TH: No, Sports Illustrated is so jock-oriented. Every once in awhile I'll pick it up and check out their Extreme Sports blurb. Usually it's about mountain biker so-and-so who won some event. I think a lot of skaters, including myself, pride ourselves and skateboarding on being different. Skateboarding is not considered a regular sport or a team sport. It's not what we were supposed to grow up doing. So, if Sports Illustrated wants to play us like that it's fine. All they have to do is look at the numbers of participants involved in skateboarding. They can't deny that.
PB: Sports Illustrated went so far as to publish an article titled "Is Skateboarding Really a Sport?" in which athletes from other areas debated its validity as a sport.
TH: Most skaters wouldn't consider it a sport. They see it as an art form or their way to express themselves. They don't care to be included in that, but if we're talking about the actual athletics and the competition of it, then of course it is.
PB: If skateboarding became an Olympic sport, would you come out of retirement and compete?
TH: That's not something I would support. Skating doesn't need the Olympics. We have substantial skateboarding participants, even more than most Olympic events, and I saw the way snowboarding was portrayed in the Olympics. It made it look really bad. Everyone was skeptical anyway, and then they were like, "Oh, these guys smoke weed." Plus, the way it was presented didn't make it look exciting. The same would be true of skating. The people who are into the Olympics, the other athletes and the media would be skeptical of it the entire time and never accept it.
PB: Do you think you would have been good at any sport, or was skateboarding a special calling?
TH: I played basketball and baseball. I might have been good, but I really liked the fact that in skateboarding I didn't have to adhere to a practice schedule or listen to a coach. I could just do it at my own pace and in my own style and still be accepted as a skater. I was always frustrated when coaches got upset with me, and I didn't like having to rely on the whole team to do well. I just wanted to do things on my own terms.
PB: Now that you've retired, your former doubles partner Andy MacDonald is considered the guy to beat. Critics have complained that he is the first "athlete" in skateboarding because he takes competition seriously and trains before competitions. Why is that looked down upon?
TH: That's just not the general m.o. for skaters, so people haven't taken to that attitude, but now there are so many events through the year that the contests last every weekend for about nine months. If you really want to get in that mode you have to practice and train.
PB: Is that something you ever did? Did you ever hit the gym?
