"Legit" "What would make it better would be"

Begin Vent

The thread about Richards dogging wakeboarding and all the other comments just got me thinking....what a bunch of spoiled (insert term here) some of us are.

1st of all.....there is actually an X-Games (DEW TOUR, PWT)!!!! "Our sports" are actually on ESPN PRIME TIME cable! Did you see how big that halfpipe was?!?! Can I get an AMEN!!! Who cares if Sal is a campy dork on the air (he has to be, thats his job to play to the masses). I dont care for snowmobiling but daaaay-um...DOUBLE BACKS on a 500lb machine?

I'm 36 years old. I grew up building 3 foot tall dirt jumps in the country thinking it would be awesome to have a tractor. Then we got into skating and promptly kicked off of school and State Capitol property for causing 'may-hem'. So we stole some wood and built a crappy kinked half-pipe with hand saws and 1/2in plywood. Boy did we wish we had a skate park like Del Mar before it got tore down for litigious(law suits) reasons. Then we started snowboarding and only Donner, then Boreal would let us ride. Finally we get to ride Squaw, but get yelled at for doing 5s and 7s off the 'wall' on the mountain run and cat tracks.

Now there are skateparks EVERYWHERE!!! There are 3 within 10 minutes of my house. Ski resorts spend BANK to build us DOPE parks with rails and boxes and (if we're lucky with snow) 18-22' Superpipes!!! We have cable parks for wakeboarding(not enough I know, do something about it). Wakeviolator lets us slide rails on boards in the biggest pool in Sacramento...every year!!! TWICE!!! Our boats are beyond SICK!! Our boards are off the chain with style AND function. My snowboard and wakeboots are more comphy than ALL of my dress shoes(yes, groms, you will have to wear some eventually).

It just cracks me up how people have so much time to complain about the peeps that are out there GETTING IT DONE. I'm sure the Dad's and older guys on here will all agree (UJ, Umali, Williams, BenC, Butler, Scagliotti, J-Rod{please excuse any mispeelings}). I'd give almost anything to be growing up right now with a dope boat, skate-park, cable park, etc(I say almost because I need my children when I get back to 35). I am thankful that my 5 year old gets to grow up with a wakeboat, is on his 3rd season of snow, golfs, and does all the things I dreamt about while my parents were working their arses off just to put clothes on our backs.

Be thankful kids (we are all kids). We all wanted our sports to get respect. They have it. "We" have events, "we" are on TV, companies make products just for "us". Go get rich helping out, or sit back in the cut and take it all in. But don't beotch about how its going down unless you are making a difference.

End Vent

Amen Brother-

oops this was supposed to be the last pic.

I will second that AMEN. kids(and some adults) have no idea how good they have it.

i concur.

Well Said.

Great perspective Jarrod...if you truly enjoy the sport, you don't need validation from the others. The only validation we need and get is from the boat manufacturers who make wake-specific boats and the numerous wake board and skate companies who compete for our business.

Corby I love you man!

Couldn't have said it better myself hommie!!

AMEN brotha....

i dont need validation for what i enjoy doing. what todd richards or sal masawhatever thinks ab wakeboarding is the last thing on my mind when i'm out on the boat enjoying myself...

"sal masawhatever"

hahahahahahaha

We should not be concerned with sal masawhatever, his other job beisde ESPN is Hosting "E!" News, so he is obviously a super legit industry insider.

Couldn't agree more.

Awhile back I took my son down to watch the surf, I think he was around 18-20 months and I was showing him some little groms ripping in the surf. I was stoked that I could get him to recognize when they were doing maneuvers and that we could share the experience.

He has no idea how lucky he is right now. If he's a good kid, he will have access to several great outdoor sports/activities that he can enjoy and learn from his Dad. I can't wait.

Of course, he'll probably end up playing soccer

Sal is O.K. Don't forget that E is the network that brings you "the Girls Next Door"...

Soccer is bad ass. Have to mix in some team sports.

Well put man. There was a poll the other day about how old people were on the site and something like 45% were in their twenties, when I voted anyway. It speaks volumes that (lots of) people in their twenties are able to buy $500-$1000+ setups, often replacing them every year or two, and have access to boats and can afford gas etc... Realistically, we have very little to complain about.

Nice work Jarrod. Well put.

-Uj

I agree Jarrod. Its funny how when I skated we constantly were ticketed, chased and arrested for skating because of "liability". Now Santa Cruz has a PUBLIC PARK with a CONCRETE LOOP! haha. Crazy... As much as I wish I were growing up in this time frame, I like to feel that those of us who did whatever we wanted regardless of how "taboo" it was paved the way.

Now, some of those things you mentioned are just part of business, evolving to make money. ESPN, resorts, etc. changed primarily because they HAD to if they wanted to make money on the new generation(s). Now maybe those who pushed these sports created the following resulting in the change...who knows. Either way...the chicken or the egg; I am more thankful for those who "paved the way" before me since its their hard work that got things to where they are...not the resorts charging $85 a lift ticket.

M-Dizzle

"I like to feel that those of us who did whatever we wanted regardless of how "taboo" it was paved the way."

M-

I would like to nominate you for the title of smartest person on wakeworld.com. For real, your posts are always spot on! Every time. Keep that shiat up!

i agree, it's pretty crazy these days how skateparks keep popping up everywhere. i think it's smart though. imagine if a park was just a grass field or a skatepark, which one would you find todays youth in? i've seen two public skateparks that have signs out front saying they are funded by our governor arnold! i thought that was cool. i also don't think wakeboarding belongs in the xgames either. its alot different for viewing than those other sports but in every right just as hard. i wonder what action sports will look like 5-10 years down the road.. it seems like these sports are starting to mix in scary stuff that takes huge juevos along with skill. whether it be pastranas double backflip, scott murray finally landed his doublebackflip in genova europe if you haven't seen it, robbie madison stunts, double flipping a sled, travis rice's triple backside rodeo in the backcountry in his new movie. who knows whats next but these xtreme sports are starting to get a evil kneivel influence it seems

I'm 32 and I remember those days when skateboarding was looked down upon for the most part. Skate parks were few and far between. I remember us begging our parents to take us the three hours to Atlanta where they had one. I think I got to go about 3 or 4 times. We also built ramps and half pipes in back yards.

I also remember the days of building dirt tracks with our bare hands and shovels for our dirt bikes. We had a local mx track that was great until they got sued and tore it down to make a horse arena.

I'm with you, kids have it a lot better these days. I just wish I lived closer to the snow this time of year.

hey i admit i watch motox,snowboarding,skatebording and wakeboarding on tv and enjoy it on all levels.i do compare it to wake since that is the one i participate in but never in a negative way..

i think they are all cool in their own right..

how about those Olympic skiers who come down the big hill shoot off the huge ramp and complete over two rotations with flips and spins combined about 60ft in the air and land on snow almost perfectly everytime,thats not only difficult to imagine how hard it is but its insane!mad respect to those athletes.

We have one skatepark in the whole triangle/capital city area to my knowledge. i dunno what happened here...

No worries Andy, thanks for the ups.

Out of curiosity how many people here have been arrested or otherwise "hassled" by "the man" when they were skating or doing something non-traditional but constructive? Honestly...Myself, my little cousins and my future kids (someday) thank you!

I have not had a chance to winch anywhere yet, but are peeps getting hassled about it, or is it still like a "WTF, never seen that" thing?

To the kids (or adults) who are getting hassled today my best advice is to respond like I always did when told to leave, cant do that, etc: "Yah, screw physical sports, I am going to go join a gang or do drugs and be a detriment to society!". I would like to think using that message reminded many people that there were/are a lot worse things kids can do with their time.

Also, anyone else in the "adult world" rocking something cool like a Volcom tie, etc. as kind of a "yah, I may have grown up, but only a little...haha". I wish more companies would make cool stuff like Volcom ties. Its always cool going to a networking even and putting that out there on the down low! haha.

HAHA i heard that Mdizzle..volcom ties...on casual days around here i rock my globes/vans slip-ons and my volcom/quik/bong polo's...

we used to get harrassed by the boys back in the day for skating these drainage ditches in the little po-dunk town i grew up in kansas. it was the closest thing to pool we could find and we would rip that thing for hours and hours. i mastered the handplant on that thing. they used to chase us into the underground pips where's we'd just chill till they got tired of waiting for us to come out..hahahahaha

(Message edited by romes on January 27, 2009)

I've got a Volcom suit... it's pretty rad.

Also used to get harassed for skating all the time. The cops got called lots of times, never arrested though. We even had a guy run over a fun box and a kicker in his truck after yelling at us for skating in a parking lot... pretty ridiculous.

Nicely said Jarrod. I will say there is a belief that each generation has it easier than the prior and there is something to that. Each has the advantage of technology advancements,etc.

That said I cannot resist posting this picture after all the skating talk. This is me about 30 years ago at the Campbell Skate Park in Campbell CA. I couldn't afford nice gear but I had a nice board and rode it into the ground.

T

True that!!!

When I skated I used to get ran off from places all the time. I remember when the sport started becoming so big they actually started putting things on handrails to keep us from riding them. There was one cop who I knew by name because he took me home so many times.

I still have a sticker and a letter from the '88 Bones Brigade tour. I went to see them in Florence Alabama because it was the closest they came to where I lived. They had a raffle for a deck and a few t-shirts. When they got to the last item in the raffle it was a t-shirt. The guy drawing names said "this is the last t-shirt, who's going to get it?" I yelled my name as loud as I could. When he pulled the name out he just stood there for a second. He looked at me and said come get it. A week later I received a letter in the mail with some stickers in it. The letter was from the guy asking how I did it. I kept the letter and one of the stickers. The letter is on Powell Peralta stationary.

Killer pic Trevor!

Thanks M-Dizzle

T