Joe Morahan © Lat34

L.A., We Love It! Lat34 and the X Games Get Down in Los Angeles

Update: 8/6/06

Well another X Games is now coming to a close.  As I write this, the courageous BMX riders of BMX Big Air are taking their last runs of the Final.  Then the crowds will disperse, the dust will settle, the ramps will be broken down and the Home Depot Center in Carson, California will close their doors to the ghosts of X Games past and open them again soon for the next tennis championship or volleyball tournament passing through this chameleon of a venue.

I've been coming to the X Games (winter & summer) off and on for years.  I attended my first in 1999 when I was 11 years old.  That was the year that Tony Hawk landed the 900 and changed the history of sports forever.  That was the year that everything changed and extreme sports found itself thrust into the limelight.  That was the year extreme sports had to grow up.

Walking around this venue as it empties out, I can see where things have changed and where they've stayed immovably the same.  Some of the changes are positive and some are not.  Some of the stubborn points that won't mold to the moment are motivated by respectable forces of integrity and some are motivated by corporate reasoning and other such devices.

The X Games has seen a lot of sports come and go throughout the history of the event.  This year saw a new one, Rally Car, introduced.  Travis Pastrana's gold medal success in this event will probably turn out to be a powerful act of support for the future of Rally Car in the X Games.  An allegiance to another already established event through Pastrana's FMX career tied Rally Car into what is generally an unaccepting group of sports...but you can't blame them; they've seen a lot of drifter sports pass through town in the past 12 years.

Things come full circle and this year saw a few perfect homages to the humble beginnings of these sports.  Danny Way's rocket grab back flip (or "El Camino") on the mega-ramp jump, to Christ air on the quarterpipe was a major tip of the hat to skateboarding's past, while he did it all on a feature that has only come around in the past three years.  Chris Cole won Skate Street by spending most of his time doing airwalks, bonelesses and no complies, and Sandro Dias getting gold in skate vert was long, long overdue.

That's not to say there weren't some major feats of progression this year.  BMX Bir Air is huge step in a new direction for BMX, the ladies showed their skills & earned some major respect in Women's Skate Street and of course, most notably, Travis Pastrana's back flip.  It was known that Travis had landed the double back before, but it was also said that he would never do it again.  Travis supposedly spoke with his mom before he went for the groundbreaking trick in the FMX Best Trick competition on Friday night, and said to her something along the lines of,  "Mom, I need to do this, but if something happens to me up there, I want you know I love you."  After landing smoothly and riding away clean, he was seen hugging his mom and saying to her again & again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

The spectators are gone now and the skeleton of X Games 12 sits bare for all to see.  It seems to me that action sports - all of it - is stuck in limbo land.  Where to go from here is unclear.  It's obvious that you can only go so far, only do so many flips, and only break so many bones.  At some point the body stops being capable of doing what you want it to do, or people start really getting hurt, and I feel that everyone is slowly coming to the conclusion that none of this is worth dying for.  So maybe creativity is the new frontier: new ramps, new concepts, new ideas.  Maybe different ways of competing are needed - different ways of looking at what is good and what isn't.  But regardless of all of this, the one thing that has stayed the same through & through is the fans, the spectators and the supporters, and I feel confident that as long as those people keep showing up, the riders will keep finding ways to entertain them, and who knows what that might mean - but I'd say it'll be worth sticking around for.

- Cody Allen

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8/6/06

There's the joke about the comedian who is being heckled on stage by some drunkard in the audience who will just not let up.  The comedian tries to push through it, but no matter what he says this joker has some clever retort.  Finally the comedian confronts the man with a simple comment like "I don't go to your work and knock the broom out of your hand."  This shuts the guy up.

Shaun White should hire a film crew to follow around the action sports press all of the time, day and night, everyday for a year.  Shaun's chief instruction to his crew of camera men could be to find the times when their subjects are under the most stress they can possibly bear, and to choose then as their time to go for extreme close-ups & shove the camera in their face as violently as possible.  Because this is what the action sports press loves to do to Shaun, day in & day out.

I understand that he is important to the future of action sports and that every second he is on camera is a betterment to the sports & the culture, but there are times when it seems like having the cameras in his face is hurting his riding more than it's helping and if he can't progress like he should, then that hurts the whole of action sports.

So I suppose I'm pleading for some courtesy.  When Shaun's trying his hardest to land a 1080 and bring skateboarding to a new level altogether, let's try and leave him alone for even one moment.  But who knows? Maybe he thrives off of it.  Maybe his skating would almost end completely if the cameras went away.  I suppose there is a possibility that Shaun is like the tree in the woods that makes no sound if no one is there to hear it - but I have a feeling that a breather from cameras in his face might do all of action sports some good.

- Cody Allen

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8/5/06

Another Skate Legend Sighting

My days here at the X Games just keep getting better and better.  The other day it was Mike V.  So today, walking into the Home Depot Center who do I see?  None other than Vert legend Christian Hosoi!  That's right, HOSOI!  Wow, talk about being blown away.  Without question one of the most influential skaters in the entire history of the sport, I never thought I'd see this guy in the flesh.  Along with yesterday's Rally Car ride, seeing Hosoi is definitely one of the highlights of my X Games experience.

If you haven't seen them already, go online and find the photos of Christian's first skate session in Hawaii after getting out of jail. He totally kills it, just picking up where he left off like it was nothing.  It is truly an inspiration for all skaters around the world, hands down.  I'm also really psyched that the skate industry is taking care of him by getting him involved in all the contests and events. He has done so much everyone throughout the years that it is the least they can do.

Keep riding and keep ripping Christian!

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8/4/06

8/4/06

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8/3/06

Rally Cars and Mike V.

I rolled over to the HDC today to check out the Rally Car Racing practice and to interview Ken Block.  For those of you who don’t know, Ken is the president of DC Shoes and is one of the biggest behind the scenes people in action sports.  I spoke to him for about 10 minutes or so and he seemed really psyched to be racing at the X Games.  So where’s my free pair of DC’s, buddy?  I’m kidding, really.  Overall, I was a little skeptical when I first heard about Rally Car Racing being included in the X Games.  I mean, come on, what’s next, are we gonna have freestyle walking in X Games 13?  However, after checking out the course and seeing some of the cars in action, Rally Car is pretty cool and those guys are driving some sick whips.  I was told that I’m going in one of the cars tomorrow for Lat34 and I can’t wait! 
 
The other highlight of my day was seeing the one and only Mike Vallely up in the media lounge.  One of my favorite street skaters of all time and a fellow NJ native, Mike V. still rips just as hard today and is definitely one of the most influential skaters of all time.  He also had one of the coolest Powell Peralta graphics as well; the famous elephant graphic which Powell just reissued.  I didn’t bother him as he was up there to do an interview with Sirius, but it was really cool to see one of my skate heroes in-person.  

 - Glen 

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8/3/06

Skate Street has always been one of my favorite events at the X Games, especially in recent years, since they have started to construct the course with immovable objects. However, unfortunately, skate street is not the most popular event at the X Games.  I attribute this to it's complex & technical character.

Skate street is the epitome of skateboarding.  It's what skateboarding is all about, skating through the street doing manuals, flip tricks, ollies and the like.  I believe that skate street is the event in the X Games that has held on to the largest percent of its soul.  It still gives a very closed off feeling at times - which I suppose doesn't help people warm up to it, but you have to respect any sport where the finals of the yearly X Games REALLY means pretty much NOTHING.

A long time ago skate street (as a sport) decided that it wasn't going to care about intense competition, branding, advertising, and television cameras - and it's never gone back on its decision.  It accepted the fact that it needed to make a move into the mainstream, and it did (after all, it is in the X Games) but it hasn't changed because of it, and that's why I love it so.  Skate street isn't going anywhere it doesn't want to go, and it's exactly where it wants to be.

- Cody Allen

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8/3/06

Another X Games has begun. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of getting to see the riders & skaters warm up in their practice runs for BMX Dirt, Skate Street, Skate Big Air, MotoX and Skate Vert.  The venues (the Home Depot & Staples Centers) were nearly deserted, save the handful of athletes onsite for practice and the maintenance crews who were there assembling the last of the staging.

It was this lack of hecticness that made me realize that the X Games aren't really about the athletes, the advertisers, or the judges at all but instead about the spectators that come to see the events.  With the stadiums empty like a blank canvas, it was easy to see where all of the character of this event comes from.

I am always surprised by the wide variety of people who gather to watch the X Games.  People of all shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations that come together to watch something that they see as being important in someway.  And okay, so maybe I'm getting a little bit cheesy & teary eyed, but it made me realize that I have to have respect for any sport (or event) that respects & cherishes their spectators regardless of who they are.  Sure, the father with his young daughter isn't as much of a BMX Dirt freak as the kid who went to Woodward for the past two years, but that doesn't mean that it isn't equally as important to them.

The bottom line is that the sports will always change, and the way we see them will always progress, but the one constant will be the people who choose to watch that progression - the fans & the humble spectators.

 

- Cody Allen

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8/3/06

To the Extreme

Arriving at the Home Depot Center today before the start of X Games 12, I honestly didn’t know what to expect.  Sure, I had caught it on TV millions of times, but seeing what actually goes into this mega-event and all the people involved really puts things into perspective.  After getting on site and picking up my credentials, the first thing that caught my attention was the Mega Ramp.  Are you kidding me?  This thing is HUGE!  I saw Andy Mac drop in and try a backflip and was totally blown away.  It is without question one of the sickest things I’ve ever witnessed on a skateboard, hands down.  Danny Way is the man for pioneering this thing and should go down in the history books…he’s come a long way from being a scrawny little amateur ripping up the vert ramp in “Public Domain,” that’s for sure. 
 
I also checked out FMX and BMX practice as well, but there was not much going on today.  A few guys were practicing runs on the moto course and Guettler was out in the BMX park, but that was about it.  I guess a lot of guys are still getting into town and are taking it easy before the competition.  With all the pressure they must be feeling this close to the event, as well as all of the hype, I’d have done the exact same thing.  All in all, I was psyched with today and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow.  I’m sure it will get better and better each day and I’ll be blown away all over again.  
 

 - Glen 

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