If you weren’t paying attention to the Wall Street Journal’s article on how Portland became the skateboarding capital of the world, you might have missed the tab with the interactive graphic that is supposed to display America’s Best Skateparks. The graphic is actully kind of cool, but predictably, you have to take their selection process with a grain of salt, and cringe a little when they show a BMX photo for the illustration of the Athens Ohio skatepark.

The Wall Street Journal want’s you to know that Portland, Oregon is Skateboarding Capital of the World. If only my father were alive to read that. Ruining my life, indeed! As soon as I get home from work tomorrow I’m going to actually read it. I’m up past my bedtime. Holy cow if it isn’t S&A reader and sporadic commenter, Tom Miller in one of the photos. Why can’t we enlarge that one? Where’s that Bush Beater we gave you? And no inside scoop either? Miller, Miller, why have you forsaken us? That’s OK. I’m still voting for you when you run for Mayor.

– Thanks to Greg North for the tip.

This just in, from the San Francisco Chronicle:: Physics discussion ends in skateboard attack.

A homeless man is on trial in San Mateo County on charges that he smacked a fellow transient in the face with a skateboard as the victim was engaged in a conversation about quantum physics, authorities said Wednesday.

I know GVK, Rich and I have almost come to blows in the car on the way to a skatepark, but we’re usually arguing about how to raise kids instead of quantum physics. They want to build a particle accelerator in my neighborhood, but I’m organizing a petition against it because it will just attract scientific method graffiti and discarded lab jackets and pocket protectors littered on the surrounding lawn. Stephen Hawkings image from Nerdtests.com. Also check out Einstein skateboards on Zazzle and Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, Einstein’s Skateboard.

– Thanks to Tito for the tip.

The Half Moon Bay Review reports that their police will enforce helmet regs but that pad use is discouraged. Unless you’re skitching, then no pads or helmet. Huh?

Halifax Canada weekly The Coast, tackled the mounting malaise caused by the Halifax Police departments increasingly draconian enforcement of helmet laws for skateboarders. Whew! That was a mouthful. Sign me up for journalism school. They’ve gone so far as to use undercover police officers in sting operations. The article is aptly titled Skate Free and/or Die. The cover features a very nice Riley Smith shot of Dale Hussey helmetless, doing a proper straight-armed layback air. Nice cover parody of Thrasher, by the way. I guess they normally don’t do the fake cover gimmick. On the right is the now out of date cover of What’s Up!, a monthly newsprint magazine dedicated to covering the music scene in Bellingham Washington. I had no idea there was that big of a music scene there. The skater illustrated is rumored to be ex Lib Tech rider Ryan Williams. Catch the covers after the jump.

– Thanks to Greg Baller and John Aguilar for the tips.

I can use “potpourri” right? I mean it’s core, isn’t it? Clockwise from the top left. Tony Hawk shows you how to ollie on one of CNN’s iReport videos. Nice PR move, as if an ordinary citizen gained a private audience with Tony in his training facility and captured an impromptu interview. While we’re talking about CNN, I need to repeat how annoyed I am with CNN’s recent fixation on “iReporters” and call in opinions. It’s supposed to be the news, not amateur talk radio. Next: More pool skating mortgage forclosure pieces, this time via the BBC who took a camera crew out for a very, very short video. Rumor has it that the Reader’s Digest is also working on a rehash. Next: Weird Al Yankovic collects Vans… Err, OK. Lastly, the New York Times Home & Garden section highlights a skater owned property that cost a pretty penny. Who knew that the team manager position for Think Skateboards paid that well.

– Thanks to John Aguilar, Rich Burton, Dean Tyrell, Corey Nelson and Aaron Shims (via Bordistan) for the tips.

A man in Miami took a clue from the Daggers in Thrashin’ and burned down some ramps another man built for the neighborhood kids to skate. Yes, it’s a weak news item titled Man arrested after argument over skateboard ramps ends in flames from the Orlando Sentinel, but a good excuse to post a shot of the Ramp Locals, as found at A Sad Day For Birds.

You would think that being a reporter for the Wall Street Journal would preclude you from writing about skateboarding, but one man found a way to make it happen. Conor Dougherty contacted me in reference to the New York Times piece of failed mortgages and pool skating. Over the phone he mentioned that he’d been trying to figure out an angle to get the WSJ on board with a skateboard story for a long time, and it looks like he finally swung the deal with a piece called Skateboarding Tourney Stirs Its Own Midnight Madness and another called The Economics of Skateboard videos. The first piece is about the recently hyped game of SKATE put on by the Berrics, and the second one is essentially a recap with some information about professionally produced online video, including the fact that you can usually find recently released skate videos on YouTube. I wondering how he pitched the first story, as far as usefulness from a business standpoint. I’m not pointing this out to be critical, but rather to say “way to make it happen.” Both articles use the same video, which you can watch courtesy of the Wall Street Journal after the jump.

[Source: Missouri Film Info]

Here’s the first of three panels in a cartoon drawn by Keith Knight, which is known as the K Chronicles. He’s got a couple that are skateboard -centric, Return of Ye Olde Skateboard and Skateboarding Is…. That second one looks familiar. MC might have covered it already. The drawing style is half Wizard of Id and half Bloom County.

With numbers like that, industry insiders say some brands will disappear and the economic undertow will pull down a number of mom-and-pop shops, considered the backbone of the business because of their connection to the core action sports customer.

Extreme!™ Bankruptcy! The San Diego Tribune takes a sobering look at the state of the industry in the article titled Economy wiping out some action sports firms. ASR attendance is down about 50% from what it was last year this time, and “industry insiders” are predicting about a third of action sports businesses will shut down by the end of this year. Bad news for skateboarders? I’m going to say no. Your favorite shop may close, which will suck, but there are shops out there that have weathered the storm on multiple occasions. Most of the core shops are probably going to stick it out. Some big names might decide drop a product line or two, or even pull out entirely, but that wouldn’t be any great loss. They’ve done it before, no need to point them out. Ultimately, the kids (and old men) are still going to ride their skateboards.Skateparks and DIY spots will still be made. Some little guys are going to bite the bullet, but then things will get lean and mean for while, and that’s always when the interesting things in the industry happen anyway.

[Source: Boardistan]