On May 21st, the seventh annual Pro-Tec Pool Party at the Vans Park in Orange, Calif. will go down. For the last two years the contest has been won by Element and Vans pro, Bucky Lasek, but Lasek will not win. Recently, he broke his ankle and has been knocked out of the competition. So it's anybody's contest to win. Bucky's money is on Rune Glifberg.
What happened to you, Buck?
I was filming this GoPro commercial up in my bowl and I had cameras all over me so when I fell I was fumbling and tried to save the cameras, landed kind of low and put my foot down and just snapped it.
Dude! Those cameras cost, like, a dollar to make.
Yeah, but it wasn't just that. Granted I tried to save the cameras but I still put my foot down and still got all jacked up.
What's the diagnosis?
Fractured malleolus bone, it's like the outside anklebone.
Are you able to walk on it?
I'm not supposed to. Because it's a clean fracture I almost broke it off but it's still kind of there. They don't want me walking on it but I'm not using crutches. They wanted to put a cast on me but I opted to get this tech-looking ski-boot thing. I can get it lasered and get therapy done to it already. I'm already on it.
What are they telling you for time til you can get back on a board?
They said four to six weeks for it to heal. I'm gonna be getting x-rays every other week just to see how it's healing. As soon as the bone starts to fill in I'll start to pump around.
No chance of pulling a Larry Bird and running out of the locker room for the Pro-Tec Pool Party and barging it?
That was my intention up until the point when he said I shouldn't be walking on it and that if the piece pops off we're talking pins and rods. When I heard that I was like, "Maybe I won't skate on it." But up until then I was like, "Tape me up, put me in coach! I'm ready to play!"
You're like the Lakers; you got swept out of your three-peat chances.
Yeah, it always happens that way for me. I'm three-peat-less.
Who do you think is going to take it now, in your absence?
My wish is Rune. I'd like to see Rune take it because that's the kind of style of skating I love to watch but Pedro Barros is definitely a threat. Bob Burnquist also if he puts it together. But there's a few other guys too like Nolan Monroe, Josh Rodriguez and Mike Owen, Andy MacDonald.
Even if they win, does it count since you're not competing?
That 30 grand check is gonna count real nice, I'll tell you that. It sucks for me, for them, not so much.
Yeah, how stoked do you think they were when they heard you broke your foot?
I think they all threw a party. I think they all went to Alcatraz and started celebrating already. I'm kidding.
Do you think they all got together and asked GoPro to load you up with more cameras than you were supposed to wear?
I had two cameras on my helmet, one camera on knee-pads, one camera on my board and then they were shooting me with four different cameras. But it was my fault. Granted I should have fallen like a normal fall and taken out the cameras but I tried to save them and took one for the team.
You're too nice of a guy, Buck.
Like you said, it's a dollar camera. I'm such a damn penny pincher that I tried to save a buck and wound up wrecking one.