this guy is still no:1!! <BR> <BR>had a choice to train with the best and i picked darin ..he is still number one !! speedball anyone??? <BR>check this out. <BR><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=JD63bPa4-aI" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=JD63bPa4-aI</a>

watch him shred at adrenalina if you really want to be impressed

Yeah....He is the man....

those s-bend tails are insane.

NOBODY rides, or will ever ride, like Darin.

True...

the way he turns on the gas coming into the wake is insane...it doesn't even look real.

I'm gonna throw my wakeboard away and sink my boat.

Darins opening part in Switch 22 is still my favourite. Sick section in 6 pack too. <BR>still the winningest wakeboarder in history....enough said!

that is a sick vid of shapiro. what ever happend to johnathan nodolski? wasnt he ranked rookie of the year by WBM the same year as Tino Santori? is he still around, i know he was supposed to be one of the next big things.

Those HS BS o/a 5's are insane. Nobody can throw those that far out in the flats like he does.

Good ? about Jonathon. He came into the scene quick and then vanished. <BR> <BR>Shapiro definitely has his own style. I dig it.

There's a lot of Shapiro on youtube <BR><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=oj5pkTO-wGQ&amp;mode=related&amp;search=" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=oj5pkTO-wGQ&amp;mode=related&amp;search=</a> <BR> <BR>That BS OA 5 is very nice.

It helps when you're 5'4".

Those S-bend tail grabs are switch that is just nuts. I think its a vulcon tail or something like that, but its still nuts. Whats the first thing you say to people about there riding when they ask, you should go bigger. Thats becasue of Darin im sure of it.

As an old schooler I have seen just about everything Darin has on film or TV. I have seen him ride and know him personally. He is a rare breed that the sport just never appreciated. He dominated the tournament scene for like 8-10 years and had several tricks that many today still don't do (not that they could'nt). You watch the video and he grabs almost every trick which is the opposite of what his critics say. You look at that Bee Sting (switch vulcun Nose Grab if I am not mistaken), Orbital 540, Iron Cross,etc.. and they are signature Shapiro(Scud for the old schoolers). The sport owes that guy a Legacy award or something paying tribute to the things he did over his career. Not to mention he was always down with hanging out, signing autographs, and talked "business". Also he also spent a few hundred hours working on his board designs which have become the basis for O'Brien's current board line and many others before that. I raise a toast to the great shaprio and tell him we miss his tail grabbed tany to blind way into the flats every time we see another wake to wake 7 or 9.

i second that jason. these younger riders that are coming up quick are lucky that riders like byerly switched to wakeskating, and dave briscoe is retired, and shapiro is dedicated to coaching because nothing is as good as the og. and yeah i'm sick of the bulk of runs being about spinning. throwing switch toe 9's or hs/bs 9's is really cool and i have a ton of respect for people who are attempting those or landing them or whatever but sometimes i just want to watch a section that is full of huge raley based trick and inverts/mobes that are blasted way out into the flats. heres my cheers to shapiro.

Darin was part of the reason many of us starting riding many moons ago. He took his tricks huge and made you want to emulate that. He rode with intensity and a style that made it look fun to wakeboard. I can remember being disappointed with some of the original wakeboard videos because he was never included in them until Switch came out. Then Everyone started to see what an incredible freerider he had become. His technical ability is now only being matched by a few riders out there. It was such a treat to watch. Out of any rider in the history of the sport I would still rather see him go out behind a boat to watch him ride more than anyone else. JMHO but he and Scott are the reason the sport became large. Alliance had the writeup on the 10 most influential riders and his paragraph did not give Darin proper justice. <BR> <BR>Meetin Darin off the water is just as cool also. He is real mellow and a cool guy to talk with. I hope he is enjoying his retirement.

Back in early 2000 I remember more than a few people on here and other sites blasting Shapiro for having no style and being no fun to watch. Almost all those people worshipped Parks Bonifay. Then when Parks started his dominance of the sport, people said he had no style. IMO, those two were so copied by other riders that, of course, their stuff looked more common. <BR> <BR>I've heard that there was sort of a feud between Shapiro and some of the other boarders in the late 90s. Maybe that's why Alliance didn't spend as much time on him and why he still doesn't really get the respect he deserves? IMO, he deserves more respect than the slobbering "can I please kiss your feet" drool fest that is heaped on Parks, Harris, or Byerly. Not that they're not amazing riders but it's odd that Shapiro isn't treated the same way by the wakeboard media and fan base. <BR> <BR>Ever since I started in 98 I've been more pumped by Shapiro's riding than any other rider. It looks so huge, effortless, and his wrapped landings are insane.

My favorite rider of all time.

Totally agree that shapiro is the man!!! I have always ridden his pro models! The answer and the demented which in my opinion are some is one of the greatest and most innovative shapes!!! He goes bigger than anyone else out there and does not get enough credit for what he has done for the sport. I look up Darin and im 6'2 so thats saying a lot.

Always been one of my favs... <BR> <BR>I gotta agree w/ Dave... 6 pack section was sick... as was his section in 12 honkeys

"It helps when you're 5'4"." <BR> <BR> <BR>and can bench a Volkswagon. I have yet to see anyone ride with the shear power that Darin does/did. He is definatly my all time favorite. It always pissed me off how the punks of the sport never gave him any respect.

Couldn't agree more about DS. He's the GOAT in my mind. All respect to the other top legends, but there's only one DS, and very few could mimic his run, which is what seperates him from the other legends.

My son and I have made several trips to Darin's Ride The Spot camp and have had a blast everytime we spend time with Darin. My son, Jeffrey learned more in a week with Darin than he learned the entire previous year from others. We continue and will continue to learn from the best, the Legend, and hope that one day this sport will give Darin his due credit!

my vote ?, most intense rider. 90-91,92 ? Bill at Performance very very first wake tournament. My buddy and me and Rich Goforth and a few of his buddies; maybe 5 or 6 guys total,after the "contest" we had a guest rider. Eddie from hyperlight brought Darin.He had a proto type of the first Shapiro Pro with him, all gnarly looking. holy heck, with all of us piled in the boat, with a ski pylon and no ballast, Darin blew our minds. Front flips, raleys either side,crazy twisters, rolls of every kind;everything so big and beyond the proportions i was use to seeing and doing. i remember my heart just pounding from the adrenaline rush as i watched him ride, pretty lucky.thanks Bill....and it was such a topper off-er afterwards, he was totally cool , invited us out to ride behind his boat,hangout, ......now there's was a challenge, trying to drive the ski-brendella for the Scud,him yanking the crap out of the back of that little boat,trying to hold speed as he put the death cut to the wake on ....yikes.

For you old timers out there, why is it that Darin doesn't/didn't get the respect he deserves? I see the videos of his riding now and my reaction is, Holy Sh*t!

I remember an interview in wakeboard mag asking Darin if he did steriods. They (the mags) liked to make controversy like the old school vs new school and Darin just happened to be what they thought more of a ski boarder than a wakeboarder. Not a fair thing to do but that is pretty much what happened. I have always loved watching his sections. He rips.

Hey Eagle, per my above post, my understanding was that in the mid to late 90s when the skateboard kind of mentality came in to the sport, Shapiro was viewed as an old skiboarder who was just about contests and wasn't "core." (imo, "core" is a joke. Vulcan nose grabs are not) <BR> <BR>There was a huge amount of hate for raley based tricks for a while (it still surfaces on occasion) and since Darin was king of raley tricks he was dumped on a lot. (Shaun Murray is a raley master too but somehow he didn't get the wrath that Shapiro did.) <BR> <BR>I think a big part too, is that Shapiro was king and dominated from the inception of wakeboarding. Anyone who could really challenge him were the underdogs and thus guaranteed celebrity status. His awesomeness hurt him in a way. <BR> <BR>Media also plays a big role in it. Who does the media want to make look awesome and why?

Josh, I could not agree more! both Darin and Shaun are my two favorite riders, now I know why, they are the raley gods

Sick rider for sure!<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/angry.gif" border=0>

man i sure hope he gets his just due one day. He is the godfather, why cant haters realize that. that doesnt mean that theres a ton a other great riders out there. i loved the batwing to blind dang!

i think that has a lot of truth to it. i think people always like to see a good underdog story, david vs. goliath. and with shapiro at the top for so long and making it look effortless made him be the dragon to be slayed.

I remember watching the very first contests on tv back in the early 90s when everyone was on directional boards with bungee bindings and even back then Darin "The Scud" rode at another level compared to the other guys. He went huge with no weight and no pylon.

True that. Back then I remember seeing the first speed ball in competition 2am on ESPN. That was when they first started doing dbl up at the end of runs also.

Stelios, props to you on starting this thread. <BR>I couldn't agree with you more Darin is the most solid and consistent rider i have seen, he runs ridethespot the same way. <BR>In such an unconditional sport, he has it dialed in like no other.

Shapiro is an incredible rider. Will always get props from me. He didnt get the respect he deserved because he was a bit of a victim of the early marketing machine. Back in the day wakeboarding was not a stylish boardsport like it is today. It was an elitist waterskiing variation. Darin was the first really marketable name, and who was their audience? Skiboat owners! Back then, who owned ski boats? Only the rich elitist skiiers. What do you market to that group? You market a clean cut, healthy, country club type guy. Thats what he put out there for business purposes. However, there was an underground movement of skate punk freestyle riders starting to make there way onto the lakes. When asked about this new type of rider, he didnt break from the party lines. He said shaving your head and wearing baggy shorts, and wide stances was stupid and couldnt compete with him. At the time he was so far ahead of everyone, it was true! While this pleased the ski-based companies who were signing his paycheck, it left a bad taste in the mouth of the upcoming movement. Eventually he realized that creatively he was much more like the guys he clowned than he was the guys he worked for. A short time later, Shapiro had his head shaved, wearing baggy boardshorts and had a wide stance. <BR> <BR>IMO his greatest competition accomplishment was continuing to dominate after the rules were purposfully changed to hinder his style of riding specifically. Back in the day the runs were timed and predetermined, and Shapiro had an unbeatable formula for success. They took the time limit away as well as predetermined runsheets. Riders could now go bigger since the extra time didnt hurt them. They could also change stuff up on the fly if they werent feeling it. Everyone thought this would be the end of Shapiro's reign, but what did he do? He monkey stomped everyone still. They said instead of your old power run, we want bigger. He gave them BIGGEST. They said, instead fo trick skiing, we want style. He grabbed EVERYTHING. They said instead of canned runs, we want innovation. He gave them tricks nobody else on tour was even TRYING. Thats what being a <a href="mailto:bad@ss">bad@ss</a> is all about!

If you ever have the opportunity to get coached by him, DO IT! He's a bada$$ on a board, and as a coach he is awesome. He breaks down the mechanics of the riding/trick and gets in your head. I had this opportunity last spring and he changed just a few subtle things in my riding that made a huge difference.