funny Nike commercial

The suggested comparison in that commercial is ridiculous.

What's wrong with skateboarding?

I never understood why skateboarding is so taboo.

I always like to stop and watch them when I see them.

I guess people are scared they will sue if they are injured... Is that what it is?

NobodySpecial wrote:

I never understood why skateboarding is so taboo.

I always like to stop and watch them when I see them.

I guess people are scared they will sue if they are injured... Is that what it is?

That and the destruction of property and public nuissance, at least that's what they claim when they ban them from places.

Mostly I think it was a group of skaters standing around like a bunch of hoodlums somewhere and gave a bad name to the rest.

I used to be a skateboarder before I started high school but gave it up when I started running. The constant wipeouts were bad for the knees. ONe of the golden rules of skateboarding nowadays is that they try to skate wherever the terrain is best for boarding regardless of endangering pedistrians or damage to property. Stuff like skateboarding on a wheelchair ramp at a church or university steps where many are passing by; elderly, little kids etc. Boarders figure they are taking the chance and have little or no regard for the fact that the board flipping up as they wipe out might hurt someone. It is this utter disregard that pisses me off about 'boarders'. THey should chip in and build a park. The fact that it seems few are econmically viable as a business enterprise is testement to the fact boarders dont' want to 'play by the rules.' If there were as many running idiots as skateboarders we'd be having troubles too.

I think it also has to do with lawsuits. A kid gets hurt in the parking lot of some business and his/her parents sue.

agree on most points.

as a coach, i have had quite a few ``skaters`` come out to run xc or track and quite a few that have succeeded. however, often the fact that teams have rules and actual coaching taking place can be difficult for kids who are accustomed to stopping and starting whenever they choose rather being coached.

it also seems quite common for that once a skateboard park is built, the skaters choose to not use it and still choose to skate in the public places that are prohibited. that is odd to me.

additionally, skating is not exercise in any way shape or form. you use one leg to push with and then stand on a board and the wheels move not the person on the board.

it is hopefully a thing that passes with most kids and they move on to better things.

the most difficult aspect of the ``sport`` for most is the destruction of property and lack of regard for others (not allowing people to use steps for instance)

lastly, skateboarders tend to say they are anti-establishment and non-conformists, but they tend to dress the same, talk the same and listen to the same music. hardly an expression of individuality.

jirunner wrote:

additionally, skating is not exercise in any way shape or form. you use one leg to push with and then stand on a board and the wheels move not the person on the board

What exactly do you coach? You just described bicycling (except that you get to sit and push with 2 legs), and I'm pretty sure that's exercise.

I dont know but did anybody see shawn white (sp?) at the x games. He was unbelievable. He's easily one of my favorite athletes.

In USA Today on the 27th of July there was an article that mentioned the popularity of skateboarding. It said more kids skateboard now than all of the kids playing basketball, baseball, and football.

I think its very good for the sport how much publicity it gets now with the X-games, video games, and how big the industry has become.

Its not such a bad sport if the kids aren't smoking weed and causing trouble on the side while enjoying the "skater" lifestyle.

NobodySpecial wrote:

I never understood why skateboarding is so taboo.

I always like to stop and watch them when I see them.

I guess people are scared they will sue if they are injured... Is that what it is?

Well, people that skateboard in parking ramps and sidewalks tend to run into pedestrians. Pedestrians tend to not like that.

Those doing stunts also tend to tear up things like rails, benches, etc. I remember going to Boston for the 100th seeing the memorial they had just completed for the marathon was already scarred with paint and chipped from the skateboarders doing stunts on it. It's basically vandalism as competition.

Then of course there's the liability. If you allow people to do dangerous things on your property you have "created a public nuisance". If you like to watch little Johnny do stunts in your stairwell, and little Johnny screws up and hammers himself, then it's your fault not little Johnny's. Then little Johnny's mom and dad end up owning your business, their lawyer takes rest of your assets, and you end up getting a labotomy and becoming a Republican.

Running into pedestrians and liability, I can understand. But if those are two of your three major issues with skateboarding, there are plenty of other outdoor sports that you can take issue with. Have you ever been hit by a stray football? Or run into by someone chasing a baseball?

The scarring of major monuments, concrete slabs, benches, and curbs is generally done by rollerbladers who wax the curbs to 'grind' them. Skateboards cause little to no damage to outdoor materials. The biggest problem most people have are the appearance of the skaters, and the 'general nuisance' they feel they have to put up with when these kids are around.

I'm 26 and just moved to a nice part of a town in the midwest. One of the first things I did when we got settled is cruise around on my skateboard to check out the neighborhood. I got many, many glares, stares, and leers from passersby, far more so than the next day, when I went out for a run.

This is proof that boarders get a really bad reputation as horrid, destructive teenagers.

I used to skateboard, I used to be pretty good as well. I would never skateboard on anything that endangers people around me. In fact, as I got better, the stuff I would skate on became things that many people do not use in the first place. There's a factory near my house, and they have rails, curbs, everything you need. If you're a resourceful skateboarder, you can easily find something to skate on without troubling anyone. I used to buy rails off of the factory so I could use them. We even used to bring a "contract" for the people who owned the property that we would sign for injuries we might develop and whatnot that they would have no responsibility over. Sure it wasn't a perfectly legitimate contract, but it showed that we were not interested in a lawsuit. I personally was never hurt during skateboarding over the 5 years it consumed my life.

As for the guy who said people build skate parks, and they still remained unused, it's difficult to come up with 20 bucks a day to go skateboard inside a hot, 5 year-old ridden building. Skateboarders (who are usually between the ages of 11-16) are usually unable to get a job anyways because of their young age, and their parents don't want to pay the 20 bucks for them. It's kind of like running shoes, you couldn't buy them if you didn't have an income, right? And your parents certainly hate paying 80 dollars a pair just so you can go run around on other people's golf courses....where you're also exposed to danger.

Some of the tricks skateboarders accomplish are some of the hardest things to do in any sport. I think it's incredible to watch them spin around like acrobats inside a half pipe. There are so many people that hate it and think it's stupid, but those are the same people who have never tried it, or are at least afraid to take the risk. It might not be worth it to some people, but it certainly was to me. My skateboarding years were the best years of my life, and I was able to enjoy it without becoming some dangerous, pothead, hoodlum-hazard.

The image of skateboarding sucks, but the art they perform is incredible. It's hard for people to respect that.

You may be missing the point of the commercial. Runners are treated this way, albeit to a lesser extent. Many of us have shared stories of having drinks and insults thrown at us while running. (Not many of us are as fast as we think we are, otherwise we might be getting traffic tickets, too.)

The Nike commercial tries to put that renegade cool spin on running that skateboarding has (ar at least has with many young people).

The commercial is somewhat edgy, clever and funny. And here we are talking about it, so it's effective as well.

A girl from my high school just won the street competition at the X-games, not really all that relevant, but I thought it was pretty cool. Real nice girl too, was on homecoming court as well.

Yeah, that's what I thought the commercial was about until that end graphic. It makes no sense but people seriously do hate people running, I don't understand why people constantly yell and even sometimes throw stuff. What a bunch of assholes.