My partner in NJSkateshop, Steve Lenardo, has a pretty spot-on theory about the state of skateboarding -- it's turning into professional wrestling. One can't help but see the correlation when everyone has a silly fictional nickname and you have grown men video-rap-beefing on the Internet. And of course there is the constant rumor mill. Recently the Maloof Money Cup scaled back its annual event held at the Magic Trade Show and scrapped its Southern California contest due to delays in the Huntington Beach Skatepark. In true wrestling fashion, a rumor quickly spread that the Maloof's were done and pulling out of skateboarding -- it was like Triple H started telling everyone The Undertaker was dead.

I get more bogus information coming across my office desk then one can believe (yes, I have an office and a desk) but this tidbit really caught my attention. If true I was going to be really bummed because the MMC is the only contest series currently committed to building permanent skateparks in the places they hold their events. I decided to call Tim McFerran and ask him if Hulk Hogan is, in fact, bald under his do-rag. Turns out the Maloofs are still committed to skateboarding and have chosen to take a page from David Stern's playbook, who has grown the NBA into a global phenomenon since he took over as commissioner in 1984.

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