Eh, the skateboarding thing was pure marketing to a homogeneous demographic. Once companies realized that white suburban male 13-18 year-old's all got allowances from their detached, self-absorbed baby-boomer middle-class parents and had very little restrictions on what they could spend that money on, they became a target marketing audience. Pretty soon any company that wanted a chunk of that teen market started using skateboarding as the "hip-rebel" teenage activity in their marketing, so SunnyD had kids skateboarding through waves of fake OJ in commercials to try to seem like a hip beverage and tap in to all those kids grabbing a drink at the Quicky Mart while they were buying cigarettes.
The reality to anybody who really watched the skate parks was that not very many kids actually skateboarded. It was a perception brought on by how the activity was advertised. It worked its way into our public understanding: If you say "skate punk" everybody imagines a 14-year old white male in a black Misfits T-Shirt and baggy jeans. It was marketed into a stereotype. The reality is that there just isn't that many of those kids out there.
The X-Games is just more of the same: ESPN wanted to get those white suburban male 13-18 year-old's eyes on their network so SunnyD and all the companies that wanted to sell to them would advertise on ESPN. The X Games are great for them becasue they have a targeted demographic. Anybody who wants to sell to that targeted demographic wants to advertise on the X-Games.
while i generally respect your opinion and knowledge on the history of disc golf and frisbee sports, i find your opinion on the popularity of skateboarding to be a bit misguided. as someone who has been skating since the early 80's, i take exception to the comment
"All skateboarders were/are white suburban male 13-18 year-old's."
back in the 80's, after the first wave crashed and skateboarding went underground, the people who were skating did it for the love of the game, so to speak. saturday mornings dozens of us would take the bus, get rides from friends or parents and meet at a ramp or downtown and skate all day, sometimes covering several miles in search of a spot. skateboarding was our life. we made 'zines, built ramps, traveled for contests and demos. this wasn't a fashion statement and we weren't all suburban white kids. in fact, several of my closest friends were black inner city skaters who preferred rap to the punk rock that i listened to. skateboarding was a melting pot for misfits from all walks of life.
as for this
"The reality to anybody who really watched the skate parks was that not very many kids actually skateboarded."
i worked at a skate park for 5 years and i can assure you that we rarely had people coming to the park just to see and be seen. if you showed up you skated. on a nice summer saturday it wasn't uncommon to have over 100 people show up throughout the day. again, people from all walks of life and various ages. it was hardly a haven for suburban white teenage boys. there were old school dudes in their 30's, girls, inner city gangsters. it was impossible to stereotype the typical park visitor.
now, your scene (if in fact you actually skated and didn't just "learn" that stuff in some sociology class) may have been different, and i don't claim to be an authority on all skateboarding scenes, but considering that i was sponsored and traveled to several different states to skate in contests, had friends who worked for thrasher, were some of the top pros, etc., i'm thinking our experiences were considerably different.
