Sure, it’s got nice packaging, fancy electronics and a marketing campaign to back it up, but I bet this Math Mission game for the Leaptster Learning Game System isn’t nearly half as gnar as Radical Mathematical.

Check out the Travis Bickle looking rugrat in these catalog shots for Knuckleheads Clothing. These guys are also sponsoring that weird skate demo at the motorcycle show. Hey, I’ve got rugrats too. They sure would look good in some of that. Hint. Hint.

We’ve covered the one percenters today, so in the interest of being fair and balanced, let’s talk about Boy Scouts. While there is a history of skateboarding and Scouting in the USA, BBC News reports on “a revamp of the scout movement will allow boys and girls to earn badges for skills such as skateboarding, making a fruit salad and racing quad bikes.”

The official requirements for the Street Sports merit activity badge requires a six month investment in the activity if you’re a regular scout (ages 10-14), but they actually get easier if you are an Explorer. Looks like you just have to skate for 25 hours and show improvement. Maybe they should make you skate for 25 hours straight, or 25 spots in 25 days.

- Thanks to Guy Duncan for the tip.

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This really short kid goes to private school, has a girl-sh sounding name (Ailene, pronounced Ilene.) practices freestyle and pushes mongo. That’s enough to make him a punching bag at many schools, or at least quarantined for some sort of sociology experiment, but Ailene seems to be doing OK. I had this video as an aside for a link to an article titled “Teach Your Child How to Skateboard,” but it’s boring and Ailene’s “How to skateboard for beginners” is much more entertaining. He made it for a class project. He goes over some basics and then gets his non-skating friend Bruce to bust his ass trying the moves. I was about to scrap the whole post until the video got past the standing on a board part and Ailene started busting out with the freestyle moves. One of the the trick tips is the casper. The casper? Where did this kid even see a casper? After a litany of freestyle how-to’s (which I’m sure is the order of how most kids learn to skate) Ailene finally shows a kickflip as an afterthought in the “extras” section. You know that move where you half step off the board and it ends up wrapped around your legs? Apparently, it’s called the flamingo. Who knew? Ailene did, I guess.

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I’ve got a son that’s just over two years old. Since he could walk he’s been climbing all over the skateboards that I leave lying around the house. He’s got fingerboards that he likes to play with like other kids play with toy cars, which he has too. I just started taking him to the Saturday morning 14 and under time slot at our local indoor spot, the Department. I get odd looks when I bring him there, but I’m not pushing him to be the next Tony Hawk. He likes playing around on skateboards, and he likes watching kids skate. If we are there for an hour, he’ll maybe spend 10 minutes max actually trying to skate on his own. It’s mostly a way to get him out of the house and give his mom a little break once a week. Why am I telling you this? I found this discussion about stage dads in skateboarding, AKA skate dads. It was instigated by a sponsor me video, or more accurately, a sponsor-him video for a 10 year old kid supposedly put together by a friend of the kid’s dad. It’s pretty funny because it’s got all this aggro heavy music with swearing as a soundtrack for a little kid’s video. I guess that’s what happens when you get a guy who calls himself Skull Crusher to do your video. And just to prove that no matter how young you start them, someone will always be starting younger: there’s another video of a one year old kid monkeying around on a skateboard. Yeah, he’s hanging 10 on the nose, hardwood floors and not eating it.

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Tony Hawk’s Big Spin has been open for a while now. It’s got to be surreal having your own amusement park ride. There’s no Michael Jordan’s Big Dunk ride out there, but you would think he would have been able to sign the contract if he wanted. Here’s two YouTube videos with two different takes on the ride. One is a guy who obsesses on amusement park rides and the other is a couple of snotty kids who just like to hear themselves say “I hate Tony Hawk.” Check ‘em both out after the jump.

- Thanks to Tito for the tip.

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Mad Magazine is too highbrow for little kids, so they rolled out Mad Kids for the youngsters. I checked out the PDF preview, figuring it would be all Spongebob-y, and it is, but the cartoon ladies that Don Martin draws still have impossibly large gravity defying breasts. Tony Hawk is on the cover #9, where they gave him the Photoshop bug-out treatment. What is that move anyway? He’s also got an interview inside. OK maybe he’s not mad at kids, but mad for the kids! (And not in a creepy NAMBLA way…)

- Thanks to Danimal for the tip.

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A 17 year old girl scout named Kaitlin Fabich is leading a push to get a skatepark built in her town. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be about how more young girls are getting into skateboarding. You see, Kaitlin doesn’t skate, she’s just using the process to qualify for a Gold Award in Girl Scouting. It makes me doubt her long term commitment to the project, but if it helps in any way then it’s further proof that skateboarding has saturated popular culture. Aaack! Do we need more proof? I guess not. Boy Scouts have ranks, the highest being an Eagle Scout. One of the things you have to do to get that rank is to organize a community service project and log X amount of hours, as well as get X amount of volunteer hours from your peers. Girls Scouts don’t have ranks I guess, they just have awards. At 17, I think Kaitlin needs to get her ass in gear before she gets the boot for being to old. Of course, reading that she was 17 made me think of going a different direction with the post graphic, but I decided on a wholesome approach. The “Scouting” and skateboarding connection is not new. There was a division of Boy Scouts of America called Exploring that was open to older kids from around 14 -20 or so, both male and female. In the late 80’s it was not unheard of for Exploring Posts to form solely for the purpose of providing a place to skate. A private halfpipe facility that was run by an Explorer Post was covered by the Boy Scouts of America’s blanket insurance policy, at least that’s how I remember it being explained. Exploring seems to have been replaced by Venturing as far as the Boy Scouts go. Does anyone out there have any Exploring Post vert ramp stories to tell?

Still need a last minute X-mas gift for the guy that runs your favorite skateboarding web site? How about this amazing Street Smartz Interactive (talking) Skateboard skateboard?

This skateboard talks, teaches, and offers feedback! There’s nothing like it! Our amazing, interactive skateboard will have your child shredding in no time. Its unique technology actually measures foot pressure, turns, speed, and more–then offers personalized tips for improving technique. A separate coaching mode teaches popular stunts step by step, while the free-styling mode features exciting sound effects. Later, turn off the power, and your “shred head” has a cool, cutting-edge 28″ board! For kids 41-160 lbs. Requires 6 “AA” batteries (sold separately). For ages 6 and up.

Forget about hoverboards. This, is the board of the future.

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The sketchy Tony Hawk Christmas ornament was actually a McDonalds Happy Meal toy with a string attached. Danimal’s mom sent him an awesome elf skateboarding on a leaf. World Industries sells these elf sized skateboards that come packaged in a Christmas stocking.

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