Alrighty gents, I used to own a skateshop in the pre-Internet days. I handed out fliers at skate spots. I talked to people. I did everything I could to get the word out, but like you, I didn’t have money to slap up a billboard or anything, so I relied mostly on word of mouth. Luckily, skateshops in that day were pretty rare, and so when a new one popped up everyone for an hour drive around knew about it overnight. You could have the lamest skateshop with no product and people would still get their mom to drive them an hour each way to check it out. And then they would still come back!

The Internet changes everything. It’s not all that hard to slap together a website, create a profile on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. If you’re a skateshop it’s a piece of cake for skaters to find you…right? Well, maybe you’ve got the system down, but even if you do, you could probably use a little more foot traffic or online sales. As you can tell if you follow this blog, writing posts here is not my full time job. Have I even written 10 times on here in the last year? Nay, my full time job is doing search engine optimization for other companies that have nothing to do with skateboarding. And recently, I launched a new business that builds online directories. I’m going to stick up one for every state and one for every major metro/city, but for now we’ve got a few up and running.

SkateShopDirectory.net

BostonSkateboardShops.com

CaliforniaSkateboardShops.com

LosAngelesSkateboardShops.com

NewYorkSkateboardShops.com

UtahSkateboardShops.com

You can go and list your skateshop on any of these websites for free. You get a whole page where you can put whatever information in there that you want, as well as a link to your website. If you know anything about getting better rankings in Google for your website, you’ll know a big part of it is getting links back from sites that are relevant to what you do. These websites are highly relevant, and as such are going to help your rankings quite a bit.

There’s no catch, other than this–if you want to be on the homepage, it costs $20/month (or $50/month on the national one, $20/month for a featured listing on a state-level page). You’ll still get some value and some traffic if you get a free listing, don’t get me wrong, but you’ll get a lot more traffic and SEO value if you’re on the homepage with a featured listing. Trust me, I know how money can be tight when you’re running a shop, but for $20/month, you can’t beat this deal.

Yeah, I know the websites don’t look like anything to do with skateboarding. My company has launched 723 of these in the last week (see DeclareMedia.com) and we might customized the look and feel down the road, but there’s no time for that at the moment. And hey, it doesn’t really matter. You’re still going to get traffic and SEO results, no matter what the sites look like.

When I was in junior high I would cut the small deck images out of the mail-order ads in the skate magazines, laminate them with contact paper I had at home, bend up the nose and tail, and then during English class I would “skate” these things all over my desk and books. Around the same time, Town & Country came out with skateboard keychains, that were like a lame version of a tech deck. We would “ride” these things at lunch on the benches and stuff, and my friend could make it “ollie” and do flip tricks. If someone could have sent me one of today’s tech decks back in time, I would have not only been the most popular kid in school, I DEFINITELY wouldn’t have learned a thing. Actually, I’m not sure I learned anything as it was, and everyone hated skaters, so I probably wouldn’t have been any more popular, but if nothing else, I would have been pretty stoked.

Now that I’m 35 and have two kids, I don’t have the mindless spare time I had in school to play with tech decks, but as I mentioned, I have two kids, and there’s nothing like a tech deck to get them started on the right path in life.

So why am I talking about tech decks? Cause they sent me a few free ones as part of their “get the word out” effort about a batch of autographed tech decks. Here’s the official press release. Go get you some.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TECH DECK® BRINGS THE AUTOGRAPHS OF THE TOP PRO SKATERS FROM THE STREETS TO YOUR FINGERTIPS

Collect the limited edition board packages available exclusively this summer

Toronto, ON/ Los Angeles, CA – July 19, 2010 – Tech Deck®’s reputation for delivering only the most authentic replica skateboard collectables has reached new heights this summer. Tech Deck® has joined forces with the biggest stars of skateboarding and upped the ante for collectors. Some of the most respected pro riders have personally signed 100 or less Tech Deck® board packages, making these the rarest collector’s items of the Tech Deck® line. From the streets to your fingertips, the hottest collectable Tech Deck®’s will be randomly distributed later this month, to mass market retailers across the United States. This is every fan’s chance to finally have some of the biggest stars of skateboarding right in their own hands.

“I’m psyched to be part of this promotion, it’s a great way to give back to the fans that I may never get the opportunity to personally meet. Good luck to all the collectors,” said legendary rider Ryan Sheckler.

Featured Collectable Autographed Boards from:

Tony Hawk – Birdhouse

Chris Cole – Zero

Ryan Sheckler – Plan B

Paul Rodriguez – Plan B

Chris Troy – Black Label

Corey Duffel – Foundation

Shuriken Shannon – Black Label

Chris Haslam – Almost

Ronnie Creager – Blind

David Navarette – Creature

“Fans of Tech Deck® are pretty hard core. They’ve been amassing their collections for years,” states Craig Drobis, Marketing Director at Spin Master Ltd. “Whether they’re motivated to build their collections based on riders, boards, or skate brands, they’re all excited by the Tech Deck® brand.  We’re the only one out there bringing fans authentic replica skate board graphics from all the top skate companies – essentially putting some of the hottest stars of the streets into the hands of their fans.”

Autographs from the most respected riders will have fans racing to stores across America in search of the coveted boards. The packages can be identified by a special holographic Tech Deck® sticker that will be affixed to the front. With these highly-coveted autographs, these boards are sure to be worth far more than their face value of $3.29 SRP. Make sure to check out www.techdeck.com as well as each of the rider’s social media sites for additional information.

About Spin Master Ltd.

A multi-category children’s entertainment company since 1994, Spin Master has been designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer products for children around the world and is recognized as a global growth leader within the toy industry.  Spin Master is best known for such popular brands as boy’s action phenomena and 2009 Toy of the Year winner Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, 2008 Toy of the Year winner Air Hogs®, Aquadoodle™, Tech Deck™, Moon Sand™, Liv™, and Mighty Beanz™. The company has also marked an entry into children’s media with the launch of Spin Master Entertainment, a subsidiary focusing on the design, development and production of television and other media properties.  Spin Master employs over 800 people with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Mexico.  For additional information please visit: www.spinmaster.com.

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Geez, I’m a horrible skateboard product reviewer. At least this year, I am. Fortica Skateboards, based in Utah, sent me two skateboard decks with grip to review back around December or so. But I ended up being sick for the first three months of year, then my wife had a baby, then I had some injuries, and on and on the excuses go. So far, I’ve only been skating twice this year, and the first time I had to ride a deck for another company whose product I was reviewing, so it’s taken FOREVER for me to get around to riding the decks Fortica sent me, which I finally did on Go Skateboarding Day on June 21st (and yeah, it’s now taken me almost a month since then to get around to writing the review).

Some observations:

1. Good size nose and tail. I’ve had issues with other decks in the past that had a tail that was too small.

2. Good concave and steepness on the nose and tail.

3. Overall good shape.

4. Most importantly, the board felt natural as soon as I stepped on it. I realize here and there you’re going to have to get used to a new deck, but ideally I like to step on a deck and have it feel natural from the get-go, and the Fortica deck I tried gave me that experience.

These decks are going for $35 a pop on their website (link above) so go buy you one.

I don’t post much anymore, do I? Yeah, I’ve been kind of busy with the day job. And I really need to get a post done for Fortica Skateboards who sent me two decks all the way last year, but between snow, sickness, and injuries I haven’t been able to get out and skate the decks, which I really want to because they look awesome and feel good carpet boarding.

But what I wanted to comment on today is this whole recession thing, and if you think we’re coming out of it…well, we’ll see where we’re at a year from now. But a few years ago there was a big to-do in the skateboarding business world about shop decks and blank decks and how they were hurting sales of pro models, and how we should imagine a world without pros and how bad that would be. Now look, I love the pros as much as anyone. Those guys kill themselves to get where they are, and they deserve whatever they can get, and frankly, after years of riding blanks (I wasn’t buying them, I was getting them for free, and do you think I’m going to go spend $50 on a pro deck when I can ride a decent blank for $0?) I think there is something to be said for pro decks. I’m not sure if it’s worth $20 to everyone out there, but I think it might be worth it to me. But it’s hard to blame a kid who only has $30 for buying a blank instead of waiting another month to save up another $20 so he can get a pro deck. But that’s not my point here.

The point is that whatever damage might have been done to sales of pro decks due to competition from blanks has been compounded by the bad economy, and I’d be willing to wager the recession has done a lot more damage to pros than blanks ever did, because while there are blank decks and wheels that are decent, I’ve never seen decent blank trucks or shoes. This economy is hitting soft goods and well as hard goods, and that means there’s less money to go around for everybody from every source, not just smaller deck sales. But do we see pros giving up? Do we see pros not skating anymore? No, they’re killing it just as much as ever, and I’m starting to wonder if maybe they’re having even more fun than they were before.

What really gets me thinking is Circa and ExpeditionOne. Just a year ago you could have written off both of these companies. Sure, Circa’s shoes are no different than those from any other company, and ExpeditionOne’s decks are just as good as those from any other company, but we should all know by now that branding/marketing and team members are what sell skate products, and not so much quality, because the quality of everything is pretty much the same with minor exceptions. And when it came to those two factors, Circa and ExpeditionOne didn’t have bad branding/marketing, and they had some good riders–some dang good riders, in fact–but…well, they just didn’t seem to be on the same level with the other companies. But all of a sudden Gallant is off Plan B/DC and on Circa/ExpeditionOne. Now Matt Miller is on Expedition. Suddenly Expedition’s team is like…wow, that’s a really, really solid team. And Circa’s team is really, really solid too.

But why is this happening? Could it be that the recession has made skaters appreciate things other than money a bit more? Maybe pros are realizing life is too short to focus on cash flow, and they’re going where they feel like they can enjoy life the most. Not that there’s anything wrong with the corporate thing, maybe some skaters like that and that’s part of the fun for them. But maybe that’s not the right thing for other skaters who just want to skate and hang out with friends, rather than doing tons of demos, signings, travel, etc., and maybe it’s worth giving up the huge paycheck for a more relaxed lifestyle.

I’m not in the industry so I don’t really have a clue. But I think it’s worth asking whether money is all it’s cracked up to be in skateboarding. Maybe the recession will turn out the be the thing that keeps skateboarding real just a little bit longer.

Mallard Clothing is a skateboard clothing company coming up out of the great state of Utah, home to the best snow on earth (if you’re into snow) and a bunch of people called Mormons who are addicted to sugar because they don’t drink or smoke. Mallard also makes skateboard decks, and they sent me an 8.0 recently to try out. Now, I’ll be honest with you (wait, what am I saying, that I normally lie to you but this time I’m telling the truth?! Of course I’m going to be honest), this is not the most scientific deck review. For one, up until riding this deck I hadn’t skated in several months due to injuries, and not having a deck. Mallard took care of the latter problem for me, but when I went skating it was while I was in that “getting back into it state” where you have a hard time doing an ollie or a kickflip, and your feet don’t seem to stick to the board because your muscles can’t snap as fast as they did before, and you’re a bit wobbly. Plus I’m old and fat, which doesn’t help anything.

Ok, so that said, it’s a fine deck. It’s snappy, and I like that the nose is a little steeper than that on my last deck. The concave and shape are all fine, with one exception–I found the tail to be just a tad small for my tastes, but hey, that’s just me. So that’s it. Short and sweet, but what else do you want me to say? It’s a deck, after all, there’s not much to it. Oh, and they’re just $35 with free shipping on their website, so the price is definitely right.

I don’t know who these guys are, but anyone who wants to kill fascists and put out skate vids like this one is fine by me.

Chances are that if you’re the average skateboarder, you don’t know much about politics, and even less about universal healthcare. If all you know is that universal healthcare means everyone has healthcare, then that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? And chances are you could care less about how the government is going to pay for it. I mean, if they are just taxing rich people, who cares? I’m not going to argue the larger issues at stake, however. My point here is to explain what universal healthcare would mean when it comes to being a skater in the US. But first, we need to understand on a basic level how universal healthcare works.

In a nutshell, universal healthcare means everyone has healthcare. It is paid for by taxes. You know how when you get your paycheck there’s always money missing from it? Those are taxes and the government uses that money to do what the government does. There’s no doubt that if the US gets universal healthcare then somebody is going to have to pay higher taxes. Maybe it won’t be your mom or dad, but somebody’s mom and dad is going to being paying out a lot of money to cover those alleged 47 million people who currently don’t have health insurance.

The problem is, no matter how much the government raises taxes, it won’t be enough. The government already provides healthcare to a lot of people through two programs called Medicaid and Medicare and wouldn’t you know it–they’re bankrupt. They’re out of money to pay for these programs (not that this has ever stopped our government from spending money, they just borrow it), and it’s getting worse. The same thing will happen with universal healthcare, but at some point the government is going to recognize they can’t pay for it and they can’t borrow enough money to pay for it, and that means rationing. What’s rationing, you ask? Well, if the government were rationing food, it would mean the government would give you a certain amount of food per day, and if you wanted more you wouldn’t be able to get it, even if you were willing to pay for it. The same thing will happen with healthcare. And it will be compounded because it’s not all that fun to work for the government, so we won’t have as many people going into the professions of doctors and nurses. This is going to make healthcare very, very expensive for the government to provide, and so they’ll provide less of it.

In other words, everyone will have healthcare, but healthcare will stink. You’ve got a broken arm and the bone is sticking out? Great, sit here for a few hours, we’ll see when we can get around to helping you out. Sorry, our best doctor quit because he doesn’t like working for the system, but we’ve got this other guy over here who wants to be a doctor someday, we’ll let him help you out. Painkillers? No, those are too expensive, the government won’t let us provide them anymore. You want a new cast on your arm? But you’ve only had this one for three months. Yeah, I can see that it’s cracked and I can smell the stink coming from it, but you’ll just have to make do with it for another two months. We can’t afford new casts for everyone who wants them. No, you can’t buy a new one, that would be unfair to everyone else. Oh sorry, your arm healed crooked. Well, sorry about that, just be grateful you have healthcare.

But low-quality healthcare won’t be all you have to deal with. Broken arms are expensive. The government can’t afford repairing all these broken arms. So all skateboarders will now be required, by law, to wear full arm-guards and helmets while skateboarding. If you get caught skateboarding without full protection, you’ll be fined, along with your parents. And you know all these public skateparks? That’s just encouraging kids to skate, which means more kids are getting hurt. The government can’t afford this, so we better close down all the public parks. Let’s outlaw private skateparks while we’re at it. In fact, let’s just make skateboarding illegal. Hey, if we, the government, are providing the healthcare then we get to make the rules that define your behavior so that we can keep costs down, right? No smoking, no drinking, no skateboarding. We have to make these rules to protect you. We can’t afford to provide health insurance for all these poor people and college students if we’ve got people out there skateboarding and making healthcare more expensive.

But wait, you say, Canada and England have universal healthcare, and there aren’t any rules like this in those countries, and they’re still building public skateparks and all that. What are you talking about? Yeah, you’re right. I’m giving you the worst-case scenario. I don’t think it will ever get that far, because I think the people in this country would reject universal healthcare before it ever reached this point. But that doesn’t mean we won’t get down the line a ways. Helmet laws already exist in some states. With universal healthcare you can bet helmets will be required at all public skateparks in every state of the country. Full pads won’t be far behind. And you can definitely count on the quality of healthcare being lower. We already see that in Canada and England. There may be some exceptions, but there are a lot of nightmare cases happening in these countries where people are dying because the waits are so long and the care is so bad. Sure, people die here in the US too, but you’re statistically better off here. That’s why so many people come from other countries to the US in order to get treatment–we’ve got a better system.

Here’s an alternative to universal healthcare. How about if we let people choose whether to have health insurance or not? If a health insurance company thinks skateboarding is dangerous, then they can charge more to insure someone who skateboards. If you want to skateboard and have health insurance, you pay more. If you don’t want to pay more, then don’t skateboard. If you don’t want to have health insurance, that’s your choice. The point is, you choose. With universal healthcare, you have no choice, and you might not like what end up being forced to do…or not do. So think twice before you say “Obama’s great, he wants to give healthcare to everyone.” It could end up making skateboarding even more illegal than it is.

So Clyde says winning Tampa Am is one of the ways to ruin your skateboarding career. “…has there truly been anyone whos won that contest, and went on to become a top pro- or is it me? id personally always considered it the Rose Bowl of skateboarding contest. but the more i pay attention, im starting to realize its more like a Patriot League championship game. weird…”

Normally Clyde is gold, but I’ve learned that even with Clyde you’ve got to trust but verify, so I went to search things out and find out if Clyde is on the money. The first problem I encountered is that I couldn’t find a complete list of Tampa Am winners on the SPOT website, so I’ve created one here. Let’s see who we’ve got. Bear in mind, Clyde’s not saying these guys are lame people or lame skaters, he’s just saying their careers as skateboarders may not have exactly flourished.

1997 – Judd Hertzler. Who? Ok, I actually have heard of Judd, so I can’t really say “Who?”

1998 – Nathan Smith. Ditto, who? Except in this case I really have no clue who Nathan Smith is.

1999 – Mike Petersen. Mike seems like a nice guy, and there’s no doubt he’s good, and no offense to Consolidated because I totally respect those guys, but if you’re on Consolidated you’re not a “top pro” by definition. Geez, I’m totally going to get beat up by Birdo or Kharma now. Sorry guys, but you know it’s true.

2000 – Kyle Berard. Ditto.

2001 – Colt Cannon. Hey, Colt had an ok career there for a while, but then what happened after Element?

2002 – Caswell Berry. Hmm, I think Caswell has had an ok career. Maybe not a “top pro” per se, but everybody knows who he is, don’t they?

2003 – Kevin Long (Spanky). I don’t know about Spanky…I’ve never really seen anything from him that makes him stand out to me, but he does seem to be fairly popular, if not “tops”.

2004 – Sierra Fellers. Sierra is an amazing skater, but I think it’s gets hard to judge what his career will be like. I don’t think we can say he’s reached “top” status as of yet, although seriously, the guy is amazing.

2005 – Nyjah Huston. Who’s this guy riding for anyway? Again, I think we’ll have to wait and see on Nyjah.

2006 – Cody McEntire. Cody definitely has the potential. You see his part in that Digital vid from a while ago where he was skating in Australia? Dang.

2007 – Felipe Gustavo. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess.

2008 – Ryan Decenzo. Ditto.

2009 – ? I’m predicting…well, who knows.

So I think I’ll have to agree with Clyde, at least somewhat. I don’t know if I’d say that any of these guys have ruined their careers, but then again we don’t have a P-Rod, Koston, Reynolds, or Ladd on this list.

Hey suckas, we’re on twitter @sublimited.

Hey Dennis, I don’t know who this Carrie lady is that you’ve hired to handle your public relations, but I think you need to sit down with her and have a little talk about this email she’s sending around:

Hi Joshua!

Check out this AWESOME skate video: Dennis Busenitz doing what he does best, landing so many tricks that it’s almost unbelievable! See Dennis kick-push: http://chunnel.tv/street/774/dennis-busenitz-pro-skater:

Dennis Busenitz puts together more tricks in 3 minutes and 50 seconds than most skaters do in a 6 or 7 minute spot.  It’s ridiculous, plus the insane amount of tricks performed over gaps, and possibly the best Kalis 360 flip ever made! This is definitely a top video spot for 2009!

Thanks, and please share this with your readers!

Best,
Carrie

The video is really good though. Can’t wait for it to come out so I can see a higher-res versino of Dennis’ kick-push.