Last year, the behind-the-scenes actions by the people behind the X Games (apologize for that redundancy) made an affront to action sports fans everywhere by making moves to phase out some of the events that made the X Games what it is today, skateboard vert most notably. Without skateboard vert and it's related events (skateboard vert best trick and skateboard doubles), the Birdman would have been another lowly pigeon in the crowd, pecking at scraps, hoping to be noticed enough for people to keep feeding him those scraps. Shaun White's quest for a 1080, which is now, sadly, postponed at the very least due to the absence of skateboard vert best trick this year, would likely not have been as spirited as it was. They seem to quickly forget who the faces of the X Games were for the longest time: Tony Hawk, Matt Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, etc. All but Dave Mirra have tunnel vision on vert.
And looking back at those initial couple years of the X Games that birthed my avid interest in extreme sports, Hawk's miraculous 900 being what got it all started for me, I can't help but mourn the death of those events that weren't the media darlings that others were. Skateboard vert doubles, with the duos of Tony Hawk & Andy McDonald and Bob Burnquist & Bucky Lasek, was exactly what the X Games is trying to push anymore: events that breed innovation, or are innovations themselves. Namely, there are the Big Air events and its sister event, the Railway Jam. Inline skating was always the unappreciated stepbrother of the other sports showcased at the X Games, but memories of the double backflip I witnessed all those years ago are still as fresh in my mind as any other watershed moment, such as Hawk's 900, Hoffman's 900, Metzger's Back-to-Back Backflips, Pastrana's 360 and Double Backflip, etc. Technicality seems to have been sacrificed in favor of watered-down disciplines that seem to, in most cases, take away the very essence of the sport.
Returning to the past couple X Games for a moment, at least Scott Murray was around to give me some hope, promising Double Backflips both years. His act has since grown stale, with him failing all three years, but he helped me bide my time, keeping me interested in the phenomenon that is the X Games. Though I've given up on you and was only pulling for you this year due to the drought of actual tricks being landed in the Moto X Best Trick event, my thanks to you for keeping me watching, guy-from-somewhere-out-in-the-boondocks. You, along with Shaun White and his pursuit for the 1080, were enough to satiate me.
But this year I was looking for something more, and promises were plentiful for just that. In the Skateboard Big Air event there were rumblings of Jake Brown trying a 900 on the quarterpipe, but each attempt at that failed, and we had a victory for Jake Brown that should have been sweet redemption but was terribly anti-climactic due to the first example of judging gone wrong with that ludicrous tie between him and Bob Burnquist that he ended up being on the better end of with the second tie-breaker. Burnquist was noticeably frustrated, and for good reason, because his run was much heavier on technicality than Brown's. However, it seems that the judges are giving the sentimental favorites brownie points this year.
No matter, tonight simply could not not deliver. BMX Big Air, Skateboard Railway Jam, Moto X Best Trick and a BMX Street event, the exact name of which I do not recall. What could go wrong?
No matter, tonight simply could not not deliver. BMX Big Air, Skateboard Railway Jam, Moto X Best Trick and a BMX Street event, the exact name of which I do not recall. What could go wrong?
BMX Big Air saw Dave Mirra robbed of a proper score with his wondrous No-Handed Corkscrew 720 Backflip because of something as pedantic as going off the 50 foot ramp instead of the 70. Robinson, the sentimental favorite due to his injury and his wife making it in just in time to see him in the event, won with a relatively underwhelming run, in comparison to Mirra's. Chad Kagy put it all on the line there at the end going for a double tailwhip on the quarterpipe, but failed, yet that is more than I can say for Robinson, no matter how much I respect him. These sorts of goings on would become commonplace tonight.
Skateboard Railway Jam was a collection of pretty bails, and an exciting couple minutes at the end with some truly impressive makes. Adam Taylor, a great young gun that fell just short of medal contention in Big Air, was shorted for some beautiful flip tricks. Way was Iron Man again, which was cool and all, but the sole run he managed to post without bailing was nothing spectacular, in my humble opinion. He gets points for calling out the judges on handing Brown the gold over Burnquist the previous night, on the other hand. All in all, a second straight disappointment, and the event that made me think things really were on a downward spiral that was inevitably going to get worse.
Moto X Best Trick nearly had a bronze medalist that knocked himself out of the competition on his first run. That right there is indicative of the debacle the event was this year. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named did two straight dead airs for his runs instead of pulling out this never-before-seen trick we were hearing whispers about. Travis Pastrana loses control of his TP Roll trick and, after some teases of him coming back, blury vision keeps him from another attempt. Scott Murray fails twice at his Double Backflip, with the last attempt being freakishly close and even more disappointing. Charles Pages, like Pastrana, borrowed from BMX and went for a Decade Air on a dirt bike, but knocked himself out of competition with a crash. Paris Rosen did the same with the fabled front flip, which Pages could likely have tried if he was able to come back. Todd Potter was robbed by a horrid instance of double standards, with the judges not wanting a repeat of last year when Kyle Loza's squirrely run into the wall cost him no points, deducting enough points from his score with that beautiful Coffin Backflip for his run into the wall to make him settle for a bronze. A decision made because of fear of controversy was counter productive, with Potter's innovation being downplayed because of a hypocritical choice based on a technicality. Bilco, for the second time, was robbed of everything, including his dignity (or so I believe), with an Indian Air 360 landing him a silver because of the judges simply not acknowledging the trick for what it was, another true innovation, due to some unreasonable hatred for the 360 itself. And that leaves us with Loza, who, instead of doing what put him on the map and being the forerunner in trick creation, alongside Pastrana, went with a been-there-done-that run, winning gold with the same trick he did last year. Between that and him wasting his first run, I have mixed feelings about him, and an unconditional hatred for all the judges at the X Games.
Sadly, the event I wasn't even planning on watching, but caught anyway, was what impressed me most because of the skill level seen and the consistency from the judges. I have never been huge on BMX street as it's been interpreted the past couple years, but those guys put on a show in all three sessions, and even their bails were more intriguing than most of the ones seen in the other events tonight.
To be honest, I am not even sure if I'll be subjecting myself to the judging again with the next two days of the X Games to see the other competitions that interest me, namely Skateboard Vert.
Moto X Best Trick nearly had a bronze medalist that knocked himself out of the competition on his first run. That right there is indicative of the debacle the event was this year. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named did two straight dead airs for his runs instead of pulling out this never-before-seen trick we were hearing whispers about. Travis Pastrana loses control of his TP Roll trick and, after some teases of him coming back, blury vision keeps him from another attempt. Scott Murray fails twice at his Double Backflip, with the last attempt being freakishly close and even more disappointing. Charles Pages, like Pastrana, borrowed from BMX and went for a Decade Air on a dirt bike, but knocked himself out of competition with a crash. Paris Rosen did the same with the fabled front flip, which Pages could likely have tried if he was able to come back. Todd Potter was robbed by a horrid instance of double standards, with the judges not wanting a repeat of last year when Kyle Loza's squirrely run into the wall cost him no points, deducting enough points from his score with that beautiful Coffin Backflip for his run into the wall to make him settle for a bronze. A decision made because of fear of controversy was counter productive, with Potter's innovation being downplayed because of a hypocritical choice based on a technicality. Bilco, for the second time, was robbed of everything, including his dignity (or so I believe), with an Indian Air 360 landing him a silver because of the judges simply not acknowledging the trick for what it was, another true innovation, due to some unreasonable hatred for the 360 itself. And that leaves us with Loza, who, instead of doing what put him on the map and being the forerunner in trick creation, alongside Pastrana, went with a been-there-done-that run, winning gold with the same trick he did last year. Between that and him wasting his first run, I have mixed feelings about him, and an unconditional hatred for all the judges at the X Games.
Sadly, the event I wasn't even planning on watching, but caught anyway, was what impressed me most because of the skill level seen and the consistency from the judges. I have never been huge on BMX street as it's been interpreted the past couple years, but those guys put on a show in all three sessions, and even their bails were more intriguing than most of the ones seen in the other events tonight.
To be honest, I am not even sure if I'll be subjecting myself to the judging again with the next two days of the X Games to see the other competitions that interest me, namely Skateboard Vert.
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