Mariano is the kind of legend that just seems like he should have won skater of the year but just never did and considering he is now pushing 40 and will most likely never put out another part of the same quality it seems like he never will. Essentially this was Mariano’s last chance and having already assured his position as one of the greatest skateboarding has ever seen one has to wonder should he be awarded SOTY out of recognition of his position alongside the other greats who have secured the title over the years? In essence SOTY is pretty much a skateboarding hall of fame and the notion of Mariano of all people being excluded seems ludicrous and though it may come down to a certain personal bias the inclusion of David Gonzalez alongside such illustrious company seems a little premature almost bordering on the ridiculous.
Though Mariano being passed over leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many ,when one considers the supposed criteria for being awarded the prize (a skater’s performance over the entirety of a 12 month period) it could be considered legitimate, as hard as that is to swallow when it comes to somebody as unimpeachably brilliant as Mariano. The question of why Figgy was passed over doesn’t have quite as obvious an answer especially when he appears to have jumped through all the various “repping the mag” hoops that would lead you to believe he was in with a healthy chance if not the certain winner.
At a glance, Figgy released a quality full part in this years Shake Junt video had 3 Thrasher covers was undoubtably the MVP on the Thrasher organized Skate Rock China tour, was on a killing spree all year in terms of always having some sort of photo or sequence in pretty much every Thrasher that came out and most importantly he had last part in the cross–marketing dream that was “Bake and Destroy” the collaborative video between Thrasher and Baker skateboards which was released on the Thrasher website and came on a DVD packaged with the November Issue of the magazine.
Most significantly though resulted in pretty much every member of the Baker skateboards roster, arguably the most popular with young skaters, the kind of young skaters that actually buy products and keep the industry afloat, wearing some sort of Thrasher merchandise at all times all year. Figgy seemed to have it sewn up, nobody and I mean nobody put in as serious a shift as he did in 2012 and the cherry on the top was his trick on the cover of the bake and destroy issue of Thrasher, a crooked grind down a monstrous Long Beach double set, some serious Tony Hawk’s pro skater 3 type shit.
