One of these threads seems to come up every week; seeing as theyre not going anywhere, i suggest a stickied pappalardo thread.
One side of the pappalardo spectrum focuses on how basic and lackluster his skating seems to be, be it a comment like, "i can do that."
This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but the difference is that, I don't want to see "you" do that. His skating seems to have evolved into skating how he actually enjoys, and perhaps I like it simply for the fact that he has shown his ability to skate as technical as he wishes, or he's earned his stripes if you will.
What made me want to skate in the first place was imagining what it would be like to be able to roll through a town without having to pick up my board, on some marty mcfly feel. I didn't start with the intention of learning tricks, but rather to be one with the board, as lame or cliche as that sounds. Whether this is considered "in defense" or not, when I see a sequence like this, it gets me hyped because it reminds me of that initial desire I had to skate.