No Colin! Not again! Faust’s gonna take gold because of his drifting skills. I’m Loving the cross-over on the course.
Anyone else watching?
We’ve watched it when we caught it on, but didn’t go out of our way to watch it.
I was amazed that Matt Hoffman was still out at the games. That guy was like my hero when I was younger. Same with Dave Mirra. ESPN’s website seems to show that Dennis McCoy is still competing as well. He has been around since about the time I was born. I don’t think he was at the games this year though…
Speaking of bikes, the vert competition was pretty amazing. I remember the days when a tailwhip and a flair were big enough to be show-stopper type tricks, but seeing the back-to-back 900s was jaw-dropping. I don’t remember who it was, but I think I recall them saying he was riding brakeless…
Rally racing was nice. I enjoyed the crossover, and loved how it was one lap on each side per car. I’m not someone who usually watches racing, but once we flipped it to the finals today I was stuck in front of the tube…great show all the way through today.
I still hold a little disdain for the moto-x events. I just wasn’t too impressed by them, but I know they are just as hard for the competitors so I won’t complain much.
The big air competition was nice. I haven’t seen that before (I haven’t watched the games in a few years) but I did enjoy watching it. I’m looking forward to the winter games…
Brendon Small
There was an exhibition featuring all the old school skaters on this afternoon- made me feel nostalgic, too, and not quite so old as many of the OG’s are around my age and still skating. I’m also looking forward to the winter games- I love Shaun White on the snowboard, and he won the skateboard vert today. But I was rooting for Bob Burnquist. My favorite X Games moment of all time was when Bob had such an amazing run in 2001 that one of the announcers just lost it, and announced that Bob Won! With two skaters left in the competition. Here is a 60 second YouTube video of that moment, but the clip is missing “Bob WON! Bob WON!, but it is still hilarious.
Jake Brown made a 720 during the Big Air comp then fell at the apex of his next trick- he dropped 40 feet straight down. He hit so hard his shoes fell off, breaking a wrist, bruising his lungs and fracturing a vertebrae. He is out of the hospital and limped onto the ramp for a standing ovation today. ESPN keeps showing the fall from different angles, and the thump is sickening. My eyes water each time I watch it. Here is a YouTube clip of the fall, but don’t click unless you have a strong stomach. And if you have an iron gut, watch ESPN for the clip- they are showing a different angle- can’t believe he survived that fall.
That fall was insane. I saw it last night while I was at work, and it was on ebaumsworld. After I saw it, I wandered over to youtube and watched some clips from the games. I don’t think I’ve seen a fall that hard in quite some time. Actually, it could be the worst I’ve seen altogether.
Old school xgames is always great. Somewhere, I have a recording on a VHS of my favorite moment. IIRC it was at one of the Xtrails events - I believe it was Dave Mirra and Dennis McCoy - there was one rider who fell and screwed up his bike but as he ran back up the ramp, the other competitor was pulling his bike out from the side and setting it out for him to use. It was just a great show of camaraderie.
Shawn White was pretty great in the skateboard competition - I had no idea he even would be in it until I saw the highlights of him competing. I can’t seem to find out on ESPN.com though, did they eliminate the bicycle flatland altogether? It was one of my favorite events.
Brendon Small
Dave Mirra rode in BMX Park for maybe his last time, but I didn’t see BMX Dirt or any mention of it anywhere- I missed it, too. I haven’t seen flat competition in a long time, but I sometimes catch exhibitions. I guess crowd pleasing (and insanely dangerous) flips and tricks replaced flat, at least for big TV events. Going to be hard to encourage my nephew to pogo when he would rather be trying to flip the bike.
Dang, I need to watch more of this. Particularly since I’ve grumbled so often about how abysmal Olympics coverage is these days.
About the fall, if you’ll take a close look at the replay, you can see clearly what he was trying to do; take it on the feet and go backwards, so as to take three or four bumps instead of one (he explained this the next day, in fact). Really gotta applaud him for having the presence of mind to do this with maybe two seconds to react, let alone actually pulling it off.
Incredible that he came out of it posssibly in good enough shape to compete in at least one more event. I wasn’t really expecting anything major, but how the hell do you come out of that with no lower body injuries whatsoever? I expected a broken ankle and a blown out knee at minimum. (The fractured vertebrae was a pre-existing condition, too.)
I just read that the fractured vertebrae was pre-existing- Jake is nearly indestructable, and possibly my new skate hero precisely because of his split second decision to take the hit in such a way as to minimize damage. If dude had a tail he’d be a cat.
X games replay and news comes back on tonight on ESPN2 and ESPNHD at 12:30AM Eastern time. Don’t miss the rally- the track is like a lifesize hotwheels track, and watching the drivers shift from loose dirt to controlled drifts on pavement is awesome. I was yelling at the television all afternoon.
The size of the ramps in motocross, BMX, and skate is insane, and the tricks and combos look impossible. (Here’s Bob on the World’s largest ramp on YouTube) I can’t believe how the sports and tracks have progressed in such a short time, and how the players keep up. These athletes are fearless.
Of course, the world’s biggest ramps are pretty amazing to see, but so are those who do amazing tricks without. The last flatland at Xgames I’ve found video from in 2000. I’m pretty sure there was flatland after that, but I think they’ve played it down in order to go with the “Biggest possible ramp” theory. Just show your nephew some good footage (Trevor Meyer , maybe) and remind him that flatland means sweet tricks without being confined to a ramp…
I noticed the removal of inline sports as well…
I believe at the end of the Rally cross event they mentioned if you Google “indestructible” or “unbreakable” or something to that effect, Jake Brown is the first link. I forget which word they said though.
If you know, why is it possibly Mirra’s last? I remember his first XGames, he was the “boy wonder” type at that point. Does anyone know if Ryan Nyquist is still around? I’m going to look and try to find something but I thought I’d ask as well. I loved to watch him in BMX dirt, mostly because of his style of going as big as possible, which was often a crash, but really seemed to show no fear whatsoever.
Also, the DQ in the rally cross kind of sucks. I understand why, but it took me out of the event for a few moments and I just kind of went brain dead as that happened. Luckily, the final run was so amazing that I forgot all about it.
Brendon Small
Ryan Nyquist is my favorite for BMX dirt as well. He nearly always has a spectacular goof in every event, but when he wins, his form is flawless. I like how intense and focused he is.
Mirra did some commentary for skate yesterday- he may just be getting close to retirement. He had a bad injury last year- torn liver I think. Maybe Mirra, too is a little put off by the danger of the more outlandish ramps.
Thanks for the Meyer footage- I will collect some of the old school tricks for my future skaterboy to watch this week-end. I would much rather take him to the ER for a broken arm than a broken vertebrae or ruptured spleen.
I had the same reaction to the DQ.It looked like a photo finish to me, but after the replay it was clear that Travis broke the barrier and struck the other car. I really enjoyed the on-board cameras and the side-by-side track shots.
Aside: Colin McRae apparently lost a bet with Travis- Colin will be Travis’ navigator in some upcoming race. Oh, the shame.
Tanner Faust is a drift champ and stunt driver- he drove in Tokyo Drift and one of the Bourne movies. I have been watching Rally and Dakar since I was a kid, but I am really learning to love drifting. If you like drift, you may like the anime series Initial D. (wiki link) It is a cartoon, but specs and technical information about the sport and building the cars is scattered throughout the series.
The biggest part of the reply that helped me figure it out was the one where they were talking about Travis having about half a car length, and showing them from a head on angle.
They mentioned at the end of the final run that judges would be reviewing the finish of that race as well, since Block hit the barrier as well and they both were in some contact with it. I assume that there was no problem with that though because they ended the show and there was no more discussion.
Meyer can be pretty amazing, and there are so many kids out there riding flatland. We’ve got a few decent ones here in town - one who specifically only does flatland because we just added a skatepark here in the last year, and it’s mostly homemade and of lesser quality.
I’ve deeply missed being involved in these sports. I called my mother to get my old bike, but she had sold it to make room in the garage. Now I’m a little bothered because it was a nice Specialized, but she said my neighbor has one of the old GT/Dyno’s around he might be willing to part with. I’m so glad ESPN has made the Xgames into something this big. When I started watching, it was on in the afternoon and at 2 am, never primetime. Now it is a pretty big crowd pleaser.
Does anyone remember the event from the early days of the games where they had a huge race - almost like a triathlon or something - where they walked in the desert, took kayaks down the shoreline, and rode bikes into the end? I think it was a team event, or at least partnered event, and kind of like a survival race. When did that end?
The winter games can’t get here soon enough…
Brendon Small
(I’m staying up way too late watching the recaps.) I don’t remember this, but I love river events, so I’ll find it tomorrow.
So you are saying that you are stoked? That’s awesome.
Yeah, me too. Nephew’s going to be sharing the driveway with me this weekend. Maybe I should build a ramp…
Actually, after spending my first 2.5 hours of employment tonight playing on expn.go.com I decided it would be better to find it on Wikipedia. Of course, it’s on this list - right at the top. Now that I realize the recaps are on, I will definitely not be getting much work done. (how much work do I normally get done? I’m addicted to the SDMB, just tonight I have sports too…)
Actually, I might even use that word. I used to be into BMX very much (competed locally but never much outside of Ohio) and back when I was young and had no responsibilities I rode at least 3-4 hours a day. How much does your nephew ride/skate? If he’s decently confident, a quick road trip may be in order…maybe to an establishment with some ramps already up?
Of course, here I am - a father, husband, and college senior - emailing my mother at 1:30 in the morning about a 20" bicycle. Maybe a graduation present is in order - I’m sure she could find me a Haro around somewhere or another.
Brendon Small
I’ve got a nitpicky complaint; the portion I saw was not high-definition and was not wide screen. I’ll even watch GOLF in widescreen HD!
I love the xgames. All of it, even though I don’t get a lot of it. Skate"park", huh? 
Peace,
mangeorge
I only see the clips that make the news when someone falls. I can’t help but think that huge skateboard ramp/pipe is going to kill someone sooner or later.
Get = understand. I’m often unsure what they’re talking about.
It’s pretty cool to see what these people can do in their respective sports. I’m not much for the culture that surrounds the X games, in fact I wouldn’t fit in in it at all, but I do think some of those guys are pretty amazing.
I watched the rally cars yesterday, they were racing around a stadium dirt/tarmac course. I can’t believe those teams would subject their cars to that huge-ass dirt jump. They must have flew 75 feet or more over the ramp. If they got the speed just right it was smooth, if they went too fast or too slow, it ended badly, as it did for a several guys. One guy caught the leading edge of the landing ramp with his back tires, the suspension rebounded, and it flipped him upside down. Rough ride for sure.
Why do they have co-drivers in the rally cars? In traditional rallying, the co-driver reads the pace notes so the driver will know what turns are coming up. The X-Games rally course is short enough that I’m sure the drivers could remember it.
Sometimes during the race on TV you could hear the co talking to the driver. Sounded like he/she was looking out for stuff.
Man, I wanna drive in that kind of race. Rally has always looked like fun to me.
Didn’t the announcer mention that the winner gets a free WRX?
Woohoo!