The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

This might be a little fractured, but it’s all of the things (minus the stuff I’m certainly going to forget) that need to be addressed on this heat-of-a-thousand-suns Sunday morning.

First, the Dew Tour has been mentioned in the comments a couple of times and I’ve been meaning to get to that. The bad news is that I’ll be out of town (check yr email, DtM) and won’t be able to go this year. The good news, though, is that I’m sending photographer Andrew Nagl on behalf of the Loss Column. He’ll be taking some pics for the site and writing up a rundown of what it was like.

For anyone who’s thinking about going, do it! The Dew Tour was one of the best sporting events I’ve been to in years, and it’s impossible to understand the things these guys do until you see it in person. I recommend it without reservations and I’m bummed as hell that I won’t be able to make it.

Also, if you go, show the love for Bucky Lasek.

Second, I’ve seen a few new names in the comments lately and I want to say “welcome.” Here’s hoping everyone sticks around and helps make the community even stronger.

Third, I’ll be a guest tonight on a podcast produced by the folks at Drunk Jays Fans. The actual interview is tonight, and there’s a link right on their page to where you can get the audio. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Finally, could it be? Are we on the verge of sweeping said Jays on the road? I refuse to get excited about it because road sweeps are hard to come by. But, it’s nice to be in that position now and then.

It’ll be Radhames Liz looking to follow up a strong debut (and cement his rotation spot) against Roy Halladay.

Like I said, road sweeps are hard to come by.

EDIT: I knew I’d forget something, and I’m a true dumbass for this: rest in peace, Jim McKay.

McKay was before my time but his name towered over the world of sports broadcasting, much like Walter Cronkite’s does over the news. And McKay’s work at the Munich Games might forever stand as the best ever.

You might remember last June when I spent a fair amount of time covering the Panasonic Open. It didn’t get a whole lot of press, but I’d argue it was as intense and professionally contested as anything else in town last year. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

And I plan to do so again, now that I’ve learned that the Open will be returning to Charm City this summer.

The press release went out last week announcing June 19-22 as the time when hometown hero Bucky Lasek and the rest of the crew will descend once more upon the Camden Yards “sports complex” (which last year meant “parking lots”) for skateboarding, freestyle motocross, and BMX.

June seems like half a lifetime away when the temperature hovers around twenty degrees, but look for more coverage as we get close.

The Ravens lost, the Red Sox won, but there is some solid Baltimore news today: hometown hero Bucky Lasek skated off with the top spot in today’s PlayStation Pro event in Orlando, Florida.

Some of you might remember the cover story I wrote for PressBox earlier this year, highlighting Lasek and the Dew Tour in general. Lasek was a two-time defending champion coming into the season, but injuries hampered him early on. That opened the door for Shaun White, who skated lights out and accumulated enough points to clinch the title in the second-to-last event.

Lasek showed up in large fashion today, though, turning in some amazing runs to clinch the event title and second place overall. And you have to love this quote:

“I’m stoked. I’m 100 percent right now,” Lasek said. “I’m skating better than I ever have and there will be no torch passing.”

Salaries and steroids and scandals make it hard sometimes to really, truly root for any of the athletes and teams we love and discuss so much. A guy like Lasek, though, makes it easy to remember why we ever cared about sports in the first place.

Respect.

Last night…ugh. I was up on the club level at the Verizon Center and a bunch of frontrunning Pink Sox yahoos were screaming things like “You’re in Boston now!! What’s up!!” For anyone with lingering doubts as to why all right-thinking Americans hate the Red Sox and their fans, there you go.

At least the Caps-Penguins matchup was fully awesome. Moving on to today’s slate:

It’s an eight-something first pitch in the deciding game of the ALCS, with Jake Westbrook taking the hill against Dice-K. When the Indians lose this one you can all go ahead and blame me. I jinxed the hell out of the Tribe when I put up that stupid post about how this Red Sox squad wasn’t a memorable one. Idiot.

The Ravens are in Buffalo with their b-squad looking to step up on the road. The Bengals host the Jets, while Pittsburgh travels out to Denver for Sunday Night Football. Down I-95 in Raljohn the Redskins host Arizona.

Should you find yourself in need of any context for that Bills-Ravens game, I present you willisistrash.com. Awesome.

And in case you need a break from football, Baltimore’s own Bucky Lasek and the rest of the world’s top skaters will wrap up the AST Dew Tour season today in Orlando. Lasek, alas, will not win his third consecutive Dew Cup — that honor has already been wrapped up by carrot top Shaun White.

It’s hard to imagine a worse time for me to take a week away. The Cal Ripken induction, the trade deadline, the constantly developing Michael Vick and Tim Donaghy stories, NFL training camps opening up, a weekend series against the hated-but-surging Yankees…the next seven days could very well be news-rich. That, and I’m going to be out of town for my lovely girlfriend’s birthday on Thursday, and that just sucks.

But, duty calls. It’s not exactly a pleasure trip even though I do plan to make the most of it. I’ll almost certainly chime in at least once or twice while I’m gone.

By the by: hometown boy Bucky Lasek came in second in the skateboard vert comp at the Right Guard Open in Cleveland over the weekend. He looked poised to take the top spot until Shaun White turned in a ridiculous run on his last try. I’ll keep you all posted on the Dew Tour as it rolls along. Bucky’s still in position to take the Cup, but it looks like White will have to stumble in a big way for that to happen. Should be fun to watch.

Dan the Man is your leader from here to next Wednesday. Treat him well, leave a lot of comments, and I’ll see you when I see you. Thanks as always for reading.

Bedard gave up an early homer, and Joe Angel just said “if Bedard is somehow able to win this game tonight…” Too good.

I did a google image search for “Mark Burly” because I thought it would be funny to find a picture of a burly dude named Mark to put up with this post. Instead I found something altogether cooler, a site called Florida Skater, an “old school skateboard community”. Lots of interesting stuff there, including some righteous photos (including the one to the left there).

Also, please take note of the post below for some important news about the Take Back the Yard rally.

I didn’t spend as much time at the Panasonic Open as I would have liked. I only attended on Saturday, and the only event of consequence that I witnessed was the skateboard vert finals. The reason I chose that one event, of course, is tied directly to Dundalk native Bucky Lasek and my recent cover story for PressBox.

Despite my relatively limited exposure I feel safe in saying this: it was one hell of an event. And if you missed it, make a mental note to show up if it returns next year. At $15 for a day pass you’d be hard-pressed to find a better entertainment value.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, a little background. The Panasonic was the first stop this year on the AST Dew Tour, a five-event action sports circuit featuring competitions in vert skating, street skating, vert BMX, street BMX, and freestyle motocross (FMX). It took place at the Camden Yards Sports Complex, which essentially means the various parking lots surrounding Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium. The vert ramp sat just behind the south end of M&T, just east of Russell Street and just north of Ostend Street.

Saturday was as gorgeous a day as you’ll find in a Baltimore summer, 80 degrees and sunny with an occasional light breeze. No doubt that had some influence on the size of the crowd. AST officials put attendance at 54,907 — the second largest in the history of the Tour. The downside is that the vert ramp was swamped. Seats in the grandstands were nearly impossible to come by even an hour before the finals officially started. I have to figure they’ll fix that if it comes back next year.

Luckily, my media pass granted access to the photographer’s pit on the west side of the ramp. This put me within a few feet of the action, and what I saw there compares to nothing else. The things these guys pull off are amazing. What’s even more impressive is how easy they make it look. Even the mistakes look planned.

Unfortunately, the competition didn’t go exactly as we all would have liked. Bucky Lasek turned in an outstanding first run but bailed on his next two, which ultimately added up to a fourth-place finish. But the word I got was that he basically headed straight from the contest to knee surgery on Monday, so that puts things in perspective.

Wunderkind Shaun White took first, followed by Bob Burnquist, Andy Macdonald, and Lasek.

I can’t say enough about how well the event was managed (seating issues aside) and how well I was treated by Nicole Mancuso and the rest of the Dew Tour staff. Nor can I say enough about Bucky Lasek, who is a true treasure of the Baltimore sports community. This guy is at the top of his game in an incredibly challenging sport, and he also happens to be one of the nicest, most decent guys I’ve ever dealt with. The fact that he regularly rocks an O’s cap and skated with a Maryland flag on his board just makes me love him that much more.

Both of the above photos were taken by yours truly, and if you want more I’ve put up a gallery which you can access here (46 photos total).

I’ll try my best to keep up with the Dew Tour, and Bucky Lasek in particular, for the rest of the summer. In the meantime, many of the events are televised and subsequently repeated. Check ‘em out if you get a chance.