First of all, we want to thank EVERYONE for entering the 2nd Big Mike Raffle… as you already know, all the money collected went directly into the Big Mike Trust set up by the shop, and the winner of the contest got more skate gear than anyone would know what to do with… just tons of stuff. For a reminder of what the winning prize-stash contained, click here.

Well, March 1st (after the shop closed) was the deadline and the prize-winning drawing… I meant to put all this up before going to bed last night, but I’m a bum, so I apologize to anyone who stayed up waiting for me to post this.

Here’s a full-on photo essay of how it went down:

Mr. Gregory Tracey, winner of the first raffle, was given the magical raffle box and asked to pull out a random winner… here we can see that Gregory took great joy in shakin’ that thang like a salt shaker:

…but shaking the box isn’t good enough. To ensure complete randomness, the raffle box had to be drop-kicked (like we did during the first raffle). No raffle entries were harmed during the kicking of the box:

(Interesting note: Chuck Norris based his fighting technique on Gregory’s martial arts skills. Wait, I’m telling a lie. Sorry.)

…Gregory looked up to the sky (which was blocked by the shop’s ceiling) and rummaged through the raffle box the same way I rummage through the dryer trying to find matching socks.

\\\{{{(((::: WINNER :::)))}}}///

Stoked! Long time friend of the shop, Mr. Zach Anthony, was smiled upon by fate, and officially became the winner of the biggest raffle we’ve had yet! I blurred out his phone number so nobody would try to call him and try to bum any fresh gear from him. I have the number though, so maybe I’ll do it instead. (KIDDING).

As you can tell in this photo, it caused Gregory a great deal of physical pain and anguish to tell someone that they’d just won hundreds of dollars worth of gear. It’s not that he wanted the stuff for himself, he just wanted to wallow in it for a little while, hugging and caressing the decks, DVDs, hats, wheels, and shirts. Greg’s funny like that.

Seriously though, Greg called up Zach, and a few minutes later Zach and his crew came over to enjoy the bounty:

There is a LOT of stuff in that box… I’d be shocked too!

A good photo of Zach, this round’s big winner.

Something really interesting that I want to share with everyone about Zach’s win… Zach entered a few times (like many others did), but while at the shop yesterday, he entered one more time just for the hell of it… it turns out that the entry he put in yesterday was the winning ticket! How insane is that?

Anyway, CONGRATS ZACH!!! Enjoy all the new gear, and thanks for helping out with the cause! As we all know, the prizes are awesome, but it’s the reason we’re having these raffles that’s the most important thing.

Thanks to everyone that contributed, we were able to collect $355.00!

The next raffle begins in ONE WEEK! BE READY!

…just like last time. Come to the shop, buy some raffle tickets for $5 a pop, put ‘em in the box and keep your fingers crossed. This one is HUGE. Enter now, we’ll be announcing the winner after the shop closes on the evening of March the first! Alright, check these:

I know this just looks like a bunch of decks, but check it:

…most of the boards in the stack are signed (keep reading).
There’s all this stuff, too:

Here’s a list of everything the winner gets:
1 signed Jamie Thomas Zero deck
1 signed James Brockman Zero deck
1 signed Cairo Foster Enjoi deck
1 Heath Kirchart Alien Workshop deck
1 Tosh  Element deck
1 Jayme Fortune True Love deck
2 Flip decks

1 set reflex trucks
1 set speed demon trucks
1 set mystery wheels
1 set true love wheels
1 set alien workshop wheels

1 Indy built to grind book
1 signed by Mark Mckee Rocco docu. ( The Man Who Souled The World)
1 Element DVD
1 Listen DVD
1 Berry Atmosphere DVD

1 Alien Workshop pillow
6 DC New Era hats
3 DC beanies
1 habitat hat
1 Alien Workshop hoodie
2 Blind hoodies
1 True Love hoodie
6 DC t’s
2 Zero t’s
2 World t’s
2 Globe t’s

…whew. Anyway, get your entry in by March 1st before the shop closes at 7pm! Enter as many times as you want, and remember that the proceeds from this are going directly to the Big Mike Memorial Trust.

Thanks everybody!

While I was out honeymooning in Vegas, Kerry put together yet another large-scale Big Mike raffle… I’ll put up the details soon!

In the meantime, you can see what’s up for winning in the shop… good luck! Proceeds from this will again be added to the Big Mike trust fund… the last raffle we had went so well we decided to do another one in the shop… don’t rule out a future eBay auction (or twelve), but come in and give it a shot (5 bucks a pop) if you can! You’ll trip when you see what the prizes are!

OK, you cats already know about all of the loot that was at stake in the Big Mike raffle… for a reminder, click here.

Well tonight, we got a winner… and it was the freakiest thing ever. In attendance to witness the drawing of the winning ticket were me, Josh, Gregory (who was there to take photos as was I), and the man who organized it… Kerry (the only shop owner in Hammond that skates, ya heard me?).

Here’s how it went… first Kerry shook the raffle box up and down:

…then he shook it from side to side:

…then he catapulted the raffle box about four times off of a skateboard:

…then Kerry dug into the box without peeking:

…pulling up the winning ticket:

Yep… the very guy who was there to help us take photos, our very own Gregory Tracy (who entered four times) became…

The big winner!

What in the hell are the odds of that? Oh wait, the odds were actually 4 in 79… thanks to everyone that entered, we were able to add $395 directly to the Big Mike Trust!

But wait, it ain’t over yet… first of all, we want to thank all of you who entered:

…and we want you to know that this was only ROUND 1!

In a few days, we’ll be holding yet another raffle, but this time it’s going to be even bigger… you think that was a lot of stuff to win? You haven’t seen anything yet! We’ll announce the new contest in a few days, and we’re going to have a list of products that will make your jaw drop.

We were going to do an eBay auction after this raffle, but because it was so successful, we decided to do another one in-house, but this time it’s going to be even better… tons more stuff, and all you have to do is spend a little cash on a ticket that could wind up giving you more skate product than you’ve ever received at one time! On top of all that, you’ll be donating directly to the Big Mike Memorial Fund, so even if you don’t win… you still win.

Stay tuned for our upcoming announcement, where we’ll list the biggest pile of skate products you’ve ever seen offered in one raffle!

Again, thanks to everyone who entered Round 1, and congrats to Gregory for such an epic win!

Next week (or sometime thereabout) we’ll be getting a full shipment of regular popsicle-shaped boards in, but right now we have the limited edition BIG Big Mike tribute decks… half were gone the minute they came into the shop, and a ton of them are reserved for folks that requested them, but there are still a few left… the shape is based on the 9″ Real Aces’ deck, and there are only 40 in the entire world… if you want one, you better get it NOW.

Click on the pic above for a really big photo of one of the decks close up…

Again, there were only 40 of these made… created by Real especially for the locals to purchase, but we’re going to run out almost immediately. If you have your name already attached to one, COME AND GET IT. If you miss out on this version, don’t worry… you’ll be able to get a smaller version of this board (with a contemporary shape) in a week or so. The photo above represents the ones that haven’t been claimed yet, so if you have to camp out in front of the shop before it opens, do it. Be a part of this!

Here’s Kerry putting name tags on the ones that have been claimed:

AND DON’T FORGET THE RAFFLE!!!
Next Saturday, we will announce the winner of the biggest raffle I’ve ever seen in skateboarding… for $5, you can get a raffle ticket, drop it into this box:

…and you can win all of the loot I wrote about previously right here.You can enter as many times as you want to… even if you don’t win, you’re still adding to the Big Mike Trust Account, the same goes for the boards… Big Mike gave to us, the least we can do is give back something… anything… for a fallen brother who we all miss so much.

Props to everyone that’s been supportive of this effort… thanks to everyone that has donated, and thanks to everyone who understands the spirit behind this. Skaters are family, and we have to be down for each other because that’s what skaters do.

We miss you Mike… we do this to honor you, your family, and as an obligation from the skate community that you had such an effect on.

Click the flier to visit the MySpace page of Y.O.U.R.S., who are promoting the construction of a skatepark in the Gonzales area. Of all the cities I know of, Gonzales skaters need something now.

We’ll be getting more details soon, but for now we know that there will be plenty of music, as well as some ramps and rails for everyone to skate. We’ll keep everyone up to date, maybe we can carpool some Hammond (and nearby) locals since we can explain the benefits of a really good public skatepark. Let’s do our part and support our fellow skaters.

I mentioned this before, but now it’s time to unleash the news… a bunch of major companies that are truly down recently sent in a more gear than you can imagine, all in an effort to raise money for the Big Mike fund. We’ll eventually do some auctions on eBay, but first, we’re keeping it local (local to everyone in driving distance at least, hehe).

This may be the biggest bunch of loot I’ll have ever heard of anyone getting… this really is a lot of stuff.

I’m going to show you some photos, then I’m going to give you a list of everything you stand a chance of winning.

First thing though, here’s the details:
One raffle ticket is $5. Yes, that five bucks burning a hole in your pocket can win you all of the stuff below. The raffle officially starts tomorrow night (Friday, January 25th). You have exactly two weeks from then to take a shot at getting every single thing. Two weeks from tomorrow (as I write this), we’ll announce the winner to the world. Raffle tickets are at the Hammond shop… walk in, buy one, and wait. If you don’t win, you’ll still have contributed the memory of a friend of all skateboarders. Ok, like I said… here are the photos, and below that is a list of everything you can win (for five stupid bucks):

There’s more…

Wait… not done yet…

Allrighty then, here’s what you’re looking at:

Three Flip decks.
One autographed Jamie Thomas deck.
One True Love deck.
One Habitat deck.
One autographed Almost Cooper Wilt deck.
A Listen DVD, a Habitat DVD, an Element DVD, and Berry “Atmosphere,” also on DVD.
One set of 51mm and a set of 53mm Zero wheels.
Three DC beanies, plus two DC New Era hats.
One Habitat hat.
One Zero T…
Two Enjoi T’s…
and Three DC T’s.

All of this for five bucks… possibly.

Thanks to all of the companies that you see above, though we have more thanks coming up.

Anyway, just remember… five microscopic dollars. Either way, you’re showing love to Big Mike, and you have a chance at getting something for yourself.

You have two weeks. Enter as many times as you’d like.

We got word that the Big Mike deck should be available next week! We’ll let everyone know when they come in by alerting you here, and via MySpace. Keep a lookout for all of our bulletins… if you don’t read them you might be missing something important.

Much love to everyone that’s shown love to Mike. It’s really been coming in from everywhere… it really restores not only my faith in humanity, but the fact that all of us that skate are family. Remember that and live it.

The new Deluxe Distribution Spring ‘08 catalog is online… click on the “REAL” logo and go through a few pages… the Big Mike deck is in full effect!

Also, we’re about to set up the biggest skate-product raffle you’ve ever seen. Companies from all over have donated more gear than you’d believe in order to help us raise money for the Big Mike fund. You seriously won’t believe the overwhelming flood of product that was sent for the sole purpose of helping out the family of a fallen brother.

We’ll be setting up raffles in the shop itself, as well as create some f’ing insane packages for Ebay. I’ll be sharing full details on those packages as soon as my homie Kerry sends me the photos he took… whoever wins the raffle or Ebay auctions will be coming out a winner in a couple of ways… for one, they’ll be walking away with a ton of loot, and for two, they’ll be chipping in to help out people that are part of our big skate family.

Skateboarders are family. If you know it, don’t forget it. If you didn’t know it, now you do. If we don’t have each other’s backs, no one will.

Because articles bump older content from the main page, I wanted to make sure we had one page that was permanent and set aside to honor our friend Big Mike.

Keep this page in your bookmarks, and share it with friends.

Peace.