CABALLERIAL: Steve Caballero sounds off on skiers goin' "Cab"
In our December issue, Derek Taylor wrote a humor piece called “Tricked Out,” in which he calls out skiers for stealing names from skateboarding. Key to this story was the fact that skiers have been calling backwards tricks “Cab” after skateboarding legend Steve Caballero. As expected—even intended—the story generated a few angry letters from young skiers who didn’t like being compared to Stuart from Beavis and Butthead, one of which appears in our upcoming September issue.
This made us a little curious. How does the Man himself feel about skiers using his trick name? So we decided to find out. D.T. dropped an e-mail to Steve, who is famously humble and approachable. This was his response.
I think it’s pretty cool that my name or trick has crossed over to the skier scene/industry. It’s an honor to be recognized in another sport for something I invented in 1980 for skateboarding. My question to skiers is: Do they even know why it’s called a Cab 9 and where the name of the trick stems from?
BMXers, rollerbladers, wakeboarders and snowboarders have also used my name in reference to tricks that start fakie and spin a 180, 360, 540, 720 and 900. I think it’s pretty cool that they refer a fakie 180 to a half Cab, even though part of doing a half cab or a full Caballerial (a fakie 360 ollie) requires a person to do an ollie, and I don’t think you can actually ollie in any of those others sports I just mentioned!
The Caballerial was first invented in a pool in 1980, then the half-cab (half of what I had done) was invented a few years later by either Kevin Staab or Tony Hawk. I’m not sure which one it was, but I think Kevin did it first before Tony.
But back to your initial question, I just think it’s pretty funny, because other sports have twisted the meaning of the trick to fit into what they were doing to mimic skateboarding, which is pretty cool and very flattering to me that our sport is so highly recognized, even in other sports.
I’m honored and very blessed to have influenced so many people with the gifts and talents that God has given me in my lifetime.
Thanks,
Stevie Caballero
Thank you Mr. Cab. Your response begs the question: Are we ollieing after we take off the lip of the jump?
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