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Interview With Tony Hawk

Aired November 14, 2003 - 14:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's you. That's you.
Now in case you hadn't noticed, skateboarding's gone beyond a couple of kids and a backyard ramp. Look at this scene here. This is spectacular stuff. It's a really big show really big. Got some big money in it too, which is a new development, right?

Rolling across America now, this is a big production. It's called the Boom Boom Huckjam. We're going to ask about that too. And it features, among others -- well, he's the headliner, he's not among others -- Tony Hawk, the dude, the main man of skateboarding is here to tell us a little about it. They're in town in Atlanta. Tail end of a 342 city tour, right? Or so it seems at this point.

TONY HAWK, PROFESSIONAL SKATER: Oh yes. Well, 29 cities. We're on the homestretch. We're doing tonight in Atlanta, tomorrow in Tampa, and the next day in Fort Lauderdale, and that's it.

O'BRIEN: All right, when you appear in front of these crowds and put on a show like you see there, the BMX bikes are going overhead and the whole thing going on, there must be tremendous energy in these arenas. What's it like?

HAWK: It's a lot of fun. You know, for us, it's more of a chance to showcase our sports outside of competition. So there's some choreography elements. You do routines. We also have freestyle segments where we just go and do what we want.

But it's not -- there's not that stress of competition where you miss something and that's it. You know, if we miss it, we get to try it again.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It must make it more fun. Let me ask you this. When you're not competing, is your performance not as good?

HAWK: No, it's better.

O'BRIEN: Is it really?

HAWK: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Because it takes that pressure out of it.

HAWK: You know you feel the crowd, and you don't feel the pressure of that, like, OK, you got to finish it in this 40-second interval. You know we have the time to try it and if it doesn't work, to try it again, and keep going and going until we get it.

O'BRIEN: And the crowd's kind of with you even when you don't quite stick it. What's the term when you do it right? It's totally sick, right?

O'BRIEN: No. We stick it or we pull it, we land it.

HAWK: Pull it.

HAWK: Or we bail or we fall or we slam.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Now, you've slammed quite a few times in your illustrious career. One time, it really knocked you out of the business for a while. You think much about the injuries and all that?

HAWK: You think about it, but, you know, none of us would be doing this if we were afraid of getting hurt. So we -- you know, even if we get hurt, we just see it as some time off, I guess, instead of something tragic.

O'BRIEN: All right, we have a little timeline which shows some of the things you've done in this sport. Let's put it up there. Let's see. You did the Frontside 540 Rodeo Flip, in '88. And of course the Stale Fish 540.

HAWK: You were keeping track of these when it happened, right?

O'BRIEN: Oh yeah. I've got this on my calendar in my PDA.

In '92 the Alley-oop Backside Bluntside. Then there was the Variel 720. And then of course in '99 -- this is one we did know about -- the first 900. That's not a 360, a 720. It's a 900 meaning 2 1/2, which is skateboarding history and has not been surpassed, has it?

HAWK: No, not in terms of spinning moves. Actually, no one's done a 900 yet other than me. But there are guys getting close. I pulled a couple on this trip actually, on this tour.

O'BRIEN: How did that feel to you? I mean that's scary stuff, 2 1/2. You've got to get so much altitude to do that.

HAWK: It's half altitude, but also just the right takeoff, the right spin, you know. And pretty much, as soon as I take off from the ramp, I know if I'm in the right position or not.

O'BRIEN: So you'll either push it or come off.

HAWK: And even if I come off wrong, I still have to go through the motions of the spin, but I know that I'm going to fall.

O'BRIEN: When you started in this sport, it wasn't really -- it's nothing like what we're seeing here. How did it become a big money sport, and how have you turned it into such a great business? You've done a good job of marketing things like what we're seeing on you right now. HAWK: It's gone through cycles of popularity, and it's sort of been in the media and outside the media. But I feel like in recent years, we finally got positive media coverage, and that's what's taken it to the next level. You know, we got public skate parks in almost every city now.

O'BRIEN: Really. And when you meet kids, what is that like for them? They must be just kind of -- there's a little hero worship there. Does that go to your head? You know what I mean?

HAWK: It's strange, you know. It's strange also growing up doing something that there were no heroes necessarily. When I was growing up skating and seeing the top pros, nobody recognized them except the select few that were actually skating at the time. So it's weird to see it grow exponentially like this.

O'BRIEN: Tony hawk, You're in town. It's the -- tell me again. Why the title?

HAWK: Boom Boom Huckjam.

O'BRIEN: Where did that come from?

HAWK: Well we huck ourselves into the air, it's a jam. And sometimes we fall down and go boom.

O'BRIEN: There you go. Huck is the altitude?

HAWK: Hucking. Going upward.

O'BRIEN: Tony Hawk, excellent success on your remaining few stops on your tour. Boom Boom Huckjam in Atlanta tonight. On its way down to Florida after that. Continued good luck, and be safe out there.

HAWK: All right, thank you.

O'BRIEN: But not too safe. It's fun to watch.

HAWK: We know people like the slams. It's OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 14, 2003 - 14:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's you. That's you.
Now in case you hadn't noticed, skateboarding's gone beyond a couple of kids and a backyard ramp. Look at this scene here. This is spectacular stuff. It's a really big show really big. Got some big money in it too, which is a new development, right?

Rolling across America now, this is a big production. It's called the Boom Boom Huckjam. We're going to ask about that too. And it features, among others -- well, he's the headliner, he's not among others -- Tony Hawk, the dude, the main man of skateboarding is here to tell us a little about it. They're in town in Atlanta. Tail end of a 342 city tour, right? Or so it seems at this point.

TONY HAWK, PROFESSIONAL SKATER: Oh yes. Well, 29 cities. We're on the homestretch. We're doing tonight in Atlanta, tomorrow in Tampa, and the next day in Fort Lauderdale, and that's it.

O'BRIEN: All right, when you appear in front of these crowds and put on a show like you see there, the BMX bikes are going overhead and the whole thing going on, there must be tremendous energy in these arenas. What's it like?

HAWK: It's a lot of fun. You know, for us, it's more of a chance to showcase our sports outside of competition. So there's some choreography elements. You do routines. We also have freestyle segments where we just go and do what we want.

But it's not -- there's not that stress of competition where you miss something and that's it. You know, if we miss it, we get to try it again.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It must make it more fun. Let me ask you this. When you're not competing, is your performance not as good?

HAWK: No, it's better.

O'BRIEN: Is it really?

HAWK: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Because it takes that pressure out of it.

HAWK: You know you feel the crowd, and you don't feel the pressure of that, like, OK, you got to finish it in this 40-second interval. You know we have the time to try it and if it doesn't work, to try it again, and keep going and going until we get it.

O'BRIEN: And the crowd's kind of with you even when you don't quite stick it. What's the term when you do it right? It's totally sick, right?

O'BRIEN: No. We stick it or we pull it, we land it.

HAWK: Pull it.

HAWK: Or we bail or we fall or we slam.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Now, you've slammed quite a few times in your illustrious career. One time, it really knocked you out of the business for a while. You think much about the injuries and all that?

HAWK: You think about it, but, you know, none of us would be doing this if we were afraid of getting hurt. So we -- you know, even if we get hurt, we just see it as some time off, I guess, instead of something tragic.

O'BRIEN: All right, we have a little timeline which shows some of the things you've done in this sport. Let's put it up there. Let's see. You did the Frontside 540 Rodeo Flip, in '88. And of course the Stale Fish 540.

HAWK: You were keeping track of these when it happened, right?

O'BRIEN: Oh yeah. I've got this on my calendar in my PDA.

In '92 the Alley-oop Backside Bluntside. Then there was the Variel 720. And then of course in '99 -- this is one we did know about -- the first 900. That's not a 360, a 720. It's a 900 meaning 2 1/2, which is skateboarding history and has not been surpassed, has it?

HAWK: No, not in terms of spinning moves. Actually, no one's done a 900 yet other than me. But there are guys getting close. I pulled a couple on this trip actually, on this tour.

O'BRIEN: How did that feel to you? I mean that's scary stuff, 2 1/2. You've got to get so much altitude to do that.

HAWK: It's half altitude, but also just the right takeoff, the right spin, you know. And pretty much, as soon as I take off from the ramp, I know if I'm in the right position or not.

O'BRIEN: So you'll either push it or come off.

HAWK: And even if I come off wrong, I still have to go through the motions of the spin, but I know that I'm going to fall.

O'BRIEN: When you started in this sport, it wasn't really -- it's nothing like what we're seeing here. How did it become a big money sport, and how have you turned it into such a great business? You've done a good job of marketing things like what we're seeing on you right now. HAWK: It's gone through cycles of popularity, and it's sort of been in the media and outside the media. But I feel like in recent years, we finally got positive media coverage, and that's what's taken it to the next level. You know, we got public skate parks in almost every city now.

O'BRIEN: Really. And when you meet kids, what is that like for them? They must be just kind of -- there's a little hero worship there. Does that go to your head? You know what I mean?

HAWK: It's strange, you know. It's strange also growing up doing something that there were no heroes necessarily. When I was growing up skating and seeing the top pros, nobody recognized them except the select few that were actually skating at the time. So it's weird to see it grow exponentially like this.

O'BRIEN: Tony hawk, You're in town. It's the -- tell me again. Why the title?

HAWK: Boom Boom Huckjam.

O'BRIEN: Where did that come from?

HAWK: Well we huck ourselves into the air, it's a jam. And sometimes we fall down and go boom.

O'BRIEN: There you go. Huck is the altitude?

HAWK: Hucking. Going upward.

O'BRIEN: Tony Hawk, excellent success on your remaining few stops on your tour. Boom Boom Huckjam in Atlanta tonight. On its way down to Florida after that. Continued good luck, and be safe out there.

HAWK: All right, thank you.

O'BRIEN: But not too safe. It's fun to watch.

HAWK: We know people like the slams. It's OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com