Sieben on Olympic skateboarding

[foureyedjim]

http://www.vice.com/read/kill-the-engine-skateboarding-in-the-olympics?utm_source=vicefbus

[sfa]

please, no more boring logo boards!!!

[A.J.K.]

please, no more boring logo boards!!!

[GAY]

Great read but his punchline is moot; all the olympics athletes are on illegal drugs too.

[doomstation55]

Pretty spot on, anybody know if internet shack is coming back at all?

[carbonite]

...only if they arrange it so skating and pole dancing get in the olympics the same year. package deal.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/6490/is-pole-dancing-qualified-for-olympic-spot

[MaryhillVibe]

No offece to Sieben, but I always hate when I read a peice of skate journalism that has already been discussed at more legnth and depth on these very boards.

I understand that this is a simplified version of events aimed at a less informed audience, who are in all likelyhood not skateboarders but I see that as somewhat of a parralell to the whole skateboarding in the olympics argument; why bother dumbing it down for those who only have a passing interest?

[BraveUlysses]

please, no more boring logo boards!!!

Plan B(new Plan B) seems to be notorious for this. I remember when they came back they had some boards that weren't logo driven but I guess that didn't last long.

[via]

"Modern vert and mega ramp are... basically snowboarding"

[HairyCunt]

I hate when people say "My Bad." Sieben is a dork.

[zoltan]

i love sieben, and just as he said skateboards should be individual art pieces. each graphic should be a unique art piece, sure a a couple different colorways is fine, but im getting real pissed at all these team series boards where the graphic usually isnt even good, then they print 12 different colors. that shit is fucking wack. there should be one board that comes in various sizes that just has the team logo then a bunch of individual pro graphics all different shapes/sizes/graphics. look at toy machine they do it pretty well

[Fongstarr.]

"Modern vert and mega ramp are... basically snowboarding"

Yup. Agree with this. I don't mind vert getting in there and I don't think anyone would give a shit if some vert guy got gold. Why not just bastardize it some more and have it in the Olympics.

[nonstripedzebra]

This topic needs to end before it actually happens. MY GOD this is a fucking terrible idea.

[exlurker]

"Modern vert and mega ramp are... basically snowboarding"

Yup. Agree with this. I don't mind vert getting in there and I don't think anyone would give a shit if some vert guy got gold. Why not just bastardize it some more and have it in the Olympics.

I don't agree. I can watch snowboarding and not be able to relate at all, but I definitely enjoy some stylish vert skating. It seems like being Rune Glifberg would be really fun. But yeah I also don't care if it's in the olympics ? i'd say the olympics has twice the dignity of the x-games

[JamesNtheGntPch]

i love sieben, and just as he said skateboards should be individual art pieces. each graphic should be a unique art piece, sure a a couple different colorways is fine, but im getting real pissed at all these team series boards where the graphic usually isnt even good, then they print 12 different colors. that shit is fucking wack. there should be one board that comes in various sizes that just has the team logo then a bunch of individual pro graphics all different shapes/sizes/graphics. look at toy machine they do it pretty well

i guess all you can really do as a skate consumer is buy what you like.  i think the companies that have creative board graphics are generally more artistically driven to begin with.  for instance ed templeton is an artist so, like you said, toy machine does it pretty well.   
also, with krooked there's typically a lot of goofy graphics because of mark gonzales's artistic personality.

i think the whole metaphor for the skate industry in macho taildrop is pretty spot on and applicable to this discussion of jock-boarding versus gnar-boarding.

in short.  be a manwolf today!

[sleepypancakes]

To branch from the creative companies, Skate Mental, $lave, Chocolate (kind of), and Anti-Hero are all pretty large companies with really good art direction.

[Thrillho]

How is the Olympics any different than the X-Games? Or the Dew Tour? Or the Maloof Money Cup? Or the Street League?

The Olympics doesn't pay its winners.  The US Olympic committee pays US winners a bit.
http://www.ksdk.com/rss/article/331225/3/US-medal-winners-receive-cash-prizes
I'd imagine there are other countries that do the same, but I don't know that.
Most of their money is from endorsements though; Wheaties, Nike, Icyhot, etc.
Also, as he brought up, the Olympics drug tests.
The Olympics also likes to make certain maneuvers illegal.  I can already see someone being disqualified on a benihana.
They make you submit your run before the contest even begins, and you can't defer from it.
I've never sat down and watched any X-Madewf comps, so I don't know if that's any different.  If so, that's pretty weak.
Skateboarding, to me anyway, is the most exciting when it happens spontaneously.

[j....soy.....]

I'm not connecting those two dots completely. Art direction Is art direction....contests are contests....

[zoltan]

i love sieben, and just as he said skateboards should be individual art pieces. each graphic should be a unique art piece, sure a a couple different colorways is fine, but im getting real pissed at all these team series boards where the graphic usually isnt even good, then they print 12 different colors. that shit is fucking wack. there should be one board that comes in various sizes that just has the team logo then a bunch of individual pro graphics all different shapes/sizes/graphics. look at toy machine they do it pretty well

i guess all you can really do as a skate consumer is buy what you like.  i think the companies that have creative board graphics are generally more artistically driven to begin with.  for instance ed templeton is an artist so, like you said, toy machine does it pretty well.   
also, with krooked there's typically a lot of goofy graphics because of mark gonzales's artistic personality.

i think the whole metaphor for the skate industry in macho taildrop is pretty spot on and applicable to this discussion of jock-boarding versus gnar-boarding.

in short.  be a manwolf today!



[/quote

yeah but every company art influenced or not hires a graphic designer to make interesting board graphics. We need some better ones cause the majority of them suck

[DonSimon]

If skateboarding is going to be in the olympics, won't there be a problem with the sponsorships? I'm not really sure but it isn't it like the whole US Team is wearing Nike, or am I wrong on that one?

[foureyedjim]

If skateboarding is going to be in the olympics, won't there be a problem with the sponsorships? I'm not really sure but it isn't it like the whole US Team is wearing Nike, or am I wrong on that one?

yeah I think so...

[Pike St]

What a cool article...a little analysis on the evolution of board graphics, and where it's heading...interesting. I personally think, no Olympics, it would disrupt our Skate Nation. We have a culture and identity all over the world, and we should keep it that way.

Skateboarders all over the world share the same culture and language of skateboarding. We already are a Nation. We don't need the Olympics to divide us by country. Do you want to skate for your country? Or do you want to skate for skateboarding? If we join the Olympics we are now skateboarding for a country rather than the culture of skateboarding. Joining the Olympics is a bad idea for skateboarding. We are already an established sub-culture...Skate Nation/Skateboard Nation. Keep it that way.

[art hellman]

Sieben is rad.  His VICE and Thrasher articles are always great reads.  His recent Thrasher one about carving over a lil doorway is particularly great.

He is a dork, but that's what's so awesome about him.  There's definitely a ton of macho-ness in skateboarding cloaked by core-ness. 

bring back weird. 

Cannot wait for the ROGER vid.

[dankradschwag]

I met this dude, he was, for lack of a better word, a kook.

[Donkey Lips]

How is the Olympics any different than the X-Games? Or the Dew Tour? Or the Maloof Money Cup? Or the Street League?

The Olympics doesn't pay its winners.  The US Olympic committee pays US winners a bit.
http://www.ksdk.com/rss/article/331225/3/US-medal-winners-receive-cash-prizes
The Olympics also likes to make certain maneuvers illegal.  I can already see someone being disqualified on a benihana.

I see no problem with this.

If skateboarding is going to be in the olympics, won't there be a problem with the sponsorships? I'm not really sure but it isn't it like the whole US Team is wearing Nike, or am I wrong on that one?

yeah I think so...

Nike provides the equipment for Track & Field and some other events, as they're the "official" outfitter, which is why you see a lot of the Olympic competitors wearing swooshes, but they aren't the lone apparel sponsor of the US team. There are other brands like Mizuno, Addidas, Loudmouth...etc that are providing uniforms for volleyball, swimming...etc.

Having a single uniform provider wouldn't interfere with their individual clothing sponsor contracts though. The same way Burton provided the uniforms for the US winter Olympic team, even though some team members weren't Burton riders. It could work, but it doesn't mean it should work.

[Zurg]

i love sieben, and just as he said skateboards should be individual art pieces. each graphic should be a unique art piece, sure a a couple different colorways is fine, but im getting real pissed at all these team series boards where the graphic usually isnt even good, then they print 12 different colors. that shit is fucking wack. there should be one board that comes in various sizes that just has the team logo then a bunch of individual pro graphics all different shapes/sizes/graphics. look at toy machine they do it pretty well

i agree to an extent because i dont really like the graphics, but at least it means all those guys have a chance at making some royalties off a logo board that also has their name on it, opposed to the company getting all the money from it

[frank gerwer's nose]

Maybe it's just me, but this struck me much more as an article about the state of skate graphics than the traditional skateboarding vs the olympics debate.

[hankmasterflex]

i love shane white cuz he skates like a snowboarder but hes a skater and his hair is cool reminds me of a floor mop that someone spraypainted orange
i bet he wins a gold medal in xgames and his clothes from target are awsum

[Joust Ostrich]

The only logo boards that don't bother me are these.



and anything Roger does.

[Avicci]

Sybian in the Olympics