Look back from time to time.

In an age where all of us are constantly watching to see who the next best player is, following the hyped up players and styles, seeing who’s gonna win the next big contest etc. Its easy to forget about where we actually came from.

I find that many new players will know every new YYF, everything about the top champions, the newest tricks, but when asked about anything prior to 08, they often won’t know a single thing about the past!

I grew up in the yoyo world and I saw many people come and go, many a champion, and while seeing today’s stuff is great, I find it nice to look back with respect to those that literally brought us to where we are today.

I have to say I was sad when I had posted many older yoyo vids (from different players 04 and prior) and I while I got some good response, I got many a comment from players saying “wow his style is so boring and close together.” and “wow that doesnt score well”, and what angered me to the point I ended up sending an angry pm to a select few was when I received comments from kids on yoyo vids from 98 to 2000 saying “Wow they had no skill back then” and “wow I could beat him so bad, hes so worthless.” And I even got a comment from a SPONSORED PLAYER (who I wont name as I believe he is a member here on YYE) saying "I really dont like this old (swear) not even worth putting it up, get with the times.)

The pure disrespect is astonishing. And I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I think people tend to forget that so much of what we have today would not even exist if it werent for so many of the players of the past. And its sad that many don’t realize this.

So my message to you guys, don’t forget about the past yoyo world. Don’t ignore a video you come across just cause its from 2006. You will be surprised to find that many tricks from as far back as even 98 are quite difficult even by today’s standards.

On that note, I want to take the time to post a few videos from individuals I think you all should check out, as they were the ones who helped bring us to where we are today.

From Spindox, seriously, the spindoctors had an amazing impact on the yoyo world, and their players all had huge tricks and concepts that we even use today.

Yes we have seen Jason’s newer videos, and he was also a crazy trick powerhouse back then. Stuff way ahead of its time, and very smooth.

Yes its old, but this is seriously a freestyle you should see. Sky blew everyone away with his unique tricks, also I believe this was the first time boingy boing (atomic boing boing) was done in contest, and 4A as well. (Also note the horizontal braintwister, yes, horizontal has been around that long :slight_smile: )

Awesome stuff from all these players. 04 was a great year, lots of great and innovational players.

The video that inspired me to try more tech tricks, and still inspires me to this day.
True swag here.

If you have not heard of Ignitus, get to know him, true player right there.

Seen Takeshis 1A? Heard of Kyle Pearson? This vid, literally kept me going when it came out.

Young Yuuki, Young Markmont, Players who should seriously still be throwing. You get it.

Jake Bullock and Randy Shreeves. Enough said.

And finally, US nationals 2000.

Enjoy.

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Great post Josh. Also, you guys should realize many of the people in these videos are using responsive yoyos, just though i’d add that. Even though I have only been throwing about 1 1/2 years, I have SO much respect for these players.

Yeah I totally agree! I think it was you that posted a Worlds MarkMont video from the early 2000’s and I was amazed on how good he was with a responsive yo yo!

Bring on the older videos! Even prior to 1998 would be cool.

Man… I wish Yuuki would still compete

Respect your elders you damn punk kids….! Let’s go way back….how many of you started yo-yoing because of this guy…? Not many I would guest…but I’d say he did more for yo-yoing in his time than any of the champs walking around today……

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All of these guys are better then me, the only reason I tend to watch newer vids is because of the quality. I can’t believe people would be so disrespectful towards the throwers who helped evolve and develop this hobby to what it is today.

Tommy Gun still pwns everyone.

Tommy Gun is AWESOME!!! And everyone who would be so disrespectful and cocky don’t know the crap they’re saying. All the throwers from the 2000 to 2006 are so fun to watch, even though I was only a wee little toddler.

Pre-2000 freestyles are almost the most fun to watch. Seeing someone do a creeper in their freestyles and make it look darn good blows my mind.

100% Agreed! Favorited to my browser, these freestyles and videos are just amazing! Thanks for the post Josh

Good post Jayyo… quality. I am in total agreement with you on this. NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM.
Sky kiyabu is the man. Those were all so awesome. It blows my mind watching a freestyle in '99 and thinking how much it evolved in a decade. Wow.

Great posting! Thanks for sharing that great stuff.

We all have to understand where yoyo came from, at least from a performance point of view. We need to know where it came from so we can push it forward as well.

I can appreciate this stuff. Starting in 1978 with a simple wood Duncan Imperial, having it gone 5-6 months later, then never touching a yoyo again until 2011, yoyo went through an amazing amount of changes. This just helps show some of that.

Josh, I’m only going to say this one. Make a yoyo related Tumblr and post these kind of long-rants on there besides Yoyo Expert.

With that said, I appreciate your time you put your thought into the created threads you do, but sometimes they just seem forced, and lets be honest here for a second…annoying. No hard feelings to you bro. I love the message you did this. Showing a entire younger generation of yoyoers a look back in past videos…priceless.

Also, Popdada- I want to give you the biggest hug ever for posting The Smothers brothers. love it love it love it.

~Z

also, lest we never forget - ryan monson. rip…

houdini lives! - http://www.dif-spinners.com

mgodinez

cloudy…

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My favorite: “What’s THP?”

:frowning:

Thanks, Pop - Oh, and BTW, I can do that 2 yoyo trick :wink:

Dear elders.

Please forgive us.
Please forgive your followers that don’t respect you like how you deserve.

I have to say, I have not been a huge fan of your posts lately, but this thread really shows all the positive stuff you got in you and I like it.

I’m a new thrower, started a little less than a year ago, and I really enjoy “modern” yoyoing

but as for everything else, if you want to move forward, it’s great to know where you’re coming from. So I spent my first 6/8 months to look forward, the present and the future of yoyoing, but lately, I’ve been really checking out past stuff, maybe not stuff from the early 2000s, I agree that’s where it all comes from and I respect that, but rather, I’ve been checking out throws and players from the mid 2000s as I think this is when it all really started, unresponsive play and whatnot.

now I still got tons of stuff to learn, but I’m not yet ready or mature enough as a thrower to be able to enjoy earlier stuff. I respect it with all my heart, but in order to enjoy it, I need to grow up.

what I really enjoy, rather than the videos or the tricks, are the yoyos themselves, I’ve been trading some of my new, up to date throws for some more “historic” stuff and I’m enjoying it, appreciating these throws makes me appreciate more what we got today.

on a similar note, I’ve been throwing a lot more responsive/wooden stuff (got a RD1 and no jive at home) and I was surprised about how fun it actually was to do some tricks on these babies, fun is the keyword here, and I think it’s important to understand that, most likely, back in the days, things were more about fun, pure, simple fun.

Now I don’t want to criticize how it is today, but kids will be kids, they tend to think that they know better, and it’s only later down the road that, eventually, they’ll grow up and start understanding how little they, we, know about anything, really.

There’s no need to force it on them, it’s their loss really. they’ll eventually get it later on. But for all those who one day want to be amongst the greatests, I have no doubt that they’ll need to understand where they come from, this is an important part of our heritage.

was that so hard…?

Apology accepted. :slight_smile:

That’s the only 2 yoyo trick I can do, HAHA!! Hands down, Tom Smothers will always be my Fav!!