So, I didn’t get much skating done in Baltimore after all, and I didn’t end up updating my shiny new Banquet blog either. I also didn’t get a chance to interview Jereme Rogers. I feel bad about each of those things and will try to remedy them on future trips. Baltimore IS crazy though, and I can stand by that statement: Eat at Crazy Johns, stroll around just about any neighborhood, party at Little Havana, shop at Reptilian Records and Atomic Books, skate at Charm City, get your gelato on in Little Italy. You’ll see what I’m talking about. At several different points in my trip, driving around at night and even bright and early in the morning, I thought I was seeing scenes being filmed for The Wire, but couldn’t find the HBO crews anywhere. Those HBO camera guys are pure stealth! Best new Baltimore find: Mathieu Therres, aka Gumbie. This Charm City local worked his way into the Dew Tour Prelims by entering the Open Qualifier event, then lived the dream on the big stage: He edged out Mountain Dew’s new favorite son P-Rod for the bubble position of number 12 to make the Finals, then proceeded to hold his own against Ryan Sheckler and company through to the end. I wish I could report that, being from Baltimore, this kid is crazy. Not so, I’m afraid: Totally together. Totally rips. Mathieu Therres: You’ll be hearing that name again, from the Dew Tour and elsewhere.  Other Dew Tour observations: Shaun White is skating really, really well. You can hate on the hype – I’m right there with you – but you can’t deny: He’s good. Real good. And he makes Vert skating look new and exciting, something it probably needs. Ditto for Ryan Sheckler. I used to be among the haters, and I still hate to see one guy predictably winning everything, but I’ll admit: The guy is good, and fun to watch, and growing up in important ways that make him less annoying and harder to hate on.   And another Dew Tour observation, slightly out of place since this is a Skate blog: BMX is pretty cool. I used to mess around on bikes as a kid like anybody else, but after battling bikers at skateparks, seeing some of my favorite pools and concrete parks busted up by bikes, and getting wrapped up in rivalry over some great skate spots, it’s taken me a long time to come around. But there it is. BMX is cool. The guys in the park are crazy. I’ve never seen a pro BMX vert contest without somebody getting knocked unconscious. The dirt jumpers are lunatics. The stuff those guys are doing is mind-blowing, and I’ve also observed that all of the big-name skate pros on the Dew Tour have come around to this realization too. Bikers should still stop f***ing up good concrete and pool coping, but otherwise it’s time for us skaters to recognize. Comments?   Here’s a teaser for my next two blog posts: The Create-a-Skateprogram is cool. ASEC is cool, too. More later.