Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
Skateboarder Tony Hawk is no dope when it comes to showcasing perfect alley-oop indys during tight contests on a vert ramp. And snowboarder Tina Basich is known to huck a sick backside 720 in a big air competition. These athletes and their guts-of-glory 'tudes were what ESPN2 program director Ron Semiao had banked on when he launched the Summer X Games three years ago in Rhode Island. With just the right mix of cult sports, showcasing and lifestyle, ESPN2 had a media gem that was that year's most-watched sporting event for males ages 12 to 34. Come 19 to 28 June, the rad pack is in San Diego, California, for the fourth annual Summer X Games, aka the "Alternative Olympics." "We wanted [to include] sports that have become a lifestyle," explains Semiao. The result is a circus of archetypal athletes: street lugers in tight leathers and tires for shoes; sky surfers in prophetic, angelic white outfits; skateboarders and snowboarders with piercings, tats, and phat pants. But don't let disguises mess with one's perception of athleticism. It takes abs of steel (and balls to match) to lay rubber on a street luge going 65-miles per hour just inches above egg-frying-hot tarmac, or to jump out of a plane 10,000 feet above the earth with a snowboard to perform sky ballet routines. Try wakeboarding for the best air rallies and fakie backside rolls. Barefoot water skiing over a fiberglass ramp for the biggest air time takes the cake. The Summer X Games are filled with athletes "going the distance." Only the track ain't round and the field ain't square. The games will air in more than 190 countries, in 20 different languages, hosting a spectator draw of more than 225,000. With so many people witnessing that which is fringe, it begs the question: Have the X Games turned alternative sports into mainstream events? "I wouldn't say mainstream," answers Amy Cacciola, assistant director of marketing and communications for the X Games. "It's made these alternative sports more popular. Three years ago, people didn't know what street luge was. Now they're cheering for specific lugers. [The X Games] have helped bring these sports into the limelight." A light that to many shines brighter than Olympic gold.-Kathleen Gasperini The Disciplines Aggressive Inline Skating: Includes vert competition on a halfpipe, and street competition with ramps, rails and box jumps. New this year: vert triples competition, with three skaters on the ramp. Downhill lnline Skating: 50-second sprint down a wide, winding street. Bicycle Stunt: Vert, street and dirt divisions. New this year: vert doubles, with two stunt riders on a halfpipe. Big Air Snowboarding: Snow cannons make it possible for men and women to get big air on a 300- by 100-foot ramp. Skateboarding: Street, vert and vert doubles competitions. Skysurling: Ten teams of two perform maneuvers 10,000 feet up. Sportclimbing: Difficulty competition entrants have one attempt to scale the top of a pre-set route on a climbing wall. The speed competition is a head-to·head race to the top. Street Luge: Dual (two pilots), Mass (four pilots) and Super Mass (six pilots) speed down a tilted, angled road. Barefoot Waterski Jumping: Big air off fiberglass ramps. Wakeboarding: Men and women compete to perform the best tricks.