The X Games Revolution
Skateboarders, BMXers and Roller Bladers are a pretty innovative and free spirited bunch. They don’t like to be tied down to conformity and like to live life on their own terms. This can be seen in such a way that young people take a liking towards riding around on skateboards, or on bicycles and just having a good time. These very same young people are also very adventurous and they need to do things which are out of the ordinary. So whenever you see a bunch of young kids hanging about in the city centre, you can be sure that one of them is going to try to jump their bike over something or another one is going to try and flip their skateboard over a railing. So what happens when these young people get together and get a lot of money to play with? The X Games is what happens.
The X Games was actually started when people saw the rising trend of skateboarding, mountain biking and other non conventional sports. It was decided to give these young athletes a playground to play in and it would be televised and made into a competition. The competition actually started by the massive sports organisation ESPN that wanted to have an event that catered to sports that were out of the ordinary. The other purpose of the event was to earn some serious money and ad revenue.
It was a very smart decision to be taken because the X Games are one of the most popular televised events all over the world. Doing a little research into the origin of the games comes up with some interesting facts. “ESPN management decided to devote significant resources to the creation of an international gathering of action sport athletes. (X Games) athletes competed in 27 events in nine sport categories: Bungee Jumping, Eco-Challenge, In-line Skating, Skateboarding, Skysurfing, Sport Climbing, Street Luge, Biking and Water Sports,” (http://skateboard.about.com/cs/events/a/XGamesHistory.htm). From these humble beginnings the X Games are now broadcast all over the world and are enjoyed by a lot of action sports fans wherever they may be.
As the X Games continued to grow in popularity and viewership numbers more events were added and because of increased athlete participation and popularity the fan base continued to grow. What makes this event, which is held every year, so popular among its fans, is the unconventional nature of the sports involved and how it is something very different to the mainstream sports preferred by an older generation. Even the name X Games is very cool and resonates with young people all over the world. All in all this event was a great success for the organisers and it gave a competitive and regulated arena where people who did not have a serious outlet for their sport could now legally participate in.
There is usually a stigma attached to young people on their bikes and on their skateboards, some older people may see them as a threat to their safety and they feel these young people are out to cause trouble. This is usually a gross misconception and very stereotypical behaviour but it is there and when the X Games were introduced it made skateboarding and BMX riding a little more accessible and visible to the people who thought that the young people were only out to cause mischief. Many of them probably changed their minds about the young people hanging out at street corners and in city centres.
There must also be critics of the X Games. Because of the nature of the sports that are a part of the X Games it has divided people. The sports that people participate in at the games; things like skateboarding, in-line skating, bungee jumping, BMX riding and mountain climbing are all very unconventional sports. A reason for their popularity among the young was this very unconventionality, but when it is made popular and mainstream then the innovators and non conformists amongst these young people might feel that their sport has gone too mainstream and they will move onto the next big underground thing taking place that they can find. Even though the X Games will have its supporters and its detractors, it can be argued that it singlehandedly helped bring unconventional and different sports into the public sphere and helped them to attain a worldwide audience.
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