Some
dude wrote a book about action sports. Then 4 guys
had this discussion about rollerbalders. Its fairly
stupid article.
Why hate inliners?
A good question. A few answers: It's pretty easy to
inline on a basic levelyour mom could probably pick
it up in a day. Inliners have never really had their
own identity, they've always kind of bit the style
of skateboardersand nobody likes a biter. Their trick
names are goofy (i.e. "fishbrain"). They
crowd skateparks and skate spots. Their equipment
is attached to their feet. Fabiola daSilva, widely
considered one of the top inliners in the world, is
a girl.
A guy named Jason Hines who is President, Mix Ride
Media and also Inline Competition Organizer, ESPN
X Games ROLLERBLADER wrote an excellent response.
Here is his response which I think is fantastic and
worth reading.
A letter in response to the expn article
by Jason Hines:
Hello Dave,
I just read the article written about
the book "Amped" which was recently reviewed
on the EXPN website. In the review, you were part
of a panel that fielded questions concerning the state
of action sports. While some of the questions were
answered intelligently and true, I would like to dispute
the answer to one of the questions, "why hate
inliners?" The word hate is a strong word. Usually
I would let such comments slide by as being made by
someone who is not educated on the subject that they
are talking about. However, being that I am Afro American
and have endured a fair amount of racism and non provoked
hate in my life, the word "hate" inspires
a lot of feelings inside me, one of which is to speak
my side as to help educate the "un-educated".
As a journalist you should know what they are speaking
about before you speak. I hope that you will stick
to the true integrity of your profession and post
my reply as it is written. I welcome discussions from
anyone who wishes to send an educated reply.
Here are the questions in bold with
my answers below them in plain text.
The article stated Why hate inliners?
A good question. A few answers:
*It's pretty easy to inline
on a basic levelyour mom could probably pick it up
in a day.
On the contrary, isnt it easy to
do anything on a basic level? Everywhere you look
there are senior citizens riding bikes. Also, it's
kinda ironic how many "wanna be" yuppies,
models, and middle age men you see riding Sector 9
long boards in every major city worldwide. Just because
they can ride a bike or ride a skateboard does not
mean they are related to the people doing the tricks.
With rollerblading, it's the same thing. If you have
ever taken a look at the clothes your mom wears when
doing it or the size of the wheels on her skates you
would notice it's as different from stunt rollerblading
as the other references I made
*Inliners have never really
had their own identity, they've always kind of bit
the style of skateboardersand nobody likes a biter.
If you take a look at both sports
you will notice three things:
1) Considering stunt rollerblading is a young sport,
many of the people who did it in the beginning were
skateboarders (late 1980s, early 1990s). Many of
the early icons in the sport were skateboarders who
were drawn in by the speed, progression and the endless
possibilities of what you can do on skates. Given
that they were not going to spring for a new wardrobe
just because they had found a new interest, the style
of rollerblading in the beginning was similar to that
of skateboarding at the time.
2) Have you ever seen footage from the glory days
of skating in Southern California? In that video,
the basic theme was the surfers taking surfing style
to the streets on their skateboards. From my observation,
it looks like the style of 1980's skateboarding stemmed
from another sport.....surfing. Many would argue that
skateboarding and surfing are the same culture, but
if you look at it today they are two completely different
styles. Maybe it's safe to say that a sport, in its
infancy, mimics the roots of its earliest icons. Makes
sense, doesn't it?
3) Rollerblading and skateboarding currently look
completely different style wise. About the only thing
shared is that many shirts might be made in the same
factory on the other side of the world. The similarities
end there.
*Their trick names are goofy
(i.e. "fishbrain").
Ah, the word goofy.. As a skater,
you should realize a trick name is a trick name for
a reason. You call it "goofy", we call it
"switch". You call it "bluntslide"
we call it "fishbrain". Not many people
outside of skateboarding know that the "ollie"
was named after Alan "Ollie" Gelfand. Ollie
was his nickname. Still, we do not question it. Before
you question our names you might want to ask yourself
"Do I know that Tom Fry, an Australian and an
early icon in rollerblading, was nicknamed "fishbrain"?
*They crowd skateparks and
skate spots.
Is the comment you are making that
"rollerbladers crowd skateparks" or that
"young rollerbladers crowd skateparks"?
If it is the first, then go to the
Spot in Tampa on a Friday night if you want to see
crowded chaos. Or go to FDR skatepark in Philly. Hell,
go to any good street session in any city worldwide.
My point here is that a session is a session. A chaotic,
packed session is an amazing session, skateboards
or rollerblades. Crowded can be a good thing.
If it is the latter, then go to any
skatepark that is child friendly and see how many
runaway skateboards clip your toes, only to be traced
to the beginners section. Kids will be kids in any
sport but they are our future so we must show them
the way, regardless of what they have on their feet.
Its amazing what you do when you teach a kid skatepark
etiquette. He/she actually ceases to feel nervous
and begins to enjoy the experience, thus becoming
a skateboarder/rollerblader for life. Once again,
crowded can be a good thing.
*Their equipment is attached
to their feet
Yes, our skates are attached to our
feet. For this reason we are driven to go bigger and
more technical than other sports... sounds a little
like snowboarding, doesnt it?
We are driven to find new ways to
push our limits. We are tempted to do double rotations
and 1260s on vert because they are attached to our
feet. We are compelled to do gaps that are 12 stair
flat 12 stairs, drop down elevator shafts, and
do 13 foot airs on an 12 foot vert ramp (I have the
picture) because they are attached to our feet. Our
videos are plagued with tricks that we are being towed
into by a car and we look for that..we have out grown
almost every competition street course because they
are attached to our feet.
Unfortunately, we break more bones,
knock out more teeth, cause more concussions, and
even lose our lives while skating (RIP Richard Taylor)
because of one reason.they are attached to our feet.
I must say, I was very disappointed
watching the skateboarding street contest at the X
Games last year. I respect, appreciate, and very much
like skateboarding. However, I had trouble watching
that competition. When some of the top, most progressive
tricks in a sport are being performed at knee level
(in my eyes, completely boring and totally unimpressive),
it makes me wonder why we are being ridiculed for
rollerblading because they are attached to our feet.
*Fabiola daSilva, widely considered
one of the top inliners in the world, is a girl.
There are a couple of things you should
learn about Fabiola before you ridicule rollerblading
in her name.
First, she is not the only girl who
is good. There are many and they are really good.
When she first began skating, she along with many
other women, were at a level of skating equivalent
to where womens vert skateboarding still is. However,
they saw themselves on the verge of being left behind
as the men began to progress. Fabiola decided that
she would not be left behind. Her and many others
made a conscious decision that they would have to
sacrifice a lot, including their pretty looks, to
progress in their sport. She, along with a few others,
decided progression was more important than pretty
knees and cute pink helmets. Slowly but surely, many
young girls began looking up to Fabiola and the others
and eventually joined the movement, making up the
current street skating womens scene. They break bones,
they knock out teeth, bleed, and hurt just like everyone
else in our sport. However, since they have pushed
so hard and gotten so far, there is no way they will
stop. They will continue to progress and their numbers
will continue to grow, with Fabiola leading the way.
Second fact is that she is an amazing
athlete. Not only is she one of the top rollerbladers
in the world, she is the best womens action sports
athlete. I guarantee you put her on a skateboard and
in 6 months she is by far the best womens vert skateboarder
in the world. I would issue the challenge but I know
that she would decline and has no interest in skateboarding
Third is that she is not afraid to
get hurt. As I mentioned above, Fabiola takes her
falls. She understood at a very early age that progression
meant taking the chances needed to establish your
limits and push beyond them. If you watch her skate,
she pumps the transition in the same manner as the
men in all sports. Thus, she has the ability to do
tricks similar to those of the men. I feel that what
is holding womens skateboarding back is the fact
that they are missing someone with Fabiolas toughness.
Womens skateboarding vert is at the same level as
our womens vert was in 1994. If a woman comes along
who is not afraid to attack the ramp in the same manner
that the men in skateboarding do then they will catch
up over time.
Fourth is that Fabiola is an amazing
skater, but by no means is she the best vert skater
in our sport. There are many men who are far ahead
of her ability. The reason you see her a lot at every
contest is that there are not many rollerbladers in
our sport. We usually field pro contests with about
15 skaters on vert, and there are only about 25 pro
vert skaters in the world. We are a young sport and
have a long way to go before we will have 15 or 20
skaters who are better than her. ---------------------------------------
Dave, I really hope this helps to
educate those who wish to know more about the words
they are speaking. Knowledge is the key to understanding
something as misunderstood as rollerblading. But I
do wish for you (or who ever made the comments above)
to answer me one question and help to educate me;
Why do you hate me?
You want us to go away from your world of action sports
and for the most part we have gone quietly. We are
out of the X Games as a competing sport and we havent
bitched. Our industry has been humbled and our numbers
have slipped because so many obese American children
wearing BAM shirts and playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater
say we are lame. The majority of core rollerbladers
have left your precious skateparks and knee high ledges
in search more challenging terrain. People dont associate
us with skateboarding anymore as skateboarding is
mainstream now and Independent t-shirts are now standard
back to school issue and gay men club attire.
Nothing against gay men but it proves
a point. Skateboarding represents everything that
you accuse rollerblading to be. We have no desire
to look like you, skate like you, chill with you,
idolize you, or even listen to the same music as you
do. We never did. We dont like to eat lunch with
you at school, or hang with you in bars. Its not
that we dont like skateboarders or even hate skateboarding,
despite being hated upon. Its just that we are NOT
skateboarders so why should we care what is going
on in your sport? We have our own culture to worry
about BECAUSE YOU WORRY ABOUT IT SO MUCH. I guess
we are the anti-jock (yeah.they skateboard now!),
underground, cant sell out cuz there aint no money
in it!, misunderstood, non conforming, grassroots,
for the love, and most under-the-radar sport IN ALL
OF ACTION SPORTS. In other words, we are everything
skateboarding used to be, which is probably why you
all feel so threatened by little old rollerblading.
Do you hate me now?
Sincerely,
Jason Hines
President, Mix Ride Media
Inline Competition Organizer, ESPN X Games
ROLLERBLADER
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