Subtitle: Agressiveness and spunk. I was cracking up about Billy Ruff’s 5th place gift certificate prize (for a PRO contest!) in the 1981 Del Mar freestyle contest. I began to speculate about what might have happened had Bruce Logan fallen an extra time. Maybe Billy Ruff would have gone on to become Rodney Mullen, and eventually been a major influence in the skateboarding industry. Instead, all we have is the reissue of one of the crappiest graphics of the era. I went back to the October 1981 issue of Thrasher to further investigate. Check out those results! That’s Billy in the top left pic, wining the bowl event. Ruff’s 5th place freestyle pushed him to the top of the overall standings, beating Caballero and Duane Peters. Duane entered the freestyle too. There’s a picture (see above: bottom right) with an excellent caption that reads “Duane did something.” The only thing that beats that? When you say Billy Ruff, you say ‘Fly like an eagle, and leap like a panther’. Agressiveness and spunk. For his agressive spunk and overall 1st place finish, Billy won $300 and a gift certificate for an undisclosed amount to an undisclosed location. These old Thrasher’s are…

This Stereo Sound Agency video is reportedly a promo for an MTV show that fell through. That’s too bad, cause this is about a million times better than Rob and Big, and I can confidently say that without ever having watched the latter. I get peeved when companies and skate celebrities decide to resurrect their old brands. It betrays a certain lack of commitment and something else I can’t quiet put my finger on. If you just want to cash in, just do limited series of re-issues, don’t pretend that you’re in it for the long haul again. However much I grouse, I can’t harbor any ill will towards Jason Lee. I like Stereo’s aesthetic, they’ve released a few cool shapes, and Lee’s too damn funny. Catch the vid after the jump

Small Time Skates of Hammond, Louisiana has a short tutorial on a clean, easy way to hang a skateboard on your wall like you would a picture. Sure, it’s not rocket science, but it’s as good of an excuse as any to post links to some pictures of Dreamland’s skate park in Hammond Louisiana. The locals sound like they are stoked on it. The park shot above is from SkateMS.com. It’s not all bowls. There’s a street section too.

After being pretty lax about it, Thrasher has finally gotten around to posting the last of the first 12 issues of Thrasher Magazine. I suggest you get on over there and get them all before they disappear. They are kind of hidden as it is. If you are going to download them, go with the Hi-res pdf versions instead of the jpeg slide shows. You can really blow them up big and read all the tiny captions. These old issues are great to flip through. They are full of lots of photos of skate celebrities looking like little kids, wearing goofy fashions, etc. Take a look at the kinds of coverage and editorial slant. These early Thrashers are more like Concrete Wave with an attitude than the Thrasher of today. There’s even a product review of a freestyle board where the uncredited author wonders why more hardcore-types aren’t into freestyle. It’s also interesting to watch the magazine become a little more polished with each issue. Check out the early heaviest advertisers, it’s not who you might guess. It’s fun on every page. Mofo chronicles a Big Boys tour over multiple issues, old spots, strange product ads, contest results, Fascinating stuff.…

Skateboarding adults are funny. Lulu Maude gives it the old Onion try in her post titled Harriet Miers Quits White House, Wants to Spend More Time Skateboarding Check it out here. Lulu’s profile says she is a “a retired schoolmarm.” What’s a schoolmarm anyway? Did she retire in the 1920’s? Just in case Take Your Medicine folds, we’ve got it here too.

Sure, you’re extreme, but are you Extreme!™? When you’re ready to get really amped to the max, you can kick it up a notch with the Limited Edition Travis Pastrana Skateboard. Or perhaps you’re just looking to update your eBay investment portfolio? Supercrossking.com says it’s collectable. Skateboarding seems like about the only Gold Medal Travis Pastrana hasn’t won in the Summer X Games. However, now is your chance to own a Limited Edition Pastrana skate deck. Made by one of the top skateboard manufacture’s using 7 ply natural maple with custom heat transfer graphics this board is sure to become a collectors item as did our Limited Edition McGrath skateboard last year. The deck measures 9″x 33″. Wheels and trucks are not included.

If you’re in the Portland area you need to come to this event at Audio Cinema on Saturday January 6th beginning at 3:00 pm. It’s called “Children Of The Revolution”. There are a bunch of great bands playing throughout the day as well as new artwork being exhibited by local and national artists.

So kooks here are the trucks for you, they SPARK they are fun they make every session 1 step better. They turn. The axels do not slip. What more could you ask for? And the clotihng line is popular you can find jocks at any high school wearing their stuff that you found cool ten years ago, oops that is the Independent Truck co., sorry. These trucks are as good as any I have ridden. Shoot me an E-mail And let me know what you think of this review losers. Peace Off – Grover

There’s an article being recycled by different newspapers about how a rap act know as The Pack is helping the worlds of skateboarding and hip hop come together, as if that is something new. The research department only went back a couple of years because completely absent from the article are such bands as the Beastie Boys, Urban Dance Squad and oh, I don’t know, who else but Skatemaster Tate, a guy who based his whole schtick on it back in the late 80’s. That’s Tate above hosting Nickelodeon’s SK8 TV with Mathew Lillard. Bottom right is a shot from a video shoot for The Pack’s new EP Skateboards 2 Scrapers. Early skate-rap connections, video links, a Skatemaster Tate roundup and more after the jump.

If you are tired of discussing the merits of found pools versus skatepark replicas, you can move on to arguing about when is a grind a grind? Enter this so-called World’s Longest Grind video. Watch the video and we’ll break it down for you after the jump.