The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself

by Rodney Mullen, Sean Mortimer

Overview

The world–champion freestyle skateboarder and the man who brought the ollie – the trick that revolutionised the sport by taking it from the ground to the air – to street skating shares the history of skateboarding, as he tells the dramatic story of his life.

At the age of 13, Rodney took the freestyle skating world by storm. He won 35 world titles in less than five years. But through it all, his father looked down on his son's love for skating and pressured him to walk away from the sport and leave behind his fans and status as the most famous skateboarder of his era. After years of stress and conflict, Rodney gave in and promised his father he'd quit for good. But by the time he finally broke free from his suffocating and abusive home life, the popularity of freestyle had waned and given way to vert and street styles. So Rodney picked up his board and started from scratch. With the help of mentor Mike Ternansky, Rodney used his freestyle background to usher in a whole new era of street skating.

Today Rodney is more popular than ever. The videos in his series Rodney Versus Daewon are among the most popular skateboard videos ever produced. He won the 2002 Transworld Skateboarding readers' choice award for favourite street skater and is the most popular character on the top–selling Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060556198
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/02/2005
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	194,069
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Rodney Mullen is a former freestyle world champion with the best contest record in professional skating. He’s credited with laying the foundation for street skating and was voted the 2002 Skater of the Year. And he hates horses. He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife.

Sean Mortimer was the editor of Skate — boarder magazine and coauthored Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder with Tony Hawk. He lives in Oceanside, California, with his wife and son.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	Living Nowhere	5
Chapter 2	Nurturing A Near	11
Chapter 3	Skateboards and Weed	23
Chapter 4	The Beginning of the End	32
Chapter 5	Running Away from Contests	40
Chapter 6	With A Little Help from My Friends	50
Chapter 7	The Karate Kid Sehool of Skating	60
Chapter 8	Winning Bot Really Losing	64
Chapter 9	Turning Pro	78
Chapter 10	Stay of Execution	95
Chapter 11	Rat on a Skate Board	106
Chapter 12	Storm Warning	114
Chapter 13	Skin and Bones	122
Chapter 14	First-Time Loser	127
Chapter 15	Watching the Decay	136
Chapter 16	"Real Life" and the University of Florida	142
Chapter 17	The Great Escape	154
Chapter 18	A New Company	167
Chapter 19	Loan Sharks and Skateboard War	178
Chapter 20	Jumping off Fjords	188
Chapter 21	Hickeys and Homecomings	196
Chapter 22	The Most Ill-Equipped Businessman	206
Chapter 23	Terminal Diagnosis	215
Chapter 24	Starting Over	228
Chapter 25	Nerd Love and Devilman	237
Chapter 26	Phone Call to My Father	244
Chapter 27	Doomsday	251
Chapter 28	Enjoi!	262
Chapter 29	Almost	268
	Photography Credits	274