He's a huge personality, but never really produced anything remarkable. I think he just lived off his EMB ambassador role for as long as possible.

Serge Trudnowski was pro? I thought he just rode for Sub Zero. He was part of a heavy crew, but yeah, so overshadowed by Fred Gall, Ricky Oyola and Matt Reason.

Totally agree about Peter Bici and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Hickey. They looked like male models and had lots of style, but didn't put much out there. I mean, shit, Hickey was on Stereo for a minute, so he must've really had something that most of us didn't get to see. Anyone that was on Stereo 92-96 gets a pass from me, but that was my favorite company at the time, so I'm biased.