Money comes and goes. The goofs way too involved with it will eventually wise-up. Those who will matter tomorrow anyway.
I agree with what is said, but when I get all riled up about the same stuff... I realize that I'm just a guy watching and trying to listen to what I like. Avoiding what I don't like is usually the easy part. On the flipside of what Ah Lee is saying...I always come back to "regardless of how cool (insert dudes name) seems, or how amazing he is on his board, that's all they will be to me. A guy in a video. Fandom is a bad, bad thing. Anytime I see a guy wearing a BAM shirt (Or any brandification of any pro for that matter) it just reminds me of the grossness of other "sports" fans. Any dude wearing a football jersey, baseball, basketball what ever... Lamest shit ever. It implies "This is my favorite player". Seems really creepy when a grown man wears another grown mans number and likeness because he's his favorite.
Videos are brought to us for "our entertainment"... We don't have to watch. But that's just the way skating is documented now-a-days, so any chance to see some new skating... we want to see it. I agree with the money and I agree with hate, but I also think that a lot of the hate is generated for the sake of hate. For example Pigwood's Slaughterhouse, I know, I know... but that video involves bits with the riders drinking and the riders skating... Not a lot of money involved... Not full of Girl inspired sketches... just drinking and skating. AND THE GROUP HERE HATES IT. I own this video along with plenty others that I haven't cared to watch in a while. When it does find it's way in the DVD player though, I am ALWAYS blown away by something in the video. Any video. There is always something that blows me away. But people look for perfection to call home, so Slaughterhouse is considered a piece of shit. It's not "That was a bad video, but that trick was worth a rewind"... It's "Pigwood sucks!".
Any activity is as lame as it's participants and it's fans. Skating doesn't need fans... Don't be a fan.
How many X games has there been? Since the dawn of the X-games we've seen skating marketed as "Individual", "Personal Style", "Unique"... From Pac Sun to Entemann's cakes... Now that those words are played and running thin, the mainstream needs to toss skating into the most uniform, opposite of "Individual", one way contest there is THE OLYMPICS...
If you like it or love it... the reason you do is because it's fun. Or that should be the reason anyway.
And by "fan" you know what I mean... dudes who cant show affiliation or interest in something without having there den decorated with anything with it's logo. Gross.
You ranted... I ranted.