After over two decades as skateboarders, we’ve heard countless times that team sports have nothing to do with skateboarding. In most ways, this is true, however, how about the individual efforts that some people have contributed to the betterment of team sports? Because skateboarding is a very individual activity, do the habits, regimens and performance of professional athletes possibly correlate? After all, every single one of the greatest athletes of all time have written their pages in the history books of team sports through what they did by themselves, and no one is a better example than the late Ted Williams, the greatest hitter of all time.
Ted Williams, with the sixty year anniversary of his record approaching rapidly, still holds the highest single season batting average (.406) by a Major League baseball player. After further research about the life and times of “The Kid”, this was no god damned streak of good luck. All Ted Williams ever wanted to do was hit a baseball well, so he hit a baseball from the time he got to the park everyday and took an extra batting practice round after each game. People often mention that all Ted Williams talked about off the field was baseball, especially hitting a baseball. When he could not physically play anymore, he became a coach so that he could remain in baseball. Williams was completely consumed by becoming more consistent with a bat in his hands over the course of his entire life, to the extent that in 1986, he had enough content to publish a book entitled “The Science Of Hitting”. To this day, people still talk about how he was capable of hitting a baseball like no other.
There are certain aspects of the skateboard life that are undeniably similar. The genuine, most often, put in the most work, and all they really ever want to do is skate. They have a tremendous amount of focus and passion. Also, real skateboarders are so engrossed in the lifestyle that that is all they really ever talk about, even when they are not skating. Best of all, there’s not much in this world, barring tragedy of the most severe kind, that can stop a real skateboarder from skateboarding.
Really, what Theodore Samuel Williams did with baseball is what many have done with skateboarding. He grabbed a piece of wood and immersed himself in the possibilities of what could be done with it. He only put down the bat to fight in a World War, and when he was done doing what was right, he went right back to being a baseball player until the day he died. For those of us who will skateboard until we literally can’t skateboard, Ted Williams is a great example of what it means to be a lifer.
S.C. K.S.
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Growing up, we were always told to stay aware of how we carry ourselves outside of the house because our reputations would precede us… good or bad. The same scenario can be applied to one’s reputation on a skateboard. In Jay’s case, his reputation is nothing short of incredible. Just ask anybody that has skated with him. Click here for a link to some classic Jay V. footage via Rob Pontes’ “Pistol Whip Daddy” blog. Be sure to stop by his shop, Solstice, the next time you are in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
S.C. K.S.
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Ben Skzrypek is originally from Maine. A little while back, he moved out to San Diego and is currently an am for Black Label. Transworld recently linked up with Ben for a segment that is based on a single day of him skating around his neighborhood in North Park. In typical New England fashion, he skates everything from transition to ledges and runs the yellow lines in the middle of the road all the way to the liquor store.
Click the photo above to view Ben’s “Neighborhoods” segment via Transworld. Not that we’re biased or anything, but it would be nice if this was one of Ben’s last videos as an amateur.
S.C. K.S.
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In a recent issue of Uno Magazine Of Spain, we listed Grandison Taber as one of our favorite “up and coming” graphic designers. Three or so months later, this project is proof. Granny, who is partnered up with Donny Barley at Fountain of Youth in Providence, RI, recently completed a project with Girl and Epicly Later’d that coincides with the release of the Brian Anderson episodes that are running right now.
The chain of events goes like this… Brian Anderson was a talented unknown skateboarder from Connecticut. Donny Barley made the phone calls that got Brian Anderson out to the West Coast to establish a career in skateboarding. Brian Anderson put in the hard work that will maintain his status in skateboarding for many, many years. Donny Barley recruited Grandison Taber to make the aesthetic of Fountain Of Youth in Providence what it is at present. After over a decade as professional skateboarder, Epicly Later’d recognized that Brian Anderson has a great story to tell and aired his episodes.
Then, Grandison Taber was able to combine a friendship between two skateboarders that goes back many years, the identity of the shop that one of them owns, the world renowned logo of the company that the other skates for and the release of a series of shows that every skateboarder needs to watch. And he did it all on just two items without sacrificing the aesthetic that anyone involved in the project is noted for by the general public.
Now that is talent.
S.C. K.S.
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The idea for This Is My Skateboard came from multiple viewings of Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”. It is an adaptation of The Rifleman’s Creed, which has been continually recited nightly by every recruit in the Marine Corps Depots of Parris Island, SC and San Diego, CA. Shown here are the first and second releases of the graphic. The third version, which is due to release this month, is laid out in the actually color of the M-14A rifle from the film.
Although skateboarders are not known to be as regimented as United States Marines, there is a certain amount of reverence and preparation that goes into making progress on a skateboard. Not everything in the creed applies to skateboarding, but a closer look at the paragraphs quoted below reveal definite similarities. Especially prominent are the references to there being many like it, being useless without it, making every hit count and, for those of us with high levels of dedication to skateboarding, making it your life.
“This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will…
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit…
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…
Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but Peace.”
S.C. K.S.
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1. The Portable MBA In Entrepreneurship by Andrew Zacharikis (and Others) – Over $100,000 for a classroom education or $40.00 for a book that you can read 100,000 times and apply in real life right away? Your choice.
2. What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis – An interesting take on the power of branding and the people’s participation in the success of a company.
3. The Art Of War by Sun Tzu – If you think that you won’t make a few enemies along the way, then we don’t recommend that you start a business.
S.C. K.S.
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On April 17, 1775, a Massachusetts man and two of his friends rode through the entire countryside to warn their fellow citizens of a major threat to their livelihoods. In modern day Massachusetts, that man, Paul Revere, has a city named after him, several monuments dedicated to him and his own stop on Boston’s world-renowned Freedom Trail. He has the respect of everyone because he was willing to get his ass out of bed in the middle of the night and do the right thing. This April, being that we are Massachusetts men, we will be releasing a few pieces that pay tribute to that pivotal moment in American history just a few blocks from the actual path that Paul Revere and his horse rode into greatness over 200 years ago.
S.C. K.S.
 
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The DVS Zered Mid will be released exclusively at A&C in Somerville, Massachusetts on April 16, 2010. As much as this is a collaborative effort between two brands, it is a show of direct support for Zered Bassett, who continually does his part to maintain the good reputation of skateboarding in the Northeast. Zered will be present on the 16th for all visiting skateboarders to meet. Out of consideration for our younger supporters, the shoe will release at 4pm in order to allow time for everyone to finish school first. For supporters outside of New England, limited quantities of the shoe will release online at 11 am EST on April 17th.
S.C. K.S.
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