Pro Skaters Are On The Rise, Led By Tony Hawk

Grab your boards, boys and girls, it's time to get vertical.

Pro skating has been on the rise dramatically in recent years, reaching new heights with new tricks being exposed to an ever-expanding audience. There was a time when pro skating was invisible outside of skate parks where people who were not happy with being confined by gravity liked to play. The whole idea of the pro skater has undergone a major change in the last decade and a half. You say pro skater and your mom says, "I don't think so, get a real job." (unless she is really cool). The difference today is that your mom actually gets scared you might do it. All movements need a leader and who better to lead the flock than the birdman himself, Tony Hawk.

Since you only know me as a Review sports editor you may think that I am an avid fan of all sports. The truth is that I am struggling to even pretend I know something about some sports. The same is true with skating.

When I got my first board I used it mainly for riding down my sloped driveway into the street. My stance wasn't goofy footed, it was goofy. Soon afterwards, my board found its resting place in the back of my closet, and the glamour of being a skater (or more accurately a poseur) faded. I probably didn't get on a board again until some high school party where getting drunk and falling off a skateboard was cool again. I am not even sure how to spell ollie (a move developed by Robert Mullen within the last 20 years) much less do one (technically, I know how to do one, but knowing and doing are two different things, and I got tired of eating pavement).

So, it is clear I am no skater but that doesn't keep me from being a fan. And although I don't routinely follow pro skating, I do check up now and again. Whenever I am channel surfing I always get stuck on the X-Games if they happen to be on, and I have "wasted" (according to my mother) many a night on "Tony Hawk Pro Skater," the popular Playstation game.

Speaking of Tony Hawk, let's get to something that might actually interest you.

He's also the only pro from the early 1980s to continually progress, and who is still one of the sport's primary innovators. He's lived the life for almost two decades, and has seen everything that's happened to skateboarding from that unique vantage of his.

Hawk became the first person to ever successfully perform a 900 at the X-Games in San Francisco on June 27, 1999. He didn't do it in competition and he faltered several times before finally sticking it, but he did it. For those of you don't know, a 900 is two and a half revolutions. That impresses my knowledge of physics.

Hawk just came out with a book called Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder. The book follows Hawk's skating career but also spreads out to the skating community, relating stories of all his skating friends and his family, which are very important to Hawk.

The book also mentions some of the low points of Hawk's career, like the time a crowd of 4000 people turned into an angry mob because Hawk was too sick to do a skating demo. Anybody notice the key part of that situation? That's right, 4000 people showed up! You can doubt Hawk's cultural significance if you want, but when was the last time 4000 people showed up to watch you do anything?

A similar incident happened more recently at the Seattle skate park. The park was filled with spectators for the opening party for the Quicksilver Boardriders Club. The main event? Tony Hawk, of course. After the demos Hawk spent over an hour signing autographs for fans on everything from hats to McDonalds bags. The event featured lots of local skaters but it was clear that Hawk was the main attraction.

And how do so many people know his name? That's easy. He has a Playstation game (actually two of them) featuring him along with other pro skaters such as Ellisa Streamer, Chad Muska, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, Kareem Cambell and many more. Not only do these games allow those of us that are a little more vertically challenged to pull off a varial or 540 method but they also introduce us to the world of skating. Well, anyway it's a far cry from the 8-bit Skate or Die of my earlier days.

On Nov. 10, Hawk showed up to help open a massive museum exhibit at the San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park, which documents his career as a professional skateboarder. It was Memorial Day and kids were out of school so the place was swamped.

"I'll tell you, this is the largest crowd we've ever had for any athlete," Bob Breitbard, the museum's founder said to ESPN.com.

Skating is on the rise everywhere. Hawk is not the only figure to be seen. I was walking to the Feve early last week (before the election) when one of the friendly skaters that like to inhabit the octagonal dais that is in front of Warner for some reason shouted at me, "Don't give a damn, Vote for Bam."

I didn't know what was more surprising. The fact that Bam was running for president or that I actually knew who he was. He is Bam Margera, a skater and a moviemaker. A couple of weeks ago I was hanging out with some friends in Cleveland and they popped in a video to watch. It just happened to be CYK2K, one of Bam's movies. If skaters can run for president, they can do anything.

As long as we are closer to home, let's talk a little about skating at Oberlin. Last year there was that ExCo class, "the all girls skateboarding posse" (sounds like it rocks to me). I actually read in the security notebook earlier this year that security had to chase people off to keep them from skating in front of Warner. First, I'm not sure why this occurred because I see people skating there all the time. Second, why wouldn't they be able skate there? Third, what else can you expect if you build that stupid octagon thing there?

I see lots of community kids skating in front of Warner, and I think it is damn cool. We should build them a whole damn skate park. Skating should not be discouraged because it is dangerous or because for some reason some one links it to vagrancy - I know popular opinion at my house was that skaters were hoodlums.

In his book, Hawk tells how he was extremely skinny and not even able to do a handstand when he started skating. He is now a very able athlete. If skating can give any kid a way to overcome his physical inabilities, then it is a good pasttime.

I am glad not only that pro skating is on the rise but that it has produced an icon. Hawk has given kids somebody to look up to as an alternative role model. Hawk is now officially retired from pro skating, but he continues to skate and innovate. Well, that's enough blabbing, I have to go play a little bit more Tony Hawk Pro Skater on my Playstation.