For most of the sporting world, professional vert skateboarder Jake Brown will always be known as the guy that almost died skating the Mega Ramp at the 2007 X Games. His spectacular slam was broadcast and re-broadcast for days following. Within hours of the fall, a few hundred thousand people had viewed the carnage on YouTube. It says a lot about our society, doesn't it?
The sad part is that Jake Brown deserves to be regarded as so much more than a one-fall pony. He is the first vert skater in ages to make non-vert skaters take notice and care about vert again. His video part for his sponsor, Blind'sWhat If? was a high-octane, groundbreaking good time where he skated 12-foot high vert ramps like they were knee-high ledges.
Despite how he's remembered, and despite falling in a way that is more painful and gruesome than any possible football or hockey injury, Jake is upbeat, positive and dismissive about his fall. It's almost to a point that begs for a follow up doctor's visit for head trauma. I mean, hell, in this interview you'll hear the little guy say, "The fall wasn't that bad." Let's re-watch it again in Quicktime, shall we? It hurts me to see him hit the ground. It makes me not want to allow him to ever skate a Mega Ramp again. But for Jake it's just another day at work. And he'd do it again if he had to.
Are you sick of talking about almost dying on the Mega Ramp?
I guess. It gives me something to talk about. But it seems like it's the only thing people want to talk about. But I was able to go on Larry King as a result. That was pretty funny. That guy was pretty cool. A cool cat.
Did he understand skateboarding?
I don't think he understood too much about it but he understands people falling off buildings and sh*t probably.
Did you pick up any new sponsors as a result of almost dying?
No, not really.
Your Adidas flew off your feet as you were flying through mid-air. Quite good exposure for Adidas. Did they make you a part of the official team as a result of the accident?
No. I think they just want to see me skating again ... maybe make sure I'm still able to skate before they give me a contract.
Lance Dalgart
No handed 360s on Mega Ramp? Jake is Gnar Boots.
Not skateboarding? I chilled for the first few months and then these past few months I started skating again.
It's nearly a year since it happened, how long did it take you before you went and skated the Mega Ramp again?
I just skated one the other day for the first time; it was pretty fun.
Were you sh*tting a brick?
Not really. I did a little bit when I was going up the quarterpipe but that was about it. I've skated the thing a million times before so it wasn't really that big of a deal.
It IS a big deal! The last time you skated it you nearly died. What was going through your head that day as you were flying through the air?
"Holy sh*t! I'm really in trouble." I did my best to try and turn to take it to my body and back. I had seen Pat Duffy slam right to his legs and break his legs and I didn't want to do that. And I didn't want to panic. I think if I would have panicked I would have ended up way more messed up. So I tried to take the whole hit to my body. I think I was knocked out for 5 or 10 minutes. The first thing I saw was Jason Ellis picking me up and I was like, "Do I get another run?" He was like, "No dude, you don't get another run." Then I asked if I at least made the 720. I asked him, "So what happened then if I made the 720?" He just said, "It wasn't good." It took me a few minutes to remember what happened.
THE FIRST THING I SAW WAS JASON ELLIS PICKING ME UP AND I WAS LIKE, "DO I GET ANOTHER RUN?"
Didn't you ask someone for a beer?
I went straight outside and smoked a cigarette. I was trying to go to the bar for a beer but I went to the hospital instead.
Weren't you calling people to come break you out of the hospital so you could go to the X Games parties that night?
Maybe, I don't know. Sounds like something I would have done.
I really don't understand how the hell you can skate a Mega Ramp again?
Why not?
Theo Hand
The man's made of some strong metal. Jake in the hospital after his notorious slam.
I'm here for skateboarding. It's not like I haven't taken a million slams before. Yeah, this might have been the hardest one I've ever taken, but so what? It's all the same. I plan on still skating everything. Whatever I can do, I'm gonna do. Skate vert, the Mega Ramp, film some videos—whatever it may be.
You ride for Blind skateboards and ex-vert pro Bill Weiss is your team manager. How is that for motivation? Does he ever tell you if you don't land your trick he'll do it for you?
Pretty much. He's the best. We were in Australia not too long ago and there's this quarterpipe contest and Weiss comes in flying off the street course, pushing 100mph, screaming, "Watch out! Watch out!" Goes to grab early like to do a McTwist and flies out like five or six feet, comes around to land on the coping but ends up putting his fist under his ass before he hits the coping so we called it The McFist. We hassled him the whole week about it. It was funny as hell. At least he invented a trick; The McFist. I don't know if he could pull that one again if he tried.
Are you competing in this year's X Games?
I should be. I want to be. Why? Are they gonna ban me?
Are you going to try the exact same run again on the Mega Ramp?
Hopefully not. I don't know if my body can handle it again. I fractured my vertebrae and fractured my wrist, contusions on my lung and liver. I don't know what a contusion is but it supposedly makes your sh*t bleed. The whiplash was pretty crazy too. If you watch the footage in slow motion it looks like my body almost folds in half, the wrong way, right at my chest.
I was there. It was nuts. Everyone was so psyched on the 720, screaming, going crazy and then it went dead silent while you were still in mid-air. It was like someone hit the mute button. I was three levels up in Staples Center in the Red Bull box suite and I could still hear you hit the ground; like a ton of bricks.
No way. Pretty funny, huh? It needed a drum roll, huh?
When you stood up, I said, "Yeah right!" I was sure you were dead.
I'm glad I can talk to you about it now and laugh. I'm just trying to get passed that and get skating again.
Did you pee blood at all?
I didn't pee blood. That would have been cool. I don't know, maybe I did. I was lying down in bed for three days afterwards. I didn't look at my piss. I don't even remember pissing actually.
You probably had a catheter.
Maybe. I don't remember.
I think you'd remember someone sticking a catheter up there.
Maybe it was a bottle or something I had. I'd remember a catheter, huh? That doesn't seem like the most comfortable thing.
lance Dalgart
Now that's Mega. Jake punches a Method into the sky about 20 feet above the lip.
I've just been skating a lot, going to physical therapy, and trying to get some massage work. I didn't do too much physical therapy through the whole rehab, just mostly massages.
Special massages?
No Happy Endings. Jut like deep tissue work. Insurance doesn't cover the rest.
Maybe if you say you broke your pecker they would cover the special massage.
Yeah, that would be good. Actually that wouldn't feel too good. I'd like to see their face if I submit bills for 200 massages.
As you're skating again, are there any tricks that feel weird?
My wrist has a pin in it so it doesn't really bend as far as it should and the strength isn't where it should be so I'm trying to get that back as good as possible.
So no eggplants?
I don't think an eggplant would be a good idea at this time. It's actually my eggplant wrist that has the pins in it, so if I tried one it would probably turn into a McFist.
That should be your encore this year: launch the Mega gap into an eggplant on the quarterpipe and destroy your wrist as a follow up to last year.
So bring the McFist to new levels?
Instead of winning or doing bigger tricks each year, you should make your goal to have worse and worse slams.
I might just air into the grandstands then. "Watch out! I'm unstoppable!"
You should get a very tiny parachute, like they would use on a chicken, and pull that for comedic effect.
I'll just open up an umbrella on the way down. I'll put all my sponsors' logos on the umbrella.
What if you turned into a crappy version of Evel Knievel and you were paid money to keep slamming hard?
I mean, everyone has to live, right? It depends on how wrecked I'm going to get and how much they're willing to pay me to do it.
IT'S ACTUALLY MY EGGPLANT WRIST THAT HAS THE PINS IN IT, SO IF I TRIED ONE IT WOULD PROBABLY TURN INTO A MCFIST.
Would 50 G's be enough to ask you to do it again?
Sure. It really wasn't that bad.
You don't think it was that bad?
No. I'm still skating.
What was a bigger rush for you? Your Mega Oops or doing The Loop drunk?
I think it was pretty equal. There were some pretty crazy whip outs going through that Loop. Doing two backflips onto your head is pretty crazy, you know what I mean? I just didn't get as messed up long-term on The Loop is all.
Brian Schaefer of Skate Park of Tampa got sent to the hospital on The Loop. Who had the worst slam? You or him?
I don't know. What did he do? He broke fingers, got a concussion. I think his was pretty bad because he landed on his neck on the side of The Loop. He did one and a half flips to his neck. That could have been a broken neck. I don't know how he didn't break his neck. I'll say our slams were equally bad.
Is it true when you slammed you stunted your growth and you're not going to get any taller now?
I think that was done years ago. I'm a little over four foot tall. I'm kind of scared to measure myself. I might need some platforms.
After the fall did you ever think you were accident prone and scared to drive a car or touch electrical items?
No way, I felt unstoppable. I was running out into traffic. I didn't have a care in the world.
How do you feel about being remembered as "that guy" and nothing else to millions of TV viewing Americans?
I don't know. There's nothing I can do about it. I just have to continue on doing what I was doing. I guess it's good if they remember me at all.
Did you see a spike in your board sales as a result of your sudden stardom?
No, probably not. I don't think so. People probably saw me fall and were like, "I don't want to ride that guy's board. I'll end up falling on my head!" Which isn't true because it's the best board in the world!
For more of Chris Nieratko go to: chrisnieratko.com
For more of Jake Brown go to: blindreaper.com
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