From Blacula to Blaxtreme
The Back Athlete Sports Network (Yeah, I’m a subscriber) has an article titled Extreme Sportsman Carving His Own Way Through Life. I love the title “Extreme Sportsman.” It makes him sound so gentlemanly and brings to mind some old English guy dressed up for a safari with a pith helmet, pipe and Elephant gun. Blacula, I mean Blaxtreme sportsman Christopher “Crib” Butler’s interview is not very extreme. We do learn that in the 80’s his black friends accused him of trying to be white by skateboarding. Flying in the faces of stereotypes, he actually had to go to the ghetto to buy his first real skateboard! What was it? A Vision Kele Rosecrans. That makes him even more of a minority! Oh stop it, you’re killing me! Crib still skates, surfs and snowboards. Since 2007 he’s been shaping some nicely crafted longboards reminiscent of old surfboards under the name Malu Longoboards. For a brief time in the early nineties some of my friends and I thought we were “______.” I leave that term blank because “Extreme Sports” hadn’t been coined in 1992. We were skateboarding, bungie jumping, mountain biking, skydiving and motorcycle riding, etc. We called it “Live by the sword.” Thank god I got over that identity crisis. Then I found out what we were… a Demographic!
I saw Rosecrans and I thought Vodka Cran.
You should start telling everyone you coined the phrase “Extreme Sports,” Kilwag. No one would know the difference! Then everything you have could be Extreme! You could have an Extreme dog, an Extreme midsize sedan, an Extreme…
Good one Randy…you got me. No worries, I admit the BASN article wasn’t very extreme. I didn’t choose that title or even know about it until the article was published. It was supposed to be a fun piece about living your dreams despite all the “bullsh*t” in life.
My hope is that everyone keeps a good sense of humor about everything, have fun, and don’t stop skatin…even when you get older. I am almost 40 and I skate to work everyday, despite what my boss or co-workers might think. If the swell is good in Santa Cruz or if it dumps in Tahoe, I call in sick and grab my boards. Life isn’t about making money or getting rich, it is about doing the things you love to do.
Keep Skatin,
Crib
P.S. You gotta love the story about the yellow Wham-O banana board and the Vision Kele skateboard. It takes guts to admit your first boards were that wack (ha, ha). I actually started playing around with making my own skateboards as a teenager, Malu was just something I started in 2001 cause I hated all the mass-produced longboards that were on the market at the time.
Hey Paige, what were you rollin on in 1984?
my first complete came from a sears Christmas catalog. those yearly christmas books were the best thing, as a kid.
p.s. what’s a boss?
Nice one Crib. I couldn’t agree with you more on all counts. nweyesk8, my first deck was a Black Knight, clay wheels and everything. It came from the Sears Catalog… Yeah, the Wish Book ruled.
Yeah, my first board was also from a Sears catalog, it was a yellow plastic banana board with red wheels. All the boring details are here. I just bought one for $15 off eBay just to have around, My two year old likes to use it. . From banana board I went through three Nash kamikazee boards before my frist real stick, a Powell Cabellero.
Cheers to learning to skate on crappy boards!