At left: Collins was often referred to as "Skeletor" for his trademark mohawk, big Oakley blades, wetsuit gloves and neon wetsuits-hey, it was the 80's-that made him look like the villain from the "He-Man" cartoons.

And one anti-contest guy actually claimed that his No. 1 favorite moment was in 2004 when a major flat spell forced the cancellation of the men's contest.

So what's your personal favorite Cold Water Classic moment? It could be dramatic, funny, or just plain weird, old school or recent, a story from the trenches of pro surfing or an anecdote from a spectator on the sidelines. Whatever your favorite moment was, tell us about it!

Also, for all the video, photo slide shows and in-depth reporting you can handle from this year's contest, check out the Santa Cruz Sentinel's site dedicated to all things "Cold Water."

A local man who's spent the past couple of years raising money for victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast states staged a picket outside Starbucks on Pacific Avenue on Tuesday, denouncing the coffee shop as unhelpful toward the relief effort.

Read the Sentinel story…

Watsonville police officer Eddie Santana with Briggs, one of the department's two new police dogs.

The Broncos made room for Beck by releasing middle linebacker D.D. Lewis, who was still last listed as second string on Denver's MLB depth chart Tuesday night behind D.J. Williams. Lewis hasn't been credited with a tackle this season.

Beck, a third-year pro out of Cal Poly, waived by Atlanta on Sept. 2. He was selected by Atlanta in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He missed his rookie season with a broken foot sustained returning an interception in the team's final preseason game that year. He played in 15 games last season and made 13 special-teams tackles.

The Broncos (2-3 overall) face Pittsburgh (4-1) in Denver this Sunday night at 5:15 p.m. The game will be televised on NBC.

As a college senior, Beck, a former standout at San Lorenzo Valley High, won the 2004 Buck Buchanan Award. The award is given to the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly called Division I-AA.

In four seasons at Cal Poly, Beck set school records for tackles in a game (23 vs. Montana in 2003), season (135 in 2004) and career (449).  

In what appears to be his third robbery this month, a man walked into a gas station on the 100 block of Main Street Sunday evening, brandished a gun and got away with an undisclosed amount of money.

Brown finished with 63 yards receiving, giving him a team-leading total of 264 on 18 receptions. He has four touchdowns this year for the NAIA school.

MVC is 4-2 overall. The Vikings jumped to 15th in the national rankings with the win. MidAmerica (Kan.) dropped to No. 18.

It was my senior year — and first playing football — for Westmont High in Campbell. 

Our team had just completed practice. We weren't the tightest group. In fact, we were well on our way to a 1-9 campaign.

Earlier in the season, one of my teammates took off his helmet and belted another teammate across his helmet with it in a locker room fight. It was something about a girl and teammates quickly broken up. 

Among the harsh works being tossed around, one of them vowed to retaliate for the cheap shot.

When the first rumbles of the Loma Prieta earthquake began at 5:04 p.m., I thought it was retalliation day.

I was standing near our trainer's room, which is next to the football dressing room and near an exit. Emptied garbage cans began rattling around, causing quite the commotion. My teammates were cheering wildly in another room — like onlookers at a fight.

The four major hallways at Westmont were covered by long, thin overhangs. I turned my head and saw them wavering like a swimming stingray.

It was a 10-foot sprint to safety for me and 25 feet for many of my teammates.

All of us sprinted outside and under open sky as quickly as possible. We weren't allowed back in the gymnasium. I had to walk home in my football gear, only to see my entire neighborhood emptied into the streets. They were all socializing, making sure they had shut off the water and gas to their homes, and awaiting further instruction on hand-held radios.

Everyone was rattled. Eventually, as hours passed, the neighborhood felt it was safe to return inside.

It was a long evening. No hot food, and our refrigerator that was crooked sideways. Every aftershock, sent my heart into my throat. It took a good week for that nervous feeling to settle.

But the memories lasted much longer.

Here's what is good. Local boy Cody Townsend will indeed be in the upcoming Warren Miller film "Playground," which will be showing at the Rio Theatre on Nov. 20-21. I've got it from a few sources (including Cody's mom) that the big mountain skier from Pleasure Point will be making his second Warren Miller appearance. This time, he'll be shown heli-skiing in the remote Alaskan backcountry. He even made the trailer — not too shabby.

Now for the bad news. I also mentioned several ski swaps will be coming up soon, including the Cabrillo one put on annually by Alpha Gamma Sigma honor society. Problem is, AGS has decided to drop the ski swap this year and save its money and energy for a spring rummage sale.
That's a sad thing for local skiers, snowboarders and pretty much anyone who enjoys playing in the fluffy white stuff. Now, as far as I know, the swap closest to Santa Cruz will be the Bay Area one scheduled for Nov. 9-11 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose. It costs $15 a person, and isn't even a real swap.

If you know of a closer swap, or a place where people can actually unload some of their old gear as well as pick up some newer stuff, please, let me know.

Santa Cruz beat San Lorenzo Valley 28-14 in a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League contest last weekend. Running back Zeke Sanders scored four touchdowns and also had an interception on defense, as the Cardinals improved to 5-1 on the season. It's the team's best start since 1993 — the last time Santa Cruz won a league title.

In addition to being named Coach of the Week, Trumbull and the Santa Cruz football program will now receive $1,000 from the 49ers Foundation, along with a $1,000 gift certificate from Kelly-Moore Paints to go towards beautifying Santa Cruz High School.

Nat gets a royal escort from the water after clinching the win at home

Young took some time between sponsor phone calls, interview requests from big-time surf mags, and his homework to kick it in The Green Room. Here's Nat dishing on his incredible week and what�??s up next.

Leo Maxam: First off, Nat, congrats. I'm sure you've heard that from a million people by now. Would you say this is the biggest win in your career so far? 

Nat Young: Yeah, for sure this was the best win of my career, surfing against all those older guys.

LM: Were you in the running at all this year to qualify for the Pro Junior World Championships in Australia? 

NY: Not really. I kind of decided I would do the Pro Junior tour halfway through the year, so I only did five of them this year out of ten. They take your top six results. I was in like 70^th place for a while and then moved up to like 47th before the Oakley contest. They haven�??t put the updated ratings out yet, so I don�??t know where I�??m at now, but hopefully I�??ll be in the top 20 or 15.

LM: Had you competed against some of those top juniors like Adam Wickwire and John John much before? 

NY: I�??d surfed against Adam Wickwire before and I�??d surfed against John John. I�??ve seen most of them at least once or twice, mostly in NSSAs (National Scholastic Surfing Association) at Trestles and stuff.

Nat's backside surfing at the Lane is head and shoulders above other surfers in his age group. Here John John looks on from the back of the wave as Nat throws a spray bigger than the two of them combined.

LM: What was your toughest heat of the Oakley Pro Junior?

NY: My heat with Andrew Doheny, John John and Adam Wickwire. That was a hard one. The heat was slow in the beginning, there weren�??t many waves. Adam had the lead and I was in second and then a set finally came through near the end. John John needed like a 3.5 and Andrew needed a good score. Andrew got an 8.93 on the first wave of the set but I got a 7.5 on the second wave and I had already gotten my best wave of the heat. John John still needed a second good wave. I ended up taking second and Wickwire won it. That was definitely my hardest heat.

LM: How did it feel to have Tazzy and the other guys hoist you on their shoulders and cart you up the stairs to the winner�??s podium? 

NY: That was the first time anything like that�??s ever happened to me. It felt like I was super high up looking down at all the people. It was cool.

LM: How much did the support from the crowd mean to you when you were surfing out there? 

NY: It was super cool to have everybody there cheering. Every time I stood up I would hear it and it definitely helped my scores. Without the crowd I probably would have gotten like a 7 instead of 8.33 on one wave. It also just gave me a lot of confidence.

How could you not be pumped up during a heat when you look back to shore and see the whole town pulling for you?

LM: Your backside approach is one of the best among kids your age. Do you feel more confident surfing on your backside in contests?

NY: Yeah, I feel better going right. I mean, I still feel confident going left too, but at my home spot (the Lane) it�??s all good going backside.

LM: Describe that big scoring wave in the final�??an 8.57�??the third highest score of the event. 

NY: It was kind of an inside wave that lined up through the Slot and all the way to the stairs. I tried to do a bunch of consecutive, vertical turns. I did like three snaps and then a roundhouse and then one big finishing turn. I fell on my last turn but I guess they still liked it because I got an 8.57. I didn�??t fall because I was tired, I wasn�??t really tired at all. It was actually more in my earlier heats that my legs hurt. I think it was because I was nervous. I loosened up later.

Nat cracks another one off the top during his stacked quarterfinal heat with Adam Wickwire, John John Florence and Andrew Doheny. Nat said it was his toughest heat of the event, but still managed to advance in second place.

LM: It looked like you rode the same board the whole week in both contests? Talk about your equipment and how it felt during your run. 

NY: I was riding the same board all week. It was a Stretch thruster with medium rocker. He shaped it for me when I went to Indo. I was using it a lot and it felt really good before the contest so I decided to use it for the contest. I also wore the same wetsuit the entire week for every heat (in both the Oakley Pro Junior and the Cold Water Classic) because I was doing well in it and I didn�??t want to change out of it because I had so many heats. I�??m not sure if it was a lucky suit, but I just didn�??t want to mess with a good thing.

LM: What�??s on tap for you in the near future? Any trips planned? Any big comps? 

NY: Well, the USA Championships (Surfing America USA Championships, October 22-27 at Huntington Beach Pier, an invitation only event that crowns undisputed USA National Champions) in Huntington Beach are in like two weeks and I�??m going down for that. And I�??m going to Hawaii in November for two weeks also. I�??ve been there two or three times before.

LM: Any waves in particular that you�??re looking forward to tackling on the North Shore?

NY: All of them. They�??re all good, whatever one is happening on whatever day. I like Rocky Point a lot, I like Pipe and V-land.

LM: Any plans for that $3,000 winner�??s check? 

NY: I don�??t know yet. My mom put in the bank for me. She�??ll make sure I don�??t spend it on junk.

Cha Ching! At least we know he won't spend it all on Red Bull and neon green shoe laces.

In 2006, the SCCAL was a free-for-all. Harbor beat Santa Cruz, which beat SLV, which beat Scotts Valley, which beat Harbor, and so on. Not so much in 2007.

When the Sentinel sports reporters gather at the end of football nights and talk about the games we've covered, every few weeks there's usually a game that makes us say, "Are you serious?!" This year, nobody has been surprised. The season appears to be building up to Nov. 9 when Scotts Valley [3-3, 2-0 SCCAL] and Santa Cruz [5-1, 2-0 SCCAL] will most likely meet for the SCCAL title, but there are still a few teams that could spoil the party for the Falcons and Cardinals, and a couple other games around the county that might provide an "Are you serious!?" moment.

Scotts Valley at Aptos (Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m.): Last year, Scotts Valley beat Aptos 17-8, but benefited from two Mariners turnovers. If Aptos can hold onto the ball, and running back Aaron Williams gets going, Scotts Valley will be in for a fight. Williams is averaging over 6-yards per carry according to mbaypreps.com. Aptos' defense finally broke against Soquel in their 35-30 loss last week, but that was the first time the Mariners had allowed more than 21 points this season. I would expect the D to tighten back up coming home with that defeat fresh in their minds. The teams have a common opponent in Pacific Grove which beat the Falcons 10-7, and Aptos 18-7.

Santa Cruz at Soquel (Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.): Santa Cruz hasn't really shown a weakness and looks like the best team in the SCCAL. But maybe they get caught looking ahead to the next week's marquee game against Scotts Valley, turn the ball over once or twice and have trouble handling Soquels huge offensive line. The Knights' Frankie Vitale now has a few weeks of experience at quarterback, and has the potential to make one of those game changing plays needed to pull off an upset, especially if Soquel decides to get creative on offense.

Pajaro Valley at Watsonville (Nov. 9, 7:20 p.m.): Pajaro Valley has put together an amazing year with only one loss so far in just its second varsity season. Though the Grizzlies are yet to beat a really strong team, they could be the favorite against Watsonville as the Wildcatz have struggled this year, with just one win. The Grizzlies victory would still have to be considered an upset, however, as they lost 41-0 to Watsonville last season, and a win in the second season of the cross-town rivalry would add some fire to the matchup. Sentinel correspondent I.A. Stewart blogged on yoursantacruzsports.com about the Grizzlies' remarkable turnaround this year.

Any St. Francis or Harbor win: The Sharks and Pirates are both winless, but it's not because a lack of effort. The team's are struggling to fill out their rosters, which makes it tough to compete with teams that sometimes have twice as many players. St. Francis or Harbor will get a victory this year, as they meet at on Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. at Soquel High, but it would be great to see either one pull off a stunner in one of their other remaining games.