ESPN BMX

I once knew a guy named Bacon. He was a vegetarian. How did he get the nickname? Randomly. One day, someone just referred to him as "Bacon" for a joke. But "Bacon" didn't think the joke was very funny, and soon enough, word got out that this guy didn't like being called "Bacon." So everyone's natural reaction was to then call him "Bacon." Thirteen years later, Bacon is still a vegetarian and can't go more than a few days without someone calling him "Bacon."

Nicknames are a strange one. Remember that episode of Seinfeld when George Costanza thought that having the nickname "T-Bone" would be a sweet setup? "I am just a T-bone kinda guy," he says. So he goes into the office, orders himself a T-bone steak for lunch amid a meeting, and expects to be called "T-bone" afterwards. The result, after some comedic confusion, is that George earns the nickname "Koko." The lesson learned here, is that the nickname you get is not always the nickname you want or deserve.

So how in the world did Steve Croteau come to be known as Steve-O? Randomly. "This dude Ricardo started calling me it and eventually everyone started calling me that. Edwin Delarosa, Skinny, Marlon Europe, all those dudes just kept calling me it," says Croteau. The nickname stuck, like glue. For years, I though Steve-O's last name was simply "Oh," like the actor Sandra Oh from Grey's Anatomy. Then one day, I saw an Inopia Footwear ad listing Steve Croteau as a team rider and wondered to myself, "Who is that?"

It was Steve-O, only he had a real last name in addition to a catchy nickname that he hopes was not at all related to the character from the MTV show Jackass. Now that I think about it, it would be rather short-sighted to think that Steve-O Croteau and Jackass Steve-O share any similarities apart from a well-known nickname.

Jackass Steve-O went to clown college. BMX Steve-O works as a barista.

Jackass Steve-O enjoys swallowing and then vomiting up live goldfish. BMX Steve-O enjoys baseball.

Jackass Steve-O hails from Wimbledon, England. BMX Steve-O is from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.

In short, there's a laundry list of differences between the two Steve-O's. I could probably spend all day creating that list, or I could just point out the obvious and say that Jackass Steve-O, from what I've seen on TV at least, isn't nearly as good of a BMX rider as BMX Steve-O. In fact, I often forget how good of a BMXer Steve-O Croteau can be, which isn't really my fault. He moved to Southern California a little over a year ago, and I don't see him ride much anymore. But he hasn't been sleeping on BMX at all. Knowing this, ESPN BMX contributing videographer Larry Rhodes flew to Southern California for a week last month, and decided to catch up with Steve-O. They both put in some work, and the result is the above video, which you should already be watching instead of reading this.

So in summary, let's get to the vid. But first let's review what we learned here. Nicknames are strange one. There's at least two Steve-O's that have some connection to the action sports world. And finally, don't ever refer to your vegetarian friend as "Bacon." It's just wrong.

Sort comments by: Most Recent | First Posted