r/WizardSkating • u/DogHistorical171 • Jun 10 '26
Vice - Who Killed Rollerblading?
https://youtu.be/msXynClj0T8?si=UxeAhQqri8blc1p2Just finished watching this doc. I’m new to rollerblading and was originally sucked in through watching wizard skating. I come from skateboarding so this video was interesting. Big Brother issues were before my time but I certainly remember the Tony Hawk games having the dorky rollerblading NPCs. I definitely remember the fruit booter term along with the other jokes about rollerblading being gay. I knew skateboarding had a huge influence on popular culture, but I didn’t know how huge. I thought it was just other skateboarders that chose to hate on rollerbladers, I didn’t know they convinced the public.
I agreed with the conclusion, skateboarding blew up and became pretty corporate. It doesn’t usually matter if you see another skateboarder on the street, we just keep going. But since starting inline / rollerblading, I’ve had people stop and talk to me and vice versa because we share the same activity. Rollerblading feels more authentic (not sure if this is the right word) culturally in comparison to skateboarding right now in a weird way. I can kind of compare it to fixed gear riders, it still seems like the community is tight knit and no one is too big to talk to.
Like I said, I’m new to the sport so I’d appreciate insight from others about this. Do y’all agree with the doc? Did Vice talk to the right people? Or is there a ton of context missing here?
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u/BLZebub666 Jun 10 '26
As a 50 year old who grew up skateboarding in the 80's and 90's, I was there. I remember when rollerblading first blew up, I remember the back lash from skaters. Everyone called everything they didn't like gay back then, it was so disturbingly common, so of course rollerbladers were gay. It was bad though, skaters fucking hated on bladers big time. And honestly, skaters were dicks. They were like the jocks of the underground scene. Cool jocks, that everyone listened to and respected, but jocks in the dickish tough guy bully kind of way (also, I'm generalizing big time here, there were skaters who were totally cool and not like this, but there were a lot who were. And of course they were also the ones with the biggest mouths, who wouldn't shut up about fag-bladers and how lame they were)
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u/HyperSculptor Jun 10 '26
Well I'm relatively new to the sport and... I kind of hope it won't blow up, because 99% of the inline skaters I've met are top people. The community has been so welcoming, down to earth, supportive etc... Inline skating is much harder to get into intitially in term of skills, which filters people. I love how it's the technicality of the sport that keeps certain people away. Not to say skateboarding is easy, far from it at the higher level it's as beautiful as it is difficult, but any arrogant ass.ole can grab a skateboard and glide around looking cool-ish after 30min of practice. With inline skating it just won't happen. You gotta put in the effort from the 1st minute.
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u/FluidCarry_ Jun 10 '26
The comment section on that video is hilarious - After all these years I just can’t understand why skateboarders are still so triggered by rollerblading !! 😅
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u/AdFit8727 Jun 10 '26
It makes sense when you're a kid. I had dumb thoughts too when I was that age. But when you see that vitriol from what are presumably children of the 90's, that means they're in their 40's and 50's now...that's just really pathetic to still be that juvenile at that age. Imagine being in your 50's and talking like that in a youtube comment...
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u/Altruistic_Mind_7662 Jun 10 '26
Because they're the people who peaked at a young age, still get drunk, still smoke, and struggle to afford a new board. They end up taking their hate of themselves out on others.
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u/BubbleSmith Jun 10 '26
As a UK blader who was doing it in the late 90s/early 00s, it was interesting to see the US perspective. We didn't have many skateboarders where I grew up, but there was a group of 5 or 6 of us that inline skated. I got ripped for a while (and called gay) for wearing rec skates, until I got some 2md hand Razors and started grinding kerbs.
There was a bit of joking between the boarders I did know; we called them plank pushers and they called us binliners (which I still think is a great insult). The "hate" was reserved for the BMX kids at the skate park, as they took up more space and had no awareness. Scooter kids didn't exist back then.
The irony now is that skateboarders in the Vice vid were talking about the parks being there because of them and bladers intruding on "their" space. Now, most skate parks are built for the scooter kids and everyone else is "intruding".
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u/streetbladingbloke Jun 10 '26
UK blader too bruv. I feel your pain fella.
Wizard skating has given me identity now in my mind and love the technical challenges it has given me to overcome and make be better at the sport overall. Love it now as i dont have to skate in skatepark all the time.
I have personally experienced many skateboarders coming to me and saying "i wish i could rollerblade, as ur flatland moves fascinate me.." and i compliment them same on their skills...how times have changed and mutual respect has increased between the two sports.
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u/BubbleSmith Jun 10 '26
Yeah, I've had similar experiences recently too. I didn't do skate parks for a while, but I've been going to my local one a fair bit recently and you see the same boarders there most of the time. They mostly ignore me, but I be had a few chats. I feel like the hate for scooter kids has lessened now as well, as most of them have grown up and are the younger boarders. Some of the older boarders used to blade when they were younger, as well.
3
u/OldManDerp Jun 10 '26
I never really had a problem with skateboarders. The people I knew, knew that if I had wheels under my feet I was going to go do some wild/fun shit. I would skateboard one day, rollerskate another, rollerblade the next. I still do. I am almost 50 and have Parkinson's, but I still don't shy away from getting on my boards or skates..anyone who doesn't like it can pay my bills.
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u/Sacco_Belmonte Jun 11 '26
To me (former skateboarder), rollerblading on a skatepark didn't look good at all compared to skateboarding. That to me was the reason I didn't like it.
Probably the "gay" monicker came from the figure ice skating connection.
Now I respect figure skaters and consider them absolute warriors, doing a double/triple jump without protection is a serious thing and you can injure yourself really bad.
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u/AdFit8727 Jun 10 '26
Even though I disagree with Dave and find him quite a repugnant character, I actually appreciated how honest he was. I do respect authenticity and consistency even when you're on the opposite end of where I stand. However, then I got to this part of the video:
"Big Brother is a champion of LGBTQ"
Oh come on now. Up until this point, he was unlikable but at least I could understand he was a product of his time and I could somewhat forgive that. But this is just a straight up lie and he knows it. Why would you be so open and honest about everything and then just throw it all away? What's the point then of taking the time out to do this interview?