Bet on Breaking
This weekend we focus on the next evolution of our 7 year Bet on Breaking...
JUNE 5TH, 2019
AUTHOR: Geoff Reyes
Whether you bet on horses, penny slots, daily fantasy sports, bitcoin, litecoin, or play cards, taking a risk with any type of money can be a thrill or devastating. Most times, it aint any fun if you lose. I'd say 99.9% of the time, losing money sucks. But certain bets you learn tons from, and certain bets end up being worth losing than winning. This weekend we focus on the next evolution of our 7 year Bet on Breaking...
The UBL Championship!
On Saturday, July 6th four top contenders head to Florida to the battle for the vacated UBL Championship. This year we are in collaboration with our great partners, Freestyle Session, Shaolin Productions and BRKN International to bring the Championship Title Battle to Orlando, Florida at Freestyle Session Florida. It is safe to say that this is our continued Bet on Breaking.
We placed our first bet in 2012 and after two years we crowned our first Champion, Illz, in September 2014. At the time, rankings and qualifications were exclusive to the Toronto area. From there, we decided, why not open this up and double down for the rest of Canada.
The following summer of 2015, Vancouver’s Phil Wizard was able to win the title at the first Battle for the North and has been the last champion until it was mutually decided to vacate the title in 2018.
Freestyle Session Florida
Here we are in 2019, Canada had already crowned its two UBL champions, and one of them, Phil Wizard has since earned his way to becoming the 2018 Undisputed World Champion. It's safe to say that we were happy with our bet on breaking and why not make more bets on the culture. In poker terms, we can think of it as betting to see the Turn and River. The hand isn't over yet.
It’s time to fill the vacancy, and this time, we have reached out to partners in Orlando, Seattle, New York, San Diego and of course, throughout Canada to expand our geographical footprint across North America. Without great people like Nat at Shaolin, Tim at Northwest Sweet 16, Chris and Randi at Breaks U, and Eranetik at Culture of 4, we wouldn’t be able to truly mark this as a North American Breaking title.
The journey does not end at Freestyle Session Florida. With more cities interested in contender spots, partnering events can also highlight a UBL Contender-ship or UBL Championship. And that is the fun part. And that's when the cards can start to come. Like when your fantasy player goes for 8 blocks or when bitcoin skyrockets 25% at 9:30am. We can pay right now to see the cards, and maybe with a little luck, we can catch a full boat or something. Maybe Main Event Breaking can catch on and bboys and bgirls can gain even more self confidence in their abilities and skill.
In seeking partnerships, UBL does not need to take away from the traditional open tournament format of certain events. In fact, it acts as a perfect complement to crew format jams. They are featured exhibitions for qualifying and invited bboys and bgirls.
The UBL title is intended to encourage more focused training, drive, and motivation. We look forward to working with more partners and establish deserving contenders to challenge for the UBL Champion, whomever it may be. We look forward to showing what UBL can do, and happily invite others to take a risk on us, just like how we took and continue to take a risk with our Bet on Breaking.
Guys like our current top contenders, TimJ (2019 Rock Harder Winner), Buckshot, (2019 Northwest Sweet 16 Winner), Masta Mace (Culture of 4 Winner) and Jbugz, (2018 Rock Harder Winner // BES Style Wars Winner) are worth taking a bet on because they have shown what it takes to work hard, train, and excel at what they do best.
We're still in the hand and I think this year we can take a look at what comes of it. All the cards are on the table, and now its a game of strategy, trust, skill, confidence and yes, a whole lotta luck. But I think we are playing them right, I think we can show our strength and play with what we got. We will have a champion after-all, and that has got to count for something. I mean, it ain’t the for-sure nuts, but its pretty damn close in my eyes.
The more people that buy in, the bigger the pot grows and the stronger that the community can get! Its not about only having one winner, its about actually having more and more people bet on breaking. Without that, money just gets circulated among the same people playing and the house continues to collect. Eventually, without more risk takers, the house drains it all, players go on tilt, and everyone leaves discouraged.
But most people I know are only down to bet the favourite at the Kentucky Derby, when they have Pocket Aces, or place an in game bet on the Raptors when they are up by 20.
At this point, Breaking ain’t a for sure bet right now. Its not a lock but there are glimpses and moves made that give it light. It kind of feels so similar to my passion for Basketball and my investment into Raptor Season Seats from back in 2005. Through thick and thin, I continued to support and cheer on the squad. It's fun. There were horrible seasons and heartbreaking losses. Now, the bandwagon isn't only full, but there is a parade full of wagons with passengers spilling out onto the streets of Toronto and Canada after having celebrated a 2019 NBA World Championship.
Same with breaking, we aren't close to having millions to take this bet on breaking, but oh man...this sure does feel very, very familiar.
I truly hope that something Canadian can too make a major impact on a global breaking culture. With the UBL Championship acting as our bet on breaking, maybe we can show that taking risks can be for the benefit of others just as it is for yourself.
