For those of you that follow us on Twitter, you may have noted a hint of saltiness in the July 27th tweet which stated:

“Sorry but someone has to say it: @Decenzzzz getting ROBBED not making this @XGamesstreet list http://es.pn/akXauX.”

In general, its not our style to be bitter. Superheroes should believe. Superheroes should hustle harder. Superheroes stay up. But in this anomaly to that mantra, it was clear that the recent Maloof Cup 7th place finisher and Transworld magazine cover star (and former Tampa Am champ, Dew Tour 2x best trick winner, Dew Tour 2nd place finisher) Ryan DeCenzo deserved to make that Street Skate invitation list. Instead, he was listed as an alternate.

So when Ryan sent word that he received a phone call with his unofficial invitation at 9pm on the very night before X-Games Street Skate Qualifiers, our frown turned upside down.

And when Ryan made it through the qualifying rounds competing with the best of his peers (nod to Lutzka and P-Rod who sat out this X due to obligations with Street League), ending up in the 5th spot, there was a collective sense of redemption.

But when Ryan made it to the bubble, and then set the bar ridiculously high in the very first run of the X-Games final final heat, we went bananas!

Tricks like the amazing kickflip to late shove-it on the step up (perhaps the trick of the whole contest?), a switch 180 overcrook on the big rail, and his nollie backside heelflip over the big steps helped earn Ryan a score of 90.01, forcing the likes of eventual winner Ryan Sheckler and runner-up Nyjah Huston to step up BIG.

“I somehow got my perfect run done at the very beginning of the heat,” remarked the bronze-medal adorning DeCenzo after the contest. “So after that, I kept thinking, ‘what can I do to one-up that run?’ I wished I could have paused the heat for a minute to go out and practice another run for a few minutes.”

In the end, Ryan made history by becoming the first-ever Canadian to podium at an X-Games street comp. He also won a lot of new fans by doing it with a smile on his face, and signing every possible autograph after. Most of all though, Ryan proved to himself that even the beast known as the X-Games is an environment which, like other major milestones in his career, he was able to conquer.

Congratulations, Decenz! You’ve made believers out of all of us.