I'm watching this now, and yeah, Brink should not have lied, but his family needed some financial support, and for him to step up like he did to make money to help shows a lot of character on his part. His friends were selfish, and didn't care at all Brink's families needs. He even stated it would only be for a little while until his dad could get his job back. Brink's friends are d-bags.
shareEven when I was a kid and couldn't quite put all the pieces together that entire sponsorship debacle felt off.
shareWhat I don't get is the assumption that you're a sellout if you make money doing what you enjoy for other peoples viewing pleasure.
shareWhat I don't get is the assumption that you're a sellout if you make money doing what you enjoy for other peoples viewing pleasure.This. 100% this. share
What I don't get is the assumption that you're a sellout if you make money doing what you enjoy for other peoples viewing pleasure.This. 100% this. share
LOL all this stuff is so true! Never crossed my mind when I was a kid though
shareEven when Brink confessed to his dad that he enjoyed the attention and there was chance he may not have stopped skating for the team, he could have still used they money to help towards his college fund, and to teach himself a strong work ethic. It could have lead to great opportunities to become a pro athlete, and even use his future fame to teach kids about skating. Sponsorship brings a lot more than just money. I get the idea of "soul skating" but as was the original intention, nothing wrong with making money to help your family out, especially if you don't know if the bread winner will get back to work anytime soon. I've never seen a group of more horrible friends in my life.
shareI agree. His so-called friends treated him like he was Val when he is sure as hell nothing like him.
share"But my family really needed the money."
"We all need the money"
For some reason that stupid quote stuck with me as the dumbest lecture about having a job.
I guess I'm the only one that agrees with his friends. It wasn't that they were opposed to making money and saving for their family/future. The problem that Brink's friends had was that Val and his group were jerks. They were bullies. They did not want anything to do with people like that.
If Val and his friends were nice(er) then IMO Brink's friends would've been disappointed that he wasn't skating with them anymore, but would've understood and supported him.
Also remember that these kids are in high school. I feel like many of you commenting now are probably well out of high school but remember what high school and bullying were like.
I bet you're wondering what a place like this is doing in a girl like me-The Mummy
A key point in one of the speeches was that he's taking money to skate. I remember bullies in high school and if I had a friend who decided to hang out with them I'd be mad too, but I wouldn't begrudge him if they were simply co-workers. Currently I work with a lot of asshats because in the job market, we tend to not get a say in who we work with. It was the same with the jobs I had in High School except I didn't get to have any fun like Brink since I only qualified to serve food. That's what makes his friends dicks.
shareI agree! I always thought they weren't very supportive friends. It kinda reminds me of HSM 2, when Troy's missing out w/ his friends because he's trying to earn a scholarship for college.
"Soul Skater" is a good theory in thought, but people should be able to skate for fun, for money, for whatever makes them happy. Bethany Hamilton is a "Soul Surfer", but she still makes tons of money! Lol!
I think what his friends had the problem with was Brink's constant lying. If he had just been open with him from the beginning that he was going to be working with Val for 2 weeks, then they wouldn't have had as big of a problem, but the fact that day after day they waited for him at the skate course, and he never informed them, obviously they would be angry.
Besides all that, keep in mind that these are high schoolers. I'm not proud to admit it, but I wouldn't have behaved any differently. School at that age is all about cliques and if your friend is talking with your enemy, is he really your friend?