What Passover Means to Me (Guest Article by Tony Hawk)

Tony Hawk wearing a kippah and smiling

Suh dudes, Tony Hawk (™) here. Know whoā€™s ready for a cowabunga Passover? Me, thatā€™s who. And you should be too.

I may not be Jewish, but at the 2006 XGames I won perfect scores after I unveiled my newest signature trick: the Passover.

It was a decision I made after visiting the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, where my guides, for some reason, kept reminding me that I (under absolutely no circumstances) would be allowed to grind or do any tricks on the stone blocks ā ā€” even though thatā€™s totally not something I would ever do. Who did they think I was? Ryan Lochte? I may be sick, but Iā€™m not that kind of sick. Still, the urge to skate and to respect all those we lost during this horrific period in history welled up in me, and I knew I had to act.

The trick involves ten different moves, each symbolizing one of the ten plagues God unleashed on those bogus Egyptians. Blood pouring from my eyes, leaping like a frog, checking myself for lice, unleashing millions of flies into the stadium, sacrificing a sheep, boiling a pot of water, throwing ice cubes, flapping my exoskeletal wings, turning off the buildingā€™s power, and killing someone in the audienceā€™s oldest child with the second, smaller skateboard I always keep concealed in my skin flap all take place while Iā€™m flying 60 miles per hour through the air.

But Passover isnā€™t just some skateboarding trick: itā€™s a celebration of heritage, unleavened bread, and miracles. Speaking of miracles, itā€™s a miracle that Tony Hawk Pro Skater 16 is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Preorders start April 20th.

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