0:00:00.208,0:00:05.346
(Music)

0:00:20.346,0:00:25.731
(Music)

0:00:59.917,0:01:02.649
(Music ends)

0:01:06.980,0:01:12.633
(Applause)

0:01:12.657,0:01:14.599
So, that's what I've done with my life.

0:01:14.623,0:01:16.081
(Laughter)

0:01:16.105,0:01:18.713
(Applause)

0:01:18.737,0:01:19.890
Thank you.

0:01:19.914,0:01:24.112
(Applause)

0:01:25.312,0:01:27.809
As a kid, I grew up on a farm in Florida,

0:01:27.833,0:01:29.764
and I did what most little kids do.

0:01:29.788,0:01:33.500
I played a little baseball,[br]did a few other things like that,

0:01:33.524,0:01:35.810
but I always had the sense[br]of being an outsider,

0:01:35.834,0:01:38.675
and it wasn't until I saw[br]pictures in the magazines

0:01:38.699,0:01:40.952
that a couple other guys skate, I thought,

0:01:40.976,0:01:42.496
"Wow, that's for me," you know?

0:01:42.520,0:01:45.120
Because there was no coach[br]standing directly over you,

0:01:45.144,0:01:47.400
and these guys,[br]they were just being themselves.

0:01:47.424,0:01:49.646
There was no opponent[br]directly across from you.

0:01:49.670,0:01:52.938
And I loved that sense,[br]so I started skating

0:01:52.962,0:01:56.211
when I was about 10 years old, in 1977,

0:01:56.235,0:01:59.356
and when I did,[br]I picked it up pretty quickly.

0:01:59.380,0:02:02.909
In fact, here's some footage[br]from about 1984.

0:02:02.933,0:02:08.052
It wasn't until 79[br]I won my first amateur championship,

0:02:08.076,0:02:12.853
and then, by 81, I was 14,[br]and I won my first world championship,

0:02:14.222,0:02:16.390
which was amazing to me,

0:02:16.414,0:02:19.479
and in a very real sense,[br]that was the first real victory I had.

0:02:19.503,0:02:20.668
Oh, watch this.

0:02:20.692,0:02:23.227
This is a Casper slide,[br]where the board's upside down.

0:02:23.251,0:02:24.839
Mental note on that one.

0:02:24.863,0:02:26.323
(Laughter)

0:02:26.347,0:02:27.827
And this one here?

0:02:27.851,0:02:29.639
An ollie.

0:02:30.700,0:02:34.875
So, as she mentioned,[br]that is overstated for sure,

0:02:34.899,0:02:38.763
but that's why they called me[br]the godfather of modern street skating.

0:02:39.197,0:02:41.118
Here's some images of that.

0:02:46.041,0:02:49.048
Now, I was about halfway[br]through my pro career

0:02:49.072,0:02:52.415
in, I would say, the mid-'80s.

0:02:52.439,0:02:56.171
Freestyle itself -- we developed[br]all these flat ground tricks, as you saw,

0:02:56.195,0:02:59.454
but there was evolving[br]a new kind of skateboarding,

0:02:59.478,0:03:04.298
where guys were taking it to the streets,[br]and they were using that ollie,

0:03:04.322,0:03:05.706
like I showed you.

0:03:05.730,0:03:09.053
They were using it to get up[br]onto stuff like bleachers and handrails

0:03:09.077,0:03:11.881
and over stairwells[br]and all kinds of cool stuff.

0:03:11.905,0:03:14.154
So it was evolving upwards.

0:03:14.178,0:03:16.886
In fact, when someone tells you[br]they're a skater today,

0:03:16.910,0:03:18.881
they pretty much mean a street skater,

0:03:18.905,0:03:22.191
because freestyle, it took about[br]five years for it to die,

0:03:22.215,0:03:28.270
and at that stage, I'd been a "champion"[br]champion for 11 years, which --

0:03:28.294,0:03:29.736
Phew!

0:03:29.760,0:03:33.309
And suddenly, it was over for me,[br]that's it -- it was gone.

0:03:33.333,0:03:35.797
They took my pro model off the shelf,

0:03:35.821,0:03:38.633
which was essentially[br]pronouncing you dead, publicly.

0:03:38.657,0:03:40.620
That's how you make your money, you know?

0:03:40.644,0:03:43.940
You have a signature board[br]and wheels and shoes and clothes.

0:03:43.964,0:03:45.995
I had all that stuff, and it's gone.

0:03:47.051,0:03:50.464
The crazy thing was, there was[br]a really liberating sense about it,

0:03:50.488,0:03:55.074
because I no longer had to protect[br]my record as a champion.

0:03:55.098,0:03:56.278
"Champion," again.

0:03:56.302,0:03:58.853
Champion sounds so goofy,[br]but it's what it was, right?

0:03:58.877,0:04:02.479
What drew me to[br]skateboarding, the freedom,

0:04:02.503,0:04:05.054
was now restored,[br]where I could just create things,

0:04:05.078,0:04:07.930
because that's where the joy[br]was for me, always,

0:04:07.954,0:04:10.124
was creating new stuff.

0:04:10.148,0:04:13.679
The other thing that I had[br]was a deep well of tricks to draw from

0:04:13.703,0:04:15.932
that were rooted[br]in these flat ground tricks.

0:04:15.956,0:04:18.954
Stuff the normal guys were doing[br]was very much different.

0:04:18.978,0:04:20.808
So, as humbling and rotten as it was —

0:04:20.832,0:04:22.540
And believe me, it was rotten.

0:04:22.564,0:04:26.902
I would go to skate spots,[br]and I was already "famous guy," right?

0:04:26.926,0:04:28.738
And everyone thought I was good,

0:04:28.762,0:04:31.056
but in this new terrain, I was horrible.

0:04:31.080,0:04:34.897
So people would go,[br]"Oh, what happened to Mullen?"

0:04:35.382,0:04:37.221
(Laughter)

0:04:37.245,0:04:39.885
So, humbling as it was, I began again.

0:04:39.909,0:04:44.356
Here are some tricks that I started[br]to bring to that new terrain.

0:04:44.380,0:04:48.989
And again, there's this undergirding[br]layer of influence of freestyle --

0:04:49.013,0:04:50.779
Oh, that one?

0:04:50.803,0:04:53.587
That's, like, the hardest[br]thing I've ever done.

0:04:54.376,0:04:56.087
OK, look at that, it's a Darkslide.

0:04:56.111,0:04:57.951
See how it's sliding on the backside?

0:04:59.332,0:05:02.176
Those are super fun,[br]and, actually, not that hard.

0:05:02.200,0:05:04.792
You know, at the very root[br]of that, see, Caspers,

0:05:04.816,0:05:06.385
see how you throw it?

0:05:07.512,0:05:09.991
Simple as that, right? No biggie.

0:05:10.015,0:05:13.483
And your front foot,[br]the way it grabs it --

0:05:14.761,0:05:17.528
I'd seen someone slide[br]on the back of the board like that,

0:05:17.552,0:05:19.474
and I was like, "How can I get it over?"

0:05:19.498,0:05:21.204
Because that had not yet been done.

0:05:21.228,0:05:24.111
And then it dawned on me,[br]and here's part of what I'm saying.

0:05:24.135,0:05:26.328
I had an infrastructure.[br]I had this deep layer,

0:05:26.352,0:05:28.780
where it was like, oh my gosh,[br]it's just your foot.

0:05:28.804,0:05:30.876
It's just the way[br]you throw your board over.

0:05:30.900,0:05:33.160
Just let the ledge do that, and it's easy,

0:05:33.184,0:05:35.584
and the next thing you know,[br]there's 20 more tricks

0:05:35.608,0:05:37.096
based out of the variations.

0:05:37.120,0:05:39.753
So that's the kind of thing --[br]here, check this out,

0:05:39.777,0:05:41.838
here's another way,[br]and I won't overdo this.

0:05:41.862,0:05:43.516
A little indulgent, I understand.

0:05:43.540,0:05:45.552
There's something called a Primo slide.

0:05:47.642,0:05:50.168
It is the funnest trick ever to do.

0:05:53.528,0:05:54.845
It's like skimboarding.

0:05:56.052,0:05:58.961
And this one, look how it slides[br]sideways, every which way?

0:05:58.985,0:06:01.813
OK, so when you're skating,[br]and you take a fall,

0:06:01.837,0:06:04.914
the board slips that way or that way;[br]it's kind of predictable.

0:06:04.938,0:06:07.982
This? It goes every which way --[br]it's like a cartoon, the falls,

0:06:08.006,0:06:10.094
and that's what I love the most about it.

0:06:10.118,0:06:11.744
It's so much fun to do.

0:06:11.768,0:06:15.029
In fact, when I started doing them,[br]I remember, because I got hurt.

0:06:15.053,0:06:16.840
I had to get a knee surgery, right?

0:06:16.864,0:06:21.107
So there were a couple of weeks[br]where I couldn't skate at all.

0:06:21.131,0:06:24.017
It would give out on me,[br]and I would watch the guys,

0:06:24.041,0:06:26.950
I'd go to this warehouse[br]where a lot of the guys were skating,

0:06:26.974,0:06:28.294
my friends, and I was like,

0:06:28.318,0:06:31.062
"I've got to do something new,[br]I want to do something new.

0:06:31.086,0:06:32.261
I want to start fresh."

0:06:32.285,0:06:35.307
And so the night before my surgery,[br]I'd watched, and I was like,

0:06:35.331,0:06:36.679
"How am I going to do this?"

0:06:36.703,0:06:38.533
So I ran up, and I jumped on my board,

0:06:38.557,0:06:40.505
and I Cavemanned, and I flipped it down,

0:06:40.529,0:06:43.424
and I remember thinking,[br]I landed so light-footed, thinking,

0:06:43.448,0:06:46.624
if my knee gives, they'll just have[br]more work to do in the morning.

0:06:46.648,0:06:47.819
(Laughter)

0:06:47.843,0:06:49.893
And so, when it was the crazy thing.

0:06:49.917,0:06:52.633
I don't know how many[br]of you guys have had surgery, but --

0:06:52.657,0:06:54.096
(Laughter)

0:06:54.120,0:06:55.412
you are so helpless, right?

0:06:55.436,0:06:58.262
You're on this gurney[br]and you're watching the ceiling go by,

0:06:58.286,0:06:59.667
every time, it's always that,

0:06:59.691,0:07:03.029
and right when they're putting[br]the mask on you before you go to sleep,

0:07:03.053,0:07:06.227
all I was thinking is,[br]"Man, when I wake up and I get better,

0:07:06.251,0:07:08.736
the first thing I'm going to do[br]is film that trick."

0:07:09.141,0:07:13.558
And indeed I did, it was the very first[br]thing I filmed, which was awesome.

0:07:14.084,0:07:17.980
I told you a little bit[br]about the evolution of the tricks.

0:07:18.004,0:07:19.845
Consider that content, in a sense.

0:07:20.234,0:07:24.081
What we do as street skaters is,[br]you have these tricks --

0:07:24.105,0:07:26.123
Say I'm working on Darkslides, or a Primo,

0:07:26.147,0:07:28.030
that you guys know this stuff now.

0:07:28.054,0:07:29.820
(Laughter)

0:07:29.844,0:07:32.178
What you do is, you cruise[br]around the same streets

0:07:32.202,0:07:33.989
that you've seen a hundred times,

0:07:34.013,0:07:36.782
but suddenly, because[br]you already have something

0:07:36.806,0:07:42.027
in this fixed domain of this target,[br]it's like, what will match this trick?

0:07:42.051,0:07:45.067
How can I expand, how can the context,

0:07:45.091,0:07:48.144
how can the environment change[br]the very nature of what I do?

0:07:48.168,0:07:51.992
So you drive and drive and drive,[br]and, actually I've got to admit,

0:07:52.016,0:07:54.740
just because I was struggling[br]with this because I'm here,

0:07:54.764,0:07:57.249
but I'll just say it,[br]is, I cannot tell you,

0:07:57.273,0:07:59.018
not only to be here in front of you,

0:07:59.042,0:08:01.568
but what a privilege it is[br]to be at US campus,

0:08:01.592,0:08:05.628
because I have been escorted off[br]of this campus so many times.

0:08:05.652,0:08:08.429
(Laughter)

0:08:08.453,0:08:10.459
(Applause)

0:08:10.483,0:08:16.313
So let me give you another example[br]of how context shapes content.

0:08:16.337,0:08:19.642
This is a place not that far from here,[br]It's a rotten neighborhood.

0:08:19.666,0:08:22.238
Your first consideration is,[br]am I going to get beat up?

0:08:22.262,0:08:24.715
You go out and -- See this wall?

0:08:24.739,0:08:30.600
It's fairly mellow, and it's beckoning[br]to do bank tricks, right?

0:08:30.624,0:08:33.344
But there's this other aspect[br]of it for wheelies,

0:08:33.368,0:08:34.658
so check this out.

0:08:35.348,0:08:36.858
There's a few tricks, again,

0:08:36.882,0:08:39.283
how environment changes[br]the nature of your tricks.

0:08:39.307,0:08:42.009
Freestyle oriented,[br]manual down -- wheelie down.

0:08:42.504,0:08:45.578
Watch, this one? Oh, I love this,[br]it's like surfing, this one,

0:08:45.602,0:08:47.156
the way you catch it.

0:08:47.180,0:08:50.330
This one, a little sketchy[br]going backwards,

0:08:50.354,0:08:51.541
and watch the back foot.

0:08:53.116,0:08:54.267
Oops --

0:08:54.291,0:08:55.704
(Laughter)

0:08:55.728,0:08:57.228
Mental note right there.

0:08:57.252,0:08:58.850
Again, we'll get back to that.

0:08:58.874,0:09:00.025
(Laughter)

0:09:00.049,0:09:01.485
Here, back foot, back foot.

0:09:02.438,0:09:03.611
OK, up there?

0:09:03.635,0:09:04.944
That was called a 360 flip.

0:09:04.968,0:09:07.701
Notice how the board flipped[br]and spun this way, both axes.

0:09:09.494,0:09:14.029
And another example[br]of how the context changed,

0:09:14.053,0:09:18.047
and the creative process[br]for me and for most skaters,

0:09:18.071,0:09:21.293
is, you go, you get out of the car,[br]you check for security,

0:09:21.317,0:09:22.474
you check for stuff.

0:09:22.498,0:09:23.693
(Laughter)

0:09:23.717,0:09:26.188
It's funny, you get to know[br]their rhythms, you know,

0:09:26.212,0:09:27.835
the guys that cruise around --

0:09:27.859,0:09:29.229
(Laughter)

0:09:29.253,0:09:31.348
Skateboarding is such[br]a humbling thing, man.

0:09:31.372,0:09:34.272
No matter how good you are,[br]you've still got to deal with --

0:09:34.296,0:09:36.327
So you hit this wall, and when I hit it,

0:09:36.351,0:09:38.619
the first thing you do[br]is you fall forward,

0:09:38.643,0:09:40.333
and I'm like, all right, all right.

0:09:40.357,0:09:41.507
As you adjust ...

0:09:43.105,0:09:45.440
you punch it up,[br]and then when I would do that,

0:09:45.464,0:09:47.446
it was throwing my shoulder this way ...

0:09:48.067,0:09:52.925
which as I was doing it, I was like,[br]"Oh wow, that's begging for a 360 flip,"

0:09:52.949,0:09:55.602
because that's how[br]you load up for a 360 flip.

0:09:55.928,0:09:59.608
And so this is what I want[br]to emphasize that, as you can imagine,

0:09:59.632,0:10:03.210
all of these tricks are made[br]of submovements,

0:10:03.234,0:10:04.552
executive motor functions,

0:10:04.576,0:10:07.614
more granular to the degree[br]to which I can't quite tell you,

0:10:07.638,0:10:08.994
but one thing I do know is,

0:10:09.018,0:10:12.986
every trick is made of combining two[br]or three or four or five movements.

0:10:13.010,0:10:16.275
And so, as I'm going up,[br]these things are floating around,

0:10:16.299,0:10:19.034
and you have to sort of[br]let the cognitive mind rest back,

0:10:19.058,0:10:20.324
pull it back a little bit,

0:10:20.348,0:10:22.779
and let your intuition go[br]as you feel these things.

0:10:22.803,0:10:25.310
And these submovements[br]are kind of floating around,

0:10:25.334,0:10:28.298
and as the wall hits you,[br]they connect themselves to an extent,

0:10:28.322,0:10:31.897
and that's when the cognitive mind:[br]"Oh, 360 flip, I'm going to make that."

0:10:31.921,0:10:34.426
So that's how that works[br]to me, the creative process,

0:10:34.450,0:10:36.338
the process itself, of street skating.

0:10:36.362,0:10:37.737
So, next -- Oh, mind you ...

0:10:37.761,0:10:38.827
(Laughter)

0:10:38.851,0:10:40.015
Those are the community.

0:10:40.039,0:10:42.688
These are some of the best[br]skaters in the world.

0:10:42.712,0:10:45.835
These are my friends --[br]oh my gosh, they're such good people.

0:10:46.307,0:10:48.815
And the beauty of skateboarding is that,

0:10:48.839,0:10:50.803
no one guy is the best.

0:10:50.827,0:10:54.199
In fact, I know this is rotten to say,[br]they're my friends,

0:10:54.223,0:10:57.699
but a couple of them actually don't look[br]that comfortable on their board.

0:10:57.723,0:11:02.739
What makes them great is the degree[br]to which they use their skateboarding

0:11:02.763,0:11:04.022
to individuate themselves.

0:11:04.046,0:11:06.369
Every single one of these guys,[br]you look at them,

0:11:06.393,0:11:08.807
you can see a silhouette[br]of them, and you realize,

0:11:08.831,0:11:11.120
"Oh, that's him,[br]that's Haslam, that's Koston,

0:11:11.144,0:11:13.695
there's these guys, these are the guys."

0:11:14.323,0:11:18.377
And skaters, I think[br]they tend to be outsiders

0:11:18.401,0:11:21.742
who seek a sense of belonging,

0:11:21.766,0:11:23.816
but belonging on their own terms.

0:11:24.704,0:11:29.347
And real respect is given[br]by how much we take what other guys do,

0:11:29.371,0:11:34.267
these basic tricks, 360 flips,[br]we take that, we make it our own,

0:11:34.291,0:11:36.577
and then we contribute[br]back to the community

0:11:36.601,0:11:39.227
the inner way that edifies[br]the community itself.

0:11:39.885,0:11:42.095
The greater the contribution,

0:11:42.119,0:11:45.198
the more we express[br]and form our individuality,

0:11:46.372,0:11:50.237
which is so important to a lot of us[br]who feel like rejects to begin with.

0:11:50.699,0:11:52.501
The summation of that

0:11:53.281,0:11:56.366
gives us something we could never[br]achieve as an individual.

0:11:57.784,0:11:58.951
I should say this.

0:11:58.975,0:12:00.849
There's some sort of beautiful symmetry

0:12:00.873,0:12:03.680
that the degree to which[br]we connect to a community

0:12:03.704,0:12:06.325
is in proportion to our individuality,

0:12:06.349,0:12:08.426
which we are expressing by what we do.

0:12:09.322,0:12:10.478
Next,

0:12:10.502,0:12:14.900
these guys, very similar community[br]that's extremely conducive to innovation.

0:12:14.924,0:12:16.110
(Laughter)

0:12:16.134,0:12:19.287
Notice a couple of these shots[br]from the police department.

0:12:19.707,0:12:22.481
But it is quite similar,[br]I mean, what is it to hack, right?

0:12:22.505,0:12:25.789
It's knowing a technology so well[br]that you can manipulate it

0:12:25.813,0:12:30.172
and steer it to do things[br]it was never intended to do, right?

0:12:30.196,0:12:31.531
And they're not all bad.

0:12:31.555,0:12:35.625
You can be a Linux kernel hacker,[br]make it more stable, right?

0:12:35.649,0:12:36.887
More safe, more secure.

0:12:36.911,0:12:38.841
You can be an iOS hacker,

0:12:38.865,0:12:41.789
make your iPhone do stuff[br]it wasn't supposed to.

0:12:42.159,0:12:44.550
Not authorized, but not illegal.

0:12:44.574,0:12:46.919
And then, you've got[br]some of these guys, right?

0:12:46.943,0:12:49.485
What they do is very similar[br]to our creative process.

0:12:49.509,0:12:52.205
They connect disparate information,

0:12:52.625,0:12:58.096
and they bring it together in a way[br]that a security analyst doesn't expect.

0:12:58.672,0:13:00.362
It doesn't make them good people,

0:13:00.786,0:13:03.078
but it's at the heart of engineering,

0:13:03.102,0:13:07.632
at the heart of a creative community,[br]an innovative community,

0:13:07.656,0:13:10.521
and the open source community,[br]the basic ethos of it

0:13:10.545,0:13:14.053
is, take what other people do,[br]make it better,

0:13:14.077,0:13:16.241
give it back so we all rise further.

0:13:16.265,0:13:18.654
Very similar communities, very similar.

0:13:18.678,0:13:20.669
We have our edgier sides, too.

0:13:20.693,0:13:21.898
(Laughter)

0:13:21.922,0:13:23.385
It's funny, my dad was right.

0:13:23.409,0:13:24.789
These are my peers.

0:13:25.908,0:13:28.492
But I respect what they do,[br]and they respect what I do,

0:13:28.516,0:13:31.265
because they can do things,[br]it's amazing what they can do.

0:13:31.289,0:13:32.921
In fact, one of them,

0:13:32.945,0:13:37.144
he was Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur[br]of the Year for San Diego County,

0:13:37.168,0:13:40.228
so they're not -- you never know[br]who you're dealing with.

0:13:40.252,0:13:43.734
We've all had some degree of fame.

0:13:43.758,0:13:48.802
In fact, I've had so much success[br]that I strangely always feel unworthy of.

0:13:48.826,0:13:51.785
I've had a patent, and that was cool,[br]and we started a company,

0:13:51.809,0:13:53.931
and it grew, and it became the biggest,

0:13:53.955,0:13:56.840
and then it went down,[br]and then it became the biggest again,

0:13:56.864,0:13:59.535
which is harder than the first time,[br]and then we sold it,

0:13:59.559,0:14:01.080
and then we sold it again.

0:14:01.104,0:14:03.064
So I've had some success.

0:14:03.190,0:14:05.667
And in the end, when you've had[br]all of these things,

0:14:05.691,0:14:07.555
what is it that continues to drive you?

0:14:07.579,0:14:09.864
As I mentioned, the knee stuff[br]and these things,

0:14:09.888,0:14:11.454
what is it that will punch you?

0:14:11.478,0:14:13.299
Because it's not just the mind.

0:14:13.323,0:14:16.168
What is it that will punch you[br]and make you do something

0:14:16.192,0:14:19.210
and bring it to another level,[br]and when you've had it all,

0:14:19.234,0:14:22.879
sometimes, guys, they die on the vine[br]with all of that talent,

0:14:23.492,0:14:26.160
and one of the things[br]we've had, all of us, is fame --

0:14:26.184,0:14:28.994
I think the best kind of fame,[br]because you can take it off.

0:14:29.018,0:14:31.064
I've been all around the world,

0:14:31.088,0:14:33.708
and there will be a thousand kids[br]crying out your name,

0:14:33.732,0:14:35.780
and it's such a weird,[br]visceral experience.

0:14:35.804,0:14:37.411
It's like, it's disorienting.

0:14:37.435,0:14:39.513
And you get in a car, and you drive away,

0:14:39.537,0:14:42.407
and 10-minute drive, and you get out,

0:14:42.431,0:14:44.242
and no one gives a rat's who you are.

0:14:44.266,0:14:45.632
(Laughter)

0:14:45.656,0:14:48.937
And it gives you that clarity[br]of perspective of, man, I'm just me,

0:14:48.961,0:14:51.671
and popularity, what does that[br]really mean again?

0:14:51.695,0:14:53.116
Not much.

0:14:53.140,0:14:55.299
It's peer respect that drives us.

0:14:55.323,0:14:57.644
That's the one thing[br]that makes us do what we do.

0:14:57.668,0:15:01.749
I've had over a dozen bones,[br]this guy, over, eight, 10 concussions,

0:15:01.773,0:15:04.293
to the point where it's comedy, right?

0:15:04.317,0:15:07.048
It is actually comedy, they mess with him.

0:15:07.072,0:15:08.500
(Laughter)

0:15:08.650,0:15:09.821
Next,

0:15:09.845,0:15:12.417
and this is something deeper.

0:15:14.250,0:15:17.762
I think I was on tour when I was reading[br]one of the Feynman biographies.

0:15:17.786,0:15:19.809
It was the red one or the blue one.

0:15:19.833,0:15:23.515
And he made this statement[br]that was so profound to me.

0:15:27.101,0:15:31.190
It was that the Nobel Prize[br]was the tombstone on all great work,

0:15:32.086,0:15:35.921
and it resonated because[br]I had won 35 out of 36 contests

0:15:35.945,0:15:39.286
that I'd entered over 11 years,[br]and it made me bananas.

0:15:39.310,0:15:41.556
In fact, winning[br]isn't the word, I won it once.

0:15:41.580,0:15:43.632
The rest of the time,[br]you're just defending,

0:15:43.656,0:15:46.231
and you get into this,[br]turtle posture, you know?

0:15:46.255,0:15:49.365
Where you're not doing --[br]it usurped the joy of what I loved to do

0:15:49.389,0:15:52.541
because I was no longer doing it[br]to create and have fun,

0:15:52.565,0:15:54.276
and when it died out from under me,

0:15:54.300,0:15:56.356
that was one of the most[br]liberating things,

0:15:56.380,0:15:57.966
because I could create.

0:15:57.990,0:16:02.685
And look, I understand that[br]I am on the very edge of preachy, here.

0:16:02.709,0:16:03.873
I'm not here to do that.

0:16:03.897,0:16:06.639
It's just that I'm in front[br]of a very privileged audience.

0:16:06.663,0:16:09.543
If you guys aren't already[br]leaders in your community,

0:16:09.567,0:16:12.635
you probably will be,[br]and if there's anything I can give you

0:16:12.659,0:16:15.839
that will transcend what I've gotten[br]from skateboarding,

0:16:15.863,0:16:18.885
the only things of meaning,[br]I think, and of permanence,

0:16:18.909,0:16:20.967
it's not fame, it's not all these things.

0:16:20.991,0:16:24.902
What it is, is that there's[br]an intrinsic value in creating something

0:16:24.926,0:16:26.719
for the sake of creating it,

0:16:26.743,0:16:30.914
and better than that,[br]because I'm 46 years old, or I'll be 46,

0:16:30.938,0:16:34.564
and how pathetic is that[br]I'm still skateboarding, but there is --

0:16:34.588,0:16:40.411
there is this beauty in dropping it[br]into a community of your own making,

0:16:40.727,0:16:44.014
and seeing it dispersed,[br]and seeing younger, more talented,

0:16:44.038,0:16:47.279
just different talent, take it to levels[br]you can never imagine,

0:16:47.303,0:16:48.967
because that lives on.

0:16:48.991,0:16:50.693
So thank you for your time.

0:16:50.717,0:16:57.717
(Applause)

0:17:00.616,0:17:02.838
Kristina Holly: I have a question for you.

0:17:02.862,0:17:06.610
(Applause)

0:17:06.634,0:17:10.531
So you've really reinvented yourself[br]in the past, from freestyle to street,

0:17:10.555,0:17:13.840
and, I think it was about four years ago[br]you officially retired.

0:17:13.864,0:17:16.191
Is that it? What's next?

0:17:17.150,0:17:20.879
Rodney Mullen: That's a good question.[br]KG: Something tells me it's not the end.

0:17:20.903,0:17:24.687
RM: Yeah. Every time you think[br]you've chased something down,

0:17:24.711,0:17:27.848
it's funny, no matter how good you are,[br]and I know guys like this,

0:17:27.872,0:17:30.238
it feels like you're polishing[br]a turd, you know?

0:17:30.262,0:17:33.468
(Laughter)

0:17:33.581,0:17:36.028
And I thought, the only way[br]I can extend this

0:17:36.052,0:17:38.083
is to change something infrastructural.

0:17:38.880,0:17:42.118
And so that's what I proceeded to do,[br]through a long story,

0:17:42.142,0:17:46.403
one of desperation, so if I do it,[br]rather than talk about it,

0:17:46.427,0:17:48.370
if I do it, you'll be the first to know.

0:17:48.394,0:17:51.396
KG: All right, we won't ask you any more.[br]RM: You'll get a text.

0:17:51.420,0:17:54.395
KG: Right, thank you, good job.[br]RM: Thank you. Thank you.

0:17:54.419,0:17:59.107
(Applause)