I grew up on the Razor Scooter. I don’t remember when I got my first scooter, but I remember it having green handles and wheels and I remember riding it around my cul-de-sac in the summer, I remember riding it down hills and falling off, then going back to the top of the hill, and doing it again, and I remember the times I would adapt BMX tricks to my freestyle sessions and then promptly fall on my neighbors’ driveways. Along with this came the Razor Freestyle Scooter game, which was only available at BlockBuster if you were buying it on N64. I had it, I played it, but it didn’t resonate with me quite the way that Tony Hawk always did.
I call the Razor Scooter a ‘fad’, but I don’t think anyone’s ever starting anything with the intention of it being the Hot New Thing that gets forgotten in a few years. With our constant news culture and the self awareness of what actually is a ‘fad’ or ‘meme’ or whatever, it’ll be hard for anything to really start up anymore and become legitimate. For instance, Snowboarding has its technical beginning in the ’60s, and it’s in the Olympics, skateboarding originated around the same time and it has become more popular and legitimate over that time. With the constant understanding that something like the scooter started as a fad and had very suburban roots, first sold at The Sharper Image. People are still riding their scooters, and some have become very skilled at the sport.
Still, you don’t look too cool on one. Would scoot-ing (scootering?) ever have a chance at becoming a ‘valid’ sport? Is that possible? Would anything invented since the ’70s ever really have a chance at breaking into the mainstream? That question has to come up in conversations amongst Ultimate Frisbee players, Arena Football fans and players, and probably professional snowmobilers assuming that still exists. I mean, since the start of the X Games, we’ve seen the one event that was supposed to put atypical sports on TV drop Sky Surfing, Aggressive In-Line, Wakeboarding and Speed Climbing in favor of Rally and Surfing. It’s gotta be hard to start a legitimate new sport in this era (even though, in the case of Slamball and Arena Football, it’s typically a new take on an established sport). But look at this:
LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME YOU DON’T WANT THAT ON TV ALL THE TIME. IT’S BASKETBALL ON TRAMPOLINES AND IF YOU DUNK YOU GET EXTRA POINTS. That’s better than regular basketball and we all know it, we just aren’t used to trampolines yet.
Anyway, at least Soccer has started to become a legitimate sport in America (though I would argue it has been at a high level for a while and the mainstream acceptance will come once more teams start appearing in big cities, and more teams start winning) (For instance, Kansas City didn’t have that much of a following in terms of soccer until SKC started winning games). If you can’t get people to come out to games to watch oh I don’t know MEN DUNKING ON EACH OTHER NEARLY EVERY OTHER PLAY maybe you need to just give your sport a little more promotion. Razor Scooting has a more difficult path, because you look kinda ridiculous even if you’re doing really well on a scooter, but maybe it, and Sky Surfing, and Ultimate Frisbee, and Arena Football, can find a foothold.
Well, maybe not Ultimate
Joe Bush dot Net 