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Viral Fleetwood Mac Skater Celebrates Lakers Win, Looks to Buy House

By Mike Julianelle
Nathan Apodaca celebrating Lakers
(Twitter/FollowThroughLA)

Nathan Apodaca is having a heck of a month.

You may not know his name but you’ve probably seen the viral video of him skateboarding while lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac and slamming some Ocean Spray. His TikTok video has blown up, garnering over 41 million views and catching the eye of both Mick Fleetwood (who made his own version of the video) and Ocean Spray, who delivered a new truck to Nathan, packed full of the Cran-Raspberry drink he loves.

On top of that, Nathan is apparently a Lakers fan and was caught celebrating his team’s 17th title Sunday night with another skating video on TikTok. This time Nathan is sporting a Lakers jersey, blasting an appropriate Queen song, and sipping something decidedly different from cranberry juice.

Much like Lebron, Nathan’s run is not yet over. On top of the fame, and the truck, and the Ocean Spray, and the championship, Nathan is also taking advantage of some of the donations he’s received from fans, he’s planning on buying a house.

Speaking to Insider he said, “I can pay my phone bill on time, and with the donations I was blessed with, that’s helping me get a down payment for a house and my lady has a savings that she’s been saving for over 20 years, so she’s throwing that in too. Hopefully I’ll be getting into a house pretty soon. It’s just been a little bit better, you know what I mean?”

Pretty amazing what a little lip-syncing can do, eh?

Viral Feetwood Mac Skateboarder Gifted New Truck From Ocean Spray

By Mike Julianelle
Viral Skater Gets Truck
(Instagram/TikTok/doggface208)

Social media has been giving people their 15 minutes of fame for years now, and often it’s not for noble reasons. Recently, however, a new star has been minted, and the man doesn’t even speak a word.

Nathan Apodaca got a dose of viral fame when a video of him gliding along on a skateboard while lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and sipping some Ocean Spray Cranberry juice caught fire online.

If you haven’t seen it yet, sit back and let the chill vibe wash over you:

The video received over 6 million views on Instagram and inspired the “Dreams” challenge, in which others made their own versions of Apodaca’s video, which can only be described as “a mood.”

Countless versions of it have been floating around social media, but the craze reached its peak when Fleetwood Mac legend Mick Fleetwood, one of the architects of the song Apodaca vibes too, got in on the action with his own TikTok take.

Now Ocean Spray is recognizing Apodaca for the brand ambassador he has become. They shared a video of Apodaca being surprised by Ocean Spray’s gift of a brand new truck, complete with a bed full of cranberry juice.

“Thanks for keeping it positive,” the Ocean Spray rep says as he hands Apodaca the keys. I guess “Dreams” do come true!

Check it out:

Tony Hawk Helps 12-Yr-Old Skater Return From Injury and Conquer Mega Ramp

By Mike Julianelle
Hawk Helps Sky Brown
(Instagram/skybrown Twitter/barstoolsports)

Tony Hawk is the most famous skateboarder of all time. A pioneer in the sport, an X-Games legend, and the man behind some of the most popular video games of all time doesn’t have anything left to prove, and yet he keeps proving that he’s a great guy.

Hawk is older now, obviously, and has moved into the “dad” phase of his life, even becoming a friend of The Dad as we share countless stories of his generosity, general good-naturedness, and continued ambassadorship of skateboarding.

The skater is often in the news, and for every story of a burrito being named after him, there’s one of him doing something like changing the name of an old trick to honor the deaf skateboarder who invented it.

Now a video is going around of Hawk helping a young girl overcome her nerves and conquer an intimidating 100-foot skate ramp.

Sky Brown is a 12-year-old skateboarding phenom (Hawk called her “a unicorn”), who’s ascent in the sport was slowed when she had a bad fall at a Tony Hawk skate park. She fractured her skull and injured her wrist, among other things, and spent two months recovering.

Now she’s making her way back, and she has some jitters, understandably. So Tony Hawk, the legend, stood by her side to help her get back on the horse.

In this case, the horse is the HUGE Mega Ramp. Just looking at it makes me nervous! But with Tony’s encouragement, Sky makes it look easy.

A unicorn? More like a pegasus!

Watch the full video of Sky’s jumps:

Tony Hawk Changes Name of Skating Trick to Honor Deaf Skater

By Mike Julianelle
Tony Hawk Renames Move
(Instagram/tonyhawk)

Tony Hawk is more than just a skateboarding legend, legendary X-gamer, and video game pioneer. He’s also a dad, and a friend of The Dad, and, most importantly, a great guy who gets a kick out of being recognized and is always happy to celebrate young skaters.

Recently, Hawk was in the news for a promotional tie-in with Chipotle, where a burrito was named after him and gamers were given early access to his new video game. That game is called Pro Skater 1 and 2, and Hawk took to his popular Instagram account to announce that he’d renamed one of the classic tricks players can perform.

The trick is – or was – called the mute grab, and involved the skater grabbing the board in between the feet, with one hand, during a jump. It’s been around since 1981 and was first performed by a skater named Chris Weddle. According to Hawk, Weddle was a prominent amateur skater who didn’t talk much, hence the name “mute grab.”

Hawk explains that while Weddle has always been gracious about the name of the trick, despite the fact that he is actually deaf and not mute, it’s clear that the skater would be more well-known if the trick mentioned his name instead. So Hawk decided to change it.

He explained on IG:

“For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is deaf but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently [sp] and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is deaf but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday. 📷: @yousta_storytellers_club

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on

Hawk’s post has over 71,000 likes and nearly 1000 comments, with people praising Weddle for creating the trick and Hawk for righting history and giving the deaf skater the recognition he deserves.

Order a “Tony Hawk Burrito” and Get Early Access to Pro Skater 1+2

By Mark Chalifoux
Tony Hawk Burrito
(Chipotle/PlayStation)

There’s not a ton of great news these days, so when Tony Hawk gets his own burrito at Chipotle and gives us a chance to get it for free, yeah, we’re gonna be on board. In a big way. Like, as big as a 2,000 calorie burrito for lunch way.

It’s tough to undersell this collab, as we are big Tony Hawk fans here (and the feeling is mutual), and everyone loves Chipotle. The two announced a special promotion where the first 2,000 people to order the “Tony Hawk burrito” before August 14th would get a code to access the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 warehouse demo for PS4, Xbox One or PC.

So, not only do you get a burrito, but you also get access to one of the most highly anticipated games. What is the Tony Hawk burrito? Good question. The recipe is as follows: brown rice, black beans, chicken, tomatillo-red chili salsa, cheese, and guac. It’s nothing revolutionary, but Hawk said it’s his go-to order to “refuel after long skate sessions.”

For those of you who like the idea of the burrito, but don’t like the idea of paying for the burrito, there’s something for you too. Chipotle’s Twitch page is being taken over this Friday, August 14, at 11 a.m. EST by Hawk, Jagger Eaton, and Finn Wolfhard, who will be playing the THPS 1 and 2 Warehouse Demo. During the stream, they are giving away 5,000 vouchers for a free burrito.

Pro Skater 1 and 2 are now nearly two decades old, and the new release is a re-master and those and the first new title in the PS franchise in more than five years. Hawk is a big Chipotle fan, and you would be too if, like Hawk, you had one of the celeb VIP cards that entitles him to free Chipotle and free catering. He said he’s all on board with the partnership.

“It’s a blast to see the enthusiasm for Chipotle, skating and video games continue to grow and inspire a new generation,” he said. “Whether you’re a veteran THPS player or new to the game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 has something for everyone.”

Skateboarding Man In Suit Lives in Shelter, Teaches Low-Income Kids to Skate

By Yael Meshulam
Skateboarding Man In Suit Lives in Shelter, Teaches Low-Income Kids to Skate
(Twitter/beautifuldaddi)

Watching Tony Hawk tear up skate parks for decades has conditioned us to be more or less obsessed with all things skating. Between the thrill of watching someone seemingly defy gravity with ease and fantasizing about one day doing it yourself (please don’t try), the art of skateboarding is exhilarating. Earlier this week, a viral video of a man skateboarding in a full suit kick-flipped its way into our hearts. Little did we know, his skateboarding skills weren’t even the coolest thing about this mystery man.

Fortunately for us, Jenkem Magazine managed to track him down – his name is Avery Baxter, and his story is worlds away from what anyone expected. When you see a man in a suit, you probably assume that he’s off to work (skateboards would definitely be cheaper than Uber). However, Baxter is currently homeless – he lives in transitional housing. He lost his house several months ago, and as a result, had to separate from his children and fiancé. According to the update to the viral video, Baxter wears a suit wherever he goes. His adoptive dad always said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. After his dad passed away, the suits became a staple in Baxter’s wardrobe. Not only was it a great way to honor the memory of his late father, but the suit was the tool to ensure he was always ready to meet someone who may be important to him later down the line.

Baxter’s dad is undoubtedly smiling down on him now, vindicated that the trusty suit helped catapult his son into the public eye. The video, taken on Mother’s Day, shows Baxter on his way to surprise his adoptive mom. While passing a group of skaters, he decided to stop, ask them to borrow a skateboard, and attempt a trick he had never actually tried before. As you can see, he absolutely nailed it.

Baxter has always loved skating – he’s been doing it since he was little, and even taught his kids to skate. “I also teach kids skating from age three to 11, since they’re easier to work with,” Baxter told Jenkem Magazine. “They don’t think they know everything. I work with low income or Section 8 families. It’s more important for their kids to do something positive.”

Baxter has had far from an easy time in life. He was homeless, in foster care, horribly abused – he has seen more hardship in 38 years than most people would see in the course of 10 lifetimes. Even through all of it, he maintained a positive attitude. He continues to try his best to support his children, teach kids on the street to skateboard (and channels his own anxiety into skateboarding), and perhaps most importantly of all, he never forgets his suit.

FedEx Driver Helps Boy Exchange Skateboards With His Hero, Tony Hawk

By Nick Ciavarella
Boy Exchanges Skateboards with Hawk
(TikTok/tonyhawk/fresh2deaf)

Well, it turns out that TikTok does have something positive to offer this world. Personally, I was under the impression that its sole purpose was so youths could film themselves doing synchronized dances (like The Electric Slide or whatever) in 15-second intervals. But apparently, there is some pretty heartwarming content out there. So here’s a nice, new TikTok heartwarmer to warm your lil’ ol’ heart.

User fresh2deaf (but we’ll call him Mikail because that’s his name) is a FedEx delivery driver who was on his normal route when a kid named Cooper started running after him and flagging him down. The kid hands him a skateboard and asks him to mail it to pro-skater, and friend to The Dad, Tony Hawk.
Here’s the story:

@fresh2deaf

@tonyhawk #fedex #fedexlife #fedexdriver

♬ original sound – fresh2deaf

The kid doesn’t yet know how the mail works (you need a box and, like, money) as well as the fact that his skateboard has no wheels. It’s the thought, especially at such a young age, that counts. And good on this driver for getting the word out. Because apparently it worked! Tony Hawk responded:

@tonyhawk

♬ original sound – tonyhawk

How cool is that? Tony Hawk is just hanging out doing Tony Hawk stuff at what looks to be his private skate park and decides to give this kid the board he’s actually using. So it looks like Cooper is getting his trash of a skateboard replaced with an actual board with wheels. Mikail posted an update:

@fresh2deaf

#fedex #fedexdriver #fedexlife @tonyhawk Part 2!

♬ original sound – fresh2deaf

Ahhhhh goodness does exist. Thank you to these 2 grown-ups for making this kid and his brother happy during a terrible time. And to prove that he is a man true to his word, here is Tony Hawk following up with his promise:

@tonyhawk

@fresh2deaf

♬ Cyco Vision – Suicidal Tendencies

Alright TikTok you win this round. Consider my heart full.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 Coming To PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on September 4

By Joel Willis
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 2
(PlayStation)

What were you up to 20 years ago? My memory is a little hazy but if I had to guess I was slamming Bagel Bites, listening to Eminem, and playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater… all while putting off studying for my AP Calc exam. On September 4 I may just take a trip down memory lane (sans the AP Calc), since Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 are being remastered and re-released for PlayStation 4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One X, and PC via the Epic Games Store.

The Birdman (who also happens to be a fan of The Dad) himself dropped the news on his Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Happy birthday to me! #THPS 🎮🛹

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on

Returning for this hotly anticipated remaster is everything you loved about the original games. The S-K-A-T-E challenges:

(Activision)

All your favorite signature tricks, from Kareem Campbell’s Casper Slide to Bucky Lasek’s Fingerflip Airwalk to Tony Hawk’s elusive 900:

Despite a few licensing issues, a “vast majority” of history’s greatest video game soundtracks will be back for your kickflipping pleasure. As long as “Cyco Vision” by Suicidal Tendencies and Primus’ “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver” made the cut, we’re good. Also, “Superman” by Goldfinger. Chances are you remember every word to that and don’t even realize it.


And for the first time ever, THPS 1 & 2 will feature online capabilities, including various multiplayer modes and the option to share and download custom skate parks. It’s a dream come true for anyone who knew the sense of gratification that came with unlocking Roswell.

(Activision)

And if that wasn’t enough, today is Tony Hawk’s birthday! A very happy 52nd to the world’s oldest kid. To celebrate, enjoy this video of him driving around and commanding teen skaters to perform kickflips.

Did you know The Dad has a gaming community with leagues, events, and tournaments in 9 different games? It’s true. Pick up the sticks, squad up, and join the gaming club.

Parenting, Rad Dads, And The Bagel Bites Jingle: A Conversation With Tony Hawk

By Joel Willis

What were you up to 17 years ago? I was spending inordinate amounts of time eating Bagel Bites and playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 on Nintendo 64. I’d jump from rail to rail, park bench to car to building, constantly on the grind… not literally of course. I was a lazy college student.

The real Tony Hawk was out there grinding for real. And crashing through coffee tables. (This iconic commercial just celebrated its 17th birthday!)

In addition to being the most influential skateboarder ever, Tony is a prolific media and entrepreneurial powerhouse: video game producer, actor (60 IMDB credits, including Sharknado 5!), skateboard emoji adviser, and philanthropist, making a big difference in low-income communities with The Tony Hawk Foundation.

That’s cool, but has he ever turned a Nosebluntslide grind into a McTwist grab while eating a Bagel Bite? Probably. But whatever.

My friends and I idolized Tony growing up. Still do. And he’s been a follower of The Dad for quite some time. As a dad of 6 himself, he’s very much “part of the club.” So it was super cool to catch up with him by phone for a quick chat.

JOEL WILLIS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF THE DAD: What are you like as a dad? What is your parenting style? Has it changed or evolved over the years?

TONY HAWK: It’s definitely changed. I think I’ve learned to be more effective as I’ve gotten older and through experience. But I think that [all of my kids] are all different obviously. They all have different needs and different kind of attention that they want or require. It’s been fun to see them all develop their own interests. They all are very unique, and my approach is to be supportive of whatever it is they’re getting into.

If they really find their passion, I want them to explore and to have the resources to take it further. I think that’s probably how I’m most effective not just financially but in terms of really giving them the tools and giving them the confidence to go forward in something that maybe is untested. Because that’s exactly what I did as a kid. I started skating and it was the furthest thing from cool you could do. I just kept at it because I loved it. I didn’t know I was going to have any sort of career out of it, and I feel very fortunate that that’s what happened. But at the same time, I want them to have that same desire and passion in their life.

Totally. That’s great. I think anybody in any career or any pursuit can relate to that. I know I do. I used to work in IT, and I was there in what many would call a soul-crushing corporate job. I just like making people laugh and making memes and stuff, and now I get to do cool stuff like talk to you on the phone.

That’s exactly it. You never know where it’s going to take you, and if you embrace the challenges of it, you’ll go further than you ever imagined.

And I think that that lesson is so important for kids, the lesson of doing what you love, but also learning every aspect of it and being up for the challenge if things don’t go the way you expect, because those are probably the moments that are more defining and probably more important.

Exactly. Like that video with your daughter where you were helping her overcome her fear and go down the ramp on the board. So cool.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I just set my phone in a cup that was nearby. Mostly because I knew that she would want to see it. I knew that if she did it, she was going to be excited about it and maybe not do it again, so I just wanted her to have documentation for herself. And then I thought it was such an interesting experience to see her have that doubt, but then have the confidence to really try it, and I was encouraging but I wasn’t trying to be overbearing or intrusive on her thought process.

So I felt like that was a fun thing to watch unfold, and that’s why I shared it with people.

I think the reason I loved it so much and related to it was your excitement. You were fired up. Amped up for her. Did she feel the same way?

She was very excited. She actually ran back up to do it again, because she didn’t want to lose that confidence that she had. I think that she thought she didn’t do it as well as she could have. So she ran back up and did it again. That particular ramp is actually at my office, so whenever she ends up at my office, her first go-to is to go up there to make sure that she can still do it.

With the Rad Dad Squad, I feel like a “rad dad” to me is when you’re able to get down on your kids’ level and play with them and do the things that they like to do, and love it just as much as they do because they do…

It gives them the self-confidence to keep doing it, and as long as you’re doing it and not being intrusive at the same time, that’s obviously a fine line. But the idea of this whole campaign with the rad dad squad is that we want to recognize those moments and those fathers that are really putting out that effort, and getting into what their kids are doing. Being silly, but also being engaged. I’m sure they do it to very little appreciation. So we want to recognize that.

I relate to that. That’s part of our goals at The Dad to recognize modern, involved dads who are going above and beyond and give them that recognition they may not get otherwise.

Right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NGUtX_RXq8

A little controversial here, but I want you to rate the Bagel Bites jingle in terms of musical artistry on a scale of 1 to 10.

You mean, “Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at suppertime?”

You got it.

I’m going to give it an 8, just in terms of memorization. And concise, or you know, impact. Effective impact. Because it’s not like you have to sing it all the way through to get there. It’s very to the point. I like that. It’s a concise message.

I consider it a commercial masterpiece. I ask this because in your commercial in 2002, the jingle was different. It was sort of like a hard rock remix. So I want to ask you if you were involved in that decision.

I was not directly involved in that decision, no. But I’m honored that my inclusion changed the vibe enough that I got my own signature version. Signature cover, let’s put it that way.

Yeah. The Tony Hawk remix of the Bagel Bites theme.

Yeah, the punk cover of the Bagel Bites jingle, absolutely. I brought that to the world.

Thanks for the chat, Tony.

If you’re a rad dad, you can chat with him too. 3 winners will be inducted into the Rad Dad Squad later in June and will get to hang with Tony on his skate ramp. Just post a video of your own rad dad moments using #RadDadSquad and #sweepstakes.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta get back to the grind.

Tony Hawk Cheers on Daughter as She Tackles Her First Skate Ramp [WATCH]

By Mike Julianelle
(Twitter/tonyhawk)

Instilling confidence in our kids is one of the most essential tasks parents are faced with. We all want our children to believe in themselves, to trust that they can do anything to set their minds to and to know that we’re right behind them to catch them if they fall.

I frequently remind my son that courage isn’t a lack of fear, it’s persevering in the face of it. Unfortunately, teaching your kids to take risks and push past their comfort zones is tricky when you’re a bit of a cautious guy yourself. But I have some good news for you: even someone as extreme and fearless as skateboarding legend Tony Hawk struggles to walk the tightrope between pushing and protecting.

On Saturday, the legendary X-Gamer and skateboarding pioneer tweeted out a video of his daughter on the half-pipe. Kadence is ten years old, and only just starting to follow in her father’s footsteps. The video shows Kadence, like any novice skater and most little kids, facing trepidation as she prepares to launch herself down the ramp. She stands at the top with the board perched over the edge, but she hesitates to mount it, presumably considering the inevitability of falling as her dad instructs and encourages her.

Perhaps surprisingly for a guy who took 10 years, multiple injuries, and 12 attempts to land skateboarding’s first-ever 900 (two-and-a-half aerial spins) but totally unsurprisingly to anyone who has kids, Hawk himself admitted to his own nervousness in the tweet: “I might have been more nervous than she was.”

Kadence’s dad is something of a big deal, which helps explain why the video has been viewed more than 13 million times on Twitter, with 820,000 likes and 120,000 retweets. But in the video, Tony Hawk isn’t a skateboarding legend or X-Games hero or video game star, he’s just a dad, helping his kid face her fears and pushing her past them to do something he knows she can do.

Listen to scream he lets out at the end of the video. Something tells me he was just as proud of her for successfully sliding down the ramp as he was of himself when he landed his 900 without breaking his pelvis (again).

Space Jam Sequel ‘Skate Jam’ With Tony Hawk Almost Happened

By Jordan Stratton
(Twitter/tonyhawk)

Over two decades since the release of original Space Jam, a sequel is finally in the works starring LeBron James. But did you know there was an earlier follow up to the Micheal Jordan blockbuster in the works that wasn’t going to be a basketball film at all?

According to skateboard legend Tony Hawk, he was approached in the early 2000s by Warner Bros execs who wanted him to show the entire Looney Tunes crew how to do grinds, aerial jumps, and, uhh… 360 indy… spin-a-rooskis? Probably?

Whatever.

Here’s what Tony had to say about it on Twitter:

Then he dished even more details on Instagram:

“in 2003, I was requested to meet with Warner Brothers about doing a film with the Looney Tunes characters that was tentatively titled “Skate Jam.” Their plan was to bring back Bugs, Taz, etc into the cinema with a current release called “Back In Action” and then immediately start working on my project. I was about to leave for a skate trip in Australia so they met me at that iconic dome-shaped restaurant in the middle of LAX before my flight that evening. They were SERIOUS. We talked about storylines and shooting schedules, and they casually mentioned that I would get $1 million up front for signing on. I flew to Sydney that night with a sense of wonder and excitement; I had never met with Hollywood heads and felt so sure about something happening. During my week-long trip, “Back In Action” was released in theaters and bombed. By the time I got home, Skate Jam had been “indefinitely postponed” and I never heard about it again. I still think it would have been a hit considering skateboarding’s popularity at the time, and the reverence kids (now young adults) had for Space Jam. This drawing was given to me at a skate demo that Looney Tunes sponsored years before our movie talks began; with Marvin fittingly on a hoverboard.”

Warner Bros was expecting big numbers from Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but when it bombed, Skate Jam was promptly shelved along with any hope for the cartoon crew to wear backward baseball caps and say things like, “Sick grind, Taz!” or “Whoa, Daffy totally ate it on the vert!”

Skate Jam wasn’t the only potential Space Jam sequel that got the boot either. The original plan was for Michael Jordan to star in his own sequel but he wasn’t interested. Then, a film called Spy Jam starring Jackie Chan fell through. After that, Race Jam was on the table to star NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon. Finally, Tiger Woods was briefly discussed for the lead in another Space Jam before plans fell through yet again. With such little momentum behind so many potential movies, it’s no surprise the Space Jam franchise died before it could even get off the ground.

However, this also reinforces just how monumental it was that WB finally gave the green light to producer Ryan Coogler, director Terence Nance, and LeBron James to make a sequel that might actually work.

Plus, who knows? Maybe one successful sequel will open the door to others and we’ll finally see our favorite characters doing boardslides and… wallie vert jumpers and… 360 no-scope banana stands?

Dad Builds Huge Backyard Skateboard Ramp for X Games Competitor Son

By Jordan Stratton
(ABC Gippsland/Robert French)

While some parents are “ugh, totally lame” by not letting their young kids ride skateboards, others are doing the opposite. In fact, one dad has gone about as far to the other end of the extreme sports spectrum as you can get.

(ABC News - Gippsland)

Peter Wilson of Victoria, Austrailia built his 11-year-old son Keefer his own skateboard ramp in their backyard; and not just any ramp, mind you. At 95 meters long (nearly the length of a football field), it is one of the biggest in the world, and Keefer trains on it nonstop.

“He’s the best dad because look at this. He built me this [megaramp], and I get to skate it every day,” Keefer told ABC Gippsland.

The practice is important, too, because Keefer just became the second youngest competitor in X Games history when he dropped into the Skateboard Big Air Qualifier last week, finishing in seventh.

The pre-teen isn’t the only one who gets to enjoy the monstrosity of a ramp either. Professional skateboarders from around the world regularly travel to the Wilson’s property to skate it.

(ABC Gippsland/Amber Irving-Guthrie)

“It’s the only ramp [of this size] in Australia. . . or this side of the world,” says Austrailian pro skateboarder Tas Pappas. “It’s just given me the chance to do something I’ve never had an opportunity to have a go on.”

As you might suspect, the journey to constructing such an enormous ramp is easier said than done. Wilson’s initial ramp had to be torn down when the city received complaints from neighbors about their view being obstructed. But this just led to aspirations for an even larger ramp elsewhere.

“They took it to VCAT [the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal], and I offered to move it into an old dam, which we’ve done now,” Wilson said. “I’ve planted 100 trees to try to block the view. . . where it is now it’s pretty much underground.”

The new ramp’s roll-in starts about 15 meters (50 feet) above the ground and leads to three different ramps: “60 feet and 50 feet. . . and the end part of the quarter is 27 feet high, so it’s completely to X Games standard.”

It isn’t just something for professional athletes, either. Keefer’s older sister, Aaliyah, 12, loves dropping in on the steep ramp with her brother.

(ABC Gippsland/Amber Irving-Guthrie)

“Sometimes you go on your back. Sometimes you face plant. . . and then sometimes your board hits you in the face. . . and sometimes you land back on your board. It’s so fun,” she said.

Keefer has lofty goals of going pro when he turns 15 in order to travel and compete all over the world; though, we imagine he’ll be hard-pressed to find a better skating experience than what’s already in his backyard thanks to his awesome dad.