Why are people all about him? Because his words and actions are all those of a person who truly believes skateboarding is for everybody. He took a risk that literally no other known pros would by not going with the status quo and actually spoke out about white supremacists in skateboarding. More importantly, he also does the much less glamorous work in running an after school skateboarding program in Phoenix for underserved kids. His words and actions add up to one conclusion: this dude thinks there’s room for everybody in skating. In the end, it doesn’t matter if he spoke up against that washed up clinger Jason Jessee, or somebody who actually has been relevant in the past 25 years, his words AND actions make him a dude actually worth admiring in skateboarding, unlike all these ass kissing nazi lovers. And yeah, its worth it to reward him for taking that apparent risk. I bought his board too, even though its an 8.6 and a non-traditional shape. Not sure what I’ll do with it once I get it, but want to put my money where my mouth is so I got one. I’m hoping to see them sell out.
Back to the topic at hand. The Oakland courthouse is actually a fun spot aside from the death ledge off the 10. I used to skate there a lot, and there was a guy named Joe who was homeless but essentially made that spot his basecamp. He was there every day, getting stoked when people did tricks, calling out “EMBARASSING!” when people fucked up trying a trick. He was there for everything that went down at the spot. He’d talk up this and that, but it was very clear that Ryan’s trick was his favorite. “This guy came here, jumped up on this, THEN RODE ON THE WALL ALL THE WAY TO THE GROUND! You can’t do that!” We knew exactly what he was talking about, and Ive always been stoked on how much he loved that trick, which really ia fucking insane.
Topic: Ryan Lay appreciation thread (Read 9061 times)