X MARKS THE SPOT FOR A GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DON'T GET A THRILL FROM TRADITIONAL SPORTS . . . ADRENALINE CLAN READY FOR LIFTOFF.Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer Let's admit it, maybe we're missing something. You know who you are. All of you weaned wean tr.v. weaned, wean·ing, weans 1. To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling. 2. on the three Big Sports. Who think a trip down the sports wild side is watching ice hockey ice hockey: see hockey, ice. ice hockey Game played on an ice rink by two teams of six players on skates. The object is to drive a puck (a small, hard rubber disk) into the opponents' goal with a hockey stick, thus scoring one point. . Something else is going on here. Something that is catching on and not going away. Yes, it has a different beat. OK, its athletes do not exactly resemble Jerry West
``Everyone is flying through the air, flipping around and landing,'' says Tas Pappas Tas Pappas (born 1975) is a professional Australian skateboarder. Highlights of his career include being the #1 ranked Vert skateboarder worldwide in 1996 . Sources Bio at EXPN.com, an ESPN site , a skateboarder originally from Australia now in Hollywood. ``If they make their run, it's some pretty crazy-looking stuff. And when they don't make their stuff, they go down pretty hard and there's always a good chance of a major slam - or seeing one of the craziest tricks you've ever seen.'' Relax, and go with it. This weekend the fifth annual X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. take place in San Francisco. Do not be intimidated. Remember when different was supposed to be good? So you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. hip-hop from be-bop. If it doesn't fit the traditional sports mold, that's the whole point. It's sports for the thrill of it. What a concept. ``It's fun,'' said Rick Thorne, a bicycle stunt rider from Orange. ``That's the whole reason everyone starts doing it - it's fun. You have individualism in the sports. It's kind of like an expression in a competitive form.'' Extreme sports are marked by aggression. These are not sports for the athletically timid. If there's no danger, there's no appeal. It's partly like NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. - everyone privately waiting for the next crash. ``It's that they're so gnarly (jargon) gnarly - /nar'lee/ Both obscure and hairy. "Yow! - the tuned assembler implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly!" From a similar but less specific usage in surfer slang. ,'' Pappas said. ``It's not like running around in team sports. Pappas also has a rock band called ``Gudanunkas,'' which he maintains, doesn't mean a thing. ``I made it up,'' he said. ``It means whatever you think.'' I sense your resistance, all ye fellow boomers and AYSO AYSO American Youth Soccer Organization AYSO All Your Saturdays Occupied AYSO Alabama Youth Soccer Organization AYSO Albuquerque Youth Soccer Organization (Albuquerque, New Mexico) veterans. These are the baggy-pants kids we used to chase out of malls. Jack Wienert knows all your reservations. He's 55 years old. He's the X Games executive director. ``That's where I was seven years ago when I first started this project,'' Wienert said. ``I went, 'Holy, smoke. What is this all about? Are these sports? Are these athletes?' ``I learned very quickly that they are definitely athletes. They are absolutely fabulous young men and women who do extraordinary things that take a lot of courage and a lot of skill. ``We actually have an event that represents the playgrounds and softball diamonds of the 21st century. The kids today are probably a lot smarter and need to be challenged a little more as individuals as we did in the past. ``In my era, we grew up with team sports. For a variety of both social and maybe economic reasons, these kids have to find a way to challenge themselves in some type of activity. If it's a physical activity, it's leaning more towards bikes, blades and boards.'' Which appeal greatly to the young, particularly the male variety. Last year's X Games broadcast on ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network , ESPN2 and ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. were viewed by 5.9 million teens from ages 12-17 - that's 27 percent of all teen-agers in the United States. It was watched by 4.2 million males 12-17 - 37 percent of male teen-agers in the country. A Harris Poll released last January reported that the X Games were the second-most popular sporting event in the country for those ages 6-17, trailing only the Olympics - and ahead of the Super Bowl, World Series and World Cup. And what appeals to the young appeals greatly to advertisers desperate for a vehicle to reach a new generation. Thus, when ESPN created the X Games, it tapped into something that's proven explosive. So there are sports with in-line skating, bike riding on ramps, motocross motocross Form of motorcycle racing in which cyclists compete on a closed course marked out over natural or simulated rough terrain. Courses vary widely but must be 1.5–5 km (1–3 mi) in length, with steep inclines, hairpin turns, and mud. stunts, skateboarding, wall climbing, street luge, wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water behind a boat. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. and something called skysurfing sky·surf·ing n. The sport of performing maneuvers or stunts during free fall while riding on a skyboard. sky . ``It's kind of a cross between the music industry and the sports industry,'' said Thorne, who also hosts the ``X2day'' show on ESPN2. ``Kids grow up and don't want to play soccer anymore because you don't have any individualism in soccer, unless you're Pele. You wear the team jersey, look like the guy next to you, you work on these plays. ``You don't do that in these sports. There's no one telling you what to do or what to wear or how to be. That's the beauty of it. It's like it's freedom in a sense. It's like you're painting a picture, but the ramp is your canvas.'' Still doubtful? Look at it this way, how many times have you complained about the high price of tickets at a major sporting event? The X Games are free. They drew almost 270,000 during a six-day stint in San Francisco last year. How many times have you moaned about egomaniac e·go·ma·ni·a n. Obsessive preoccupation with the self. e  go·ma players, cutthroat competition and outlandish salaries? Extreme sports stars compete, but they help each other. Each sport is almost its own self-supporting community. And most athletes make comparatively modest incomes and only started supporting themselves with their sport since ESPN came on the scene. Egos remain in check, not out of control. ``I don't see it happening in my time,'' said Dave Mirra, a bike stunt rider and the X Games' most decorated athlete with eight golds. ``Fifteen years from now, you never know. But we're from regular families. I just think riding a bike and skate boarding, it's just come-from-the-ground-level stuff. You do it all around the streets. I don't see it happening.'' North Carolina's Mirra, however, is the exception to the income level among X-sport athletes. He said 90 percent of his income will come from endorsements. ``This year, I'll clear $700,000,'' he said. ``I wouldn't trade places with anybody. I think this year, realistically I'll make seven digits. That's pretty crazy.'' Yep, their world is changing. Thorne said he worked for seven years busing tables at an Olive Garden restaurant in Kansas City before he was able to support himself. But he said any extreme athlete who starts to get full of himself is quickly put in his place. ``You ride a bike, dude,'' Thorne said. ``If you're going to have a lame attitude, if you're going to be pompous because you're pro and making money and a cool guy, you're still a dork. Man, slow down a little bit.'' X Gamers are supposed to be rebels, anyway. They might be against structure but more often might seem to be going the James Dean route. ``A lot of my friends, their home life wasn't 'Leave it to Beaver,' you know what I mean?'' Thorne said. ``We were definitely on the rebellious side, but I think we just sort of fell into it. ``We weren't accepted in high school. We had a group of guys called the BMX BMX abbr. bicycle motocross BMX Noun 1. bicycle motocross: stunt riding over an obstacle course on a bicycle 2. Brigade. Back then you had the stoners, the jocks, and that was it. You either played football or you were a stoner ston·er n. 1. One that stones. 2. Slang a. One who is habitually intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. b. One who is a delinquent or failure. , and I didn't want to do either. People didn't like us for who we were, and it kind of made us more rebellious then we intended to be.'' This rebel now supports himself with his own action figure, trading cards and video. Mirra has a contract with Adidas and signature sunglasses and a bike. They might not be going mainstream, but they're not always fighting the current. ``I think this is real,'' Wienert said. ``The biggest thing we have to do is not ruin it by overcreating rules and regulations. We recognize almost all these athletes as being independent, and loving their sport more than individual acclamation.'' X GAMES AT A GLANCE What: Sixth annual X Games When: Thursday (X Games 2K Kickoff Bash); Saturday through Aug. 26 (competition) Where San Francisco TV: 28 hours on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and ESPN International. ON THE AIR TV: 28 hours on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and ESPN International. The schedule: Thursday, 10 p.m-midnight, ESPN2; Saturday, 2:30-4 p.m., ABC; Sunday, 4-5 p.m., ESPN, and 10 p.m.-midnight, ESPN2; Monday, 4-6 p.m., ESPN, and 10 p.m.-midnight, ESPN2; Tuesday, 4-6 p.m., ESPN, and 10 p.m.-midnight, ESPN2; Aug. 23, 10-11 p.m., ESPN2; Aug. 24, 10 p.m.-midnight, ESPN2; Aug. 25, 9-11 p.m., ESPN; Aug. 26, 3-4:30 p.m., ABC. CAPTION(S): 3 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) Ski jumping in the summer? C.R. Johnson did it in last year's X Games with the Bay Bridge as a backdrop. Adam Turner/Associated Press (2) Travis Pastrana, 15, won the gold medal in the Freestyle Moto X event at last year's X Games in San Francisco. Brant brant or brant goose, common name for a species of wild sea goose. The American brant, Branta bernicla, breeds in the Arctic and winters along the Atlantic coast. Ward/Associated Press (3) Mathias Ringstrom, top, and Max Dufour fly in tandem on the vertical ramp in the finals of the Skateboarding Vert Doubles competition. Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Poroy/Associated Press Box: (1) X Games at a glance (see text) (2) On the air (see text) |
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