Kilwag, that smarty pants editor of Skate And Annoy, linked up a great story from Salon.com by Matt Reevy titled: Authenticity and the X Games: Why ESPN just doesn’t get it. In it Reevy gets right down to the heart of the action sports/mainstream media conundrum. We’ve always said that the mainstream doesn’t care, won’t care, and never has cared about action sports. But Reevy makes a much more complete, compelling argument:
Essentially, what ESPN seems to miss,, is that that the statement “I am a skateboarder” is a far different one than “I am a basketball player”. There’s no such thing as the best skateboarder, BMX rider, snowmobiler, skier, or snowboarder. Placing in the X Games is a reflection of a high level of skill, certainly, but it doesn’t make you the best.
Reevy finishes his article off with the statement that Shaun White is neither a snowboarder nor a skateboarder, “he just happens to ride them. Until that changes, no one is going to care about the X Games, regardless of where they’re held.”
While we’d never take anything away from Mr. White’s snowboarding and skateboarding, the larger point is made — X Games? Who really cares? Aside from the people who are getting paid, no one.
Another artistic behind-the-action-sports-star profile is on its way from Disillusion Mag. This time with Eric Koston of all people. The full edit drops on May 25, 2013. Can you wait for it? Guess we’re all going to have to. Silly teasers. . .
One of the ads was in the form of a T-shirt titled “The ex-girlfriend”, which depicted a woman with tears and an arm in a sling saying: “He really does love his skateboard more than me.” A different poster showed a male skateboarder with his finger over the mouth of a female mannequin head, as if hushing her, and the slogan: “Where no means yes.”
More than 1,800 people signed the petition and it appears that, after Klasek threatened to march on the company’s headquarters that Enjoi has taken the T-shirt down and enjoyed more mainstream media play than they’ve gotten in a long time. Times are hard, guess they have to take the attention while they can.
The Onion has decided to take on “amateur skateboarding” with a story titled, Nation’s Amateur Skateboarders Haven’t Landed Trick In 12 Yearsand it reminded us of how skateboarding must look to people who don’t care. Here’s what they say US Berkeley researchers discovered.
Having completed a long-term analysis of skateboarding activity at every skate park, public plaza, parking lot, and suburban cul-de-sac in the United States, researchers at the University of California reported this week that not one of the nation’s 19 million amateur skateboarders has successfully landed a single trick since 2001. . . The report confirmed that not a single ollie, nollie, kickturn, heelflip, frontside 180, backside 180, or fakie has been landed in over a decade. In addition, 100 percent of handrail grinds resulted in subjects landing on their shoulders while nearby acquaintances laughed at them.
Yeah, we’ve seen those kids, too, but it sounds like The Onion hasn’t watched Street League Skateboarding lately.
Apparently, the official word has gone out regarding New Balance Numeric’s skate team. Here it is: Levi Brown, Tom Karangelov, Arto Saari, and PJ Ladd.
On Friday night, May 3, 2013 the LA skate art crew gathered at HVW8 to help Mark Gonzales celebrate 15 year with Adidas.
Adidas skateboarding brought together six prominent photographers to tell Mark’s story over the past 15 years through their lenses. These photographers, who have watched Mark and witnessed his skateboarding antics all around the world include Gabe Morford, Joe Brook, Skin Phillips, Brian Gaberman, Benjamin Deberdt, and Sem Rubio. . . Guests made their way through the renowned photography and ‘Gonz’ artwork to the outside celebrations where refreshments flowed, Mark’s old video clips were projected and everyone shared their own unique Gonz stories amongst each other and of course with the man of honor himself.
The U-T San Diego has a great story on what former pro skateboarder Kanten Russell has been up to lately, and it’s all about skateboard parks.
He grew up skating in Point Loma and Ocean Beach and was good enough to turn pro. During his 13-year career, he was best known for “going big” — flying through the air down staircases and across gaps in buildings, taking jumps nobody else would. . . Now, at age 39, he’s made another leap, into designing skateparks for a living. He’s part of the sport’s ongoing transformation from outlaw status to mainstream, more popular worldwide than ever.
Meanwhile, at the opposite, yet seemingly growing in popularity end of the skateboarding spectrum, the rebirth of the Catalina Classic continued with Riviera Skateboards 2nd Annual Catalina Island Classic over the weekend May 4-5, 2013. For the record, there are very few bad reasons to visit Catalina and this certainly isn’t one of them. Click the link for results whenever they choose to post them.
Christian Hosoi took how the GoPro Legends Bowl title of other legends like Sergie Ventura, Jay Adams, Aaron Astorga and Dave Hackett at the 4th Annual Sheckler Foundation Skate For A Cause event held Saturday, May 4, 2013 at the etnies Skatepark in Lake Forest, California.
The skateboard community united today and exceeded expectations by raising $100,000 at the Sheckler Foundation’s 4th Annual SKATE FOR A CAUSE event, presented by etnies, in Lake Forest! Every skateboarder that won gave their winnings back to the Sheckler Foundation too. . . The money raised will go to building a skatepark on the Port Gamble S’klallam Reservation as a part of the “Be the Change” project.
Kilwag, that smarty pants editor of Skate And Annoy, linked up a great story from Salon.com by Matt Reevy titled: Authenticity and the X Games: Why ESPN just doesn’t get it. In it Reevy gets right down to the heart of the action sports/mainstream media conundrum. We’ve always said that the mainstream doesn’t care, won’t care, and never has cared about action sports. But Reevy makes a much more complete, compelling argument:
