I never really root for people in these contests based on talent, its always been based on how much I like them. Pine has been amusing me with his far out youtube videos for a while now, and I am hyped to see that he is in. Really, at the end of the day, its just a contest, and if all these other "deserving" ams who don't get the spot actually rip that hard, they'll get theirs some other time.
Also, I disagree with forks/knives interpretation. That dude is a single person deciding who gets a spot at a very popular contest. He rejects people left and right just to keep the numbers down, and I don't think he rejected pine because he had anything specifically against him. In the skateboard industry a word from an important person means a lot, and is a genuine and legitimate reason to get in. If he didn't want Pine in, he could have told Andy Henrie that there just wasn't enough room, the point is, this dude didn't see it, and was surprised when he found out a lot of other people did. Having legit people back you makes you legit in a lot of ways.
And if Slap covers this event, they damn well better have Pine coverage, seriously.