Comments on: Steve Berra and Blank Decks

By: Tony Lum

Tony Lum — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:56:37 +0000

Tough luck Steve Berra. Every kid, aside from maybe a misbehaving criminal one, deserves to shred as much as the next rich kid. Blanks are their only option. All you have to do is think of a kid that has struggling parents with no possibility of buying a pro deck. You gonna deny that kid the joy that you have had all your life because you are making less money on your pro model. Make that kid wait til his folks have the ability to afford a pro model.

I’m not thrilled about unsafe boards that come from lame retailers that care nothing about safety of the equipment they sell. That the industry could do without becuz safety comes first.

If blank decks,trucks and wheels get a chunk of the pie so a kid can enjoy the sport we all love,so be it.

Tough luck Steve Berra.

By: julio csar

julio csar — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:19:44 +0000

what the fuck happenned to skaters today, tell steve berra that if he is not happy with the payment just tell to your boss , that is what any working man do when hes not happy with salary, skateboarding means just have fun, i have never heard t.alva matt hensley t. hawk m. gonzales complain about that they started their own companys or started other things , or just listen to jay adams what he thinks about these coments of steve berra. its not blank decks the problem if he thinks there is one its the mega industry grown up so big over the world , now many countries are making their own products (fucking good products)hundreads of diferent companys, so young skaters are realising that skate is not money or beeing better because of having steve berra´s deck(sorry to your foodless family) they know they need to skate to feel good that´s all. so when these crying baby speaks about his family taking less money , he must think in thousands of young boys that want to skate and their hard working class parents can´t buy steve berra´s expensive board , so we must thank monopoly is not ruling the skateworld just like steve pretends. sorry for my english , i´m from peru and old skater ,it was hard to buy skates in those days 89 90 91 and we do the imposible to buy pro decks ,now i can buy them just decide to buy blank for my kid and me. with my 36 years i understand life is to have fun . and me and my wife we both work hard for not having problems with rents food taxes etc, . steve try to think what you speak .

By: Sublimited Administrator

Sublimited Administrator — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:27:21 +0000

“if skateboarding only ran on the american business model of supply and demand, then that would be wack.”

Are you implying we should adopt the former Soviet Union business model of telling people what they can and can’t buy? Should the government outlaw blank decks and only allow the sale of pro decks to protect the industry?

By: doug

doug — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:41:05 +0000

this is a good article. the information, for the most part, is on point. i could understand a poor kid buying a blank because he/she can’t afford the brand boards. i believe, however, that once the kid grows a little and could pay for the brand stuff, he or she should. quite simply because he/she has a responsibility to keep skateboarding alive.

skateboarding is such an individual sport. individuals are the athletes, artist, entrepreneurs, videographers, photographers, writers, editors and managers keeping skateboarding alive. basically, once you can afford it, you do it.

if skateboarding only ran on the american business model of supply and demand, then that would be wack. skateboarding is not a team sport so it should not jump on the bandwagon of big corporate america (eventhough, to some extent, it already has).

p.s. i know mark gonzales personally and he was not making that type of money back in the day. today, however, that is another story.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:45:52 +0000

Curtis, check out http://www.grommie.com.

By: curtis

curtis — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:59:23 +0000

chris on june 10th says most of what matters to me on the subject
I’m having a hard time finding a deck that fits me at skate shops.
worse than that, my daughter is a skater and a very small person, she doesent yet have the weight and height to pull off kick turns on trany on the smallest standard deck.
the point i realy want to ad is that when my daughter was born (she is 7 1/2) I worked at a gas station and i remember all the customers outrage when the price got over a buck a gallon. $60 seems like alot of money to pay for a board but i remember washing dishes as a teen ager for $4.35 hr to buy a deck for $40or more
seems to me the biggest difference these days is the ams getting money thing..to live financialy off what you do is to be a profesional. I personaly am a profesional beekeeper, interestingly enough i sell my honey at markets without any label. cutomers often tell me ” you should put a label on your honey” my response is usualy (why don’t you give me a extra dollor and next year I’ll give you a lable)
the companys arn’t gouging us like the oil industry is, but only a few have boards that I want to ride, and seems like only the long board companys produce boards that might fit both my daughter and I….I’m only finding 70′s re-issues or knock offs that would fit,
but I want her to be blessed with the popscicle shape (so she does not end up like me going only one direction) and I’m looking on the internet to find a blank that might fit her (thats how i found this web site)…this goes against my belief that the skate shops are the part of the industry that needs our support, so far the only board that I have found that fit was the sponge bob pro model!…perhaps I should find her a freestyle deck

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:55:13 +0000

Great questions asked here. Thank you.

First of all, companies like Flip, Element, Baker, Almost, Birdhouse, Girl and I could go on and on, don’t make a board that I can ride. Size matters so no money wasted with these brands or many others. I am 6’1″, size 12 shoe, over 200lbs and 37 years old. I can’t ride a tooth pick with marbles for wheels.

Second, I do not skate with the burden of a pro’s financial status on my mind.

Third, some of the skate CEO’s should go back and listen to what Tony Alva said in “Dogtown and Z-Boys”. He describes what it took too put a skateboard together back when he was basically a grom. It might make them wonder why THEY started skating in the first place.

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:34:46 +0000

This is a great article. It makes pefect sense. Kids are realizing the quality of a blank deck typically measures up to one of a pro. Who wants to spend $55 bucks (including grip-or not) and go out-ride and have it snap in a matter of ten minutes, or have the graphics come of after a few grinds. Not everyone has this kind of money. It is about the activity and to continue improving or just have fun while saving if at all possible. It’s is difficult to have sympathy.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 18:10:10 +0000

if they are so mad at people buying blank decks, why not take it up with powell, who is a huge supplier with their mini logo’s or why dont they take it up with atm who does that aswell, im sick and tired of pro’s crying over money, when thats not what it should be about at all. i’m iffy on where skateboarding has gone

By: Joshua Steimle

Joshua Steimle — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 02:45:56 +0000

The only thing we don’t discuss here is what goes into making hot dogs. Everything else is fair game.