There comes a time in every young skateboarder's life when they realize that the flawless seven minute video part of their favorite skateboarder actually took two years and thousands of takes to film. It's a cold wake-up call for a young idealistic mind looking for a superhero. And much like Barry Bonds's recent home run record (tainted by a steroid scandal), it leaves a bit of doubt in your mind as to the actual greatness of the event you just witnessed.

But for anyone who witnessed the men's street skating final at X Games 13, there was little doubt about the actual greatness of Jereme Rogers. In the 45 minutes of uncut street skating that comprised the final, the buzz-cut, tattooed Boston native landed enough mind-bending stunts to fill three average video parts. In fact, if you look over the results sheet for Rogers since turning pro in 2005, you'll see the 22 year-old has found himself on the podium at just about every major skateboarding competition. And as a result of his success, he's been asking himself one question. "Why me?"

Risen Magazine: Any significance to your tattoos?

Jereme Rogers: This is for my friend Mike from Long Beach who got shot and killed, and this is for Chris Jackson—we called him “Dark Man." He got stabbed at a house party and killed. This is just a skateboard—it’s pretty much my life. I’ve got LA and Boston, these are my roots and where I grew up. Here’s Jesus and this is from the top right crescent on the dollar bill. And this is faith over fear, and that’s about it so far.

RM: You’ve had a couple of friends die pretty young. How long ago was that?

JR: Yeah. They were both young. One was within the last year, the other within two years.

RM: Did that change your perspective on life at all?

JR: It keeps me realizing the temporariness of life.

RM: Do you think you’re an impulsive person?

JR: Yeah. Sometimes you can have so much passion about something and you can get burnt on it for a second. But, skateboarding stays fun to me, so that doesn’t happen. But if you put your passion into something, it helps you get it quicker.

RM: How will you know when it’s time to retire?

JR: Everybody does different things. I personally want to be progressing until I retire. I want to retire when I feel like my body just can’t handle it and I’m not going to be able to put out a comparable video part to my previous one. Like a music artist wants every CD to be better than their last one. I don’t want people to look to the past and say, “That was his best part."

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