Why Rodney Mullen Is The Greatest Athlete of All Time
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2024
- In the lexicon of athletes, many have been labeled the G.O.A.T. In my opinion however, there is no other athlete that has contributed more to their respective sport than skating trailblazer Rodney Mullen.
In this video, we dive into the career of Mullen and what factors make him the G.O.A.T.
#documentary #messi #goat #sports #sportsdocumentary
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You should look into Brian Foster he dominated not only dirt bmx he’s also a bmx racing champion.. Rodney was mostly influenced by 1 style of riding and I’m a big fan but i think it’s a close debate.
As a skateboarder let me tell you: This man created basically everything we do. I can’t think of a single other sport or activity like that. He needs more credit tbh.
Skating handrails was invented by Gonz or Natas
@@robfromvan Flatground ollies to get onto handrails were invented by Rodney Mullen.
@@robfromvantheres no point trying to argue with these idiots. Let them play with their fingerboards in ignorance.
Its not a new invention its NBD. They used Rodneys trick (ollie) and combined it with other tricks (grind or slide not really assigned to a person but Rodney is also credited with some) on a bigger obstacle.
@@tbug5737 I commented this exact thing which is now gone but yes. Without Rodney we would not be where we are now.
I'm a simple man. I see Rodney Mullen's name and I click
They did him dirty in thps. He had the worst stats out of almost everyone and no manuals. It wasn't until thps4 I realized he was that guy
Same
Exactly what I did.
@@scourgemeltface I was killing it with Mullen on THPS2. Jamie Thomas was my go to on the first THPS.
You are right
Bro did a nollie three shuv late flip on flat in '92. That is unreal.
My favorite flat trick from him in Questionable is the nollie back 3 front foot flip. I can’t recall seeing another person do one since.
@@ashleybrown4754 nobody wants to because that shit is UGLY.
better yet, in the 80s he was winning freestyle competitions with "no mistake" not failing a single trick, while street champions were learning kickflips. And most of his tricks were invented for freestyle competitions.
Let's not forget Rodney helped design the modern "popsicle" skateboard shape! ;-)
Also designed trucks and shoes 🤙🏻
him and I believe Vallely (the Barn board), or did I misunderstood this?
No, you are absolutely correct! The World Industries Mike Vallely Barnyard board from 1989 :-)
He didn't help, he literally designed it :)
"Dont let anyone poison your individuality. Be the way, break away. Look in not out"
Rodney Mullen-
"if you are ever temped to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity. if you need a witness, be your own." epictetus
I think that this is true, but it’s important to note there are NO rules to skateboarding. Traditional sports have a set of rules and a “winner”
Skateboarding is more of an art, as well as a sport.
You forgot the most important point of skateboard history, the urethane wheel. 1972 Cadillac Wheels
i dont care if you're a big time youtuber or not, i see rodney mullen's name i click it, i watch it, im happy, everyones happy.
"saved to watch later"
Thank you for being my bedtime story later
Haha, no problem!
I think the fact that no one has a bad story about Rodney, on top of everything else about Rodney is what really elevates his status. He is a loner by nature so he skates at 2-4am when no one can watch him. I've seen videos of him at a random park tho and little kids were running up to him for trick tips. Rodney never would turn down offering someone help. What did Michael, Gretzky, Brady, Ali, etc have in common? They all had that play to win, at all costs, mentality. I think Rodney has that drive too, but also Rodney isn't trying to "gatekeep" anything. He isn't trying to squash his competition. He's trying to make his competition better so he has better people to compete with. Rodney could have completely isolated himself. Stayed an introvert his whole life. Guarded his secrets with the board. But he actively teaches anyone willing to learn and I think that alone is what makes Rodney so special.
I do agree that the number of contributions that Mullen gave to the world of skateboarding makes him probably the most influential in his particular sport, one of my favourite Wayne Gretzky facts is: Wayne and Brent Gretzky hold the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers - 2,857 for Wayne and 4 for Brent.
As much as I love Mullen, I’d almost argue Tony is just as influential. To me the GOAT of GOATs has to be Gretzky due to the sheer dominance. I’ll also admit I’m biased as a huge fan of both Hockey and skating.
He is more of an artist than an athlete in my book. Sports have constraints, skating is total freedom - pure art.
Travis Pastrana NEEDS to be in the discussion. He reinvented not 1, but 2 sports. FMX, and rallycross are completely different because of TP
I absolutely agree that there's a spot in the conversation for him!
Kelly Slater aswell, I think its a lot fairer to compare newer sports
Dude. Only 6 minutes in so far but very impressed
Well I was born in 72 so the 80s and 90s were you know my Elementary and high school years Rodney Mullen was just a freak. He probably did more for Street skating did anyone else on the planet. He was doing stuff that was so nuts that all of the ramp guys would come over and watch him do his thing. I would definitely say that keep probably fall somewhere on that Spectrum level of genius and OCD. That's how committed he was to what he was doing. Even today he's probably still crushing anyone in a game of SKATE. RLTW 3/75
Verry nice video dude, thank you for your hard work.
Great video Riggs looking forward to more.
Amazing content as always
At the start I was like maybe some over-hype, but after watching it I agree. Im a skater and I know what he's done fore us but by framing it as overall impact makes it clear. Well done, great vid!
Dang this is some good production value 👑
Your editing is funny. Thx for the history
I agree with this video before watching it
Very interesting topic! I ve got to admit, his contribution for the sport is outstanding... So many tricks, that even to this day, is very hard to replicate. Absolute legend! Now, if you ask me who is the GOAT in competitive sports, I am going to say Kelly Slater, who coincidentally retired yesterday at the young age of 52! Eleven world titles in a demanding physical sport, competing with guys in their 20's. Absolutely unreal. Thanks for entertaining us all those years Kelly!
That 1978 picture of Mullen and Caballero is legendary. Baby cab haha
got my sub on this one,great stuff
Great video. You convinced me.
most innovative and creative ever that is for sure
This is a great video man 😃
I’m genuinely staggered that you don’t even have 1k subs! 🤯
I’ve totally subbed and would love to see a Tony Hawk retrospective as well as you mentioned in the vid.
Really great content man 👊🏻
Thanks for watching and well, maybe I'll get to 1k subs at some point!
But, totally, I'm going to work on my Tony Hawk video after the next one I'm putting together.
@@andrewriggscomedy yeah go for it man! 😃
Decent number of views on the Mullen video, so capitalise on it buddy! 👊🏻
Otto Grahm, Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, Dion Sanders. Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Kobie Bryant, Wilt Chamberllain, Greg Louganis, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady, Lawerence Taylor......... We should have them all settle this with a DANCE OFF.
rodney mullen may not have invented skateboarding but he sure as hell made it what it is today
I think Deion should be in consideration for the GOAT overall athlete but you can't deny that Rodney had the biggest singular impact on his domain.
Incredible talent, creativity, skill and heart. To me part of what elevates him to legendary status is is obvious kindness and humility. I could not agree more with your posit. he is the greatest there ever was.
inspirational
I'd say dribbling a basketball is akin to riding a board, so a more apt comparison would be if Jordan invented the dunk or dribble in-between your legs. It's also not really fair since basketball had been around for decades and skateboarding just started.
That said, Rodney Mullen saved my teenage years. As someone on the spectrum, I really identified with the guy, and my skateboard was an invaluable tool to navigate through social anxiety and be able to make friends.
For thought. Wilt Chamberlain changed the rules and physical dimensions. Bradbury Robinson completed the first forward pass in a football game. Dick Fosbury performed the first Fosbury Flop. Simone Biles invented tricks they would not change the rules for. Babe Ruth was a switch hitter, pitched, and pretty much ushered in the liveball era. Jack Niclaus's style of golf and skills lead to changes in course design and tournament rules. Ditto Tiger Woods. Secretariat and Seabiscuit?
thank you, this was cool! =)
I dunno, to me freestyle skating looks pretty weird (started skating after THSB or THPS2 came out), but if Rodney does it, it becomes magical!
From the early 90s to the early 2ks I used to skate at the Ibirapuera park (in São Paulo-Brazil) and there were some older dudes that practiced the (what was conceived of, at the time) "old art" of freestyle skateboarding... I learnt a lot from those guys... good times =D... And then Rodney Mullen was not much known from outside people that skated freestyle, but he was always like "the secret character" (in that time there the internet was in its infancy, so, especially in the 3rd world, only the most hardcore skateboarding people would buy some skate magazine VHS tapes and stuff like that...and even then people were more interested in the "street style" or "skate rapper" kind of thing...) haha.. the right thing for a game would be to have Rodney Mullen as a secret character that the player would have to perform some cryptic behavior at the game in order to unlock him for 1 play (1 one level, etc... of the game...) and he would just never miss any tricks, would be like an 'Akuma' in the game and all, and when the map (stage) is finished it would pop up a message (like those old street fighter 2) like "I trained those tricks decades ago, at 3am." hehe...
I would say much more, but perhaps in another video =D..
goated take
Actual, factual, and accurate. Great vid
A cricketer from Australia in the 1930's named Don Bradman was so dominant in his era that he is still regarded as the greatest batsmen to have played, his career average of 99.94 is still the highest with the next best being 61, the influence of Mullen on skating is profound you would have to invent the sport to be as impactful as he is, but the Don dominated his sport far more than Pele, Jordan, Ali or any of the other athletes . Great Video thanks and Take care
Ive said this for a long time. He has the wins, the dominance, the impact and the records.
Some sports should be renamed. Let's grab our Gretzky sticks, Mullen boards, Tiger clubs and Ali gloves.The goal line was moved back because of Gretzky. Mullen invented almost every trick all skaters use. The courses were made longer because of Tiger. Every professional athlete changed the way they dealt with the media because of Ali. Great vid! Stay Happy and Healthy
Fascinating video, and I love the execution and the idea for the video…
However, I think it’s very unfair to compare solo sports to team sports
Team sports require more regulation, more institutionalized, rulemaking, and it’s much harder for players to innovate within those confines.
I think Rodney definitely is one of the most incredible athletes on the face of the planet for sure.
I personally think this video would be more fair and a more accurate hypothesis to defend would be something like : “the greatest solo athlete of all time”… and Compared him to other athletes in a sports such as surfing, gymnastics, rock, climbing, BMX biking, etc.…
Still a great video, and it is always a treat watching Rodney Mullins do his thing. back in the 80s He was better than most modern skaters will ever be. A GOAT in many respects.
fantastic video! I offer for your consideration, Jim Thorpe, the finest multi-sport athlete in modern history.
There were so many athletes I wanted to talk about without making it an hour long
@@andrewriggscomedy you did well!
Good song 🎉good video ❤🎉
I really enjoyed the presentation of this whole piece. And your delivery js really well done. But as a note, I found this music really distracting. It's too simple, repetitive, and high in your mix.
I really appreciate the feedback.
Good analysis. I get what you mean when you say that the others were great individual talents but never really contributed much to the sport itself. I remember Rodney saying in an interview one time that he never wanted to be some celebrity skateboarder who won all these trophies and was driven by money/fame. His real trophy is seeing skateboarders everywhere doing HIS tricks that HE invented since it all started. You really can't beat that tbh.
awsome breakdown! I try to teach the new kids in skateboarding the importance Rodney had in the skateboarding they do today. Especially now all the styles are mixed, from bowl to freestyle. Just look at Andy Anderson. Had the upportunity to meet Rodney once, and he left another kind of impact on me. While at a demo in Amsterdam he took the time, about 5 minutes, in his busy day to talk to me about setting up a board company and gave me solid tips and just a great chat. All meanwhile 100+ kids were asking for his autograph. Just an awesome person.
better sound mixing next time, but good video
My favourite skater.
I loved your video, and TOTALLY agree.
There is no athlete like Rodney
Please make the THPS video you mentioned, maybe a video about Tony as well?
i know he is not the goat but i believe he deserves, he really is THE other godfather of skateboard, i am sure you get what i say, he is even bff with the actual goat, and i am quite sure both them influenced each other a lot, it is possible that without tony's (and other legends) friendship Rodney would not be as great :)
Thanks for this video, Rodney is made different as you mentioned
But do you know about his advendures on other areas, he is an actual genius with success in different industries as entrepeneur, also great motivator and philosopher, he got some mystic conection to a primordial source knowledge and wisdom, which also allowed he heal himself when no doctor believed he would skate again, he also has the sweetest speeches that reaches that works like magic spells and heals the souls
Wow, eveytime i reason about his gifts i there is something strange on how he stacks so many good traits, i believe he and some others are some sort of avatar that paves our way to the next level
OK, i know it is enough talking
I will get on the tony video after the next one I'm working on!
Thanks for checking it out!
You can argue pretty easily that Michael Jordan was the catalyst for every major change that happened after him.
Michael Jordan might not have invented dribling, but he's single handedly revolutionized the shooting guard position and, in turn, changed roster construction in a way that has affected everything since. I think that's even more fundamental than dribbling.
Everyone at every position now plays like a shooting guard because of him. The rules have changed to favor offense because players kept beating the shit out of him because they couldn't stop him any other way. One of the greatest players of all time literally studied under him. I can go on and on.
Him being respectful to the prior generation doesn't mean anything.
I always think of it this way. Being the fastest race car driver in the world is impressive. Now imagine that driver also designed the car, invented the internal combustion engine, and came up with the concept of racing. That is Rodney Mullen. He created and mastered an entire art form on his own.
Yep. My exact thoughts, basically.
Messi is so clear of Ronaldo it isn't even funny. That being said, Messi and Rodney are both the GOATS. Crazy seeing them mentioned in the same video.
I know. When he mentioned Ronaldo I got a little mad. Just yesterday Messi had 5 assists and a goal. Now don’t get me started on no Larry bird even mentioned.
@@brendantheprettygood messi put on a clinic last night.
Mullen certainly deserves the GOAT as the most influential, innovative athlete in sport's history. The greatest athletic accomplishment, surely, is Alex Honnold free soloing El Cap. An athletic endeavor lasting nearly four hours that involved balance, strength, endurance, courage and a lifetime of expertise. And whose consequences for a single mistake: death.
He's a Genius. No debate on that.
I agree with the conclusion in this.
Rodney Mullen would be the goat already if he *only* invented the Ollie, but the list of tricks he invented is practically endless.
The man behind the athlete +++++
100%.The goat totally in skateboarding(freestyle and street). Hawk totally in vert and transition.
He´s like the One that was send Here to help Us see and understand World differently.. :)
Serge Bubka is the best pole vaulter of all time. He had crazy athleticism and changed the form entirely while breaking every record.
agreed. only other athlete i can think of who comes even remotely close would be royce gracie of mma fame.
Kelly slater has one of the longest relevant pro careers of any athlete ever. 11 world titles and a 3 decade pro career on the world tour. Unheard of and his records wont get touched. The sheer will to win at any cost is what separates people like Jordan or Kelly from the pack of other talented pros. I know Rodney is a tech savant and invented so much in skateboarding, but skateboarding is also younger than any other sport. His timing is was necessary for him to be the one to figure stuff out and certainly he was a special talent. But someone like Jordan or Kelly or Kobe would be a titan of victory in their time, no matter when it was. Rodney is a genius, a special genius, but given a different timeline I don’t think he would still have been able to invent all those tricks and some one else would have eventually done an Ollie or a kick flip or any of the other progressions he made made. Maybe it wouldn’t have all been one guy and maybe it would have taken longer, but I think skateboarding progression was inevitable and if not Rodney then some one younger with special feet and a special brain may have taken his spot. The stars certainly aligned for rodeny.
Another argument that I bring up is skateboarding being the hardest thing you can learn as a ‘sport’… you aren’t strapped in, nothing to hold onto, you’re relying on eye to foot coordination and reaction time as opposed to just eye hand coordination. All while balancing on three axis while moving and jumping (like standing on a ball while moving). The amount of brain power that takes is a lot. Snowboarding you don’t have to worry about foot placement, bmx you have handle bars and pedals to set place. Basketball you hold with walking and running being basic human skills really. Hockey is eye hand coordination and strapped onto skates. Aside from surfing, in skateboarding you’re relying on full balance, foot placements, reaction times, as well as jump and landing on objects where surface area is just millimeter’s of contact.
So for someone to be great at skateboarding it’s really something else. Let alone 10 years of being the literal best at it, all while inventing the tricks themselves and changing what a physical skateboard is so he can improve and invent more tricks ie popsicle decks, and concave.
On top of ALL of that, we’re eating shit on concrete, and trying again right after.
Skateboarding is the most aggravating sport I have ever done.
Skateboarding also wins the award for greatest sport of all time due to the combination of its constraints and lack of rules leading to constant evolution and flexibility in the context of extreme difficulty and its punishing nature. It is an art form on a level no other physical “sport” is, more akin to dancing
Walter Lindum, so good at billiards the rules were changed, he gave his opponents a head start and was so dominant he killed the game
He IS and will be the GOAT in Skateboarding; He pushed the sport for lightyears.
My vote is for Kelly Slater
Idk who you would have used for baseball, but without doubt it should be Ty Cobb. He played in the dead ball era and was among the top HR hitters from his era. He would have hit a ton of homers in Ruth’s era. His legacy was tarnished by a spiteful writer named Al Stump who fabricated stories about Cobb after his death. He seems very similar to Rodney in the aspect that he was head and shoulder better than everyone around him at the time and set the bar so high in their respective sport that it’s unlikely we see it ever replicated. I think you could make a similar argument for Wilt. But he doesn’t have the Wins.
Shaun Palmer is the greatest athlete of all time. snowboarder,skier,elite Downhill MTB and duel slalom MTB and motocross.
It’s difficult to compare team sports with stricter rules to individual sports with relatively open interpretation of rules. Call me a Messi fanboy but I think players like him and Gretzky are still in the running when you consider how an opposing player/team must reconsider their understanding of the game entirely in order to negate the influence of that player.
Cristano Ronaldo did not impact soccer that much my guy, Ronaldinho did. He created a version of highly skilled and flashy dribbling to get around defenders, as opposed to the technical, make a quick move, such as a feint, and change of pace to get past defenders. He also stamped the use of sombrero flicks, which many other Brazilians since has made use of, such as Neymar. This style of play didn’t require high levels of speed to beat defenders, but more skill than usual, and guys like Cristano and Neymar and more can be seen using the style today. Guys like Neymar, who can beat defenders with speed as well, use it to increase the chances of beating the defenders.
The pronunciation of Encinitas killed me lol
Just like Rodney get’s overlooked in the GOAT debates, the sport that is the reason Skateboarding exists, surfing has another GOAT candidate, Kelly Slater. He is doing his final surfing tour this year at 51. He is both the youngest and oldest person to win a world title of which he has won 11. Almost all of modern progressive surfing started with him.
I predicted Shane Gillys rise to fame so let's see if I can do it a second time.
My bro this was an excellent video and if you keep up the work your channel is going to blow up.
If someone reads this 2 years from now, was I right?
And you have a video about Shane.. I think I love you haha
Thanks man!
We'll see how it goes lol
@andrewriggscomedy i wish you all the best mate 👍
Blessed be the dawgs
I admit that Rodney probably is the GOAT. However, I think that Chris Sharma should be in contention. Rock climbing is both physically, and mentally extreme and to develop the sport in terms of creating climbs, opening access to new climbing areas and bringing attention to, and being an ambassador for the sport in general, while consistently pushing the difficulty to a new level every year for nearly two decades is something special.
Rodney Mullets foundational developments have branched into other sports. Ex. Surfing has a Kickflip now. G.O.A.T is an understatement.
I think most impactful athlete would hold a stronger argument than just generally the greatest. mostly because, while watching, steph curry kept popping into my head. he came in, completely flipped the league on its head with 3 pointers, and it’s clear the shift the league has taken since with traditional big men and layup/midrange offense becoming pretty obsolete. all that to say, steph curry isn’t even the greatest in his own sport but the impact can’t be denied
Tough to argue with this. I don't know of any athlete who has singlehandedly impacted their sport more. Golf certainly changed after Tiger woods (more emphasis on long-range driving), basketball has been changed by Steph Curry (3s all day), but nothing to the extent of Rodney's influence.
20/20 did a show on Allen Francis the most decorated athlete EVER
Rodney Mullen is one of my heroes
Just imagine being Rodney on a casual day walking around and seeing all the skateboarders doing tricks he created. The basic ollie woud shock me seeing everyone doing what I created.
Kelly Slater and surfing is definitely in the discussion
Abbey Wambach is a contender for all time, all sport GOAT. Jim Brown is also up there for dominating both Lacrosse and Football.
Sick video, Mullen is a freak but we can’t be that narrow visioned to call him goat athlete.. skating is athletic but not as much as many other sports
I grew up skating and doing very well in Freestyle skateboarding contests from 1986 through 1993, while getting paid to skate in demos and Hollywood gigs from 1989 through 1991.
I met and spoke with Rodney at a 1990 Pro/Am Freestyle skateboard contest in Anaheim California. He's a pretty humble guy and would agree with what I'm about to say.
Rodney is great on a skateboard, but can he surf? Can he dunk a basketball? Hit a home run? Win a boxing match? Win a 10k race or triatholon?
You get where this is going. There's all kinds of amazing athletes of different genres that take very specific dedication and specialized focus that can't be matched with one another.
But that's not the point he was making. I agree, in pure athletic ability, there are many others who exceed Rodney. Micheal Jordan was a basketball player who hit a home run in pro baseball. Bo Jackson was...well...Bo freaking Jackson! But the video isn't about the "most freakishly talented in every possible sport" athlete. It's about the greatest athlete of all time, meaning the athlete who did for their sport what no other athlete did for any other sport. The title is, I'll admit, kinda misleading and could've been titled more accurately, but did what the guy was actually trying to get across, I think he's spot on. Rodney Mullen took the sport of skateboarding and MORE THAN revolutionized it. He didn't come up with street skating, but he completely created it. No other athlete has done anything close to what he did, for any other sport. That impact is what he meant my greatest athlete, not athletic ability.
@johnlonkert7187 Rodney contributed a lot of tech tricks to skateboarding while developing the flat ground ollie, essential for doing other tricks. However, he admitted to being afraid to skate on obstacles when he first started street skating. He can do an amazing ollie stalefish, but I never once saw him ollie a fire hydrant.
We should be giving obstacle street skating credit to skaters like Mark Gonzalez and Natas Kaupas, who laid the foundation for obstacle street skating.
While Rodney invented a lot of tricks that we as a skateboarding community are grateful for, he certainly didn't invent all of them and their variations.
For instance, there's a multi-trick variation I discovered and invented between late 1988 and early 1989 that no one else was doing back then, except two others who were doing something somewhat similar but different.
The original name of the trick had such a long name that I decided to rename it to Trim-Flip. That's part and due to right of passage and patent for recognition of inventing the trick, like many other professionals who named their tricks after their last name or abbreviated it, just like the Half-Cab.
It consists of 3 different tricks combined into one, the (Frontside 180 No-comply Pressure flip). I published a couple of videos on the history of it, while demonstrating how it's done. it's a pretty unique trick, Andy Anderson does them once in a while, and I've seen other skaters doing it as well or similar variations of it.
Just about every serious skater of the early days, up on through the 1990s, has invented and contributed something different and unique.
There are quite a few other Freestylers of the 1980s who invented a good amount of Flatland Freestyle tricks as well.
It's important that every contributor is acknowledged and not forgotten through all the noise and attention certain individuals receive often. We, as a whole, need to branch out further and learn more about other skaters who contributed a lot as well. Thanks to the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, they are a good place to learn much history from many contributors of all kinds.
Nicely laid out statement…& done with class. So I salute you. But…you kinda missed the point of the whole video tho😮. Dude is saying that out of all athletes…in all sports across the world/history…Rodney had by far, the most positive impact & forward evolution that any athlete (before or after him)…has ever had on his sport. Think about it this way…Rodney’s impact on the sport would be the equivalent to one basketball player from back in the day being credited with being the first to ever invent the slam dunk, the jump shot, the cross over…& the alley-oop. All of which were game changers to the sport…& continue to be VITAL aspects of the game to this day. For Rodney…let’s just say the flat-ground Ollie is equivalent to the jump-shot, the kick flip is equivalent to the slam-dunk, the shuv-it is equivalent to the cross-over dribble…& the Ollie impossible is equivalent to the alley-oop. (And with Rodney…that list goes on & on). All of which are HIGHLY VITAL to both sports to this day. Make more sense now?
@simonbrightman79 you probably were born during the mid to late 1980s or later, just repeating what many others have said who weren't skating during that time. You forget that I skated during the same era and watched it all unfold with many other talented contributing skaters. Rodney was great, but not the only one who made an impact, and he didn't receive credit for everything, nor should he like many want to believe. Also, everything you said, even your beginning compliment, doesn't make up for your condescending remark toward the end.
The absolute in innovation undoubtedly but best “athlete” that’s bit of a stretch
Depends on how you look at it. Is he the athlete with the most athletic ability? Hell no. He's the athlete who did something no other athlete has done...he didn't just change an existing sport, he didn't enhance an existing sport, he didn't change the rules of an existing sport. He CREATED the sport. I'm not going to say that all the tricks and techniques used today wouldn't have eventually have been created or discovered, but if he didn't do what he did by creating the tricks that became the foundation for nearly every street skate trick there is, then it would've taken MANY other people to du the same thing. They're has been no other skater that could've done what he did, as fast as he did, creating the basis for what we all love in street skating. That makes him the greatest athlete of all time...at least, thats what the dude that made the video was getting at. I gotta agree with him.
@@johnlonkert7187he did not create street skating. Rodney had said it himself after his hiatus from skateboarding that he had to play catch up with what was happening in street skateboarding scene. He was lucky Mike Ternasky pushed him to progress and adapt otherwise he would’ve been left do flatground routines instead of taking his tricks to picnic tables and ledges.
HE IS THE GOAT, AND I HAVE ALWAYS SAID THIS
What is the name of the trucks at 8:05?
I need me one of those shirts
Rodney Mullen is the Charlie Parker of skateboarding
You go on about basket ball players, boxers etc but leave out one of the biggest names names in extreme sports that has invented over 100 BMX tricks which are now used in freestyle MX and mountain biking, was the first to come up with the crazy idea of a big air ramp and broken a shit load of records, the one and only Matt Hoffman.. definitely on par with Rodney Mullins.
I think that's absolutely a fair point.
i agree but Shawn White with snowboarding has to be close right?
Good video but man... This would have been so much better without music
I'm figuring it out as i go along. What people like and what they don't or what works best for me.
I don't want them to think there's to much dead air but I also don't want the music to be overwhelming.
Either way, thanks for the feedback and thanks for checking it out!
2:05 that pronunciation of encinitas will haunt me for life
Lmao sorry
FANTASTIC video.. my only wish is that Ricky Carmichael and Kelly Slater had made the honorable mentions.
You know, they absolutely should have. It was hard for me to pick.
Sir Donald Bradman was the greatest for a while, Kelly slater probably is the greatest athlete in one of the hardest sports to learn
I often wonder if Rodneys dad really did make him quit early on what does skateboarding look like rn? Does someone else come along and do everything that he did? Because I don't think so. I say that because who would it have been? I am sure collectively things do get figured out but it takes much longer and I think ends up with skateboarding maybe going the way of rollerblading. I say that because I think vert would have stayed the big thing in skateboarding and if that is the case it doesn't take off like it does just because most people didn't have access to a vert ramp. It is pretty crazy when you think 1 single dude is responsible for everything you see in street skateboarding nowadays. If it weren't for him I think street skateboarding would be at maybe a latest 90s or early 2000s lvl rn. He showed everyone what was possible super early and damn near all at once. Think about how long things take if several people have to figure out all these different things and how much of an impact it has on progression. I do honestly think sometimes Rodney really isn't from this planet just based on sheer imagination alone. Imagine how out there you have to be to be the 1st guy who thinks he can flip a board with his feet and land on it or slide on grip tape, it casper slide or primo grind? Just to think things like that are possible before ever having any frame of reference or idea it can be done and then do it is fucking insane
I think it would look like the late 80s now without him.
It's crazy that his dad almost wouldn't let him skate! The innovation we could've lost!
Didn’t see Rodney bombing hills or hitting rails , big gaps or doing wallrides. Let’s be honest here and say Rodney elevated flatground and later on Tech skateboarding to a new level but not every aspect of street skating. Gonz , Natas , Lucero , Frankie Hill , Matt Hensley and many others deserve credit for what they did for street skateboarding.
You can’t distill it down to a single person because it just isn’t true.
This is not a dig at Rodney Mullen but at those morons who only know Rodney Mullen and then act like they know everything about skateboarding. “oh well he invented most of the flip tricks” yeah so what? This is where people go wrong in trying to frame skateboarding like some ball sport with stats and points.
Rodney was still in the streets and a TM driving vans across country while all of the other athletes mentioned were chilling in their mansion and golf courses smoking cigars ... the only thing I have with Rodney is that I never liked his style... he invented so much stuff sure but the other people perfected it style wise while Rodney was probably already 3 levels ahead ...