The official deadline to win this stuff is May 28. Come in, plunk down five bucks, and win the whole stash.

This is the very last Big Mike Raffle… come give it one last shot while there’s still time! Enter as may times as you can for better odds!

Before I leave you with that, here’s an edit I made off of some slightly older footage that has a good portion of Big Mike’s backyard ramp in it. We had shown up late, so we don’t have footy of him skating in this clip, but he had been ripping it the entire day before we showed up.

Anyway, please give this final raffle a shot. All of the funds will go directly to the Big Mike Trust, which will in turn go directly to Mike’s wife Darlene and son Erik (who also happens to be another skater to the bone).

Thanks.

My camera sucks, and I wasn’t able to get to the jam towards the end (when most of the folks had left, but there were still lots of people out)… the main reason I’m posting all my pics (the bad ones included) is to show everyone how incredibly bad ass our community is, and how insanely great the Big Mike crew is… they put this together, brought out a ton of food and drinks, and on this day, everyone rolled in honor of our friend. My ankle is blown out, but I felt so charged by the energy that everyone had Saturday that I bet my healing process is going to be faster than normal. Skaters and non skaters alike came together and showed some love. It doesn’t get any better than that. Here you go:

Stay tuned, as our very own Small Times’ Gregory took some much better pics earlier on when the jam was in full effect… as soon as he sends them over, I’ll have ‘em up on the site… his pics will give you a much better idea of how hectic and incredible the day was.

Here’s to you, Mike. Roll forever, brother.

The culture and geography is something we can’t relate to, but skateboarding is a thread that runs through us, binding us all together. You may have seen a glimpse of this before on Mike V’s television show Drive, but I encourage you to dig in and check out The Uganda Skateboard Union.

Skateboarding isn’t sponsorship, it isn’t a long trick list, nor is it a fashion show. The kids from Uganda (featured in video and throughout the site) know what it’s all about… fun.

I want to skate that mini, too.

Mark “Red” Scott, the President of Dreamland Skateparks, recieved a fractured skull in a very recent skateboard accident as reported by our very own Chrissly Bear. Check out the thread Chris started here.

For anyone that isn’t familiar with Hammond: Red built a skatepark here that changed the skate scene dramatically, and left us with one of the best skatepark I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding.

We know that he’s already talking about hopping back on his board (which may be a little while), but all of us that enjoy your work and respect you as a fellow skater want to wish you a speedy recovery and we hope you come back 110%.

Much love from Hammond.

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.

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.

I can’t help but be stoked on the Small Times’ heads that not only showed up, but kicked a little ass at the Jam this year! Props to Jordan, Gnarly Trey, Thomas, Ernie, Joe (STS w00t w00t!), and more props to The Skate Spot for having the Gumbo Bowl Jam, as well as all of the skaters from everywhere that got together and made it happen. When it comes to contests, getting a big random crew of skaters from all over together is the most important thing… sort of like family reunions, you know?

Credits on the sick footy go out to McNeil Imaging. Good stuff.