James Hardy, Welcome Back

First of all, my apologies for the sparse content this week and next week. I'm going to be fairly busy for a little while, but when I do come back, it'll be nerdy and excessive like always and you'll hear from me more than twice a week (hopefully). Anyways, onto the main point of this article, which is about James Hardy.

If I were really good at skateboarding and could choose to be any figure in skateboarding, James Hardy would be extremely high on the list. He wasn't some outrageously popular childhood phenom. He didn't have a career where he exploded with popularity and then faded out.He's not even the best paid or most recognized pro out there, he just defines 'skate rat'.

His sponsors are all some of the most solid companies out there, and that's it. Real, Thunder, Spitfire, Fallen, Eswic, and Faith Skateshop. Nothing extra, just the stuff he needs to go out and go skate the best he can.

And as of 2011, James was still living out in the woods to get over his injury. Thrasher just released a full video part from him called "James Hardy's Homecoming". This is the other reason I wish I could skate like James Hardy- his skating can be set to some blues rock and be just about perfect.


He's above being super technical or tackling the most giant handrails (although he can tackle some fairly giant handrails). He just needs some of the rawest spots that the south has to offer, and he can create one of the most gnarly, stylish parts I've seen in a while.



To add to all of that, he seems like a really humble guy. He's not the type that plants himself in LA just so he can get maximum exposure, either. For a while at least, he was living out of his car despite having a pro paycheck at the time. And despite living in a car and going through a long recover process with injury, he kept his positivity going throughout.

So really, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of respect for James Hardy and all of the skating he does. We need more people like him in this seriously messed up industry.

Thanks for reading, and if you thought this was boring, I'm sorry. Here's a photo comparing James Hardy and that guy from "Parks and Rec" to hopefully make up for it.