From this Thrasher interview, Neen explains how his first name is actually Eugene, but because his sister could only pronounce "Neen" at a young age, the name stuck. Even though this could be branching on the whole nickname idea, the fact that every skater knows him as Neen Williams is enough to warrant his position in this week's posts. Neen is definitely one of the most noticeable personalities in the industry, and keeping a changed first name adds to that whole character.
I really don't know too much about Sinner to be honest. But I also think it's reasonably safe to say that most of the general skateboarding-internet-viewing public that consider themselves skate nerds also don't know too much about Sinner. As far as I know, I've only ever really seen him skate in his Chicken Bone Nowison part (above at 47:00). To be fair, the skating is beyond sick. He's got fliptricks, sick switch choices, jumps down gaps, skates rails, gets tech, and does a bunch of fun/uncommon creative tricks too for a super noteworthy part. The fakie ollie through the double tree gap (at 49:15 and in a line?!) is awesome on so many levels. This part is definitely not talked about enough in the skate world or referenced enough in conversations. Sinner's sick skating deserves a blow up for sure, yet turning pro for a brand new company he starts with Nick Trapasso is too large a jump for just one great part. For someone to essentially come out of nowhere and drop this part is one thing, but to turn pro afterwards is way too big of a leap. On top of that, I haven't seen much footage at all from him since then, asides from a couple nice clips in the LE Promo. Basically, I think that this guy, no matter how hard he shreds and how sick his footage is, needs to put in more time with a company and maybe come out with another video part or two before turning pro.
I first remember hearing the name "Neen Williams" from his Mag Minute. This alone to me was just another very solid part but with a better-than-normal smooth style. Nothing outstanding or exceptional to really go crazy over. Since then (possibly back in 2008?), I don't think I really heard much about Neen at all, up until Chicken Bone Nowison was approaching its release. Maybe some park footage or random clips on the internet, likely a commercial for the Shake Junt vid too, but nothing really to affirmatively place Neen on the radar. Now in 2011, Neen is welcomed to Deathwish in February and I'm thinking, "Ok, this guy's got a pretty tight style and should be able to put out some good skating." Again, a satisfactory feeling but nothing truly noteworthy yet. He gets on Supra in August later that year, the awaited Shake Junt video drops in November (Neen's part above), and then almost immediately goes pro after the video in December of 2011. Now his SJ part was definitely really good, churning out loads of ridiculously smooth tricks and one of the best heelflips in skateboarding (when Neen's heelflip at full flick is rightfully compared to the iconic Michael Jordan slam dunk silhouette, it's one for the ages for sure). However, I don't think the part was THAT good to warrant turning pro after being on the Deathwish squad for maybe 10 months at the time, especially when Moose had been shredding with the crew for much longer! And it wasn't even like Neen was generating tons of footage with all the Supra tours at this point because he also just got on that team. It really felt like a rushed time to give him the pro nod. Despite Neen's definitely special personality (I mean that with no sarcasm at all because it really is special in every good sense of the word), the time put in with Deathwish and the actual skating that he put out by that time is not enough in my opinion for turning pro.
However, ever since then, Neen has been on a tear with the Supra team stacking clips and banging out tricks with every tour. And his latest video part in the Deathwish Video was definitely his best yet. Getting 3 tricks at that last tall staircase blew me away! It's a showing as good as this one that make me think how turning pro after the Chicken Bone Nowison part was even less worthy, because of how good a part Neen is capable of coming out with. Anyway, long story short, turning Neen pro after the work put in since the Shake Junt video and culminating with the Deathwish Video would have been ideal.
