It's time for Dirtycracker to express his opinions this week on the soapbox and here they are for you the masses to read.

After all the debate of legitness, drama on the forums, and etc. I thought about what wakeskating was really about. Wakeskating is not about what is happening on the forums, although I would have to say many conversations on the boat have stemmed from Wakeskating.com or other blogs. It’s a good way to meet fellow shredders and a awesome way to nag on each other. Posting videos and pictures to share the stoke. Wakeskating is more then the clothes we wear or the boards we ride. Wakeskating is not a sport to a lot of us and is not a job to even more.

Wakeskating is that time that we get to spend with ourselves on the cable or behind the boat with our friends. Wakeskating is a flowing art from each and everyone of us. Our body flicks and kicks the board in ways that just seem impossible to the spectator. We work long hours and sweat countless drops to fuel our passion. Every single one of us dreams of finding a way to wakeskate 7 days a week and never work. When you're on the water in the middle of passing the handle on a backside 180 there is only one thing on your mind and that’s catching the handle to ride away, no worries, no drama and no blogs.

There are so many people that will never experience this feeling and I bet that many of you reading this probably don’t feel this way. The future stars of wakeskating will hopefully exemplify some these traits and know what it's like to scrap for change to fill the winch up. All the debate about sponsorships and who deserves it just clouds the purpose of wakeskating. Once the riding is at certain level the sponsors will come. My friend asked me where he should take his skating next after becoming consistent with all the spin tricks. He joked about starting flip tricks and I laughed. I told him to just let it come, to work on lip tricks.
On a side note, The burnings must continue till morale improves. So keep on with the bashing and keep on with the hammers. The summer is still young but the fall is creeping up so close ready to end so many seasons. Luckily it never snows in Orlando and wakeskating never stops.

EDITOR: After a few months of doing this website we’ve come to realize opinions are like blogs—everyone’s got one. So from here on out, we’re going to be featuring one person’s opinion a month, such as Patrick’s here, in this column called “Soapbox.” Think your opinion should be heard? So do we. Send us your soapbox rant and if we use it, we’ll hook you up with a t-shirt and some other goodies for your effort. Please note: columns will be selected on quality of writing, use of punctuation and general use of grammar, not whether we agree with your opinion or not. Make it good and maybe you’ll see your name in lights. Email your Soapbox to brooke@alliancewake.com.