Pro skater and one of the OG's in the skate world Mike Maldonado reveals why he chose J. Strickland's Bootleg skateboards over Andrew Reynolds' Baker skateboards.
Back in the early 2000s, the Piss Drunx crew also known as Warner Avenue crew had a lot of things going on with skating, handling business, partying all day, and a bunch of legends trying to just be themselves. There were a lot of rumors about J. Strickland having beef with some of the crew members which ended up separating the brand from Baker to Bootleg.
Maldonado on the other hand was just being himself as well and not trying to fit in. However, there was a time that he had a meeting with the boss and the brand manager.
Maldonado said on The Bunt when asked. "I had a meeting with Drew and Robin. That was just a meeting to squash everything. "It just went the complete other way. They were like ”Did you ever think about life after skateboarding, maybe like team manager stuff?” I was like, “Life after skateboarding, that’s f---ed up. What are you talking about? He continued. "I’m still out here grinding." I just took the hint. If ya’ll don’t want me to be on the team anymore, that’s fine" He further explains that he kicked himself out of the team but he also reiterated that he doesn't have harsh feelings towards anyone in the other camp.