It turns out my good buddy Todd, who skated with me 35 years ago back in the day, broke his hip yesterday at the skatepark opening. It's a horrible fracture. Todd's femoral head broke off and he'll no doubt require hip replacement surgery. I haven't heard back from him since yesterday afternoon, so we'll see. Please join me in prayer for him.
I'm reminded of the piece at the L.A. Times in January, "Middle-aged skateboarders defy family skeptics, and falls." Old school veteran Steve Alba broke his collarbone last year. I saw Alba hanging out yesterday at the clover bowl but he did not skate (although he apparently did skate a secret pre-session last week or so).
I'm not myself looking to rekindle my glory skateboarding years (my teenage years, basically), although I can't resist the thrilling feel seeing all my old buddies, many of them out there hitting the bowls. I'll probably stick to the freestyle area, lol. It's been a long time since I did any serious skating, and like any sport, you need to train and maintain conditioning.
I'll keep you posted.
BONUS: At the O.C. Register, "Grand opening of Vans skatepark mixes legends, next generation."
