Ever since I heard the unconfirmed rumor that one of the best men in skateboarding, Joey Tershay, was terminated as Independent Trucks team manager by - reportedly - Fausto's son, I have been wanting to flame him in the worst way. I'm going to here, but one must remember that I can't confirm it was him that did the axeing. Either way, it's worth a rant. Fuck it. Flame on...

First of all, I want to make clear that this is an opinion piece written by and endorsed only by me. This opinion is not necessarily held by other individuals on this site and certainly not by Skate Mental's other proprietors. I built this site, so I'll write about whatever I damn well please. If Thrasher decides to blackball anyone affiliated with Skate Mental, it will just expose them as being punk-fronting panty-waists. Have some balls, don't take it out on anyone but me.

Begin flame...

I learned exactly how business is conducted within the Norcal family of companies first hand when riding for Dogtown during the late 80's, when they had moved production and business operations to San Francisco - DISCLAIMER: This says nothing about the companies they have now, just this one then. After barely scraping by as a pro skater by doing well in contests and getting my winnings matched - as I mentioned in the Gator article - I had come to the conclusion that I needed to quit. This was because I was wasting what is almost always a fleeting career getting $72.00 board royalty checks from DT, and wasn't really comfortable with some of the protocol of DT's parent conglomerate, among other things. I don't blame anyone for the low pay. That's the way it is sometimes. I just had to get out. So I quit. It was in a pressure filled meeting in Fausto's office with him, Keith Cochrane (style monger - Keith will recognize that per Robert Torres) and Jim Muir. Despite the requisite intimidation, my decision had been made. I was always a loyalist to a fault, and I was finally realizing that it was hurting me personally. After that, I was blackballed from Thrasher. That's why I mention this story, because the premise of the operation in Norcal was always based on loyalty and respect. How that relates to Joe, well, doesn't really make sense, does it? The blackballing, of course, was a majorly spineless move. I had the balls to sit in that meeting room and do my business, but whoever ordered the blackballing had none. No balls. Big time pussy. Business is business, but that was career-based retribution, and that's weak.

I have always had respect for Fausto, despite - and sometimes because - of the way he does business. Coming to terms with doing something you love for a living is part of that business, and they never walked on egg shells regarding that distinction. However, I've lost some of that respect now. Why? Trust fund babies. I despise them. Loathe them. That may be a harsh generalization, but in my experience with hundreds of them, maybe two had an appropriate respect for the pillowy cloud they float through life on. Most of the time they abuse any power they are handed to wield and behave like the distinction is some kind of burden. The connection? I keep hearing industry-talk that Fausto has been handing more and more decision making power to his trust fund baby son, in what I can only assume is a delusional fit of nepotism.

A smart businessman would recognize first the problem of handing power to someone that doesn't respect it, and trust fund babies, in general, don't. TFBs don't have the perspective to use it properly or effectively. What you end up with is complete crap that impresses their friends who perpetually kiss their ass and nod yes to everything they say. What kind of crap? Let's use, for example, the two companies I am 99% sure this brat is associated with...

City Skateboards - Garbage. An embarrassment to the storied history of classic, non-generic San Francisco skateboard companies. It almost makes me want to bar the word "hella" from my vocabulary henceforth. Kids, this is what you get when you give a TFB a skateboard company to play with.

Hubba Wheels - Oh. My. God. This is definitely in my top 5 all time worst skate companies. There's nothing like naming your company after the place EMB's less responsible heads used to go to smoke crack. Oh god this is terrible. Just what we needed - another skate company encouraging white-rap-star syndrome. The fucked thing is, it can even do terrible and stay in business, because daddy's always clean up the messes their TFBs make.

All that and I have heard unconfirmed rumors that various Norcal Empire employees have to kiss this kid's ass to keep from being canned. Just a rumor. I ain't the one that brung it.

Tersh-tap above the mini-gap.

Now we have the reported firing of the loyalist of all loyalists, Joey Tershay - a man everyone loves and respects, the man who was the face and heart of Independent Trucks for years - at the hands of some twit with no clout in skateboarding outside of his what his daddy handed him. His da-da. Total bullshit. And to shame a company as storied and high-held as Independent with this garbage speaks to how much bullshit it really is. Hella wack, blood.

For all I know, Joey could care less. I haven't spoken with or seen him in over a year. It's not like he needs any more clout and respect than he already has, and I'm sure he's already been hooked up better than he ever was at Indy.

So thanks fo reading my rant. I hope it wasn't offensive or that it gets any SM affiliated heads blackballed. If someone can prove that the report is untrue, I will gladly remove this post. That said...

If the report is true, daddy's boy needs to learn some fucking respect. You gotta earn that shit, bitch.

For more information on what's going on with Indy, check out Thurston's Ladder.