2007 O. U. T. Championship by Mike Munzenrider

Let’s cut to the chase.  For the first time ever, O.U.T., in it’s sixth year of being held at 3rd Lair, was won by someone not from Minnesota.  Controversial?  Maybe.  An exciting upset?  Yes.  Surprising?  Shouldn’t be.  Even though many of us here in Minne believe that the Midwest skateboarding universe revolves around us, we may have to rethink that one (hopefully just for an itty bitty short little time).  It was a young Nebraskan by the name of Rob Warren who, in his third attempt, won O.U.T., starting a possible paradigm shift.

But is O.U.T all about who wins, or is there just a little bit more to the day?  Was it not also 3rd Lair Skatepark’s 11th anniversary celebration, as well as a day to remember the Skatepark’s fallen friend, Josh Updike?  It indeed was, and for the record, it was the first time in 3 years that the contest was held outside.  So, the weather was beautiful, tons of locals turned out for the day, there was an epic boomerang session or two, Jammin’ Jay proved again that he’s an incredible DJ, and oh yeah, there was even a squirrel in the bowl at one point.  Jeez, sounds like fun.  Down from the pulpit now, and back to the contest, because, well, it’s still kind of a big deal who wins. 

It’s even a big deal in the so-called “Kiddie Bracket”.  We’ll call it the less “kiddie” sounding Kid’s Bracket from here on.  In all honesty, the Kid’s Bracket is a roll of the dice.  We reserve the right to call matches if an outcome doesn’t seem immanent, and we’ve done so in the past, but this time around  (being the second year of the Kid’s Bracket) no such actions were necessary.  In fact, the Kid’s Bracket (surprisingly or not) was just as entertaining as the Cash Bracket.  I emceed much of the contest, and it seems like a good time to point out that the whole ordeal sort of blurs in my mind.  I crunched the numbers, and a full, two-bracket day of O.U.T consists of about a bazillion and a half games.  Here are the highlights as I remember them.

Sarah Lindstrom!  Sarah is the first female skater to be in O.U.T.  Ever.  And she made it to the second round to boot.  Good job Sarah.  Another favorite from the Kid’s Bracket is Sampson.  I’m sure Sampson has a last name, but for the sake of the contest, one name status is too good to pass up.  Sampson did a late shove-it, and was the runner-up.  We’re backing Sampson.  Nathan Morley won the Kid’s Bracket.  He had a good game plan and stuck to it, got a heavy bag of goodies for his effort, and he moved onto the first game of the Cash Bracket.

Ah, the Cash Bracket.  Beat seven or so people, and you get 600 bucks.  It was a good year for the little dudes.  Guys like Tim Gallaher, Tim(my) Johnson, Ronnie Katchmark, Andrew Leibman, Zach Moore, and Cody Davis all made moves and broke some old dudes’ hearts.  A couple of the 15 and up set held their own too.  It was the usual suspects; Tom Rohrer, Pat Hickey, David Jaimes, Jamiel Nowparvar, CJ Tambornino, Pat Dykstra…And so on.  However, in O.U.T., just like in Highlander, there can be only one.  And the “one” of the weekend was Rob Warren, who proved exceptionally difficult to get letters on.  Rob skated consistently and was not afraid to dig deep into his magic bag of tricks.  As noted earlier, he was putting many a Minnesotan’s pride on the line, so you can definitely consider this a “road win”.  The top four finishers are as follow; Tom Rohrer in fourth, Zach Moore in third, Cody Davis in a respectable second, and Rob Warren, the big cheese, in first place.  They all got their big checks, and Rob even got doused in Kronik.  I’m sure he went home to a happy and excited crew, $600 richer, no less. 

At the end of the day, most people were already talking about O.U.T. 2008 (Even if, like usual, it was about mandatory drop ins, and lines on the ground).  Is that even all that bad though?  In a tight scene with many proud and opinionated skaters, it should only be expected that they want to “improve” the contest (and repair some bruised egos). So let’s talk it over.  Or, just land more tricks in ’08.  Either way, O.U.T. will continue to be incredibly fun, highly contentious, and one of the best reasons ever to go skateboard, and hang out with friends.  Can’t complain about that.

A Special thanks to Kronik Energy Drink for title sponosoring the 6th Annual O. U T. Championship at the 3rd Lair SkatePark.