May 2nd, 2008 | fongstarr |

The Island…..apparently where hopes are dreams are still kept alive. Homeboy above was from Portland and had aspirations of being pro skater one day. Didn’t want to tell him that his skills weren’t up to par, so I let him live the dream for what it is. I am not one to say jack anyways and he was a nice kid and I support whoever has the drive to be what they want to be. Interesting topic though. Skating has become almost one of the most successful marketing concepts to date. Proof comes from the Maloof Bros. doing their own spin off of the X-Games and fronting over $400,000 of winnings to the skaters with the best run….courtesy of fortune 500 companies that are backing up this event and making extreme sport seem like a circus show. The drive of the Maloof Bros. is exploiting a good thing when it’s hot. You have some serious heavy hitting skaters that are confirmed on this event, ranging from the talented (Dennis Booze-N-Tits), to the famous (Mr. Dyrdek), to the infamous (Ryan Sheckler), or maybe I should say most hated but loved. In the long run, these skaters are marketable and talented, something I did not see in Mr. Portland up above. Being nice can get you so far but when you got a shitty look, (gay as it may sound), no one is going to slap your name on any shoe. Fuck! Wait…..there’s Cory Duffel. I retract what I say.

And FYI to my fellow SF skate junkies. After talking to some locals, skaters have been a big target lately in (supposedly) keeping the streets clean of whatever the hell skaters do. I heard they’re not even handing out tickets and are setting some dumb examples by cuffing skaters first and asking questions later. Rookie cops are trying to get some stripes in the force so beware where you mobb. On another related crappy note, I’ve also heard that the SF skate park will not open at its destined date of July 4^th. According to the Slap Boards, the city will not allow skaters to skate the park until the contractors have finished the park as a whole, which includes the soccer field that requires some serious overhaul. I am sure their will be some setups for a petition to follow but nothing is confirmed at this time. I’ll make sure to let you all know what’s up.