Well there's one you never saw coming uh? Apparently this has been on the rumor mill for a couple of weeks or so! Which is a ball ache because I only found out today! I really should have known about this from day 1, it's my job to. I'll never let a piece of news like this slip through my net again! Earlier today I saw Adam22's thread on the come up regarding a sponsor change which would be the wildest news of the noughty's! After reading the thread and getting a general feel for it, I'd put together that Taj was off T-1 and 99% sure he'd be going to Giant! at 3.45pm BST after broaching this subject to a certain industry mover, it was confirmed that Taj was on Giant. At 5.36pm BST a further confirmation was published in the shape of a ride US interview with Taj over on bmxonline.com
Is it a big deal?
Nah, not really, lets face facts we have a BMX legend furthering his career, he deserves to retire off of the back of BMX there's no doubt about that, but unfortunately BMX as an industry can often struggle in this department, not the fault of anyone in particular and I want to make this clear, it's been bugging me for ages BMX is still a really new sport! why, after what 40 years max would everyone who's classed as a PRO be able to make a good living out of BMX? Only the very best should! (Taj clearly falling into this bracket)
Take a look at football for example, it's only been in the last what, 60 years or so that players have been able to make a living off it! Ok the money they get in the premier league is mental, but corse it is look at the money which is ploughed into it. But what alot of people disregard is the fact that during the first 200 years of that sport no one got any money, in fact even today non league team players go work a full time job, they are sick teams with huge support (check out Farsley Celtic from Leeds) but still they have to earn a wage from working fulltime! So, BMX is still way too young for anyone with the label "PRO" to be retiring off the sport, like I say you have to be seriously amazing to qualify, I'm talking Taj, Joe Rich, Mirra, Hoffman, Edwin D, Van Homan etc. people who have totally pushed and in alot of cases reinvented the sport, these men should be retiring off of BMX, often rider owned/rider run companies can't financially support that. Yet!
It is a wild situation with Taj though, I remember probs around the 1997-2000 era riding with my friends talking about shit like Huffy and all the big bike brands hooking people like Jimmy Levan and Josh Stricker up, at the time we figured it was a total sell out, infact we even said, whilst riding the worst bikes on earth, just leaving school with no prospects or jobs "if any of those companies asked me to ride for them, i'd tell em to fuck off man" and why? we took everything that Taj/Joe did at that time as gospel! we wanted to ride like them, dress like them, live their lifestyle, I meen fucksake I'm still a vegan!! dudes at the top honestly don't know how much power they have over young minds! Thats why it seems weird for alot of us to take in right now, I know everyone hit the come up and jaws dropped as they read "Taj off T-1 and on Giant". He was our beacon of anti corporate propaganda in those times and nothing changed until now! But as I have grown up and had a taste of the real world, got a good grasp of what BMX as an industry is really like, I can only continue my respect for a man who has changed BMX for the better, a dude who deserves everything positive that comes his way in this industry, for some niggling reason though I can't wait for the day I log onto the come up and it says "Taj off Giant, on TerribleOne".