The X Games will turn thirteen this summer. The event’s inception...

...in 1995 was the catalyst for action sports move into the mainstream sports world. It is impossible to overlook the impact of action sports on the professional sports landscape. Over thirteen years, thanks in large part to ESPN, the network which brought the X Games into the living rooms of suburban cable owners everywhere, action sports have almost single handedly dictated entire marketing campaigns while forcing sports puritans to ponder their ideas of sport.  

When ESPN2 introduced the Extreme Games in 1995, I was enthralled by all the ramp-related “underground” sports, and somewhat surprised ESPN would televise such an event.  Instead of just the basic fringe sports like competitive lumberjacking and tennis, The World Wide Leader in Sports was now televising an Olympic-style competition involving really dangerous, fast-paced tests of skill which I was most certainly incapable of performing. 

The games took place during lulls in the mainstream professional sports calendar: the summer games took place during the dog days of the Major League Baseball season when ¾ of the teams were already eliminated form post-season play, and the Winter X Games (which came about two years after the first Extreme Games were deemed profitable enough to expand into the winter season), were televised right around the all star break’s of the NHL and NBA respectively-before the playoff races really got interesting.

Sports fans watch ESPN, ask any hockey fan how important it is for a sport to have a TV deal with ESPN.  ESPN originally planned the Games as a bi-annual event, but thirteen years later the Summer and Winter X Games have become staples of the network.

At first there was a big hullabaloo about whether or not the skaters and bikers where really athletes, and both ESPN2 and the competitors clamored about the validity of snowboarding and inline skating as sport, and how “extreme” athletes deserved media recognition and they deserved at least as much acclaim as a DH making $10 million a year. 

Such a stance coming from a sports network which at the time had a penchant for replaying 1980’s video footage of large men engaging in competitive beer keg throwing, and now shows such “sports” as poker and arm wrestling, seems rather contrived; as if watching a guy do a triple back flip on a bike wasn’t enough to convince the audience of the high degree of athletic ability possessed by the competitors.

It was around the time “extreme sports” started to slip into the mainstream, that Mountain Dew began promoting itself as the most extreme beverage ever produced by a multibillion dollar conglomerate.  The ‘Dew would serve as a precursor for such energy drinks as Red Bull, Rock Star, Reload, and Hype.

By targeting kids who want to annoy their parents by refusing to play Little League and picking up a skate board instead, “action sports” have become more and more a part of mainstream sports culture.  This is same attitude of  contrived individualism that promoters of action sports impose upon their target demographic that brings up the hypothetical “are these guys athletes and is this a real sport” questions; A kind of against- the-grain, “your principle says this isn’t a sport, but it really is… DO THE DEW,” mentality that sells to angry kids from the suburbs who hate everything.

It is ironic how X games’ promoters have done such a good job marketing the sport as counter-culture, its’ becoming part of the mainstream.   What will the rebellious kids do when skateboarding is no longer considered a crime in many places but rather a legitimate sport which can lead to as bright a future as more established team sports?  The X Game fans’ who were thirteen in 1995 are now approaching thirty.  I, for one, will continue to enjoy action sports. I doubt there will ever be a time when I change the channel when someone is about to attempt a back flip on a dirt bike.  As the demographic ages, how will this affect sponsorship?  Will Pfizer get in on the action? Will we see Viagra banners next to Amp energy drink booths at the X Games 30^th anniversary?

These are questions that keep me up at night.

Action sports are still growing, and the sponsors are jumping on board:

 “Owned by NBC Universal and Clear Channel Entertainment - Motor Sports, the Dew Action Sports Tour debuted in June 2005, and consists of five major, multi-sport events with a cumulative points system, the biggest competitive purse in action sports and a $1 Million Bonus Pool based upon year-end standings. NBC and USA Network combine for 32 original hours of exclusive Dew Action Sports Tour coverage – the largest combined network and cable commitment in action sports” (www.ast.com).

There’s Mountain Dew again. Mountain Dew was not always the beacon of extreme. The beverage originated in Knoxville, TN in the late 1940’s and for decades a cartoon hillbilly graced its bottles. 

I enjoy the X Games, especially the winter games.  There is a dream like quality to them, an elegance that one might normally associate with figure skating, and that I associate with ice hockey.  To promote a relatively new, edgy bundle of sports as elegant and graceful would probably not connect with the younger attention span-less fans.

In the mid-90’s ESPN2 was my go-to network: in the same day I could watch two guys race mountain bikes down a near-vertical, snow-covered cliff, and then catch a west coast hockey game at 10pm.

Now the Extreme Games are the X Games, “extreme sports” are called “action sports”, and there is no need to pose and then argue the ridiculous question of whether or not, Shaun White is an athlete. 

As a fan I find the over-categorization of sports ridiculous. Especially now that snowboarding is an Olympic event, is there really a need to segregate “action sports” athletes into one class and ball players into another.  I’m not sure I even understand the term “action sports”, it’s not like we’re talking about darts or poker, or the hypnotically popular, NASCAR.  I’d say all sports have action. Will we ever see a day when the X Games are just about athletic competition and not sub-culture and energy drinks?

Until the time comes when there is a Tony Hawk skateboarding videogame for the Nintendo Wii[1] that eventually kills the sport because an unexpectedly large portion of the angry-thirteen-year-old demographic decides to stockpile Mountain Dew, and stay in their basements all summer in search of the secret half pipe hidden in the clubhouse of the abandoned baseball field in the “Montreal Level”, instead of actually skateboarding, action sports will continue to thrive.

[1] My favorite “action sports” videogame of all time is “Skitchin’” for the Sega Genesis. In Skitchin’ you chose a skateboarder to control in a race through heavy traffic, for any chance of winning the race you have to grab onto car bumpers and propel yourself forward, but watch out for open manhole covers, and cop cars. As if this premise wasn’t sweet enough, skitchers’ can pick up crowbars and baseball bats to fend off competitors. There is quite a disclaimer before the title screen.)