I thought pros would be bigger assholes than they ended up being, mostly because all the hometown hero’s were cliquish and kinda douchey.
I believed that spots would be smaller in NYC/ Long Island, and I thought spots in LA would be bigger. Barcelona and London spots seemed to be pretty accurate though.
When I was younger, I assumed that pros were paid well. I was dumbfounded to learn that my mom made more than Andrew Reynolds did pre-THPS.
I thought Venture actually made good trucks in the late 90’s.
I blindly assumed that decks and wheels in ccs that cost more money were better quality.
I thought shoes like the Vans Era and the Vans Slip On were just lifestyle shoes that couldn’t handle the demands of modern skating. This was in the late 90’s, when the smallest pro shoe was the original Geoff Rowley Vans.
I naively believed people who made up bullshit stories, like the idiots who said they rode for two dirfeeent shops or two different shoe companies. Grew out of that once I met people who actually skated.
I assumed lightly drinking and smoking weed didn’t have a negative influence on my skating. That was a lie I told myself for a while. I also assumed speed and opiates had a negative influence on my skating, but it ended up being quite the opposite.
I thought that many of the earlier 90’s videos weren’t as impressive as they are now. I started skateboarding in 1999, and my neighbor gave me 411 number 1, Las Nueve Vidas De Paco, and the most current best of 411 video that was out at the time, and I thought the best of video was some RNS. The one he did give me that I was impressed with was Virtual Reality, but I was a sucker for the flashiness of The End....
I thought every pro could do every trick, just like most of you believed. Meeting Mike V changed that for me. Also Mike V told me that he would forever stay on Etnies and Black Label, guess that was something that was clarified at a later time though...
I thought Shawn Powers had great potential and was going to be a great skateboarder once he hit his 20’s.
I thought I would probably be dead by my mid 20’s.