There are plenty of other websites that publish skateboard news faster than I can, so I won’t just give you the news, I’ll also tell you what I think about it. Then you can conform and think like me too and impress your friends.
Hmmm, Foot Locker is buying CCS. I can see it now, a kid walks into Foot Locker, a guy in a referee outfit walks up to help him, the kid says he wants some Emericas, and the referee says “Oh yeah, the Andrew Reynolds model is great for doing your kick-jumps.”
But seriously, I doubt anything will change. CCS will probably…
Granted, I don’t know these people, I’m just a guy on the outside reading magazines and websites, but sometimes skaters switch teams and I have to scratch my head and ask “Why would you do that?” Here are a few that stick out.
Darrell Stanton. REAL is just about the most “real” skateboard team out there, no pun intended, and the impression…
feedback from Tino: I was hoping you guys could do an entry on something concerning that seems to be arising in the longboard skate market. Basically, a number of retailers are showing interest is selling additional lines to the already existent Sector 9’s that they sell. Problem is, Sector 9 is threatening to pull their product from the stores if…
This is only one side of a story that, up until today, I had heard nothing about. It may or may not be factual, but below is posted the text of an email I received from one Danny Parks, who claims that DC Shoes ripped off the name “King of New York” from an event that one Lou Perez started…
Ben Pappas body was recovered from the ocean soon after he disappeared following the murder of his girlfriend, in which case he is a “person of interest” which is legal language for “we’re pretty sure he did it but we’re not allowed to say that yet.”
Frankly, this just stinks. First Shane and Ali last week and now this.
…
Maybe I need a section dedicated to the blank deck debate. Here’s something from a recent Steve Berra interview that I want to talk about. Partly because Steve says some things I haven’t heard and would like to understand better, and partly because I’ve always respected Steve and feel like he’s one of the more “thoughtful” pros out there.
Steve Berra: There…
Blitz Distribution (Baker, Birdhouse, Flip, and other brands) has launched AWorldWithoutPros.com where Tony Hawk, Andrew Reynolds, and Geoff Rowley sound off on the importance of buying pro decks instead of blank decks. I already blogged on the topic of whether blank decks hurt the skateboard industry back in ‘05, but let’s revisit the issue, shall we?
No, I’m not talking about those teams. I’m talking about the article in the December 2006 issue of Skateboarder about Diego where he tells his story about leaving Think to ride for Toy Machine. And this post isn’t about Diego really, so if you’re looking for info on him go elsewhere. This is about this trend of riders moving from…
Listen up kids. Unless you don’t mind skateboarding becoming like soccer, football, baseball, or, heaven forbid, rollerblading, stop buying any Nike skate products right now.
I don’t believe there’s anything morally wrong with Nike’s businss approach to skateboarding, they’re business people and their job is to make more money. Skateboarding is an opportunity for them to do that. But as they…
Apparently Lance Mountain is shutting down The Firm after 15 years in business. It appears that nobody stopped The Firm but Lance himself, who felt it was time to move on to something else.
I know Lance isn’t dead, and some people don’t want to hear a lovefest about Lance, but tough, you’re going to get one because Lance is one of…
For those of you kids who don’t know Jason Jesse, you missed out on an era. In only the latest of a string of strange occurences in his life, Jason Jesse was led off a plane and questioned by the FBI because someone next to him saw that he had scrawled the words “suicide bomber” in his diary.
A website from the southern continent just came to my attention at http://www.skateboard.com.br/. Video clips galore, and a free 336MB downloadable video of Brazilian antics.
There’s just one catch, you have to know how to read Portuguese in order to understand much of anything written on it. But since when does skateboarding require language skills?
Answer: Because it’s their choice.
I’ve been having a little discussion with some folks about blank decks and the one person had this to say:
“Basically it is this: All the cheapo blank boards and mini logos out there mean kids are not buying as many pro decks. Therefore the pros must make their money with sponsors other than skateboarding in order to get…
Ok, let’s just have it out once and for all. First of all, here are links to other opinions on this matter. This post will re-hash some material that has already been posted on this blog (links listed at end of article) as well as things that have been said elsewhere, but I think it’s worth revisiting the issue.
I recently…
Here’s an Eric Koston interview from SOLE Collector.
As you can see, beards are in.
News Flash: Check out the Guy Mariano Mouse Part Contest.
I can hardly type I’m so excited…and I’m not the only one.
How many times have you seen one of your heroes retire, then come back for a spell, only to stink at whatever it is they used to do so well, essentially ruining their legacy?
It’s happened so many times to me that…
How long have we been speculating about this? Finally the word is official, Pappalardo is on Chocolate.
Want more info? Well, I can’t help you there. Check out crailtap.
So this is the third pro in a month, in case you didn’t catch the news about Justin and Devine being made pro for Chocolate.
Personally I think Popps is a decent fit for…
You gotta be kidding me. I don’t even know where to start.
I think we can officially say that Chad Muska has gone nuts. You’ve all seen his new Shorty’s ad with the wallride? The wallride is just fine, although it probably doesn’t justify a two-page ad like a some photos of Muska from a few years ago probably still could. But here’s the evidence that Muska has truly gone mad:
1. The…
Somehow I miss out on things going on in my backyard…
Apparently these guys have been putting on contests in Utah for a few years. Next one is coming up August 6th 2005 at the Gateway, then the finals are September 10th at the Fairmont Skatepark.
Jeron Wilson was involved in a radio piece broadcast by NPR about “brown and black atheletes”.
The roots of skateboarding originate in the beach towns of Southern California — idyllic communities that were, back in the 1950s and 60s, almost exclusively white.
But it’s important to remember how brown and black athletes continue to shape the sport, which has grown from a cult…
There’s been a bit of discussion over at SkateboardRumors.com about Robbie McKinley not being turned pro by Girl started by his comments in this online article from Slap Magazine.
I agree that Robbie should have been turned pro by Girl, but not because he’s all that good.
If you know who Pat Brennen is, you’ll know that he actually died about ten years ago around 1995 or so. So why is this news? Isn’t news supposed to be “new”? Well, it’s news because it’s news to me. That is, I just found out about this yesterday. I read it at http://www.skateboardrumors.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1976 and then confirmed it by emailing a…
Listen to what NPR had to say about Danny Way jumping over the great wall of China.
Hmmm, according to them, Danny “managed to do four spins as he flew over the Great Wall.” Really? Is that the first 1440 ever? Man, I didn’t even hear about that one. Way to go NPR on getting the scoop.
Sometimes I get so busy I don’t read a magazine all the way through the day I get it. Sometimes magazines include free DVDs that distract me from the written word, and that means sometimes I miss little gems, such as the one-pager by Kevin Wilkins on p 072 of the August 2005 issue of The Skateboard Mag.
If you needed another excuse to raise an eyebrow at Nike’s involvement in skateboarding, here it is. Nike, a large corporation with lots of expensive lawyers, you know, the kind you assume would know what they should and shouldn’t do, apparently weren’t consulted before Nike released their latest advertising campaign for their line of skateboarding related shoes.
Below we have an…
Here’s an interesting idea. This website (which isn’t live as of this post) will catalog media coverage from every magazine in the world about every skateboarder in the world. Essentially you’ll be able to go there and find out exactly what’s going on with your favorite skater at any time.
Hopefully they’ll be able to clean up their grammar and spelling…
Just in case you weren’t aware how good Chris Cole really is, here are the result from the Hammers Vs. Bangers contest at the Kettering Skate Plaza in Ohio.
Hammers and Bangers Main Event (12 stair)
Chris Cole $18,000
Ledge Session Best Trick
Chris Cole $3000
Best Two Trick Line
Chris Cole $3,000
12-Stair Best Trick
Chris Cole $3000
Best Overall
Chris Cole $5,000
…
Apparently Baker/KR3W rider Terry Kennedy was shot in the face on June 6th while in Long Beach.
Need some links to believe it?
http://www.skateboarding.com/skate/news/article/0,23271,1070268,00.html
http://www.epiclylaterd.com/drewbdayslash.html
http://www.skateboardrumors.com
http://www.kr3wapparel.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=2829
The return of Plan B Skateboards has been in the news for a little while. Is resurrecting an old skateboard brand a good idea, or a doomed attempt to recreate something that can never be?
Terry Gross interviews Stacy on NPR’s Fresh Air. Originally broadcast in 2002 because of Stacy’s documentary but re-broadcast due to the new Lords of Dogtown movie.
http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/features/article/0,21214,1060360,00.html
“at least half of the Bones’ Web site hits come through a link included on the Bones’ myspace.com profile”
Hmmm, interesting. I may have to give this a try.
Hmm, so Transworld and Slap both got new websites on almost the same day. But I already reviewed Transworld’s so let’s talk about Slap.
Aw swell, Hawk Clothing Licensed to Kohl’s by Quicksilver
It’s a good thing Hawk Clothing and Quicksilver have never been mainstay’s of skateboarding’s counter-culture culture or this would be a real downer. The way I see it though, this could be a positive thing.
So I pop over to www.skateboarding.com this morning and what do you know, it’s a totally new website.
The question is, is it any better than the old one?
Remember Neal Mims? I never knew what happened to him. Every one in a while I’d think “Man, that guy was everywhere and then he just disappeared.” But I never looked into it or anything. Well, I just read the article on the last few years of his life in the June 2005 issue of The Skateboard Mag and it’s interesting…
Believe it or not, the company that uses the tagline “Youth Against Establishment” has elected to become part of upper eschelon of companies that make up what is commonly referred to as the establishment by filing to go public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Don’t believe it? Check it out at Transworld’s business website.
Do I care? Not really, I know…
On the heels of talking about skateboard decks made in china I should probably talk a little about blank decks.
Like them or not, they’re probably here to stay and there’s not much anyone can do as long as the kids keep demanding them.
If you’re the average 12 year old skateboarder you probably aren’t too concerned about the controversy in the skateboarding industry over skateboard decks that are made in China. You might not even know which companies are already manufacturing their decks there, such as Dwindle.
But if you’re over 15 you might have heard about it and your main concern probably has…
You know what’s crazy? My dad was born in 1935. This was before WWII, before plastic existed (think about that, is anything today not made with plastic?), before drugs as we know them today, and before skateboarding. Skateboarding wasn’t even on the horizon.
If you’ve seen Back to the Future where Michael J. Fox rips the orange crate off that kid’s scooter…
Go to Grommie’s website and you should see a photo of Tyson. You may have seen him in ads in Transworld too.
Sublimited’s headquarters are in Utah, so I get a special little feeling whenever I see Utah skaters placing in major contests. The latest good news is from the Phoenix AM, where Salt Lake City’s own Adam Dyet took first.
Everyone likes an underdog, right? The guy (or more frequently girl these days) who rips but for one reason or another hasn’t caught the public attention yet. Well, here are a few of my favorite underrated skaters for what it’s worth. Feel free to add some of your own.
Ok, I know this happened a while ago, but I can’t get over the new website Deluxe Distribution (DLXSF) launched.
We’re not going to pretend that we’ll be able to keep you informed of everthing going on in skateboarding. First of all, we just don’t have the time, and second we don’t know everything that’s going on.
If you’re interested in the history and background of skateboard companies, you might find this article on Element Skateboards interesting.
If you don’t like large corporate skateboard companies, then read Flip Skateboards Dissected, an interview of Flip founder and owner Jeremy Fox.
This post copied from my other blog.
Ok, this is from last year, so it’s not exactly breaking news, but I found parts of this quite interesting.
1. 411VM is returning to its twelve-year-old roots, effectively eliminating its snow, surf, and BMX video magazines to focus solely on skateboarding.
2. From here on, 411VM will only be sold in ’core…
Seriously, where is Jess McRaney these days?
