For the next ten days Texas will be the new Mecca of the wake industry. This weekend in Ft. Worth is the second Pro Wakeboard Tour stop where Phil "The Frogger" Soven will go for his fourth straight victory, but don't expect to see Rusty, Danny, J.D. or Andrew go down easy. And my dark horse prediction for the weekend? Aaron Rathy. Word on the water is that Aaron's riding better than pretty much the entire world right now, so if he can hang tough with the pressure in Texas, look for him somewhere on the podium.

A week from now the second stop of the Byerly Toe Jam Tour will be in full swing at the Texas Ski Ranch, which means all the wakeskate shredders will be out on the cable and behind the boat showing their stuff and trying to qualify for the final event in Orlando in September. Myself and the entire A.V.E. crew will be attending this event, and if it's half as good as the first stop at The Projects back in April, it wil be one hell of a weekend. The three guys you're gonna want to look out for at this stop (if they can make it to Texas) are Nick Taylor, his south Florida riding buddy Stuart Shinn, and Drew Danielo. Of course, never count out the big boys, but if the first stop was any indication the next generation of wakeskaters are ready to make their mark permanently.

The only big dog of wake who won't be in Texas in the next ten days is Benny G. He's in South Korea doing some stuff for Liquid Force and trying to bring peace to the region with his wakeboard (apparently Kim Jong Ill is a big fan)…

Oh, and I killed a black widow in my backyard last night. It was scary. As a bonafide arachnaphobe it took several long minutes of staring at it with a shoe cocked back in my hand before I could muster the courage to strike. But I splatted it pretty good. And if you think I should have been more humane and "relocated" it somewhere else, then you're an idiot. Trying to "relocate" a black widow for me would be like sticking your tongue in an electrical outlet — nothing good is going to come from the situation.