Mike V. landed a gig blogging about hockey for Anaheim’s Mighty Ducks which isn’t a big deal except that in the May 28th entry he claims to have created skateboard hockey. I’ll bet there are a few Jaks who might care to contradict him. I seem to remember skateboard hockey in the mid eighties when mike V was just an amateur. Maybe he just meant that he created it on his own without knowing others were already doing it.

Sometimes the fruits of a good session last long after the the actual session is done. Our own Steve Grover, of Grover’s Video Korner fame is now a comic book hero on Earth Patrol Media. See why he’s considering changing his name to L.L. Cool Grover.

Battleground is a freakin’ zoo. Must have been 150+ kids there last night, most of them just sitting or standing in the way. This is a great park. I can’t wait for it to calm down a little so it can be ridden without the whole human pinball game effect. Even so, we still had a good time there. This park has something for everyone. Check out some clickable pics after the jump.

Sacrifice Skateboards reported yesterday Neil Heddings is FREE! No more rumors… Neil was released this morning in Los Angeles. Raise a glass and celebrate with all of us in this joyus occassion! You will see alot more of this in the very near future. Sources at Sacrifice say Neil is confined to the state of California for now. We would have brought this to you yesterday, but our so-called contributor who shall go unnamed (Estes!) was too lazy to go to the Sacrifice web site and grab a pic. Oh snap! [Photo: Brendan klein]

Time to break out the camera for action shots again. It’s been almost three months, but EPM’s been TCB so it’s not like I was missed. Abusrd! I hauled my injured ass (shoulder and hip, actually) out to Pier to take pictures of old men skating vert. Heard I missed Childress, Drehobol and Kanights. Still, I didn’t get the camera out until I was walking back to the car. I noticed Louis because he (politely) asked me to get my 2 year old kid out of his way so he could hit the wave banks on the sidewalk. I snapped a few pics. I must have bumped the mode dial on the camera to automatic because I have a slow shutter speed and unintentional motion blur. I was too busy trying to get a good composition with curves in the walkway and the skating without getting in Louis’ way. Plus my kid was kind of crying, making my wife crabby… Calgon take me away! Must focus mentally. Cropping? That’s for wussies. See some full frame pics after the jump.

We’re checking in on the South African skateboard scene again. There was an article on Helderberg.com about a skateboard contest in South Africa. Near as I can tell, the town was Somerset West in the state or providence or district of Helderberg. I followed a link to the Old School Skatepark which is a brand new facility done in true DIY style. Actually, it’s not very “old school” in terms of skatepark design, but that’s not important. It looks like they hauled a bunch of sand and cinderblocks into a small warehouse and poured concrete over everything. All building up and no digging. You have to check out the pictures in the news and gallery sections. It has an odd looking finish and gestalt that is hard to describe. Definitely not your typical polished public skatepark, but still highly skateable as evidenced by the photos. A unique spot for sure. What’s missing is a good comprehensive shot of the whole layout, so you’ll have to do some exploring on the site, which I imagine is a little bit like skating that park. The establishment has a youth club type aura to it, with the accompanying stance on smoking, drugs and…

Stock imagery of skateboarding was stock in the 80’s until the last couple of years. Sure, the cheap and free online resources still have a lot of cheesy clip art believe me, I have collected a lot of it, but most stock imagery of skateboarding has gotten a lot more current. I think there was one photo session of an 80’s vert dog skater that was used forever. I recall in the 90’s and early 00’s he was on everything from watch packaging to toys and more. Here are two recent examples of stock houses advertising in consecutive issues of the design magazine Print. Hey Masterfile, that elbow pad probably hasn’t been available for sale in over 10 years.

Skate and Annoy is guilty of negligence. We ignored the story of the closing of a large percentage of skateparks in Nebraska last fall, due to the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision that cities were not immune to personal injury lawsuits on public land. Basically, some lady twisted her ankle in a hole in a field at a public festival somewhere in Nebraska, and since we are the Jerry Springer nation, she decided to sue whatever public municipality held the event. Cities and the like are usually immune from frivolous lawsuits of the “I tripped on your sidewalk” variety, but this possible relative of Cleetus the Slack Jawed Yokel, had her day in court. Suddenly, Chicken Littles in cities and towns all over Nebraska decided they needed to close skateparks until the law changed. Curiously, as near as I can tell, no basketball courts or baseball fields were closed. The aptly named Omaha Sen. Mike Friend, stepped up to the plate (sorry, there’s no skateboard analogy for that. Should it be dropped in? ) and proposed a bill to change that. The bill has passed and the Governor intends to sign it. So please forgive us, last month’s 55 loyal readers…

Through the magic of the Interweb!™ I am able to bring you this heart wrenching tale of a columnist for the Icelandic Review who wants to learn how to skateboard in the worst way. So I’m here to make a plea to the little 12-year-old bros or any of you living in Iceland proficient (and patient) enough: teach me how to skateboard.. I’m not sure why she wants to learn from 12 year olds. Perhaps Icelandic teens have better things to do. She’ll need a loaner board while she decides whether or not she’s in it for the long haul. For your troubles, she’ll take you to dinner or buy you some “skate stuff.” Failing skateboarding, she also needs a place to live, and I’m guessing a date with someone her own age to keep out of jail.

I was reading an article in the Lower Hudson Online about Pioneering Rockland skateboarders still at it in their 40s and I had to chuckle when they got to the part explaining the team’s name. The Wizards came up with their team’s name to reflect the creative inspiration that came with each move, said Jamaal Bey, the team’s leader. The skateboard was the magic wand, and the skateboarder was the wizard who would perform each new trick. Now the 70’s sure were a groovy time. Wizards, dragons and unicorns were all very heavy and hip back then. Nowadays the idea of a private skateboard team with a ridiculous name seems laughable, except for the err, uh, Scrotes. I had to laugh again when the article mentioned the team would sneak into empty pools to practice. Practice what? Sneaking into pools? The act of skating the pool is the end reward, not something you practice in anticipation of something else. One of the Wizards has a truly wacky but passionate side business called Bey Boards that err, focuses on things like skate brakes, weird downhill bikes (that I swear I’ve seen before) Nascar-themed downhill boards, lace savers (that take a truly…