NBC Sports reports “The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says Maxim Kruglov, known as “Mad Maxim,” was punished under a rule against athletes who evade or refuse giving a drug-test sample.” So yes, a top Russian skateboarder was hit with doping ban. Is he a top Russian skateboarder? Where are our Russian readers? (Not the ones trying to brute force their way into the back end of the site…) I don’t think the Olympics is the place for skateboarding. I don’t think skateboarding needs the Olympics. At most, a few winners might get their faces on a Wheaties box, and maybe a few “training facilities” get built. The biggest benefits are going to be for soft drinks and soft goods manufacturers. I also don’t think the Olympics are going to somehow ruin skateboarding. Keep skateboarding for the core skaters? That ship has sailed. Hey kids, if you want to skateboard in the Olympics, follow their rules. No collusion.

I’ve bought computer related items on and off for years from New Egg, and like a lot of online retailers, they’ve been adding more tangential items to their main inventory. Still, it was a bit of a surprise to see them offering skateboards in their online newsletter about year or so ago, and they’re still selling it. At the time I went through and took some screenshots of some bizarre product alignments. The first image in this post is a composite, but they are all items that actually showed up under the skateboards category. Yeah, I know the post title phrases aren’t applicable to the connect, but they sure sound business-ey don’t they? Plus… Vertical.

It’s not unusual to hear about a school program for pressing skateboards, but Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, Oregon goes a few steps beyond that.  Skateboard Engineering is a half a year elective that also goes delves into 3D design, using CAD software to design trucks, 3D printers for prototyping, and their on-site foundry and machine shop for actually manufacturing trucks.  I’ve been visiting their open house for a couple years now, and each time I go they’ve added more to the program. The curriculum is evolving as the teacher learns more. He did not have a previous background in skateboarding, but rightly thought it would be something that students would be into.

Honda is airing a commercial for the Civic Sport that features a bunch of, you know, sporty actions like BMX, tightrope walking and skateboarding on giant obstacles that spell out the word “Civic” in the middle of the desert. It’s actually very visually pleasing. Hard to tell wether they actually built all those mirrored obstacles and carted them out there, or whether there’s a ton of computer rendering involved, but it looks great. It has a vaguely 80’s vibe too. If you know who the “trained professional” is, please leave it in the comments.

Random, unbranded kid’s cup from a restaurant in a mall in Florida. Looks like he’s hanging loose while doing a finger flip, and has a giant baseball sticker on the tail. Makes sense. Oh wait, there’s a tennis ball on his show too. The text probably says “Can you find ___ balls on this cup?” So it actually does make sense.

On the one hand, these are some valid points. On the other hand, the person who did this deserves nothing. [Source: New Westminster Record ]

Sketchers have announced their first pro model skateboard shoe…

Christian Hosoi is involved in a product called a Sk8 Candles, and definitely not Skate Candles. I can’t help but feel like this is an idea we’ve seen before, perhaps not executed with he bearing in the middle, and only in the new school style symmetrical profile, definitely not a Snoopy candle. I like that they have different profiles, especially the 70’s tribute wheel. I probably would have decorated my swingin’ 80’s bachelor pad with these. I don’t think these are going to make a good Mother’s Day gift, unless your mom is rad.

I don’t know if Portland Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath is actually a skateboarder or not. These illustrations come from a collaboration with Dark Horse comics and the Thorns front office designed to sell some t-shirts, scarves, and patches. I suspect it was just an easy way for Dark Horse to conjure a loose (or lazy) association with the Silver Surfer in The illusions and energy manipulation of Tobin. I do know that Tobin has mad soccer skills, and plays for the best women’s team in the world. Both of them, actually. Women’s World Cup is coming this summer.

These are stills from a Sweetarts commercial featuring the the old archetype of the skateboarding ballerina, right? The simple message is “Grace & Grit. Sweet & Tart. Be both.” The ballerina in question appears to be doing her own stunts, and I should be able to recognize who she is, but I’m an old sexist bastard, so I don’t. Or just possibly, I don’t actually follow professional skateboarding anymore, at least not the skateboarding part of it. Oh I make sense….