Posted on 08/14/2014 1:37:41 AM PDT by lee martell
About twenty years ago, I began seeing a return of the skateboard. Suddenly, the kids of today were using a hobby tool I had grown up seeing during the 1960s. I know how particular the kids of today are, how jaded they are about having access to the latest in movies, music and sporting events. They usually expect these to be made available free of charge or at a low cost. I was surprised that such a simple, low tech item would be acceptable, let alone popular. This latest wave of skateboard popularity has gone on for years, long enough to produce 35 year old men who still use their skateboard as transportation. I saw that very thing happen today, with a guy in a sport jacket and levis, speeding on the winding sidewalks near the lake as he chatted on his cell phone. Always the ubiquitous cellphone. If Dante's Inferno was rewritten today, the writer Dante Alighieri would have to include a cell phone within each of the Nine Circles Of Hell that he described so long ago. Many skateboarders spend almost as much time painting resurfacing, and lacquering their boards as a surfer spends on his surfboard. Some have a deep relationship with this 'magic carpet' this Private Pegasus that they have ridden during their formative years.
The popularity may be due to the fact that many schools, too many, have sharply reduced activity time at schools. So, unless you belong to one of the sport teams, you won't get very much exercise outside of walking from the computer laptop in the bedroom to the computer tablet kept on the kitchen countertop. Another possible reason why so many young people are reluctant to discard their skateboards is personal risk. For many people, the higher the risk of injury, death or social embarassment, the more exciting or 'fun' the activity will become. Many of today's playgrounds appear to have been designed to with lawyers and psychologists making at least 80% of the decisions on what will be built where. Some don't even have dirt on the ground, instead they will have ground up wood chips or sawdust. All this is presuming little Bobby and little Susie are too stupid to know not to eat Daffodil bulbs or dead sparrows along with their Michelle Obama approved lunches. So that may be it, people invite some measure of risk into their lives to spice up the priveledge of living, to accentuate the fact of their glowing health.
Maybe they are being subsidized by the orthopedic surgery industry.
We had our Snowball fights back in Detroit. The agreement among us kids was not to throw any snowballs at old people. or definitely not at anybody’s cars. The people with three personal cars parked on our street were always watching behind their curtains when we played in the streets. I recall a Mr. Jones running outside in t-shirt and long johns ‘brandishing’ a folded umbrella, because somebody’s child was sitting on the hood of his car eating a candy bar. He about lost it for a moment, till Mrs. Jones called him back into the house.
I had a neat, lime green “California somethingorother” board in the mid 70’s. It was molded plastic with neoprene (?) wheels, shaped like a fish - pointed on front, wide in the middle, and slender at back with a kicked-up tail. It was NOT a long board, but I used it like one - long hills, no tricks.
I was riding down a big hill with my friend timing me for speed when I began the familiar ever-expanding uncontrolled weave back and forth, after missing a big rock. I hung on past the timing line and ditched.
I took three or four GIANT steps and then went into a roll. Very badly sprained wrist, and a big bump on my unprotected head (asphalt), as I somersaulted to a stop in his yard.
The stopwatch said I was doing 19.5 mph. And yes, I tried again, on a better hill. 21 mph with no mishap, according to my friends dirt bike speedometer. That was the last time I did a speed trial... Lotsa fun as a teenager.
Is Tony Hawk still the King of Boards? He’s getting old by now. Surely, their must be a few good contenders for that crown, both boys and girls. I was less that happy to hear that Obama allowed Tony to film himself skateboarding through the White House corridors. Pandering for future voters, are we?
“Get off my lawn—er, car!”
Well to tell the truth my dad was highly irate when I joined the Corps. He said to join anything but. In my four years he only wrote me one letter and that was when his mom died. He retired from the Air Force in ‘71.
I’m guessing that since I joined during the Beirut stuff he didn’t want to lose his youngest son.
John Eldredge. If you haven’t read his books, check your library.
You're right, it wasn't stone......
This is the best picture of my skateboard that I could find as well as a link to one for sale on Ebay........Evidently the wheels were made of clay, which didn't really matter when your only surface was hills.....LOL!
“nonstop baseball/tackle-football/basketball/track-and-field/boxing/rockfights. “
Those were the days!
Generally, we’d burn out on a sport before the major leagues had held their championships and switch to the next in turn a month or so early.
I think they are sponsored by the FAIL video guys. Otherwise where would their material come from?
I mean half those videos start with some guy approaching an inclined handrail on a skateboard, and inevitably Mr Gravity and his cousin Mr Physics provide the remaining entertainment. I’m surprised any skateboarder still has his family jewels intact.
That is an interesting observation about the attraction of skateboarding to kids in divorce. In my limited experience, that seems true, now that you mention it.
Tony Geezer by nwow
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
I can't believe I found pictures of one just like it...
A lot of fun was had on that thing. Accompanied with many bumps, scrapes and bruises.
I haven’t seen a board like that in years. I never did have enough balance to ride one properly.
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