The X games are coming back to California for four more days of insane flips, jumps, spinouts, and everything else that scares the pants off school nurses, including mohawks and bloody elbows.  As always the event has evolved to represent the state of the sport, with so many new features and first time events, it’s destined to be one of the biggest X games ever.  The X games are known for going big, and ESPN will be hard pressed to beat their big numbers from last year, gluing nearly 38 million fans to TV sets all over the country, not to mention fans all over the world tuning in on EXPN.com.  The games will be held Thursday July 31^st, through Sunday August 3^rd at Staples Center, L.A. Live, and at the Home Depot Center.

This year the X games are introducing a new “Superpark” format, a huge, transition based skate and BMX park which focuses on long lines.  Skaters and bikers will haul around the park without a chance to catch their breath or stand still, while trying to string together tasty lines of tricks for the fans.  It’s always fun watching the best of the best try to bust the biggest tricks ever in one long string of flashy riding.  Most of these guys and girls are beyond any standalone vert ramp anyway, and the park is designed to showcase the skills and tricks developed in our city skate parks and on the streets, the way extreme sports were meant to be.            

As champion BMX rider Matt Hoffman says, “The very core of BMX is to explore and be creative.  This new format will promote this progression, providing the opportunity for the best riders to expand Park and Vert to new dimensions.”  Hoffman is actually on ESPN’s staff now, as sport organizer for the BMX based events.  When he talks about exploration and creativity, he’s talking about the lines of attack the riders will use in their series of tricks.  The key will be creativity, and not repeating tricks, which forces the one dimensional riders out, and lets the up and comers know what it means to truly be creative.  Mostly it means flying through the air at ridiculous speeds while trying to get as many vertical, horizontal, and varial rotations of their deck or bike, but with the key element, STYLE in the forefront.  Style is indeed key at the X games, speed, danger, and thrilling maneuvers only add to your style,  so watch out for some truly stupendous moves at both the medal events, and at a couple of exhibition events, most notably a “Skateboard Legends of Vert Jam” Scheduled for Sunday’s wrap up at the Home Depot Center. 

A newer favorite at the games has been the Rally Car racing series, and these tarmac and dirt eating monsters will be battling at the Home Depot Center, tearing around hairpin turns and flying through the straights at terrible speed, usually with only a light grip on the road.  It makes for a harrowing race, and a great show.  Cars flipping over in the middle of a race are not all that uncommon, and the competition can be fierce.

Tickets for all the events can be purchased at Ticketmaster, or at the box offices of Staples Center, and the Home Depot Center. ESPN hopes to make this the biggest X games ever, so be sure and grab your tickets and bring the kids along to watch as these extreme athletes take each other on in a four day frenzy of sports, to the extreme.