ESPN’s X Games

My kitchen was full of boys on Friday night.  Boys consuming pizza and watching the X Games.  There was much talk of tailwhips, bar-spins, X-ups and various other BMX tricks.  I was surplus to requirements apart from ordering the pizza, paying for the pizza and pouring drinks.

Watching their passion for the X Games inspired us to take them on Saturday.  We’d already checked out the prices and for a mere $15 each, we could be sitting in the LA Coliseum and seeing the events first hand.  Plus there seemed to be loads of seats available in the stadium when we saw the events on television.

I’m not sure why the tickets are only $15.  We’re so used to paying extortionate amounts for concerts, we were surprised the tickets were so cheap.  I’d like to think it’s because ESPN don’t want to rip people off because they get enough money from their sponsors.  For four hours we watched rally car racing, BMX and skateboarding.  It was simply awesome.  We were only a few rows back from the front, were covered in a cloud of dust every time the rally cars whizzed by and loved every minute.

The BMX and Skateboarding Big Air were unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  At home, I’d been gasping whenever an athlete crashed to the ground, much to the annoyance of the boys.  They’d sworn me to silence when we were in the stadium but the entire crowd joined me in groaning whenever someone missed a trick and slammed into the floor.

The French lady behind me described the Skateboard Big Air Rail as ‘stunting.’  A wonderful description, if not quite the correct word.  They truly looked like stuntmen whizzing down a vast ramp and flying through the air trying to reach a small metal rail.

The other thing I love about the athletes is their sportsmanship.  These guys all know one another really well.  They may be competing against one another but they support one another and are delighted when one of them achieves an amazing trick or lands a massive jump.

And again the price.  We walked away from the stadium having spent $60 for the four of us.  How nice to feel as though you should have paid more not that feeling of being ripped off.  Thank you ESPN for keeping the prices down.  I’m sure you make a huge amount of money from the X Games and I like the fact that you don’t make it from families.

My only concern is that my son has now upped his game at his BMX lessons.  On Sunday morning he was on fire and immediately did a drop in he’d been too scared to do.  I can watch him ride in the skatepark but how any mother can watch their son ride in the X Games is beyond me.  They must have nerves of steel.