He is not Lance Armstrong. Nor Tom Brady.

September 22, 2018 7:22 AM

Tony Hawk gets recognized a lot, but he also... doesn’t.
posted by Etrigan (40 comments total)

I love this, he's such a good sport!
posted by obfuscation at 7:40 AM on September 22, 2018 [9 favorites]

So that's what Tony Hawk looks like.

From now on any time I see a guy who looks like the bass player in every suburban dad band, I'm going to ask him if he's Tony Hawk.
posted by bondcliff at 7:49 AM on September 22, 2018 [14 favorites]

Now we know who put the pro in prosopagnosia
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 8:07 AM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]

I didn't know what he looked like, but if you had asked me, I would have guessed his appearance involved multiple piercings and at least one sleeve tattoo. That must be what keeps him fairly anonymous from people who only know of him vaguely.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:08 AM on September 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm not gonna lie, I subscribed to his twitter feed (previously) based solely on the fact that he does this.
So... thanks, Tony!
posted by msingle at 8:13 AM on September 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

Every now and again Tony Hawk stories like these do the rounds on Twitter and they make me chuckle every time. He's such a mensch about it.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:14 AM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

I was there when he did the 900 and I'm oddly proud of this.
posted by East14thTaco at 8:15 AM on September 22, 2018 [19 favorites]

I'm sorry, Tony, but if we were playing Name That Dude and your picture showed up, I would guess Wes Anderson.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:22 AM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

These are fun, but what really elevates it is Tony's reactions. There's a dry wit to these interactions that is really rare.
posted by Merus at 8:39 AM on September 22, 2018 [8 favorites]

He's got pretty good teeth for someone whose job involves falling down a lot
posted by dismas at 9:12 AM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]

I didn't know what he looked like, but if you had asked me, I would have guessed his appearance involved multiple piercings and at least one sleeve tattoo. That must be what keeps him fairly anonymous from people who only know of him vaguely.


I don't think you have the proper appreciation for Tony Hawk's age.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:34 AM on September 22, 2018 [16 favorites]

My favorite one is his response to “I wonder what he’s up to these days?”
posted by sleeping bear at 9:54 AM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

These are hilarious.
posted by rtha at 9:55 AM on September 22, 2018

I was there when he did the 900 and I'm oddly proud of this.

one more time (well, that's what he says, anyway)
posted by atoxyl at 10:56 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

I was there when he did the 900 and I'm oddly proud of this

I was too! Boom Boom Huck Jam back in the day. Good times.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 11:01 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

It works both ways.
posted by tomcooke at 11:11 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

It works both ways.
posted by tomcooke at 14:11 on September 22

That guy's poor attitude towards Tony Hawks' fans does a disservice to Tonys Hawk everywhere.
posted by I paid money to offer this... insight? at 11:24 AM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

This is so wonderful, it's really made my sleep deprived day, so thank you for sharing.
posted by Caduceus at 11:46 AM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I too, love the dry wit of his responses and his economy of words. It really makes me laugh and now I guess to have to follow him on Twitter.
posted by 41swans at 11:57 AM on September 22, 2018

The funniest part is that he pretty much looks the same as he always has, maybe a few more lines on his face but that's about it.
posted by fshgrl at 12:13 PM on September 22, 2018 [7 favorites]

Here he is. Doing everything he can. Holding on to what he is, pretending he's a superman.
posted by East14thTaco at 12:17 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Here he is. Doing everything he can. Holding on to what he is, pretending he's a superman.

That really should be linked with this. Even though it's a couple of years ago, he's still got it. This man is a superman. He can fly.
posted by zabuni at 12:31 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Fun fact: when I was a teen, I wasn't into skateboarding* at all, but I had some friends who were, so I heard the name but just sort of assumed it was a brand mascot like Chester Cheeto or Ronald McDonald. His name was just to perfect. It was ages before I discovered that no, he was a real human being with that name.

* The fact that I write "skateboarding" pretty much proves this.
posted by suetanvil at 12:36 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

He did a really interesting interview on Arian Foster's podcast this year, and does seem to be a total mensch. One high point was his discussing being close to flat broke just before the first game was released, and having to make a knife-edge decision when the developer tried to buy him out of his royalties at the last minute. He decided against it, and seems pleased with the decision still.
posted by ominous_paws at 12:56 PM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

Armstrong and Brady being at the opposite pole of cool, sat out there with Ronaldo.
posted by ominous_paws at 12:57 PM on September 22, 2018

This really doesn't give me much confidence in the TSA. I mean if they don't have a system that flashes alerts for celebrities what are the odds they even have one for suspected terrorists.
posted by srboisvert at 1:47 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I once sat at the same table as Tony Alva for two hours without knowing who he was.
posted by q*ben at 3:12 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

He's got pretty good teeth for someone whose job involves falling down a lot

He probably has a couple of other sets just like that he keeps in a glass on the nightstand.

I didn't know what he looked like, but if you had asked me, I would have guessed his appearance involved multiple piercings and at least one sleeve tattoo. That must be what keeps him fairly anonymous from people who only know of him vaguely.


I don't think you have the proper appreciation for Tony Hawk's age.

About 10 years younger than Tony Alva?
posted by TedW at 3:16 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Prefect timing, q*ben! Now share the story!
posted by TedW at 3:18 PM on September 22, 2018

Imagine my surprise one day when I see a name on my screen processing orders...
Hosoi. Nah, I doubt it's...

Click the full info and am like - ok, so sure, Christian Hosoi... OK, probably someone else.

Google Christian, and sees Wiki states he lives in the same city I'm working in.
I'm like, about to faint because heavens to Betsy in Middle School we were all about the Hosoi/Hawk (Santa Monica/Powell) beef. Me n 2 friends were Team Hosoi, and 2 of our other friends were Powell Peralta. (and yes this also involved disagreements on swiss vs german bearings)...

So anyways, all night long after I'm stoked I got to provide service to a childhood idol.

It's not nearly fame like Tony Hawk (most ppl be like "Hosoi who?" but hey, between that and a friend from school programming Volumetric grass for THPS3x on the Xbox... Well.

The circle of skate is complete, IMO.
posted by symbioid at 4:04 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

About 10 years younger than Tony Alva?

Well sure, but my point was if you're envisioning someone with multiple piercings and a sleeve tattoo, they're probably born later than 1968.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:00 PM on September 22, 2018

My story: working at a fancy residential architecture firm in LA. We are having what I thought was a marketing meeting, except there is this quiet guy with dreads and a small dog sitting at the corner. Everyone is super deferential and attentive when he speaks but I can’t get any context. He looked kind of like one of the firm principals so I ask a coworker if he was related after it breaks up and I just get a flat, unbelieving stare as a response. “That was Tony Alva, dude.” One of those moments when my inner Kansan was showing.
Apparently he was there to coordinate some kind of art installation for an event we were doing. I never got the full story and he didn’t come by again.
In an unrelated story I shared office space with Rob Machado last week. I didn’t screw that one up.
posted by q*ben at 9:13 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I don't know. Recognizing people is hard, especially if you've never met them in the flesh. Having seen photographs doesn't really help, because recognizing photographs and recognizing 3D people are very different skills. I have two co-workers who use very similar profile photos in our chat system, which doesn't show the name of the person speaking, just the photo - so I have to hover my cursor over it each time in order to know which short-haired guy in a black T-shirt it is. It's driving me mad, especially since one of the co-workers normally sports a beard, making him easier to recognize IRL, but noooo, he had to be clean-shaven on picture day.

I just genuinely don't see how stuff like this is funny rather than inconsiderate.
posted by Vesihiisi at 12:16 AM on September 23, 2018

In what possible way was that inconsiderate? He answered her questions politely... I don't see what else could have been asked of him?
posted by ominous_paws at 12:26 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think it was inconsiderate to post it. But I generally don't get the whole "someone who's not my friend doesn't recognize me on sight, isn't it just the funniest?" thing.
posted by Vesihiisi at 12:39 AM on September 23, 2018

It's more what the hell is Tony Hawk supposed to say to some random lady who asks him if he's any good at skateboarding? "Sometimes" is a fantastic response.
posted by straight at 2:07 AM on September 23, 2018 [16 favorites]

Matt Damon? Mark Wahlberg?
posted by sydnius at 6:49 AM on September 23, 2018

In 2009 I was staying in an upscale hotel in downtown Toronto. One time I return to the hotel in the evening, there's a guy skateboarding in the hotel lobby. And when I say "skateboarding," I mean going very slowly, back and forth across the lobby, crouched down on the board, and steadying a maybe one-year-old girl also standing on the board. Even at that very slow speed, I wondered that hotel management would allow skateboarding in the lobby.

After watching for a minute or so, it occurred to me that the guy looked vaguely familiar. And then it occurred to me that maybe it was Tony Hawk. Mind you, I don't basically don't follow skateboarding at all, but I would have seen his face a few times before, mainly from his video game series. I later checked and confirmed that a) yes, he was in Toronto at that time for an event, and b) he had a daughter of that age.

So if you're Tony Hawk you can get away with skateboarding in a hotel lobby. At least slowly and with an adorable toddler.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:36 PM on September 23, 2018

I am only a year older than Tony Hawk and I can't skateboard to save my life. I feel like I've wasted my 51 years.
posted by hanov3r at 3:30 PM on September 24, 2018

One time I was at a bowling convention I walked past someone and thought to myself, "huh, that guy looks just like Amleto Monacelli."
posted by slogger at 8:58 AM on September 25, 2018