Top skateboarders say danger part of business By Don Norcross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 31, 2008
BMX cyclist Stephen Murray broke three vertebrae in his neck and is paralyzed below the shoulders after attempting a double back flip in June 2007 in Baltimore during the Dew Tour.
To those who think skateboarding, BMX and Moto X – the core X Games and Dew Tour disciplines – are becoming too dangerous, without enough safeguards, the skateboarders disagree.
“It's up to us,” Carlsbad skater Pierre Luc Gagnon said. “We don't have to do what we do. There's a certain level of danger involved in every sport. That's what makes it exciting. That's what makes it really hard. That's why only 10 people in the world can skate the megaramp.”
Said X Games General Manager Chris Stiepock: “If you go to Bob Burnquist's house (in Vista) on any given weekend, you're going to see these guys out there on his Big Air ramp, doing what they do, with no cameras around, and they love to do it.
“You could say is NASCAR getting too dangerous? Is Funny Car getting too dangerous? You try to give these guys an environment to showcase their talent and make that environment as safe as you can, then it's up to them. “I have a feeling this progression was going to happen whether there were TV cameras pointing at it or not.”
What I disagree with are the pros and media outlets not only not skating without a helmet but close to encouraging it. Every time I turn on Fuel and see these guys gettng high air and grinding with a naked skull I just get disgusted and go back to the History Channel.
Broken arms heal, mangled legs can be amputated and ruptured spleens can be surgically repaired. A bashed brain, though, leads to a certain life worse than death. What's more is when someone is turned into a vegetable, their decision to "skate the way I want" invariably becomes a task and a burden for others.
Fifty years ago the macho, dicing with death, no seatbelt BS was the standard attitude in motor racing. It still takes nads to go fast of course but nowadays in MotoGP for instance, the tires and brakes, the protective gear and especially the racetracks are much, much safer and the racing is the better for it.
A bashed brain, though, leads to a certain life worse than death. What's more is when someone is turned into a vegetable, their decision to "skate the way I want" invariably becomes a task and a burden for others.
Not everyone who suffers a brain injury leads a 'certain life worse than death'. I've had three brain injuries and the scar tissue is apparant on my MRI's.
Now I'll pause and wait while somone thinks of or actually writes some snarky remark about this fact about me..............
Done?
A pro wearing a helmet or not has zippo influence on me wearing one or not and it's always been that way. Why does everyone really believe that kids today will behave SO much differently than they did? Come on. The brunt of the responsibility for wether a MINOR wears a helmet should be something their parents bear. Mikey won't wear a helmet and you hate that? Take the F'ing skateboard away. I actually had a father tell me that because his son was 16, he couldn't do anything about him not wearing a helmet. Way to give up Pops.
Nanny the kids all you like but as an adult I will make my own decisions, thanks very much. More people suffer brain injuries due to bicycle accidents and in car crash than skaters. So let's pass a law that says all occupants of a car wear helmets because - gasp - they MIGHT get in an accident and MIGHT suffer a brain injury
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"If I donate $100 will you all just shut the blessed f_uck up?????" - Boe, Momona Boe
Not everyone who suffers a brain injury leads a 'certain life worse than death'. I've had three brain injuries and the scar tissue is apparant on my MRI's.
Now I'll pause and wait while somone thinks of or actually writes some snarky remark about this fact about me..............
Done?
A pro wearing a helmet or not has zippo influence on me wearing one or not and it's always been that way. Why does everyone really believe that kids today will behave SO much differently than they did? Come on. The brunt of the responsibility for wether a MINOR wears a helmet should be something their parents bear. Mikey won't wear a helmet and you hate that? Take the F'ing skateboard away. I actually had a father tell me that because his son was 16, he couldn't do anything about him not wearing a helmet. Way to give up Pops.
Nanny the kids all you like but as an adult I will make my own decisions, thanks very much. More people suffer brain injuries due to bicycle accidents and in car crash than skaters. So let's pass a law that says all occupants of a car wear helmets because - gasp - they MIGHT get in an accident and MIGHT suffer a brain injury
You, are a noob. Everything you jsut wrote is so arrogant its stupid. We are not talking about cars here, so dont bring it up. Pros and kids on the TV that are shown skating and biking, SHOULD be wearing helemts, or they shouldnt be shown. If kids see them not wearing a helmet, they wont wear one either, because everybody else who see's the pros not wear helmets will talk alot of smack on the one kid who has one on.
Now, as for parents, they can only stop what they can see, but tell me how many kids take their parents out skating with them? i dont know of any. How can aparent judge what they cant see happeneing every minute?
I think that TV programs shouldnt show anyone not wearing a helmet. They should tell anyone who doesnt have one on, "hey we are not going to have you in our show because you are not geared up." because in reality, people actually do what they see on tv, and what they see the big timers, and their heros do.
Dont be a hard ass because you think people should think for themselves, this is america, the land of media, we dont do that here.
I still don't really get how it's legal to allow someone to work for you under such unsafe conditions. I mean you get your butt kicked for allowing workers to use a lathe or weld without goggles. But you can film a kid kickflipping 8 stairs without a helmet...
I'm sure there's some hole they wiggle through, but it's F###ed imo.
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It's "skate or die" not "skate and die"—Wear a helmet, use what's in it.
Not everyone who suffers a brain injury leads a 'certain life worse than death'. I've had three brain injuries and the scar tissue is apparant on my MRI's.
Now I'll pause and wait while somone thinks of or actually writes some snarky remark about this fact about me..............
How old are you?
Let's talk when you're 40 and you can't remember anything, suffer constant headaches, have to get new glasses every six months to fight the double vision, have tremors in your left hand, incontinence, stuttered speech and the heebie jeebies so bad you won't leave your bedroom.
Of all the body's systems, the nervous system is the one that doesn't heal or regenerate. The slow, methodical, sometimes traumatic degeneration of the nervous system is why over a period of seven or eight decades we age til we die. If you lose it it's gone forever. The brain is one big ganglia of nerves and injuries to it (concussions, contusions, hemorhages, alcohol, drugs and reading too many comic books) will injure the brain and it will not heal.
No, we can't lead a completely safe life and never risk anything. What we can do, though, is make reasonable efforts to protect those things that are irreplaceable and the brain is at the top of the list. And skating at several miles an hour, going vertical and getting air in an environment of pure concrete is nothing more than a desire to end up spending the rest of your life eating through a straw.
Location: Seattle, WA (home) and Portland, OR (school)
Age: 19
Posts: 335
Re: Top skateboarders say danger part of business
i chuckle to myself every time i see someone skating without a helmet. now to be honest i don't wear my helmet every time i skate, but if i'm boarding downhill or in a park/pool i will toss my helmet on immediately. skating around town i probably won't wear a helmet but any sort of hill or trick skating just has too much risk to not wear a helmet.
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southshorelocal: ...she would get mad and threaten to take sex away from me...which sucks because I love sex.
i chuckle to myself every time i see someone skating without a helmet. now to be honest i don't wear my helmet every time i skate, but if i'm boarding downhill or in a park/pool i will toss my helmet on immediately. skating around town i probably won't wear a helmet but any sort of hill or trick skating just has too much risk to not wear a helmet.
amen to that, i won't step foot in a skatepark without a helmet, that place is a deathtrap.
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Victoria Longboard Crew
vlc.theboardmeeting.net
To the original post - no doubt. they accept the danger and defy it. I was watching the X-Games Big Air competition last night and this is Danny Way's second run
so pro's say skateboarding is dangerous?
.....
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.
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wow.
it took a pro to tell us something that EVERY skater knew.
but honestly, the minute you wake up every day- from there on out you COULD get killed. toaster, car, stairs, people, gas, dogs, asteroids, whatever...skating is dangerous, yes- people do get SERIOUSLY hurt; some of them are 'fish members.
yes, minimize the risk-but accept it is there.
i don't remember who it was but the quote goes "breathing in and out will kill you, you know...."
__________________ [melifont monk] 4:21 pm: i thought she was having a fit. [boarderaholic] 4:21 pm: lol [melifont monk] 4:21 pm: if she pumps/carves like that,
imagine sex... [melifont monk] 4:21 pm: it'd be horrid. [boarderaholic] 4:22 pm: BWHAHAHAHAHAHA
mongo love.
Over 25 years ago I smacked my helmetless head on the 'crete. I nearly died. 3 days in a coma. Caused a lot of pain and suffering and expense to my family. I got permanent brain damage - I can't smell anything any more. No Thanksgiving turkey cooking in the oven
Top skateboarders say danger part of business
By Don Norcross 
