SAN FRANCISCO -- It's never a boring day for Tony Hawk. Considered the front man and forerunner of action sports, Hawk always seems to fit in time for his fans. On this, the second day of the X Games, Hawk spent his day making a dream come true for young man named Michael -- who requested to come to the event and meet his hero through the Make a Wish Foundation.

We caught up with Hawk for a question-and-answer session Friday.

900 degrees of greatness.

How has your "retirement" been for the past year?
Since I stopped competing last year, I've been just as busy as I've ever been -- mostly doing demonstrations and exhibitions. I didn't do as many contests last year as I had been in previous years, so I was kind of weaning my way out of it. I've been having a lot more fun. It's a more creative style of skating, doing demos, and I don't have to worry about a consistent run all of the time -- you can figure things out as you go. It's been a lot of fun this whole year.

On that note, did the Hawk Tour pan out as well as you expected it to?
Yeah. The Gigantic Skateboard Tour went much bigger than I ever expected it would be. We've done tours in the past, but on this scale it was more experimental. By the end, it was so big because people had been seeing the shows and they caught the dates. Suddenly, the parks couldn't handle the crowds. We've never had that happen before.

Was everything well received?
As far as the live skating and the live audiences, they really enjoyed that style of skating. It was more spontaneous and we had the time to try stuff over and over and figure stuff out. As far as programming, people really enjoyed it because they felt like they were there. They felt like they were experiencing everything that we were -- the ups and the downs and the exhaustion that we go through.

How did you pick the athletes for the tour?
I picked mostly guys that I thought would represent all aspects of skating. We had guys that were super technical, we had guys that would just go big and we chose guys who were really good skaters with great personalities. When you're in such a confined space for such a long time, everybody has to get along. It's not about just being a good skater, you have to be able to interact with everyone. I think that we had a really good crew. We covered the whole spectrum of different skate styles.

How does it feel to have the best selling video game of last year?
I never expected it to be so big. When I first talked about making a video game, I thought it would just be something that skaters would want to play. I never expected it to take off beyond that, but it's just been amazing. We had the release party for the second one last night and I think that one is going to go even bigger.

What motivated you to compete this year?
I'm really only competing in doubles. I kind of told Andy [Macdonald] that I didn't want to compete this year, but I wanted to do doubles because that's a fun thing. I like the creative aspect of it. There aren't too many doubles events so when we get one we like to try stuff that's brand new. That's what I really love about skating--trying the new stuff. Definitely, vert contests keep getting better because the guys are learning new stuff but I've been doing that for so long that I just want to try something new.

Have you and Andy practiced together?
Yeah, we have been for the past week or so.

Do you guys have some good stuff down?
I hope so.

As far as your involvement with the Make a Wish Foundation, how does it feel to be such a hero to so many kids?
I just really enjoy the support that people are giving -- those who support skating so much. A lot of recognition, that I've seen lately, comes from people playing video games. The video game inspires people to start skating. I love doing anything for Make a Wish. Seeing the kids light up when they get to go to these types of events is really appreciated--they don't take it for granted at all. I love doing it.

What athlete are you looking forward to seeing compete this year? If you actually have anytime to watch them ...
I'm definitely going to watch all of the skate events. I'll definitely watch the bikes and check out Mat Hoffman. I'd love to see some of the motorcross -- like Travis Pastrana and Mike Metzger.

Who is your favorite athlete?
My favorite athlete of all of these types of sports is Mat Hoffman. He's been doing it for so long and is such a pioneer of bike riding and ramp riding. He's always pushing it. Even if he was the "best of the best," he'd step it up and say, "alright what's next?" He went through this barrage of injuries and kept coming back. I think he's had every type of knee surgery you could have--including experimental surgeries. He's awesome. He looks so fluid and so right when he's riding.

Hypothetically, if you didn't start skating at such a young age, what would you be doing now?
I'm sure I'd be doing something with computers. It's always been my hobby and I'm always learning new techniques as far as programming and video editing. I do all of the video clips and pictures for our Web site (http://www.tonyhawk.com). A lot of it I do on my PowerBook with a FireWire. I don't do the html, I just do the video clips and do all of the text.

Are you thinking about producing a tape from the Tony Hawk Tour yourself?
I think we're talking about doing a video for the tour -- sort of a "best of" -- but I don't know as far as the web is concerned.

What are you going to do for the rest of the day.
Today, I have to go do an interview on the host set, then I'm going to go check out the vert finals for sure. After that, I'll be doing random spots throughout the day -- little segments about setting up boards. The stuff that I'm doing isn't necessarily the "play-by-play" type of thing, it's more about me lending my expertise and insider type of stuff.

Did Christian Slater do his own stunts in Gleaming the Cube
Christian Slater had to learn how to look comfortable on a skateboard. He didn't actually do the stunts. He had three different doubles -- Rodney Mullen, Mike Magill and Mike Vallely. He was pretty cool when he had to teach him how to skate. He was really receptive and he really tried. I've been through that situation before -- trying to teach actors to look comfortable on a skateboard--and they are just not interested at all. They are just frustrated that they even been asked to do it.

What was the best movie that you've worked on?
I had a lot of fun doing Gleaming the Cube. I had a lot of fun doing Thrashin' too. I got to skate Del Mar and at that time Del Mar had been closed down. They had lost the insurance and were about to be destroyed. When Thrashin' came in, they had their own insurance, so I got this revival session thanks to them.

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