One thing that has been lost since the internet came about is a one on one education passed down from older guys to younger groms. I remember being a kid and going to my local shop and being scared out of my mind that I would do or say something that would bring the attention down on me from the gang of older skaters who I of course looked up to. Nowadays everything is nice, and you go to the skatepark and #1 you aren’t trying to skate a bowl full of broken glass and old Budweiser cans. #2 Old dudes don’t steal your board or your soccer ball and then tell you “This is mine now.” #3 Old dudes don’t hold a butterfly knife to your throat when you ask for your skateboard back (this happened to me, twice, same guy, 2nd time I got my board back for acting tough) Now, the fact that none of this happens anymore is a GREAT thing – except for this. There’s no knowledge being passed down between the ages. Guess what kids…it takes a little getting made fun of as a kid to know how to handle yourself as an adult. Do you want to be the kid who shows up in college as a Freshman and some dude is like “ARE YOU PUSHING MONGO? Bwhahahahaahahahhahahaha. Dude, get a load of this kid pushing mongo!” Then you will be walking through the dorm cafeteria and from across the room this guy will be like “Hey Mongo, don’t sit with us! And all his friends will laugh and throw microwaved burritos at you and your friends won’t get your back because you won’t have any because you push mongo. So, to wrap this up, this is one old guy telling you the young kid, who I RESPECT or else I wouldn’t be telling you this, please don’t push Mongo. It looks weird. I don’t care how nasty you are at skateboarding, if Kobe Bryant only shot granny-style but was still an amazing basketball player we would all still be weirded out. And if Roy Munson only bowled between his legs he never would have hooked up with his smokin’ hot landlord.
