Monday, October 13, 2008
Who is Christian Hosoi?
I was channel surfing, trying to find something to watch while I folded the laundry. On Showtime 2 (CBS Co., which is actually controlled by National Amusements) they were showing Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi. Honestly I had never heard of him before, but when I put it on to check it out, I saw Tony Hawk giving an interview and saw some contest results that had Christian's name above Tony's. Since I am a fan of Tony Hawk and know he was one of the greats, I figured I would give it a shot.
It seems that Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi were 2 of the biggest names in skateboarding in the 1980s. Where Tony focused on tricks and skill, Christian had those in spades and focused on the overall experience. He continually changed his clothes, hair styles and had a huge flamboyant personality that drew people in. His father artist showed him that money wasn't the only thing in life, so Christian readily shared what he had with friends. He was one of the first professional skateboarders and had a great time traveling, skating and partying with his friends. Drugs were also a part of his life. He would regularly smoke a joint with his dad or friends before skating. It was Southern California in the 1980s, what did you expect?
As I was watching this I kept wondering, why haven't I heard of this guy? Why did Tony Hawk take up the skateboarding cause and not Christian?
It seems Christian started to spiral out of control when he tried methamphetamine for the first time. He started eating it, then snorting it and then ultimately smoking it. He had a full blown crystal meth habit. He said he had it under control and he would stop if it started to change his appearance. Huh? That's when you know to stop? When you look like the Faces of Meth poster? Yikes.
So he spirals deeper and deeper, hanging out less with his skater friends and more with his tweaker friends. Even some of his skater friends would go pick up some drugs and go to a very dark scary place and see Christian hanging out in that drug den. Christian missed the first X Games in 1995, a massive event now and possibly could have thrust him into the national spotlight and forced him to clean up, but instead kept using and abusing and finally got caught in the Honolulu airport with one pound of meth and was charged with intent to distribute. He served less than half of his 10 year sentence after finding Jesus, getting clean and really changing his life. He is now an associate pastor and skates professionally.
As I sat there folding clothes and watching it, then discussing it with J afterwards; why do so many people need to learn this lesson themselves?
I'm glad you're clean, skating and have a loving family Christian. You're one of the lucky ones.
It seems that Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi were 2 of the biggest names in skateboarding in the 1980s. Where Tony focused on tricks and skill, Christian had those in spades and focused on the overall experience. He continually changed his clothes, hair styles and had a huge flamboyant personality that drew people in. His father artist showed him that money wasn't the only thing in life, so Christian readily shared what he had with friends. He was one of the first professional skateboarders and had a great time traveling, skating and partying with his friends. Drugs were also a part of his life. He would regularly smoke a joint with his dad or friends before skating. It was Southern California in the 1980s, what did you expect?
As I was watching this I kept wondering, why haven't I heard of this guy? Why did Tony Hawk take up the skateboarding cause and not Christian?
It seems Christian started to spiral out of control when he tried methamphetamine for the first time. He started eating it, then snorting it and then ultimately smoking it. He had a full blown crystal meth habit. He said he had it under control and he would stop if it started to change his appearance. Huh? That's when you know to stop? When you look like the Faces of Meth poster? Yikes.
So he spirals deeper and deeper, hanging out less with his skater friends and more with his tweaker friends. Even some of his skater friends would go pick up some drugs and go to a very dark scary place and see Christian hanging out in that drug den. Christian missed the first X Games in 1995, a massive event now and possibly could have thrust him into the national spotlight and forced him to clean up, but instead kept using and abusing and finally got caught in the Honolulu airport with one pound of meth and was charged with intent to distribute. He served less than half of his 10 year sentence after finding Jesus, getting clean and really changing his life. He is now an associate pastor and skates professionally.
As I sat there folding clothes and watching it, then discussing it with J afterwards; why do so many people need to learn this lesson themselves?
I'm glad you're clean, skating and have a loving family Christian. You're one of the lucky ones.
# posted by Seth @ 11:13 AM 
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