by The Editors on January 4, 2009
It’s been a long time coming but it looks like ESPN has finally begun to treat action sports as a part of their sporting news mix and not just some kind of fringe “X” thing out on a site by itself. Starting today EXPN is gone and in its place is ESPN Action Sports at http://espn.go.com/action/.
The new, nicely uncluttered subsection of the ESPN.com site is reportedly much more Google friendly and will be bringing “shitloads of traffic, bro.” It was supposed to have its own promo on the homepage of ESPN.com but we couldn’t find any and the new section doesn’t currently have an RSS feed (it should be up by the end of the week according to inside sources). A link to the Action Sports page is, however, listed under the ALL SPORTS menu in the main navigation of the ESPN site (three spots from the bottom of the list behind Rugby and just ahead of “bassmaster.”) Apparently the nav is ranked by importance to the average ESPN.com visitor.
While we don’t exactly consider “rally” an action sport, the new index does give each of the sports their own sub-sub homepage which will technically allow visitors to deep link straight to the content they’re interested in. Still, this “segregated part of the whole sports world” idea does result in a page with a couple snowboard stories right next to a big promo for the Gridiron Playoff Challenge.
Guess some things will never change.
[Link: ESPN.com/action]
by The Editors on January 2, 2009
Rally driving is apparently the new black skateboarding. Thanks, Ken Block. For the rest of the Subaru/DC uniform follow the jump.
[Link: The Motor Report]
by The Editors on January 2, 2009
The engineers are at it again. This time with a “No Snowboard” designed by John Dingley.
The rider leans in either direction to get the thing going (as demonstrated in motion below) and the slight curvature of the tire allows for turning just like you would with a normal skateboard. Right now maximum speed is a somewhat pedestrian 7 mph, but Dingley estimates that a Segway-matching 12 mph is possible with better gearing.
Click here to see it in pointless action.
[Link: Engadget]
by The Editors on December 31, 2008
It is time to take a look back at the most viewed stories of the last half of 2008 (we went online July 1, 200). The posts listed below are ranked by the number of pageviews each received. Follow the jump for the complete rundown:
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 29, 2008
Skate artist/designer Randy Laybourne will be premiering a new collection of 20 20×20 inch pieces in a show at Swiv Tackle Circus in Oceanside, California on January 17, 2009 from 6 – 10 PM. The evening will features music by DJ Blackass and friends and Stone Brew will be served.
For those of us who have collected Randy’s smaller works, it going to be great to seem them on a larger scale.
[Link: lookforwardtothepast.com and swivtacklecircus]
by The Editors on December 29, 2008
The New York Times jumps on the age old pool skater mantra: disasters mean more empty pools with a story on how the increase in home foreclosure is doing just that.
Across the nation, the ultimate symbol of suburban success has become one more reminder of the economic meltdown, with builders going under, pools going to seed and skaters finding a surplus of deserted pools in which to perfect their acrobatic aerials. . . . In these boom times for skaters, Mr. Peacock travels with a gas-powered pump, five-gallon buckets, shovels and a push broom, risking trespassing charges in the pursuit of emptying forlorn pools and turning them into de facto skate parks. . . . Some skateboarders use realty tracking sites like realquest.com and realtor.com to find foreclosed houses with pools, while others trawl through satellite images from Google Earth. On the Web site skateandannoy.com, where skaters trade tips about how to find and drain abandoned pools, one poster wrote about the current economic malaise. “God bless Greenspan,” the post read, “patron saint of pool skatin’.”
It’s nice to know that no matter how bad things get, skateboarders will continue to feast on the corpse of suburban excess.
[Link: The New York Times]
by The Editors on December 29, 2008
Thrasher Magazine Photo Editor Michael Burnett has a new book out that is a collection of “photos of a summer’s worth of exotic skateboarding trips [Russia, China, Skatopia] focusing on what goes on between the tricks. Also includes a short story involving ice skaters, shabby bedding and Boris Yeltsin look-a-likes.”
According to the emerica blog it also features:
Random boob signings, ass grabs, public urination, cop confrontations, face-stuffing, product tosses, local culture and so much more–not to mention plenty of pyromania and stripper pole shenanigans at Skatopia.
Click here to buy a copy with PayPal.
[Link: Emerica Skate]
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
Facebook and eBay have joined to help seven celebrities (including Tony Hawk) raise money for their favorite charity. It’s called Re-Gift The Fruitcake on Facebook, according to a story on VentureBeat.com.
“It’s an incentive to get the Facebook generation into philanthropy,” Hawk said. “It encourages people to pass along the message about the charities and donate money.”
Sadly, we ignore all apps. If we didn’t, this would probably be a cool way to make a donation to the Tony Hawk Foundation.
[Link: VentureBeat]
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
Bob McKnight, Joe Scirocco, Bruce Thomas, and Marty Samuels covered a lot of ground in last week’s conference call, but there was one topic that they didn’t go over: the rumor that Quiksilver is actively negotiating the sale of DC Shoes.
This rumor has gained momentum lately most likely because the deal seems to make sense. On the conference call DC was repeatedly spoken of as a bright spot in Quiksilver’s brand portfolio. If Quik could unload DC Shoes for somewhere in the $700 million range, that would go a long way toward covering the company’s $1 billion debt. It would also allow Quiksilver to get back to basics with its core business after spending a couple years running the whole expansion thing into the ground. Not to mention it being a relief to many DC employees who believe all their hard work is being blown by bad business decision at the mothership. It probably wouldn’t hurt the company’s stock price, either.
So far no “official word” on the sale.
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
Camp Woodward has signed a licensing and consulting agreement with the Chinese government to help develop the next wave of Chinese action sports automatons as they create their “first international camp in Beijing next summer.”
Woodward Camp President Gary Ream is obviously looking forward to monetizing China’s billions.
[Link: Sports Business Journal]
