| Sometimes I drink too much and get extremely wordy in my posts. I would guess you could see the difference between my sober posts because they are short. With that said, here is a post I put on a skateboard forum that I belong to. I feel it is important that vert rollerskaters get a little respect.
Now that I am getting older, I have been reflecting on my life in terms of skating. I started skateboarding around 10 years old and did it everyday during college, which was the time where skateboarding was frowned upon. You could not skate on campus and on many streets. Back then, I was a minority and did not waiver from my passion. I may have not been a pro or ripper, but I represented the sport when it was not accepted. With that said, my true passion has been vertical rollerskating. I look back on the history of skateboarding and really respect the pioneers like Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams, The Alba brothers, Christian Hosoi, Duane Peters, Lance Mountain, Cab, etc. I realize that you guys don't understand what I do or understand the so called "Fruit Booters". I can't really speak for the inline skaters because it became huge with out anyone really paying their dues. I will speak about rollerskaters. I am so proud of the several that have stuck around. Our sport has not had any support at all. Besides the few encounters at contests and travelling, I have not seen another rollerskater. I did come across a vertical rollerskate forum right before I started skating again and was so impressed. These are skaters from all around the world and there are about 15 of us. We are a serious minority and have always been. This site seems to be about oldschoolers that loved skating and still do. It is about respect and giving recognition to those that helped grow the sport. I love that and love this site. I have decided that before I am too old to skate and before my sport is no longer existent that I will be the voice. Vert rollerskaters don't get sponsorships, commercials, product lines or anything else. Everyone on this site is cool and I pretty much meet cool skaters all the time, but the reality is that we are a minority. Next time I hear about Tony Alva, who is awesome, it would be cool to hear about Paul Votava, Fred Blood or Duke Rennie. I was too young to know these guys, but did learn from Paul. He was a bad ass mother F'er. I decided yesterday that I will try to grow my sport. I think I may not be the right person and not be good enough anymore, but I think it is time that my eight wheel brothers and sisters get the respect they deserve
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