What Is Going On?

So let's recap what has happened in skating this year. Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen have left Alien Workshop. Brian Anderson left Girl to start his own company, which Alex Olsen and Austyn Gillette are also joining. Then, Paul Rodriguez updated his official web page to look like this:

And pretty much everyone is freaking out over it. Because it appears that Paul Rodriguez is no longer on Plan B.

Now the internet may have jumped the gun a little bit, because after several days of speculation, nobody has been able to figure out where he's going, what he's doing, or why he's doing it. I can't help but hope that this whole thing was a misunderstanding, and that P-Rod will have to hold an awkward press conference in which he gives a very reasonable explanation as to why he spray-painted his boards and took the Plan B logo off of his site.

But of course that doesn't seem to be the case, so I'm going to use some reasoning and clues to do what everyone else is doing and determine what his next move will be. Get ready. I've narrowed it down to a few possibilities, listed below.



1. He's going to 3D skateboards.
2. He's starting his own company.
3. He's going back to Girl.
4. He's had a mental breakdown and is simply leaving Plan B to prove some point that hasn't been made clear to us yet. Perhaps he's on the brink of a Prince- type turn in which we have to start referring to him simply as the picture of all of his sponsors instead of his actual name.
5. Plan B is going under due to Danny Way spending too much money on his Mega Compound in Hawaii, and P-Rod was just the first to leave the denial stage of grief.
6. He is acquiring Girl Skateboards, just because he can.
7. Danny way peed on his hat that he's always sticking his face in and this whole thing is Paul's awesome revenge.
8. Plan B is being sued by the 'morning after' pill and Paul wants no part in the legal battle.
9. He's joining his man Jereme Rogers over at Selfish.

Some of these may seem a little far-fetched, but honestly, the internet has thrown out more bizarre suggestions, such as him moving to Krooked (I wonder if Paul's ever even met someone on Krooked?)

But let's piece it together- the most reasonable suggestions are the top 3. Many people think that Brian Anderson starting this new company has convenient timing with Paul quitting, but I doubt he's moving there. Brian has stated that he wants to keep 3D small at first and grow from there, and Paul Rodriguez joining would require high demand and a lot of salary money  that BA probably doesn't have just yet. So now we're looking at him either starting his own company or heading back to Girl. Many people arguing against the idea that he would go back to Girl usually say that they don't have enough money, but something tells me that Girl can probably provide enough, given that they still are one of the largest brands in skateboarding and they just lost two team riders. And given how fondly Paul talks about Girl in this recently released Target ad, it's safe to say he would be willing to take a pay cut if necessary:


So while Paul is a very ambitious young man (that phrase alone made me feel 40 years older) I doubt that he's starting his own company, although it's certainly possible. He would fit in very well at Girl, and given how busy he is right now, it makes more sense for him to worry about starting a company later rather than right now.

So I guess this leads us to one more conclusion- The Plan B video is never coming out. Boooooo!!!

Good for Paul though- I'm sure he'll feel better at Girl or his own brand than Plan B, so hopefully we'll see his incredible footage elsewhere in the near future.