Aaron Reed: "Doing it Right"

[NaRC-P rider]

For those who have the Mar/Apr Alliance, i'm sure you read Aaron Reed's article on page 46, entitled "Doing it Right." The content in that is well worth discussion here. For the most part i agree with the stuff he says, in general that wakeskaters need to be cautious and make sure to represent the sport in a good legitimate way because it is in its infancy and what we do will determine where the sport goes in the future years. But a lot of his statements really didn't make sense to me, and some even contradicted themselves, unless i'm reading it wrong. here's a few points i feel the need to bring up.

first of all, Steve Berra's quote in the intro was just weird. it says "We have a little less control of how skateboarding is, and we had so much control over what it was." i like steve berra a lot, but i just grammatically don't understand what he is trying to say there.

Aaron then talks about how important it is to do a trick perfectly, with quotes like "...it all depends on doing things the right way. One thing i am talking about is the current fad of doing a trick just to be the first to do it, despite how it may look. if we had no example to follow, that would probably be the natural progression of things - just figure out how to get it done and worry about how it looks later." ok, so does he really expect that the first time anyone lands a trick it has to be perfect? cuz it really sounds like that and that's basically an impossibility.

I know Aaron is really into getting respect from skateboarders. Thats fine, skateboarding is awesome. but there's some things i don't think he understands. first of all, skateboarders don't talk bad about wakeskating because someone didn't flick a kickflip. they don't even care about wakeskating at all enough to talk about it in the first place, that's IF they've ever even heard of it. If they did want to talk bad about wakeskating, it would be because of the fact that we are riding on water and have minimal consequences for a wreck. When we fall we go splash. When skaters fall they break bones. Are we like trying to convert all pro skaters to wakeskating or something? No sponsored skateboarder is going to drop it all to start wakeskating. sorry.

What's a "rocket ship wakejump"?

Here's another weird quote: "The one's who really get it are still trying to compete in contests, not run them." explanation anyone? the sentence after that is "we haven't been around long enough to have wakeskaters judging contest, much less organizing them." would he rather have wakeboarders judging them? then the VERY NEXT SENTENCE says "that's why events like the Toe Jam are so fun to compete in." ?????? so let me get this straight. wakeskaters shouldn't be organizing contests, but yet the Toe Jam is great and i'm gonna organize my OWN contest (the Arete). does anyone else see some failed logic here or am i misreading the whole thing?

i really am not trying to get down on Aaron here, i think i just want some explanation as to what he really means, and the stuff he says to conclude the article is great, stuff like "if you are fortunate enough to help shape this sport, take the time to do it right, because your influence may be farther reaching and longer lasting than you could imagine." he also talks about EARNING respect, rather than DEMANDING it. that's a good theory.

anyway, i hope no one kill me for writing all that, but i just wanted to know what everyone else thought of this.

-david

[ridehatzic]

The quote about the contests is kind of funny. Maybe the editing was done to make wakeskaters look like fools, who knows....

[soy escuala]

"Aaron then talks about how important it is to do a trick perfectly, with quotes like "...it all depends on doing things the right way. One thing i am talking about is the current fad of doing a trick just to be the first to do it, despite how it may look."

i remember him saying in vol. 1 that him and george had a race for the backside flip to see who would be the first to do it.

"Here's another weird quote: "The one's who really get it are still trying to compete in contests, not run them." "

byerly doesn't get it then.

the sentence after that is "we haven't been around long enough to have wakeskaters judging contest, much less organizing them." would he rather have wakeboarders judging them?

exactly... why would you choose anyone BUT a wakeskater to judge it? if you arn't a wakeskater you don't know the technicality of the tricks and what they are... it would be tottaly biased the whole time and completely based on politics, not skill.. but i geuss he's used to that?

[Bad Luck]

[quote="NaRC-P rider"]Here's another weird quote: "The one's who really get it are still trying to compete in contests, not run them." explanation anyone? the sentence after that is "we haven't been around long enough to have wakeskaters judging contest, much less organizing them." would he rather have wakeboarders judging them? then the VERY NEXT SENTENCE says "that's why events like the Toe Jam are so fun to compete in." ?????? so let me get this straight. wakeskaters shouldn't be organizing contests, but yet the Toe Jam is great and i'm gonna organize my OWN contest (the Arete). does anyone else see some failed logic here or am i misreading the whole thing?[/quote]

you did misread it, kinda. he's saying that the ones who really understand wakeskating are still riding in the contests trying to make a living and a name for themselves, they arent at a point where they can drop the tour and the comps to start their own. the judging thing, he's trying to say that we NEED wakeskaters to be judging the contests, but that they are all in it and cant be the judges. hence why toe jam is the shizzle.

[jboss]

I think I can kind of clear Berra's statement up (and don't quote me on this). He's trying to say skateboarding already has it's foundation and he can't change it now, but back in his prime he could have. In skating's youth, what were all the vids about? Stickin it to the man, skate and destroy, punk music, blah and blah and blah and crap. Early skaters made skating out to be a sport for outcast punks that like to fvck with authority, so that kinda stuck on. Half the kids that skate today do it for that reason, they think they'll be cool skating outside a Quikstop or something and have the owner come yell at them and they say, "Wuheva bltch, I'm a skater, WE'RE EXTREMMMMMME!!!" What do skaters in a lot of videos do? Smoke, drink, break people's windshields with their boards (Ali B). Watch any King of the Road vid and you'll see what I mean.

Wakeskating off to a good start, nobody (especially pros) is leaving a bad influence on it. People who wakeskate do it because it's fun, not to outrun the Wildlife and Fisheries yelling, "WE ARE SO MOUCH MORE EXTREME THAN YOU BAYOU 5-0!!!". As for the other stuff, I'm just as confused a you.

[Slapdown]

My guess on a rocketship wakejump is when someone doesn't even out the board on wake jumps, and it really does look like shizzle and is a pain to ones eyes.

[NaRC-P rider]

Bad Luck, ohhh yeah that does make a lot more sense now. i'm dumb. he's not saying that wakeskaters SHOULDN'T organize contests, he's saying that there's not enough of us to do that. that makes total sense. my bad.

by the way did everyone see Drew McGuckin in the big heads section, the caption was "stud" hahah i laughed like an idiot at that

[RedXIII]

wow he sounds really stupid there

[PIRATE]

Yeah im going to keep my opinion to myself but i'm sure you all know what I think.

o.k heres 1% of what i want to say. I wrote like 5 paragraphs cause I dont want a late night phone call from canada.

and as far as the whole trick thing goes, whatever dont be a fvcking hater you little b!tch. Give me a fVcking break........

Here's a Idea only go to PWT comps cause i'm sure thats where all the fun is. Man I wonder if Retard Reed would be saying all of this if he was still on cassete ??????? I'm betting not.

[Mr. Top Hat]

PIRATE, if reed was still on cassette would you still be as critical of him?

[mario c.]

[quote="PIRATE"]

o.k heres 1% of what i want to say. I wrote like 5 paragraphs cause I dont want a late night phone call from canada.

a[/quote]

[RedXIII]

you now what would be so fvcking awsome to see is if some stranger guy noone has ever heard of gop to a comp and just destroy reed i would have to make that guy my new hero i would devote my life to pleasing this guy

[nick]

[el]

[Vance Collins]

I have rocket ship airs.

I apologize for not being as good as reed and boning my w2ws out to unbealivable lengths.

[mario c.]

this should clear up the whole rocket ship air controversy.

[tahoe]

schmaltz. no one knows me

[Schmaltz]

[quote="tahoe integ"]schmaltz. no one knows me [/quote]



Please explain...
did I miss something ?

[senorbueno]

tahoe integ, what?

[NaRC-P rider]

RedXIII, who, me?

PIRATE, i dont' get what you mean about the PWT, Aaron like never does them. plus why would this matter if he was on cassette or not?

dude i feel bad i didn't want everyone to get mad at Reed, he's a nice enough guy and stuff. i actually did misread it, but Bad Luck cleared it up, go read his post.