Rick Howard & Mike Carroll

Marc加入Adidas,Mike Carroll愤怒地将其从Chocolate队伍剔除，曾经的好朋友如今怎么了？

 

滑板人总喜欢把滑板圈比作一个大家庭。不管这个产业创造了多大的利润，我们仍然希望公司所有者和签约滑手可以像兄弟姐妹一样相处（虽然说到底他们还是老板和雇员的关系）。这种心态由来已久，现在把这种精神发扬光大的人是Mike Carroll。他作为Girl Skateboards和Lakai Footwear的创始人之一，不仅是一个风格十足的滑手，也身体力行地坚持着这种精神。

但是随着时代的进步，大公司开始进驻滑板圈，和Mike Carroll拥有同样心态的滑手兼老板们已经老了，这种大家庭的氛围也开始消蚀。所有人都嗅到了这些变化，说起来有点讽刺，不过看来滑手们创造了一个他们自己运营不了的大市场。

Carroll的公司当然也逃不过这种局面。2016年开始不久，Guy Mariano, Eric Koston同时离开Girl，Gino离开Chocolate，现在，Marc Johnson, 前Lakai 队员宣布加入Adidas。我们还没来得及消化这个消息，Mike Carroll就联系我们想要说一说这件事。

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问：Girl和Lakai队伍最近变化很大，只是大家离开的时间太巧了吗？还是说有一些不为人知的原因？

Mike：都是他们提出来的，我只能思索他们给我的理由。我觉得是因为人到40之后考虑的事情就多了，你就会忘记自己年轻时滑板的乐趣。他们都有自己的房子、孩子、妻子等等要照顾。

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问：Koston 和Guy离开Girl之后，我以为会有一个很大的通知来告诉大家，但是你们只在Instagram发帖通知了这个消息，是因为当时还有别的计划吗？  

Mike：是的，这样的方式并不恰当的。Eric绝对值得我们为他做一个更大的活动。他这些年为我们做了很多事情。但这背后有太多的原因，导致我们不得不这样草草地通知大家。这不是Eric的错，也不是我们的错。有些事情比我们的预期要来得快，我们只能赶紧站出来以这样的方式通知大家。我对他们没有任何怨言，但愿他们对我也一样。

 

问：自从Guy和Koston离开之后，你在Biebel的板场碰到过他们吗？有没有很尴尬？

Mike：哈哈，你知道吗？我每天都待在那里，但他们从来没去过那里。有一次，我在那里碰到了他们，并没有很尴尬。在这个年龄，当你身后还有孩子和家庭的时候，你的决定都是可以理解的。如果有人想要离开，你没有理由去留住他，但是这种事也让我们头疼。我们以前一直都是和滑手们都不签合同的。   但是当Brian Anderson和Alex Olson离开的时候，我们不得不考虑和滑手签合同的事了。因为当时我们希望他们等一等，让公司把他们剩下的产品卖出一部分。但是，Alex就是着急要离开。

 

问：你们和滑手不签合同听起来很不错。 

Mike：在Girl 和 Chocolate我们从来不签合同。但是在Lakai，我们一直有合同。而且我觉得情况很快也要变了，因为什么都靠不住…. 所以，在Girl 和 Chocolate，只要大家说好了就行，没有合同。这样的话，如果你没有想要完全投入进来，你当然可以随时离开，只需要尊重我们就行了。这也是我们想要做的，但现在这已经行不通了。

 

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问：Mike Mo可以滑板了吗？我知道他伤的很重

Mike：是的，他正在重新开始滑板，虽然可以做一些动作，但是他的腿还没有完全好。如果我碰到他这样的事情，我会疯掉的。我记得他膝盖受伤的时候伤到了神经，所以他的腿基本上是瘫痪的。他需要穿一个带皮筋的支架在腿上，这样他才可以控制脚趾。如果他站在那里把腿抬起来的话，他的脚就会不受控制地荡来荡去，而且如果用刀片去划它的话，他也感觉不到。   他就是忍不住想要滑板，看到他在这种情况下还可以很好地做出动作时，我真的为他高兴。我心里暗藏的担心和忧虑他肯定已经想过无数次了。他就是爱滑板，他想要的就是滑板。

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问：Girl队伍中谁的板子卖的最好？

Mike：我的

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问：必须的，哈哈，Malto的板子怎么样？

Mike：哈哈，必须是我，大家都喜欢40岁的老人。哈哈哈哈，我开玩笑呢。Malto的我不知道，大家的销量都有起有伏。

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问：在Marc离开之前就有消息传出来了，然后他就真的去了Adidas。发生了什么事？  

Mike： 这些流言早就有了，Adidas这些年来一直在尝试拿下Marc. Marc很多年前就已经向我们暗示Adidas给了他一些条件，但当时我们给他的待遇也并不低。我觉得他当时也不想离开Lakai.

但近些年来，大家都知道，日子不好过。我们需要重新调整大家的工资，Marc也包括在内，他可以理解，我们商量过这件事。   但最近，我们又需要调整工资了，他的工资当然再一次被影响到了。

但这些年来，他的工资真的很不错，我们也尽了最大努力不去调整他的工资。即使是经济困难的时候，在别人的工资都降低了的情况下我们也没有动他的工资。这这方面我们一直尽力保障他的工资，但到最后，我们实在是不得已…   我们只能降低他的工资，我也告诉他了，你知道的，这感觉很糟糕。这些年来他把所有都献给了这个公司。我不想硬拉他留在这里，我们聊了一些，我知道他就要去Adidas了。所有人就又开始讨论他要去Adidas的事情了，但是这是我们两个人共同作出的选择，是值得尊重的。那个感觉真的很糟糕，我不得不跟他说：你或许应该选择更好的机会。他已经快40岁了，我觉得在这个年龄你就需要去追求自己的事情了。我这样说也是想，如果他要留下来，就不要让他心存愤恨地留下来。

一个月前我把合同终止协议发给了他，在里面我们要求他先不要把消息告诉大家，因为我们之前的合同写明要保护公司的利益和产品。而且我告诉他我会完全尊重他对协议内容的修改建议，甚至改变任何条件。我们让他尽量控制消息，我知道这样的要求有些过分，但是这是合同啊。然后，我听到越来越多的流言。几天后我打电话问他，他闪烁其词，所以只好直接告诉他我听说在Away Days的首映上他们会发布你的入队消息，他回答说不，没有，谁这么说的？然后，我又问了一遍：真的没有嘛？他说没有。然后，第二天晚上首映的时候我收到短信说Marc在视频上宣布加入Adidas队伍。我直接傻掉了，最晚电话里他还说不会有人任何事情发生呢。   他本可以打电话告诉我的，告诉我时间太短了，他等不及了，告诉我有些事情还没确定。我们是朋友啊，我们可以商量一下啊，即使退一步讲，我们也可以找律师解决问题啊。

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问：你们之间的矛盾解决了吗？你们现在通话吗？

Mike：他唯一的回复就是“你读过协议了吗？”暗示我协议有些地方是错的，除了这些，完全没有任何回复。他不会回复我了，他直接对我说谎话，他告诉我什么事都不会发生的。当时如果可以让他满意，我会修改协议的任何一个地方的。   这太不尊重我了，太不尊重整个队伍了，这毁了他们的那一天：让整个队伍以这样的方式知道他的离开，尤其是你以为你和他的还有很好的关系。

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Marc Johnson – Yeah Right

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问：只是为了搞清楚状况。你告诉他，他可以选择其他的公司。所以你并不是生气他离开，你生气是因为他没有给你更多的时间？

Mike：我生气他在首映前一晚直截了当地告诉我明天不会有任何事情发生，还有这件事之后他说他会让律师来把所有问题解决清楚。   所有为他工作的人，设计他鞋子的人，销售员，工人，队伍，那天晚上都蒙在鼓里，然后被他像那样伤害了。我们做了什么让他可以这样对我们？这让我们看起来像一群傻子，因为他是一个骗子，他甚至不敢像个男人一样直接告诉我。   首映前的晚上我跟Marc通话时他应该告诉我的，我当时应该会生气但那样的话他就可以保全自己的诚实了，我也可以提前告诉整个队伍，而不是让他们以那样的方式得到通知。虽然他最近有些私人事情，但我完全尊重他的隐私。但是我还是很失望他这样做。我很好奇他会怎么辩解。我等不及想要知道他又会说什么样的谎话来辩解了。

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问：那你们怎么处理Marc Johnson即将出厂的产品呢？一个公司通常怎样应对这样的情况？

Mike：把这些全都寄到他家去！我现在要做的第一件事就是把他提出Chocolate队伍。我不会告诉他的，这样他可以从这里看到或者别人会告诉他。可能在他心里他早已经不是Chocolate的队员了，谁知道呢。Marc现在被踢出Chocolate队伍。我们将会解决我们需要解决的问题。   通常情况下，当一个公司出现这种情况时，他们通常会采取法律手段，但依照我们的性格我们不会这么做，但是我正在考虑，但这不是我们最紧要的问题。

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问：恩…. 他要做什么事情才能弥补这些呢？

Mike：我曾以为我们的关系很好的，但是我们现在没有任何关系了。我觉得完全没必要了。我现在不下定论。他是一个不错的人，但当他撒谎之后，你就什么事也不能依靠他了。 他是一个出色的滑手，不要把我的意思理解错了，他绝对是世界上最出色的滑手之一，但是当你撒谎了之后….. 我不和撒谎的人打交道。   问：我有一个搞笑的理论和你说下。   Mike：真的吗？我刚好也有一个，20年的理论。   问：真的？那是什么？   Mike：20年的理论。当我们开始庆祝Girl 20周年的时候，Brian 和 Alex离开了。当我们庆祝Chocolate 20周年的时候，Gino 离开了。第20年没有好事情要发生。

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问：这个故事告诉我们应该在第19年的时候关掉公司？

Mike：对，我会这样说的。我觉得最好的公司发展计划就是第19年就关门，哈哈哈哈。

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问：或者不要提起它，直接从第19年到第21年。

Mike：对，像电梯一样。20就是新13层。

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问：好了，这是我从网上读到的理论：那些鞋子大公司会扶持那些小的、独立的板子公司去冲入硬件市场，所以像你们这样的公司（Crailtap，包括Girl, Chocolate, Lakai等品牌）就会花时间和资源去维持自己板子的销量，因此自己的鞋子的销量就无暇顾及了，他们也就达到目的了。  

Mike：哈哈哈哈，我觉的可能。我记得有人跟我说过，在那些大公司里工作的人会开那些制定五年计划的会议，计划的一部分就是要把哪个品牌打倒，怎样打倒。然后他们就会专注于打倒确定的品牌，这太疯狂了。在滑板圈里，有Real, FA, Creature等等公司，他们在创造滑板，还有另外一些公司，总想要打倒别人。既然你已经在这里立住脚了，你不需要把别的公司都挤垮，你也不许需要签到每一个滑手。但我又管不住他们，随他们吧。

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问：我觉得你们被针对了。

Mike：哈哈哈哈，我也喜欢这样想：有个人制定了完美的计划。好，这就是我们打倒Fourstar, Lakai, Girl和Chocolate的策略。我只是在开玩笑。我们被针对了是因为我们在我们队员身上下了功夫，我们在雇员身上下了功夫，他们很了不起，我们做的东西也很了不起，这是他们针对我们的原因。   他们是想要我们的秘方，傻瓜，哈哈。

选译自Jenkem magazine

原文：

Skateboarding always likes to refer to itself as one big family. No matter how many billions of dollars the industry makes, we want to see company owners and riders – bosses and employees – relate like brothers (and sisters). It’s a mindset that stems from skateboarding’s earliest ancestors, but one of the later advocates of this value system is Mike Carroll. As co-founder of Girl skateboards and Lakai footwear, few skaters have embodied the skater-run imperative better than Carroll, and few skaters have performed more stylishly on a board as well. But, with the combination of big brands and outside money coming in at a time when our favorite skaters are aging into retirement, that family mentality seems to be eroding. It’s impossible not to notice the rapid changes. In an ironic twist it seems skateboarders have created an industry too valuable for them to run anymore. Carroll’s companies have not been spared from this hostile environment. Gino, Mariano and Koston all dipped from Girl and Chocolate earlier this year, and now Marc Johnson, formerly of Lakai, was just announced as a new rider for Adidas. We heard the MJ news on Saturday morning, and before we could even process the ramifications we got a surprise call from Mike Carroll himself wanting to go on record about what’s happening at Lakai and what the future of the Crail camp entails.

You’ve had a lot of team changes and internal changes recently at Girl and Lakai. Is there anything going on that we should know, or is it just coincidence and timing? I can only speculate what people’s reasons were. I think it just comes down to 40 year old men making grown man decisions. People tend to forget, especially when you’re 15 or 25 and the only thing you have to think about is skating and you don’t have to think about anything else except rent and utility bills. These guys have houses and children and wives to think about. If they wanted to learn job skills outside of skateboarding, that’s something that they maybe could have got here but there’s a different culture that isn’t handed down from working at a skateboard company, that 17 and 19 year olds started.

After Koston and Guy left I expected a bigger announcement or something than just the mellow Instagram post you guys put out. Were there any other plans? Yeah, that was unfortunate. Eric definitely deserved more celebration than just that Instagram post. He has done so much for so many years for that to happen like that. There’s a lot more behind why it had to go down like that.. It wasn’t Eric’s fault and it wasn’t really our fault. Some announcements started moving quicker than we were being told and we just had to go ahead and do the quick post that we did unfortunately. But I’ve got nothing bad to say about them, and hopefully they have nothing to say about us.

Since Guy and Koston left, have you run into them at Biebel’s park and is it an awkward ex-girlfiend thing? [Laughs] You know what, I go there all the time and they’re never there so… I went there once when they were there, but no, it wasn’t an awkward ex-girlfriend thing. The decisions are a lot different at this age when you have children and are providing for a family. If someone wants to bounce, there’s no reason to hold them into it, but that’s kind of something that has bit us in the ass a little bit. We’ve always had a thing where we don’t have contracts. But I think when Brian [Anderson] and Alex [Olson] left, that made us kind of think twice about that because we just asked them to chill for a second so we could sell off some stuff but, you know, Alex just wanted to get it done and talk about it a little too quick. “For Girl and Chocolate we never had contracts, but with Lakai we always have.”

That’s cool you never did contracts with your riders. For Girl and Chocolate we never had contracts, but with Lakai we always have. I think that’s gonna probably change pretty soon, just because obviously we’ve noticed that nothing lasts forever… So it was always just a handshake thing. If you’re not down for anything, then you can bounce, just give us the courtesy, stuff like that. That was one thing that we tried to do, but it doesn’t work in this day and age.

What are Girl and Lakai up to, are you guys doing any new videos? We’re working on a Lakai video. The Lakai dudes have been traveling, so that will be the next bigger project. Federico [Vitetta] has been filming a lot, Daniel Wheatley has been filming a lot. I think Meza is helping us with doing a couple of the rough cuts right now, so he probably might be editing the video. But yeah, Federico and Wheatley are pretty much the main dudes.

Is Mike Mo skating again? I know he got hurt badly. Yeah, he’s starting to skate. He can do a couple tricks, but his foot isn’t 100% yet, so it’s pretty gnarly. I’d be going insane if I was him, dealing with what he’s dealt with. I think he stretched his nerve or something when he twisted his knee. He stretched his nerve, so his foot was basically paralyzed. It’s called drop foot. He would wear a brace that had a spring in it that lifts his toes up when he wants. So like if he was just standing there and just picked up his foot his foot would just dangle… like you could take a razor blade to it and he wouldn’t even feel it. H’s just itching to skate and when you see him he does shit so proper and in the state that he’s in… it just gets me stoked for him. Whatever I’m feeling he’s feeling times a million probably. I just know he’s a fucking skate rat, that’s just all he wants to do his whole life.

Do you know if Mike Mo ever faced repercussions for getting in an accident with those kids? I think driving that golf cart, the repercussions, whether deserved or not happened to him. Not being able to skate this long, that’s probably one of the worst repercussions you could probably get. And on the bright side nobody else got hurt at his responsibility.

Who has the best selling Girl board right now? Me… Yeah. [Laughs] What about Malto? Yeah, of course me… the kids love 40 year olds. Nah, I’m kidding. I don’t know. I think it fluctuates, but I think it’s probably Jereme Rogers, because we are still secretly selling J Casanova collab boards.

Apparently the infamous Crailtap park is gone? What happened? We got rid of the park because we had another off-site warehouse that carried Fourstar and Lakai and it just got to the point where it didn’t make sense to have that second warehouse. So we consolidated and brought everything in under the same site. But I think we’re gonna try to make room within the next year so we can put a park back.

There’s been rumors for a while that Marc Johnson was going to leave Lakai.. then he really did leave to Adidas. What happened? The rumors have been around for years. They have been hitting Marc up for years. He was courteous enough years ago to let us know they offered