I've come to the conclusion that Steven was playin a joke on bmx for the past few years to see who would write him off as a nut. Federal didn't get the joke as well as a few others.
I thought that as well, and I also thought that Federal did get the joke and that was why they were willing to support him for so long, so yes it does seem odd that they dropped him just as he started producing watchable content again.
However as we all know BMX is a young man's game and whilst we BGers might respect the old/mid school the new kids aren't interested. Sad to say but to make money and stay relevant you've got to be pushing your riding and getting exposure. Corey Martinez is a good example of someone who came up at the same time as Hamilton who has done this successfully. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love Hamilton's riding but I can see how his part in Cuts and that recent webvideo wouldn't excite Joe Barspinner down the park (not helped by the filming quality).
Having said all that, I was on the Hoffman website for some reason the other day and noticed that they have a "lifer" team, indicating that they still support some of the older guys (Mad Jon etc) which I think is awesome. Maybe Federal should have been more tactful and done something like that - keep on giving him frames and stuff.