The Gorge Games went off in Hood river last weekend. We didn’t cover it – Estes, this was your time to shine! Looks like it will be broadcast by Fox Sports Networks August 18 – 22. The Gorge Games featured slalom and and bowl-riding skateboarding, plus wind surfing and a bunch of other Extreme!™ sports you’re not interested in. It’s kind of like a localized X-Games for Hood River, Oregon, which if you didn’t already know, is supposed to be one of the premier spots for wind powered water sports. It’s a major event in Oregon tourism. I heard legendary skater Tom “Wally” Inouye was heavily involved in the Gorge Games this year. So far all I have is a little slalom coverage. The photo above is from a Flickr stream belonging to Carvethebowl. There’s also video footage after the jump where you can see one of the Fox cameramen following the action on a skateboard. The announcer is mildy amusing. It’s almost golf-style reserved, polite and quiet, except broadcast over a loudspeaker. – Thanks to Judy Oyama for the tip. That’s her on the left.

Just about this time last year everyone was freaking out over Jake Brown’s amazing escape from a potentially life ending or at the very least, life changing bail on the mega ramp at the X Games. Hard to believe he walked away from the slam heard round the world. Thankfully I’m not posting about the first annual memorial Jake Brown contest. I’m sure he’d be pissed that we’re bringing it up again, but after the jump there’s a handful of links that date back to the hysteria, and of course, you can watch the video again if you are feeling robust.

So it’s 30 years later and the Today Show is still into skateboards. This time is from a recent segment on how to stay young. The video is embedded after the jump, but unfortunately there are nine minutes and thirty seconds of unrelated facial cream, fashion and stress management footage before you get to the skateboard. There’s not really much to see anyway, although it is slightly amusing to see the host stall for time in order to avoid having to ride on camera. In local news… the setup is advertised as coming from Portland’s Daddies Board Shop. – Thanks to Michael Brooke for the tip.

This week’s installment of Saturday Starrs is a 1977 Today Show piece on the new and booming skatepark industry. The report was filed by Irving R. Levine, and is about as dry sounding as it gets. It’s funny to hear about the owners of Skatopia expecting to take in twice the cost of building the park ($300k) in the first year. It mentions the first skatepark in the world being built in Florida, but it doesn’t say what the name is. The guy who built it Charles Cromie, says a skatepark operator can expect to recoup a $175K investment and own the land in 18 months. Levine said 50 skateparks were built in the first year, and at the time there were 100 more planned or in construction. What he doesn’t mention is that 125 will be gone in two years. It’s full of excellent terminology like “radical” and “water surfing.” For now it’s an industry going full speed ahead, and not at all worried that it might be headed (wait for it..) for a financial tumble. Good stuff.

Or at least the character he played as an actor. I’ll spill the beans after the jump.

Even though he’s “all old and rickety,” Fox 12 spotlighted Mark Conahan in the Oregon Sports Final segment. Did you know he invented skateboarding in Portland? And then he went on to fund, design and build all the skateparks in Portland. All this was done in his spare time away from his job drawing skateboard comics. You can watch him being interviewed by a barn owl on the FOX 12 web site. Keep your eyes peeled for other notable figures in the Portland skate scene media. I wonder why he’s not promoting this…

Gumby and his band are performing at a skateboard rally, but before he can get to it the Blockheads steal Gumby’s board (7 minutes). You can watch a short segment here. No blockheads but Yes that is Gumby throwing up the hang loose looping and playing his guitar at the same time. Prickle on Sax, Goo on keyboards and Pokey on skins. For $1.99 you can download Gumby Adventures episode 86 from Amazon and it will be yours to cherish. Provided you have a Windows XP SP2 or Vista PC or Tivo Series2 or 3 box or a Video-ready Playsforsure portable device registered with them.

Girls get no respect skateboarding. Whether it’s some sleazy businessman making cheesy adverts, some sleazy web site editor reposting them, or Fuel TV running jiggle girls on top of the airing of the Skate Girl documentary. What happens when they end up on Mexican TV? Well, they get introduced by cast full of Cuchi Cuchi girls bouncing up and down in their seats like Charo. And of course, the closing set has the cast doing some lame sidewalk surfing in place. Chica Rider is a Mexican organization devoted to girls who skate. They were profiled on some sort of entertainment show on Mexican TV.

If you thought you’d seen enough of Ryan Sheckler before…. Hot off the press release newswire: MTV Networks Music Group, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and NBC Sports, a division of NBC Universal, Inc. today announced a wide ranging, strategic partnership to expand the AST (Action Sports Tour), a global, youth-focused, multimedia, action sports business that includes the AST Dew Tour, the AST Winter Dew Tour and the amateur Free Flow Tour into a global brand that spans MTV and NBC’s multiple screens… …As part of the MTV Networks/NBC Universal alliance around the AST, MTV and MTV2 will provide lifestyle programming, targeted cross-promotion, multi-platform content and distribution, consumer products licensing and merchandising to the joint venture. With Rob and Big going off the air, I wonder who MTV will push into the spotlight to help them with marketing their new venture. Who knows, maybe they make a big push to bring back the Swatch watches. I have an empty spot in my life right now. I thought it was dissatisfaction with the status of my career, but maybe I’m just devoid of targeted cross-promotion, licensing and merchandising right now. I can hardly wait. Get the…

More useless odds and ends. These guys in Massachusetts do touchy-feely performance art called “Zend” on skateboards inspired by stained glass. And speaking of hippies, the Seattle Times wants you to believe that longboarders have a higher calling. Ryan Sheckler gets nominated for a world wide sportmanship award in the action sports category, but loses to Shaun White. I guess there was no category for crying. An interesting note, a guy with the actual name of “Dick Pound” won the “Spirit of Sport” award for his work with the World Anti-Doping Agency. Sounds like spirit alright. According to the North County Times, Andy Macdonald is not a rebel, and he does have a cause. Do you need money? Why not fake getting hit by a car on your skateboard so your buddies can steal a purse while the driver makes sure you are OK? These kids in Vancouver, Washington did. What’s the next Xtreme!™ sport raging in Orange County? Racing Dodge Chargers on electric skateboards. The article “Not Just Any Old Token” does not refer to Dave Chappelle’s race, even if he is the only non-honky in the photo. Some skateboarders in Queens, New York found some humane remains and…