Rollerblades are making a comeback!

[TULaw]

An article from Slate discusses the apparent return of rollerblades among New Yorkers.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/06/07/the-return-of-rollerblades.aspx

Has anyone else observed a comeback for inline skating in other parts of the country? here in the Washington DC area i have seen a few people skating on public trails, something that I never saw just a year or two ago. If this indeed is a trend and the Inline Skate is making a comeback can Inline Hockey somehow capitalize on this?

[quick_dry]

do the hipsters who buy things to be part of the latest scene participate in sport?

[TULaw]

Probably not, but the fact that inline skates are becoming more visible and is seen as cool again might mean that non-hipsters will take up inline skating. The decline of the inline skate in general has hurt inline hockey and its come back could only help the sport.

[DannyG]

...The decline of the inline skate in general has hurt inline hockey and its come back could only help the sport.

No kidding...from 1993 to roughly 2003, when the buy-'em-at-k-mart price for cheapy, plastic wheeled, inline skates was $39.95, every little kid had a pair of "roller blades." They may have been under the bed, or in the closet or garage soon after purchase, but that little kid had 'em.

When confronted by the possibility of playing hockey on roller skates, that little kid thought,"Hey, I've got skates, I could do that!"

Now days, you first need to convince the kid (and mom!) that the kid should even consider skating, let alone play hockey...

If inline skating returns as a trend, or even a fad, it will indeed be a boon to the sport's re-development, numbers wise anyway.