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Skate Boarding a Extreme Sport ?????

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,037 ✭✭✭shagman


    Aaahh ........that'd be why I've never heard of them then!

    I've never watched the olympics, I don't row, I don't run marathons.There is no good reason that I should have heard of them, is there?
    Should I be a "fan" watching them on TV and "joining in their glory" proud of my country and proud of my team as I eat another takeaway before headin down de pub?
    I think not!
    I don't play any sports so don't read the sports section in the paper, I hit scan when the sports news comes on the radio after the news.I don't like sport. I like skateboarding, BMX, surfing, snowboarding , and very occassionally mountain biking and wakeboarding. And I mean I like doing them not being a "fan" of them.

    I opted out of all that a long time ago .

    There is of course people I respect and admire, people like..... Bob Haro, Duane Peters, Mark Gonzales, Rodney Mullen, RL Osborn, John Palfryman, Glen E Freidman, Jello Biafra, Futura 2000, Noam Chomsky, Christian Hosoi. Perhaps not houshold names in your social circle and I wouldn't expect them to be, but they are in mine.
    Mainstream culture is not the only option.
    Heres an interesting article to give you an insight into the culture I chose and why we strive so hard to defend it from the effects of mass culture , consumerism and exploitation.
    http://www.be-mag.com/updates/0504/050413_skateboarding_vs_inline.htm


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    Fibbo, I'm really happy that you can respect football players and olympic rowers but sadly, I couldn't give a flying pig over a blue moon about them because it does not interest me. I still watch the odd game of footy and wimbledon if I'm in the mood for it but it is a rare thing these days, I have nicer things to look at and spectate which I enjoy retrieving information from.

    Try the sports forum maybe, I'm sure you'll find more people that are interested in what makes you tick there? Instead of being the supposedly clever one, attempting to bully people with his way of thinking and choices. To each their own you big ole sheep.

    Ever heard of Umberto Pelizarri, Jacques Mayol a.ka. l'homme dauphin, Giorgio Dapiran or PJ Ladd -- save target as for the last two video clips, the last one requires quicktime player.

    Probably not but welcome to my world you big troll, my diving world has about ten times the satisfaction and pleasure when compared to some grunt trying to get recognised for his muscle, such as an olympic rower, I do what I do for me, not because I feel worthless and need recognition from the masses or have poor self esteem.

    I was playing EXTREEEME Badminton last night and it was great fun, sponsored by pepsi MAXXXXX! GET ENERGY WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST! I'm not too cool for anything I'm afraid and I'll try everything. Unlike your closet-door-minded way of thinking. I loved football, tennis, badminton, squash and swimming for many years, they were my mainstream sports. Funnily enough, I got older and figured out what I liked most, after experimenting and keeping an open mind -- instead of beating on people for the choices that they make in what they choose to do -- attempting to be the sensible one, which you certainly are not, sadly.

    What do you mean go home and start looking through the employment section before someone grows a second head? Skaters have jobs too -- just like everyone else, we're not all degenerate scum but there are a lot of muppets that give it a bad name -- just like football hooligans, shockingly enough. The difference is I choose not to lump everyone into the same boat and stereotype or label them like your weak mind does.

    I respect most peoples choices but I can't respect yours, you have a very poor attitude for someone attempting to be sensible, by fussing over unimportant details instead of enjoying your life and work. Go row down a river or something please.

    Pop quiz! Why should we care who they are if it is of no interest to us?

    There's just one last thing that springs to mind with regards your initial question Fibbo. Have you ever stood at the top of a big vertical ramp with a skateboard/blades or rollerskates and attempted to 'drop-in'? If the answer is no, then skateboarding is a VERY EXTREEEEME sport, if the answer is yes -- you would not have needed to ask your question in the first place!

    Now, I think that brings this big debacle to an end, don't you?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    Buddy you relax. Iam not trying to bully anyone. For the record I have no time for soccer players. Who are nothing more then over paid models. I respect Steve Redgrave and Paula Radcliffe not for just further extreme physical attributes but for there mental persistence. Have you ever seen Redgrave you'd see more meat on a stringy rasher. I not beating on anyone about the type of sports they play. I think its great that people try new things. I don't maintain that iam anymore sensible then anyone else. Iam just stating a fact I DO NOT BELIEVE SKATEBOARDING TO BE A EXTREME SPORT. No more extreme then say soccer or hockey anyway, and my Illiterate friend I never said anything about looking through the employment section for a new job you'll find that that was Shagman and Buddy I may not of stood on a vertical drop but I've abseiled 30 feet down the side of a Sheer cliff to go caving for eight hours only to have to swim out of the cave to safety. It may not of been yesterday or last week but vie done it. It seem s to me the only one trying to bully anyone here is you. I've asked a reasonable question. Which you don't like and have taken offence to it seems to me that your the only one closed minded around here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    Ok Fibbo, ignore all my post and focus on the 3rd last line of my last post this time around then you can read this one.

    You don't know skateboarding and are merely making assumptions, it was extreme enough to cost me two broken ankles (several other injuries) and surgery on both occasions, not extreme enough for you yet? OK..

    That didn't happen to me when I was abseiling down a massive cliff and it was 10x milder compared to skating once you don't have a fear of heights. Abseiling is a walk in the park compared to taking a skateboard down a 10 stair handrail or set of steps, or simply dropping in on a vert ramp. Getting air out of said ramp or any ramp is a whole other ballgame. It is very extreme indeed. Assume all you want but you just don't know and continue to make your assumptions.

    I've tried a lot of different things throughout the years and I'm telling you the facts based on my personal experiences. Still you refuse to listen, now you're playing the poor innocent victim who started this thread with a weak argument that I'm seeing through to the bitter end because I disagree.

    Go do some speeding down a smooth mountain hill at 25+kmph on a skateboard or longboard for me. You could simply go to Howth to do that too, there have even been races but you probably don't know about that either.

    Skating is very, very tough-going and extremely dangerous (notice my use of the word extreme several times during this post?).

    Go jump down a set of 20 stairs with a skateboard under your feet then tell me it's not extreme again. I'm just a big ole bully moderator am I, hohoho! If you want a new forum for skateboarding related threads why don't you request that to the powers that be instead of posting it here. I don't have the power to open up a purely skateboarding forum, the people who run and own this site do that so ask them if it bugs you so much.

    I am perfectly relaxed. There you go making assumptions again. Do you presume/assume everything all the time?

    Go watch some 'slam' sections from skate videos please, watch the ankles snapping, heads smashing on concrete and guys doing their nads in on 15stair handrails -- then come back again and tell me that it does not belong in this forum. It does, just like any of the other sports you mention but you refuse to accept it because you have no experience with it. Ever seen someone get ejected out the side of a 12+ft vert ramp and hit the concrete? How pathetic and not extreme :rolleyes:

    What you are stating is not fact, it is -- just as you said in your last post, "I DO NOT BELIEVE SKATEBOARDING TO BE AN EXTREME SPORT."

    Your beliefs don't come into the equation, the facts do and I have stated and even made suggestions, so as you can discover the facts but -- you choose to ignore them and fluff us around with your ridiculous beliefs.

    Further back up the thread you also stated that, "Well for starters what is so extreme about skate boarding to warrant the name extreme i cant see it. where is the element of danger or determination. Skate boarding doesn't exactly require the grulling months of training or mental stamina of say a tri atlon or even a maraton. But may be i may lack perspective?"

    The only thing you're right about there is your lack of persepective but a maybe just won't cut the cheese chief.

    You can't see the element of danger because the people you have seen have been practising not for months but YEARS and are highly skilled and probably very fit too. The trick about skating is, the more you learn, the easier it looks to everyone else and that is your delusion. It's also why I am making a stand to defend it. I won't have some nonce with no experience come tell me the way things are when they are not that way, I like the facts and I can't stand bull****.

    If it weren't for dumb spectators we'd be getting a helluva lot more respect out of joe shmoe who has never stood on a board before. This is the very reason why only skaters can appreciate skaters and the general masses like you see it as a walk in the park, a doss or whatever you believe it to be.

    You should come see the guys who I used to see that would say to me in the street when I was around 15 or so, "give me that board and I'll do that, that's easy!" Whom then proceeded to skull****
    themselves and limp off battered and bruised after attempting to
    a) stand on a board
    b) do a trick with the board
    c) get the thing moving.

    It takes balance, practice, a lot of time, energy, precision and skill, not to mention balls of steel before you attempt anything remotely dangerous on it.

    You're talking about YEARS of training for skateboarding, not months. oh and I don't mean 2 years, I mean 3-5years before you get comfortable and develop some skills -- stop absolutely obliterating yourself attempting whatever it is you're attempting because it's that hard.

    ok, I'm all done and nicely relaxed. Can skateboarding qualify as an extreme sport yet please?

    Sorry I'm not making full use of my grammar to post on a bulletin board. I'm not your buddy either, nor am I your friend. I love the personal attacks there and with regards the illiterate business -- personal attacks are not tolerated and you have made several during the course of this thread. I suggest you pull up your socks, read the site rules and relax yourself, before I show you the door and lock it for good.

    Having spent a long time as a freelance writer, that's the funniest thing that anyone has ever said to me, especially considering they can't spell themselves.

    Victim? OH HELP, I'M BEING OPPRESSED! :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    Alright mate. First off any personal attacks I may of invertible made I have apologised for the same can not be said of you. Secondly I see you bought completely into the hype and marketing, and for that I feel sorry for you. So keep living Live to the max and keeping things extreme and watch out for the Volkswagen






    MAYBE YOU'VE BEEN BRAINWASHED TO


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    I dont think its extreme and i think agree that the forum should be renamed


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    Yes fibbo, I think we already established this, didn't we? I hate to dissapoint you but I'm not a brand names man either. I don't buy into the hype. I hate the way skateboarding has been consumed with that rubbish. When I hear the word extreme skateboarding -- I cringe but I did want to try and highlight for you why it has been labelled so and why it falls into this forum, still you're not listening . I've heard your weak argument many times and the chune hasn't changed since I gave you a bucket load of facts in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

    I was joking with the extreme bit in case you didn't catch that too but it doesn't matter since you're so stubborn. I do what I do for me, not for you, pepsi max nor anybody else. The last thing I need is your pity or sympathy. Why don't you go and feel sorry for some bum on the street who can't buy a meal or put a roof over his head, alternatively you could donate to a charity. They need your sympathy, I do not.

    Nothing but pathetic assumptions about me too, based on my choice of hobbies/sports/lifestyle which you can only make guesses about based on your beliefs (AGAIN! With no facts whatsoever, SHOCK HORROR!).

    I don't drink pepsi pepsi max either, I drink water when doing sports or working out. I don't buy a skateboard/shoes/t-shirts or anything else because it is made by a particular person/company or a particular skater is sponsored by them. I buy it because I like it for it's shape/comfort/colour/flavour or whatever the case may be. On the other hand, yourself -- knowing a little bit about marketing, thinks he has the real answer to why that is the case, when it certainly is not.

    I have been conditioned by society like everyone, yes, far from brainwashed though. Still you continue to assume and presume due to your weak beliefs and lack of experience in a given area and you continue to ignore and deny the facts.

    You're the only brainwashed one around here, hiding from the truth and making up your own one because you lack experience in any given area and what it entails -- the good, the bad and the ugly alike.

    You're full of maybe, belief, possibility, presumptions and assumptions, still yet to get anything concrete from you yet. You have yet to put forward a decent argument apart from your rubbish about brainwashed kids and marketing, which you have only seen and known one side of.

    I don't live life to the max either -- here we go again making assumptions because you have a vivid imagination of what a skater must be in your mind.

    Let me try to shed some light on it for you one last time to see if you are in fact, capable of taking anything in, as opposed to running around like a loon with the most vivid imagination known to man -- then I shall indeed rest my case.

    I have many hobbies, skateboarding happens to be one of them, like tennis and soccer were years ago. You cannot accept this because it falls outside your supposed norms and you were only exposed to one side of what seems abnormal to you since you have no experience in the field or in the trenches as it were.

    You know that here in France, people leave their offices for 2-3hrs at lunch time? Some go skating for a bit to get some exercise and then go back to the office to work. Exactly like the guy who goes for a quick swim, or the one who goes for a nap, or the lads that go kick a football around the park, or the people that go to the tennis/badminton/squash/basketball courts for a quick run around, it feels good to get exercise and be active.

    I feel sorry for you, for never having opened a few more doors in your life and having preferred to remain in your closet, dreaming, imagining what was outside, then believing what you imagined -- instead of getting out to experience it and make up your own mind based on fact, not rubbish.

    I don't skate around moving vehicles either but I'm very happy that you are giggling at the idea that someone might get run over by a car. I've seen some nasty accidents and there's nothing funny about that -- ever seen someone get thrown 6-8M down Leeson Street by a 46A like a ragdoll because they decided to read their paper on the way to the office, while crossing the road?

    I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even you, much as I dislike your attitude. I don't wish you any harm, just that you'd simply open up a bit more, instead of closing up and rebutting with the same inital junk you started out on in opening this thread.

    I suspect that you're still the biggest troll I've come across since I had the 3 billy goats gruff read to me as a small child though?

    Go make your request in the feedback/suggestions forum and request a name change if it bothers you so much because you can't stand your working life. Marketing has brainwashed you in a much more severe fashion than it could ever hope to affect me bucko.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    Iam still waiting for my apology kiddo. Give it time an youll see the error of your ways. Ive seen it all before. So I can understand if you dont wanna apologise.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    I really havent got time to be wasting with Kids anyway. I was never really giving this my full attention anyway.I really think you should take a look at your previous posts. If anyone has been dismissing anything casually out of hand its been you. Muscles on Paula Radcliff... .sniger..sniger BUT SKATEBOARDING IS NOT EXTREME AND IT NEVER WILL BE FACT. So live with it Kiddo


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,207 ✭✭✭meditraitor


    Watch this if you still think boarding is not extreme(normal boarding activities), your average joe could never do this even wiht practice

    http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2648317?refsite=7063&ns=1

    a) It requires extremely high levels of physical fitness
    (b) It requires extremely high levels of specialised skill/natural talent
    (c) Only an extremely small proportion of the population have the natural ability / talent to even take part in the sport
    (d) There is an extremely high risk of getting injured
    (e) There is an extremely high risk of getting seriously injured
    (f) There is an extremely high risk of death

    a,b,c,d,e in my book,,,
    ban this :D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    I Watched but iam still not convinced for something to be trully extreme it should be truly death defying like evil conivil. One should need need to worry about boken legs but broken backs or crushed skulls.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,634 ✭✭✭Enduro


    That video is of one of the top exponents of skateboarding. Ranking the whole sport based on this would be equivalnet to ranking soccer based on the skills that Pele had. It would be no reflection on soccer in general, an the levels of fitness and skill required. Same with that video and skateboarding.

    So I don't see how skateboarding requires
    (a) extreme physical fitness. I just don't see it. Does it takes months of physical training before you can even take part in the sport (i.e skate at all). It does for sports like Ultra Running or Adventure Racing. You literally could not take part in the sport without extreme physical fitness.
    (c) Only an extremely small proportion of the population can even take part in the sport. Surely not. Are you trying to say that only an extremely small proportion of the population could EVER ride a skateboard. I seriously doubt that. Compare that to something like, say, freediving, or Base Jumping. Only a tiny propotion of the population have the physical/mental ability to take part in those sports, at any level, not just expert level.(e) Broken bones (or crushed nads!) are not serious injuries. Ask an A&E doctor. They're nowhere near life threatening. They just hurt and are temporarily debilitating. I don't see where the high risk of genuinly serious injuries is in skateboarding.

    I'll happily concede you (b), that it takes high levels of specialised skill, that takes either a lot of natural talent, or a lot of practice to attain, and (d) that there is an extremely high risk of (minor) injury. But these 2 criteria apply to loads of sports which aren't considered extreme. Hurling, to use a good local example, would seem to have equally high skill levels and injury risk, as well as requiring a bit more physical stamina. It would probably be easier to list sports that weren't "extreme", if these were the only criteria required.

    So I still don't see why skateboarding shjuld be considered an extreme sport.

    Again, its not that I don't like it, or don't think its a good sport, or better or worse than any other sport, just that its not anywhere near as extreme as many other sports out there that aren't labelled extreme.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,207 ✭✭✭meditraitor


    Enduro wrote:
    That video is of one of the top exponents of skateboarding. Ranking the whole sport based on this would be equivalnet to ranking soccer based on the skills that Pele had. It would be no reflection on soccer in general, an the levels of fitness and skill required. Same with that video and skateboarding.

    So I don't see how skateboarding requires
    (a) extreme physical fitness. I just don't see it. Does it takes months of physical training before you can even take part in the sport (i.e skate at all). It does for sports like Ultra Running or Adventure Racing. You literally could not take part in the sport without extreme physical fitness.
    (c) Only an extremely small proportion of the population can even take part in the sport. Surely not. Are you trying to say that only an extremely small proportion of the population could EVER ride a skateboard. I seriously doubt that. Compare that to something like, say, freediving, or Base Jumping. Only a tiny propotion of the population have the physical/mental ability to take part in those sports, at any level, not just expert level.(e) Broken bones (or crushed nads!) are not serious injuries. Ask an A&E doctor. They're nowhere near life threatening. They just hurt and are temporarily debilitating. I don't see where the high risk of genuinly serious injuries is in skateboarding.

    I'll happily concede you (b), that it takes high levels of specialised skill, that takes either a lot of natural talent, or a lot of practice to attain, and (d) that there is an extremely high risk of (minor) injury. But these 2 criteria apply to loads of sports which aren't considered extreme. Hurling, to use a good local example, would seem to have equally high skill levels and injury risk, as well as requiring a bit more physical stamina. It would probably be easier to list sports that weren't "extreme", if these were the only criteria required.

    So I still don't see why skateboarding shjuld be considered an extreme sport.

    Again, its not that I don't like it, or don't think its a good sport, or better or worse than any other sport, just that its not anywhere near as extreme as many other sports out there that aren't labelled extreme.

    :rolleyes: sophistry baby.

    Pele my hole, thats a stupid analogy,

    How is kicking a leather ball around a grass pitch like skateboarding

    A, Any gobsh1t could take part in exteme running, or adventure racing (they dont have to finish). It does take months of skating to get to a point were these tricks can even be attempted.

    C,anyone can take part in extreme sport, my granny could go out tommorrow and buy a parachut , jump of a fjord somewhere, or simply dive out of an aeroplane. Just need the gahones dude,

    onnly messing- your right Skateboarding is for pussy's :eek:

    M


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,634 ✭✭✭Enduro


    Pele my hole, thats a stupid analogy,

    Nowhere near as stupid as that response!
    How is kicking a leather ball around a grass pitch like skateboarding

    (1) they are both sports
    (2) almost anyone can do either to some degree
    (3) It takes a lot of paractice and/or natural ability to do either really really well.
    (4) Neither seems in the slightest bit extreme to me
    A, Any gobsh1t could take part in exteme running, or adventure racing (they dont have to finish). It does take months of skating to get to a point were these tricks can even be attempted.

    To be an ultra runner you have to complete (not just start) an ultra run. Very few people can do that. Only a very small proportion of the population can do that. Likewise with adventure racing. To be a skater you have to be able to ride a skateboard. Most people can do that.
    C,anyone can take part in extreme sport, my granny could go out tommorrow and buy a parachut , jump of a fjord somewhere, or simply dive out of an aeroplane. Just need the gahones dude,

    Thats exactly the point I was making with Base Jumping. Only a very small proportion of the population have the "gahones" needed! (And there is very good scientific evidence to support this). Any eejit has the ability to jump off a cliff. Its only a very rare looney has the nerve to actually do it.
    your right Skateboarding is for pussy's

    Ahh come on now! I never said that, and I never would. As far as I'm concerned all sports are good. Nothing wrong with skateboarding at all. And there is no doubt that it takes extremely high skill levels to be really good at it (Like the vast majority of sports).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,207 ✭✭✭meditraitor


    Enduro wrote:
    Ahh come on now! I never said that, and I never would. As far as I'm concerned all sports are good. Nothing wrong with skateboarding at all. And there is no doubt that it takes extremely high skill levels to be really good at it (Like the vast majority of sports).

    and your point is

    http://dir.yahoo.com/recreation/sports/extreme_sports/


    this is a link for your attention brother, google Extreme sports also,, skating is there everytime


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    fibbo wrote:
    I really havent got time to be wasting with Kids anyway. I was never really giving this my full attention anyway.I really think you should take a look at your previous posts. If anyone has been dismissing anything casually out of hand its been you. Muscles on Paula Radcliff... .sniger..sniger BUT SKATEBOARDING IS NOT EXTREME AND IT NEVER WILL BE FACT. So live with it Kiddo

    Fantastic, I love it when people call you a child out of mere desperation.
    Go watch Arto Saari in the Flip 'Sorry' video then tell me skateboarding is not death defying everyone. Maybe a bit of Jamie Thomas or Heath Kirchart or a trip to a vert ramp to watch you 'drop in' could do the trick but what's the point? You do not listen and you certainly do not comprehend it in the slightest. You're a stubborn old mule who thinks he's got things tapped and is clued in because he has a job he hates, that in turn, affects his way of thinking due to what he has been forced to take on board to make his trade worthwhile and profitable.

    Definitely no apology coming, nope, sorry chump. Want to take over as moderator? I couldn't be arsed having to deal with people like you anymore. I have better things to do with my time :rolleyes:
    I'm sure you'll do a much better job of it anyway.

    You're akin to Alicia Silverstone in 'Clueless' -- you think you know but still haven't given us a shred of evidence to back up your points, I've given a little and attempted to explain but it is beyond your weak minded comprehension.

    You're full of $hit you spend too much time thinking and talking about irrelevant details -- probably a result of your brainwashing from the training you were required to complete for marketing purposes.

    You are a poor ickle sheep that goes bleet bleet, let the flames come forth big kid! You have to be the most retarded person I have come across on these forums to date and I don't need to have to deal with you or listen to your pathetic arguments. I certainly don't need some supposedly fully grown man go, 'waaaaah, waaaaaah, waaaaah and throw his toys and dummy out of the pram in an attempt to get high and mighty' because he can't argue a simple point he puts forward.

    If you weren't paying attention you wouldn't have been on here with your weak replies daily, not to mention double posting and forgetting to use the edit button because you're a bit dim. Now you're attempting to cover up your own motives because you're realising what a moron you are for starting this pathetic thread in the first place.

    All I hear out of you is wakka wakka wakka, I think it's Fozzy bear, hang on until I go find Kermit and Little Ms Piggy to keep you company.

    HOLY ROLLERSPORTS BATMAN, EVERY SEARCH ENGINE ON THE INTERNET LISTS SKATEBOARDING AS AN EXTREME SPORT!

    In summary, I would like to say that my Daddy is right, if you ask a stupid question, you will get a stupid answer. I don't get it though because teacher always told me there was no such thing as a stupid question, can you help me please Fibbo? I need guidance with this one.....


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,634 ✭✭✭Enduro


    and your point is ... this is a link for your attention brother, google Extreme sports also,, skating is there everytime

    I don't doubt it, but thats (I think) the whole point of the thread. There are a few people here questioning what is it about skateboarding that makes it "extreme". If "extreme" is just a marketing term, then fine, whatever sport the marketing crew are selling to can be deemed extreme. Personally I've a different idea of what should make a sport extreme, as I outlined in posts above. And to my mind, using these criteria, Skateboarding is not an extreme sport. (And that is my point).

    So can you tell me what you think makes skateboarding "extreme" as compared to other sports, (as opposed to just pointing out that someone on the web classifies it as such). Thats a genuine question.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    Holy smokes, a genuine question, well I'll be damned!

    Just try skating a vertical ramp like Tony Hawk or any other big name skater, seen Danny way drop out of a helicopter into a vert ramp -- or some guy clearing 10 odd trucks with two ramps between them -- it's insane, you can't comprehend until you've tried, that is all there is to it.

    I rest my case now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,037 ✭✭✭shagman


    (1) they are both sports
    (2) almost anyone can do either to some degree
    (3) It takes a lot of paractice and/or natural ability to do either really really well.
    (4) Neither seems in the slightest bit extreme to me

    Only one out of four right , you'll have to try harder

    1 . Football is a sport , skateboarding is far more than that ..

    It becomes part of who you are as much as playing an instrument makes you a musician, It encompases elements of art, music, design and sport and is being expressed in as many different styles as there are skaters. I have never heard the terms soccer-art, soccer-rock. Skate art, skaterock yes, skateboarding has put it's own individual stamp on music, art, journalism, video production, architecture, clothing and footwear design, social struture, travel and political thought.
    That is why terms like "it's a way of life" "to the max" and "extreme" really grate the nerves of true believers. It is the hi-jacking of our beliefs, the debasement of our culture. And for what, so our enemy the rich guy in the suit and tie can sell more product!

    2. Not true, most people fall straight on their ass as soon as they try to stand on a skateboard. Most people learn to kick a ball a few months after learning to walk. Would you send a toddler down a hill on a skateboard? Would you roll a ball towards him/her for them to kick

    3. True ,.....well done thats 25%! Well in the case of skateboarding It takes a lot of practice and/or natural ability AND Massive cojones.
    Confronting an opposing team is one thing confronting your own fears and conquering them is another. The "must defeat the evil enemy" psychology doesn't work so well when it's just you and the trick you've wanted to land for the last year.
    I'll concede thats an assumption as I've never played anything other than school team football, but I do believe that all our greatest demons lie within.

    4. Let me guess you've tried football (who hasn't, almost anyone can do THAT to some degree) but you don't skate. You've seen it on telly though and it looks easy enough. Maybe you've rolled around a bit without falling off , so heh it can't be that great a step to being able to drop steps and grind on vert? Tell me if I'm wrong here, please do, but you show me someone whos not impressed with the diffuculty, balls, stamina, determination etc involved in skating and I'll show you a non skater. Hey surfing looks easy too , try having a go of that and then talkin this brand of nonsense witha lungfull of seawater!

    I have a mate in England who owns a barber shop, last time he was away with us snowboarding he told us about this kid who was in the day before he left. The subject of the impending snowboard holiday came up and the Kid goes " yeah I'd love to have a go at that , I'd be really GREAT at it................
    I'm wicked at playing it on playstation". My mate nearly lopped his ear off laughing. Playstation doesn't include aching muscles from long uphill hikes in powder snow, or broken collarbones or on the flip side pure joy and freedom and the feeling of surfing on clouds. If it did hell even I'd buy one!!!!
    Your attitude is the same as the kids.

    Alas....

    As much as I hate to say it I do actually agree with the statement that skateboarding isn't an extreme sport.

    But obviously for hugely different reasons from either Endure or Biffo . Extreme is a comparitive term and it depends what you compare it to.
    At one time hunting large wild animals with spears was considered a part of daily life, too todays supermarket shoppers it would be regarded as extreme.

    "I'm just going down to Tescos dear do you want anything".
    "It's allright love I went out up the Wicklow hills last night and killed a deer using a hatchet I fashioned from a rock and a branch, we've enough venison for a month" :D

    I don't think what I do is particularly extreme , work colleagues and normal folk generally do. It's them that are the pussys. In a media cocooned westernised consumer society the vast majority of people seem to me to be slowly dieing doing bugger all but living through the actions of media created characters, working to consume to work anaesthatised to real life experience. Skateboarding is not a clever catchline ,it is not a marketing strategy, it is hard work and huge rewards, it is pain and fear and finding the strength to overcome both, it is cruising down a hill on a sunny day simply being happy, it is that FU(K YES feeling when you land a trick. It is real experience.

    Enduro all you're guilty of is asumption.Try to skate and you'll eat your words, GUARANTEED!

    Biffo you are guilty of believing your own hype or rather the hype of your industry , yes the marketing men have tried to put a label on skateboarding and put skaters on a pedestal of coolness. I get the distinct impression that you think that this is why we skate.
    When I started skating GAA and soccer were cool and as a skateboarder and a BMXer I was more seen as a social lepor rather than a trendsetter. I was being told I was too old for skateboarding 20 years ago. Sorry I can't validate your existance or the existance of your industry for you. Advertising plays to the weak minded and weak willed. Weak minded and weak willed people have neither the imagination nor determination to skateboard for any longer than a couple of weeks , if that.

    I say the majority of skateboarding is not Extreme (Danny Way etc being the obvious exceptions) it just appears so to the masses as they descend ever deeper into the mire of lameness!
    Neither is it a sport, to compare it to soccer , marathon running or any other "sport" does skating a great injustice. It does not fit the mould of sport because it is greater and more expansive than that term can ever encapsulate. Yes it does have things in common with surfing , BMX and snowboarding but none of them are really at home in the sport category either. A suitable collective label does not exist. And doesn't need to.

    Other than giving a handy title for a forum that is. :rolleyes:

    All I wanted was a pepsi , just one pepsi , and she wouldn't give it to me , put me in an institution , said it was the only solutuion , protect me from the enemy myself.
    Now I'm off to rip it up extreme style to the max :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 363 ✭✭thafitz


    fibbo wrote:
    I Watched but iam still not convinced for something to be trully extreme it should be truly death defying like evil conivil. One should need need to worry about boken legs but broken backs or crushed skulls.

    so kickflipping down a set of stairs isnt death defying? id like to see you do it with no practise. the reason people like you dont think its extreme is because the pros make it look easy, and thats because they put in years of skating to get to that level.

    as for basejumping and the likes can someone actually give me a percentage of the amount of jumps that result in deaths/serious injuries. i wouldnt reckon its that high.

    how anybody can say pro skateboarding is not extreme is beyond me. practically every trick they do has the risk of resulting in serious injury.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,468 ✭✭✭Evil Phil


    shagman wrote:
    All I wanted was a pepsi , just one pepsi , and she wouldn't give it to me , put me in an institution , said it was the only solutuion , protect me from the enemy myself.

    YOU'RE ON DRUGS!!!

    There are parallels between 'extreme' sports. Shagman's description of skateboarding could also be applied to bouldering or climbing (particularly sports climbing). It is the feeling of FUCK YES when you complete a problem/stick a dyno/gain a grade. Its all about the training and practice and not giving up EVER until its finished, it's the frustration and despair at your own inability, the doubts, the mates reassuring you, the getting up and trying again and again and again. Its practice and toning and fine tuning your mind and body until the move is perfect and its done.

    And then there is no winner, there's just you.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    TacT wrote:
    Fantastic, I love it when people call you a child out of mere desperation.
    Go watch Arto Saari in the Flip 'Sorry' video then tell me skateboarding is not death defying everyone. Maybe a bit of Jamie Thomas or Heath Kirchart or a trip to a vert ramp to watch you 'drop in' could do the trick but what's the point? You do not listen and you certainly do not comprehend it in the slightest. You're a stubborn old mule who thinks he's got things tapped and is clued in because he has a job he hates, that in turn, affects his way of thinking due to what he has been forced to take on board to make his trade worthwhile and profitable.

    Definitely no apology coming, nope, sorry chump. Want to take over as moderator? I couldn't be arsed having to deal with people like you anymore. I have better things to do with my time :rolleyes:
    I'm sure you'll do a much better job of it anyway.

    You're akin to Alicia Silverstone in 'Clueless' -- you think you know but still haven't given us a shred of evidence to back up your points, I've given a little and attempted to explain but it is beyond your weak minded comprehension.

    You're full of $hit you spend too much time thinking and talking about irrelevant details -- probably a result of your brainwashing from the training you were required to complete for marketing purposes.

    You are a poor ickle sheep that goes bleet bleet, let the flames come forth big kid! You have to be the most retarded person I have come across on these forums to date and I don't need to have to deal with you or listen to your pathetic arguments. I certainly don't need some supposedly fully grown man go, 'waaaaah, waaaaaah, waaaaah and throw his toys and dummy out of the pram in an attempt to get high and mighty' because he can't argue a simple point he puts forward.

    If you weren't paying attention you wouldn't have been on here with your weak replies daily, not to mention double posting and forgetting to use the edit button because you're a bit dim. Now you're attempting to cover up your own motives because you're realising what a moron you are for starting this pathetic thread in the first place.

    All I hear out of you is wakka wakka wakka, I think it's Fozzy bear, hang on until I go find Kermit and Little Ms Piggy to keep you company.

    HOLY ROLLERSPORTS BATMAN, EVERY SEARCH ENGINE ON THE INTERNET LISTS SKATEBOARDING AS AN EXTREME SPORT!

    In summary, I would like to say that my Daddy is right, if you ask a stupid question, you will get a stupid answer. I don't get it though because teacher always told me there was no such thing as a stupid question, can you help me please Fibbo? I need guidance with this one.....


    Thats it kiddo. Youve got it in one. Iam justa Big JERK. I know nothing. Gotta say Ive meet Tony Hawkes he's a nice guy.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 234 ✭✭smois


    fibbo wrote:
    Thats it kiddo. Youve got it in one. Iam justa Big JERK. I know nothing. Gotta say Ive meet Tony Hawkes he's a nice guy.
    yeah and im the inventor ot television :):)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,037 ✭✭✭shagman


    Evil Phil, That Pepsi bit was a line from "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies..... great tune.

    I'd agree there are parallels between bouldering / rock climbing and skating. I guess parkour is somewhere between the two. But to me bouldering / rock climbing doesn't sit completely easily with the sport title either. The majority of sports are primarily competitive in nature and are governed by rules of conduct and play. The term sport to me speaks of teams , uniforms , rules, competition , national or team pride and honour. All of which I loathe.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 234 ✭✭smois


    :):confused: :cool: :) :mad: :):) skateboarding is extreme both mentally and physicly(everything has to be figured out in da head first before u go fliping a big set which to me can be extreme)extreme. It has a title over its head which is...extreme.... its not called an extreme sport fo nothing...there is much more extreme sports than skateboarding but for us skateboarders it is extreme.....people looking from the outside dont realise how extreme it can be because they havent tried it themselves but are watching/doing extremer looking sports... if u havent tried it dont question its extremity..... :mad: :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    fibbo wrote:
    Gotta say Ive meet Tony Hawkes he's a nice guy.

    Who's Tony Hawkes? Evil Phil, nice post!

    Thanks for finally owning up Fibbo, you've made my day/week. Wanna make bets on who gets the last word in? :p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    TacT wrote:
    Who's Tony Hawkes? Evil Phil, nice post!

    Thanks for finally owning up Fibbo, you've made my day/week. Wanna make bets on who gets the last word in? :p


    I can see iam not gona get anywhere here you guys you completely missed the point. You've have fallen for it hook line and sinker. Before I go I probably should of added that when i met Tony Hawkes he was standing in the office of a collegue of mine standing in a two pice italian silk.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 86 ✭✭fibbo


    Skate Boardings not extreme you all been Brainwashed. You opions dont coun. Live with it


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 99 ✭✭iceworm


    definition of extreme collins english dictionary. 1 very great or intense.2. going to great lengths in actions. How is skateboarding not extreme then????????
    nice thing to say our opions dont count why are you in a chatroom then discussing your opinion :confused::confused::confused: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,400 ✭✭✭TacT


    fibbo wrote:
    Skate Boardings not extreme you all been Brainwashed. You opions dont coun. Live with it

    tirelessrebutter.jpg


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