This is more of a pre-Instagram era topic or rather, it actually meant something back then.
An “accidental ABD” is pretty self-explanatory. It’s when two skaters do the same trick at the same spot by accident. It’s a cool concept just because it was much harder to know who did what first just because full-length videos took like 5 fuckin years to make. The principles of ABDs and NBDs remind me of the saying from George Berkley :
“If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”
the saying is a bit outdated. We are skaters so we obviously don’t give a shit about trees. I would change the saying to
” If a skater gets a clip in the streets and he doesn’t post it to Instagram, did it really happen?”
This type of thing makes you realize how important filmers/ editors and photographers are. Without them, skateboarding would be based on hearsay and myths. Basically, it would be the equivalent of Christianity but instead of Jesus Christ and God and shit, we have Mark Gonzales and Rodney Mullen.
Since everyone knows who’s done what at whatever spot on the planet (or at least California), you don’t see too many accidental ABDs. Another reason could be the fact that the bar has been raised like 100 times over the last few years so people stopped giving a shit about ABDs.
So I decided to give myself a “reason” to watch skate videos and find 10 of my favorite accidental ABDs.
Switch Varial Heel
Same trick, same spot, same video, maybe even the same day?! It kinda looks like Tony’s was done earlier in the day though. What makes it weird is that Tony’s clip is an ender and Guy’s clip is in the middle of the part. Kinda shows how crazy Guy Mariano was back then.
Andrew Reynolds- Baker, Baker 3 and Tony Cervantes- Zero, New Blood
Nollie flip the Hollywood High 12
(S/O to Derrick Gerlach for this one)
First things first, who the fuck is Nollie flipping 12 stairs these days? Hollywood High will always be the spot where any trick done down it is a testament to how far skating has come. Also, it says plenty about how gnarly skating was back in the early 2000s.
Some cool background info about this is that they were apparently done in the same week in 2005! Reynolds did it first but it’s crazy to think that Tony was AM when this came out. Really proving he can hang with the big dogs!
Andrew Reynolds- Baker, Baker 3 and Chris Cole- Zero, New Blood
Bs flip Sw Manual sw 180 out
Reynolds again? This is a weird one to me because it’s a not simple manual trick. Like at all. This is the kinda shit I’m talking about, like how does that happen. I guess when you get two of the best skaters out at the same spots, it’s bound to happen
Mark Suciu- Habitat, Habitat Origin and Ben Gore- Welcome to M.I.A.
Gap to Back lip
This one stood out to me because of how this is another trick that requires finesse and not everyone can make it look good. 2 things Mark Suciu has no problem achieving. Plus that fakie front blunt was letting people know he’s the best.
It’s also pretty cool how they both got double angles
Bobby Puleo- Static 2 and Daniel “Snowy” Kinloch-Landscape, Portraits
Ollie up, Nollie 360
Both of these skaters are probably not on your radar,( unless you are an old head, at that point I would just like to congratulate you on being alive this long) but these clips were too cool to pass up. You have to take into consideration that New York doesn’t really have spots. Their idea of a spot might be a dirty water puddle, a rectangular patch of new asphalt on a street, a trashcan or whatever the hell this is?
Furby- Supra web edit and Tom Asta- Zero, Strange world
Nollie BS Heelflip the Hollywood High 12
Yall remember Furby? Latino Antwan Dixon? I wonder what happened to him?
Anyways, Tom Asta did this one like 5+ years before Tom Asta did it. I wonder if Furby knew that Tom Asta did it. I’d like to think that Furby saw the footage and said “Nah fuck that, hold this clip”
Forrest Edwards- Wild Power and Pricilliano Alvarez- MOOD:
Switch 50-50
I saw this one recently and had to include some local legends. These clips are crazy because only a small percentage of skaters have the chops to do switch front 50s on roundbars.
Chad Tim-Tim- Element, This is my element and Chad Tim-Tim – Dekline, True Blue
Sw Bs 5-0 Sw 360 shove out
Okay okay I know I said accidental but I had to include this one. I like when skaters go back to old spots and outdo themselves. Plus I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sw Bs 5-0 Sw 360 shove ever. Shout out to Tim Chad-Chad
Na-kel Smith and Christian Henry- Transworld Checkout
BS Tail Shuv-it
This post kinda made me want to write this article. Na-kel really didn’t know that someone else did it. Now it’s kinda crazy because since so much fucking footage comes out every week, it’s almost like it didn’t happen! I didn’t even know Christian Henry did it, and I don’t really think anyone did.
Shareef Grady and Clint Walker- Birdhouse, Saturdays
Ollie the Wilshire 15 over the barriers
This one was a pretty recent accidental ABD. And I decided to save it for last because of how it really depicts the state of skateboarding. These days you can not be holding on to footage at famous spots for more than a year and a half if you still want it to be relevant. Shit like this will happen. No one even knew that Clint Walker did it first(and apparently had a thrasher cover lined up for it). And Walker was bitchin about it to as if that type of shit doesn’t happen. He was just mad because Shareef’s was cooler anyways.
Remember everyone is good these days and will upload anything to instagram
Comment any Accidental ABDs that I may have missed or confessionals or missed connections ads……
S/O to my guy Fredward for the illustration. Check out his NSFW( or SFW depending where you work I guess) illustrations and his clips on his IG @notmuchelsetodo