2021 unpopular opinion thread

[Jerrys Kid]

Historically, SOTY typically favored quantity over quality. You're better off winning if you have tons of clips in the tour videos on the site and coverage in the mag than having a single awesome part and not much else that year. They have to be top of mind in all the media that gets forgotten throughout the year.

It makes it harder to justify why someone won after the fact, but that's the pattern I've seen over the past 20 years.

[Sluggloaph]

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Filming skateboard tricks and putting them out into the world is ultimately just showing off.

By this metric filming lines is unconscionable.

[close]

For sure. I find myself saying "fuck you" or sum variant when I'm watching lines. Like those greedy  bastards!

[close]

Some lines that Tom Knox filmed were definitely worthy of SOTY award

Period

Absolutely. Idk how people weren't juiced on his jawn. Lines are the superior flex. I dig hammers too but I'll take tasty lines-manship all day.

[Skeleton Pudding]

Andy MacDonald continues to rip, has kept himself out of controversy, and seems like a nice guy.

[Mr Cheese Resurrection]

Lebron James should have been the 2012-2013 NBA Defensive Player Of The Year. He was robbed by Marc Gasol. Gasol was on the NBA All Defensive Second team while Lebron was on the First Team. Giving Marc that award was a damn TRAVESTY!

[Mr. Kamikazi]

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Fucking Awesome is fucking awesome

[close]

Yep

Hockey is great too
Elijah Berle’s Vans part is an instant classic

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Sure, if we're talking about the Propeller part, maybe even No Other Way.

Nope, I am talking about "Alright, Ok".

[ballintoohard]

Dylan wasn't all that amazing, style qualms aside. It is terrible that he passed at a young age, but he didn't have a major, long-term impact.

[KillDayoy]

Dylan wasn't all that amazing, style qualms aside. It is terrible that he passed at a young age, but he didn't have a major, long-term impact.

You're bordering on blasphemous opinions with this one

[ballintoohard]

Just go look at the Dylan Huf video thread for an example of not being the only one that feels this way. If anyone uses his style or skating as inspiration they get hated on hardcore but other than that, I dunno what he specifically changed.

[aàáâäæãå]

From an interview with Greg Hunt:

Questioned whether he was shocked at the reach of Dylan Rieder’s influence following the gravis section, Greg admits his connection to the film and Dylan made it difficult to have an objective view of his friend. “At the time he was, in his own way, a polarizing skateboarder. That middle period of his career when that film came out, a lot of people were talking shit about his shoe and saying really negative things about how he looked like a model. The video part changed a lot of that even for people who weren’t fans of Dylan. Those who maybe thought he was a good skateboarder but didn’t like how he dressed or came across as a person. Without a doubt that gravis part made everyone accept the fact that this is one of the greatest living skateboarders.”

Barely into his twenties, dylan. captured the enduring image of Rieder the world dearly remembers. From the long-haired Quiksilver kid who tackled handrails, to the teenager decked out in flannel shirts and a pair of canvas Vans Slip-Ons, to the troubled adolescent in Mind Field – Dylan emerged in Greg’s short film as a monochromatic powerhouse who perfectly embodied a ‘less is more’ approach. Though stark as Dylan’s reinvention was, Greg describes it as a gradual change: “A natural progression he really stepped into it once he got sober and felt confident about himself. That’s when he became the Dylan we all know. From how he dressed to how he skated. It really kicked into high gear during that video because I think he knew.”

“He knew he had a special talent and was finally at a point where he was open to be the person he wanted to be. Not that it was that crazy, not that he was that different or anything. It kicked in at the most logical time. You could see he was in that zone where he was really comfortable with himself and confident on a skateboard.

“I was surprised people embraced it so much.   For Dylan to dress the way he wanted to fucking dress and just live his life the way he wanted to live it was very different to how a lot of skateboarders looked and carried themselves. Eventually, people realised this dude, although he’s ‘pretty’, doesn’t give a fuck. He’s just being the person he is and you have to respect that. Eventually, people came to respect he was such an original person. Skateboarding doesn’t always like people that completely break from the norm. It had been a long time since anyone had carried themselves the way Dylan did,” says Greg.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/speedwaymag.com/2018/06/08/greg-hunt-interview/amp/

[KillDayoy]

Just go look at the Dylan Huf video thread for an example of not being the only one that feels this way. If anyone uses his style or skating as inspiration they get hated on hardcore but other than that, I dunno what he specifically changed.

I recall going through that thread in 2014 when it was originally posted. You left an unpopular opinion that I matched with a snark response, lets leave it at that.

[Swithflip]

Time to Shine Dylan is the best

[johnes]

Dylan wasn't all that amazing, style qualms aside. It is terrible that he passed at a young age, but he didn't have a major, long-term impact.

I respect your opinion but I think the impact of Dylan can still be seen in skateboarding now, people still like to dress similar to him and take general influence from him.
Although I doubt the kids who started skating in the last 2-3 years are aware of his impact but many older skaters will always remember him and his style/influence.

SOTY is total bullshit. Skateboarding is so subjective that it is impossible to chose one "best".

Everybody wins. Well done everyone.

I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion.

[heckler]

Dylan wasn't all that amazing, style qualms aside. It is terrible that he passed at a young age, but he didn't have a major, long-term impact.

You mean beyond giving credence to the stand alone video part, popularizing clean style and tasteful trick selection during a particularly gross period of skating, starring in the most consequential video of the past decade, and melding fashion and skateboarding culture in a way few had done before?

Something like this isn't really up for debate, even if you can't see it.

[Youoverthere]

Andy MacDonald continues to rip, has kept himself out of controversy, and seems like a nice guy.

This, plus he lowkey started a new discipline in skateboarding. Skatercross. The man is a humble innovator. Still kinda kooky tho.

[ballintoohard]

I rewatched every Dylan part after posting that and quite a few old parts around that period. I think it’s unfair to cast him as “not good”. He did have stellar lanky style and although I don’t 100% love all his trick selection, you’re right in that his stylistic impact might not be felt for a while given the era it occurred in. I think that the main blockers to that are gatekeeping around his influence i.e. Elijah. He had a really good part, did lots of shit Dylan didn’t exactly do, and yet he gets shit on.

[heckler]

I rewatched every Dylan part after posting that and quite a few old parts around that period. I think it’s unfair to cast him as “not good”. He did have stellar lanky style and although I don’t 100% love all his trick selection, you’re right in that his stylistic impact might not be felt for a while given the era it occurred in. I think that the main blockers to that are gatekeeping around his influence i.e. Elijah. He had a really good part, did lots of shit Dylan didn’t exactly do, and yet he gets shit on.

I think the main factor that you're missing (as corny as it sounds) is that Dylan was an individual, he skated like himself,  and did things exactly how he wanted to. That really shone through in his footage. I don't really get a sense of individuality in Elijah Berle's footage, I just see a dude who can do some good tricks.

I think this applies to a lot of biters, as well.

[ziggy]

I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

[scunched]

I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

what about yummy

[Frank]

obsessing over nike sb colorways and collecting them for any reason other than monetary gain is corny as fuck. it's the fashion/skateboarding equivalent of people mindlessly buying and fawning over apple products. i'm baffled as to how uncritical nike sb fanpeops can be. simple navy blazer--->omg, what a fantastic design; totally fucked dunks with furry upper--->damn, so creative and brave to put this out

give me a fucking break. ngl, their shoes are good for skating, but this is a big corpo that completely has you guys in its grips to the point you'll take part in lotteries or stupid social media actions just to have the chance of purchasing a pair. it's pretty fucked.

if you hustle your way up by playing idiots on stockx that have too much money, more power to you though. the only legit reason to spend this much effort to keep up with this brand is to make money off.

sneaker culture as a whole is a joke to me anyways, and i love shoes. one of the very few subcultures if you will where people are proud of themselves for spending obscene amounts of money on cheap mass produced bullshit made by megacorp x that's sold at a premium because of fake scarcity and bullshit marketing buzzwords like "story" and "heritage" and shit like that.

[BieberStance]

obsessing over nike sb colorways and collecting them for any reason other than monetary gain is corny as fuck. it's the fashion/skateboarding equivalent of people mindlessly buying and fawning over apple products. i'm baffled as to how uncritical nike sb fanpeops can be. simple navy blazer--->omg, what a fantastic design; totally fucked dunks with furry upper--->damn, so creative and brave to put this out

give me a fucking break. ngl, their shoes are good for skating, but this is a big corpo that completely has you guys in its grips to the point you'll take part in lotteries or stupid social media actions just to have the chance of purchasing a pair. it's pretty fucked.

if you hustle your way up by playing idiots on stockx that have too much money, more power to you though. the only legit reason to spend this much effort to keep up with this brand is to make money off.

sneaker culture as a whole is a joke to me anyways, and i love shoes. one of the very few subcultures if you will where people are proud of themselves for spending obscene amounts of money on cheap mass produced bullshit made by megacorp x that's sold at a premium because of fake scarcity and bullshit marketing buzzwords like "story" and "heritage" and shit like that.

the best part about it is that everyone is pretending as if dunks have always been a thing like that and that the airmax hypecircle of the last 6 years didn´t happen. i wonder how many people spent a fortune on their airmax gallery that they now sit on and doing the same with dunks rn.

[Urtripping]

I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

Agreed. The only adjectives that should ever be used to describe skateboarding are "sick," "lame," and maybe in extreme instances, "fucked."

[JANUS]

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I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

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what about yummy

That makes me uncomfortable.

[JugeL]

Lunarlons sucked and you only remember them because zoom air is even more worse

[Welpok]

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I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

[close]

what about yummy

[close]

That makes me uncomfortable.

😭🛹

[conqueso]

guy thinks he's a philosopher about something entirely pointless lol

[Reed Richards]

Meh, these probably just rolled over from last year, but oh well.  Sexism and racism are still a huge problem in skateboarding, and it definitely shows by some threads/posts here.  Also, a lot of people on here don't know shit about the business side of skating/how companies are really doing and it shows.  Some companies that have been pronounced dead on Slap for multiple years running are alive and thriving.  The world is bigger than your individual perspective.

[Jerrys Kid]

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I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

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what about yummy

[close]

That makes me uncomfortable.

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😭🛹

That entire Jenkem video hanging out with Mark Suciu led me to the conclusion that I never want to hang out with Mark Suciu.

[ChrisSennsGirlfriend]

ok. let's do this:

while 'impressive,' i don't much enjoy watching the skating in mark suciu's parts. at all.

minutiae first!
from an aesthetic standpoint i really don't care for his style - mainly his posture on the board. difficult to articulate but the way he compresses his body - for example the tricks where he bends his knees way more on the landing than on the wind up... on zero impact tricks. essentially creates a distracting 'there's way more visual motion happening than is necessary to perform this trick' effect. and i find he spends more time than most pros w/ his body in a sean-pablo-wind-up formation - torso more parallel to the ground than is earthly necessary for that specific trick. (and he'll do it before, during and after tricks as well). don't much care for that.

i personally like my top tier skating to look (and 'feel') as loose and powerful as possible.

suciu cuts a figure on his board that is antithetical to both those things.

i personally think a technical skater's saving grace is when they can look ultra loose on their board and almost borderline spontaneous (eg appleyard) and a 'creative' skater's saving grace is in their capacity to be genuinely i-never-would-have-thought-of-that batshit (eg barletta). to put it in terms that play off his public image: suciu does neither and just looks like he's doing skate arithmetic... not particularly fun or 'cool' or any other adjective that made me pick up a board.

technically impressive or not, if i made a list of the top 100 or even 200 skaters that i have enjoyed staring at footage of over the years yung suciu definitely wouldn't be on there.

[BurntPorridge]

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I can’t fucking stand the word tasteful applied to skateboarding

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what about yummy

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That makes me uncomfortable.

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😭🛹

[close]

That entire Jenkem video hanging out with Mark Suciu led me to the conclusion that I never want to hang out with Mark Suciu.

He has to be the most highbrow skater that I've come across. I legitimately feel like I'd have a better session skating with Andy Roy.

[sketchysenpai]

Chicken Bone Nowison is a better video than Baker Has A Deathwish.