Pete Thomas Outdoors

Expansion of X Games a reflection of mainstream acceptance

The announcement Tuesday by ESPN that the X Games will expand from two major events in the United States to six global events staged annually underscores how deeply action sports have penetrated mainstream youth culture.

As part of the "Global X" initiative, expansion will occur in 2013, with Los Angeles and Aspen, Colo., remaining as venues for summer and winter competitions, respectively. Tignes, France, will be a second Winter X Games location, and the remaining venues will be determined through a competitive bidding process that began Tuesday. (Host cities will be announced sometime next year.)

Scott Guglielmino, ESPN's senior vice president in charge of programming, called this the biggest announcement regarding the X Games since ESPN announced the event's debut in 1995. He added that each of the six events will showcase local culture and "have its own kind of flare."

Travis Pastrana, an 11-time X Games gold medalist and arguably the world's most popular action sports athlete, said the expansion reflected the booming growth and mainstream acceptance of action sports.

"It used to be that schoolteachers and parents and other people with a big influence on kids were saying there's no future in it," said Pastrana, a freestyle motocross legend and rally racing star. "You found, really, that the true passion in action sports comes from that, but what's awesome is that it's now accepted more socially.

"It's giving kids the opportunity to really chase their dreams and parents the opportunity to see that these are legitimate sports with real money [involved]. And at the same time it's still core and fun. I'm super pumped about the expansion."

X Games competitions have been held abroad in recent years but as lower-profile events. Under the Global X plan all six events will be similar in size and scope, and a website will be created to devote year-round coverage to all things related to the events.

Unlike the U.S. Dew Tour, a summer and winter action sports series run by NBC, each Global X event will be stand-alone, with no points or standings determining a series winner. Each, Guglielmino said, will be regarded as a major, like the PGA Tour's four majors.

The bidding process will begin next year and the most likely scenario is that there will be four summer and two winter Global X events, but it's possible that there will be three summer and three winter competitions.

Core sports will remain the same at each venue. For example, the gargantuan mega-ramp, used for immensely popular big-air skateboarding and BMX competitions, will be featured at each summer venue.

But it's also possible, according to X Games creator Ron Semiao, that sports will be added at specific venues where certain sports are important to a specific area's culture. For example, if Australia were to land an X Games, surfing might be added as a discipline for that event.

Semiao does not believe the expansion, which will include 130 hours of live programming for the six events, is a gamble. Rather, he said, the timing is perfect because action sports have worked their way into the mainstream youth culture to the point where they're as accepted, if not more so, than traditional sports.

"You now have a situation where if you go into a teen's garage, you will see a football and a basketball and a baseball and a snowboard and a dirt bike, a BMX bike and a skateboard along with a soccer ball," Semiao said. "They are all part of sports and have worked their way into the generally accepted sports culture, particularly with youth."

The timing of the expansion comes shortly after it was announced that freeskiing halfpipe competitions -- staple X Games events for men and women -- will debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Freeskiing star Sarah Burke acknowledged that her already busy schedule will become more hectic, but said she'd work the X Games competitions into her itinerary. "The X Games has always been the main one; the dream that everyone strives to be part of," she said. "I know it's going to be the top event on everyone's schedule and they'll make room for it. And I think everyone's really excited to see how it goes."

-- Travis Pastrana image (top) courtesy of Dom Cooley/Shazamm/ESPN Images. Sarah Burke image courtesy of C. Van Hanja / ESPN Images

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Tony Hawk turns 43, shows he can still nail a 900

The legendary Tony Hawk is best known for becoming the first skateboarder to stick a 900 during a competition--a trick so difficult that it required 11 attempts during the 1999 X Games, for an athlete who had seen the trick play out in his mind for 10 years.

The trick, which entails 2 1/2 rotations above the vert ramp wall, inspired future generations of skateboarders and other action sports athletes to persevere and progress their sports to astonishing new levels.

Hawk, meanwhile, remains an inspiration. Over the weekend, during a demo tour in Sweden, he nailed another 900, and the big deal this time is that he is now the oldest person to have performed the trick. "I'm 43 and I did a 900 today in Linkoping, Sweden," he tweeted. "Yes, I still skate as much as ever." Here's the proof:

 

Death of Belgian cycling star Wouter Weylandt rocks sport

Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt died Monday after a high-speed crash during the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, casting a pall over the race and sport.

Many athletes expressed their dismay via social media platforms.

American cycling legend Lance Armstrong stated via Twitter: "Just back from a run and got the news of Wouter Weylandt's death today in the Giro. I'm shocked and saddened. May he rest in peace."

British star Mark Cavendish tweeted: "Things like this shouldn’t happen. Absolutely sick to the stomach. My thoughts are with his family. RIP Wouter Weylandt."

The Giro race website stated: "It is sadly ironic that he was the winner of last year's Stage 3 at the Giro d'Italia in Middleburg."

Weylandt crashed on a downhill section of the course about 12 miles from the third-stage finish line in northern Italy, near the town of Mezzanego. Paramedics cut his helmet free during resuscitation attempts, according to the Associated Press.

He becomes the first cyclist to have died after a crash during one of the sport's three main tours since Italy's Fabio Casartelli died during the 1995 Tour de France. Weylandt is the fourth cyclist to have perished as a result of a crash during the Giro competition, but the first in 25 years.

Surfers to be recognized for most terrifying wipeouts (video)

Surfing and wipeouts go hand in hand. Those who ride waves invariably experience wipeouts, and the larger the waves, the more dramatic wipeouts typically become.

So imagine the turbulent, terrifying moments endured by some of the world's premier big-wave surfers, who spent the past 12 months chasing mammoth swells in the hope of earning recognition in top categories of the year-long Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards, which will be announced on April 29.

Five of those surfers have been selected as finalists in the not-so-prestigious Verizon Wipeout Award, but during the awards ceremony only one will emerge--and be cheered--as the man who survived the past year's most savage pummeling.  As you can see by the footage, all are deserving:

 

'Soul Surfer' a big hit, but will it create 'Blue Crush' effect?

Bethany Hamilton and the many people involved in the making of "Soul Surfer" are celebrating a fourth-place opening-weekend finish at the box office, and with good reason.

The movie, a true-life portrayal of Hamilton's amazing comeback after losing an arm during a shark attack, earned $11.1 million and finished much higher than many experts had predicted. Additionally, it earned an A+ from CinemaScore, a market research firm that gauges movie-goers' reactions to films.

Now it'll be interesting to watch the ripple effect. Rip Curl, the company that sponsors Hamilton and the surf company sponsor of the movie, will realize a considerable boost in exposure and probably will enjoy an increase in the sale of girls' surf apparel.

Whether "Soul Surfer" will generate a "Blue Crush" effect, luring more girls onto surfboards and into the water, remains to be seen. But the boys are hopeful.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Bethany Hamilton is courtesy of ©Noah Hamilton Photography

'Soul Surfer' arrives in theaters as ultimate comeback story

"Soul Surfer" premieres today across the U.S. and Canada, placing the spotlight on Bethany Hamilton and her inspirational comeback after losing her left arm during a Halloween morning shark atack in 2003.

Reviews have been mixed but most people will should leave theaters in agreement that Hamilton's comeback story is one of the most incredible in sports.

Mainstream society, by now, is at least vaguely familiar with the movie's true-to-life plot: promising young surfer loses an arm to a shark as a 13-year-old, yet somehow discovers the strength and courage not only to keep surfing, but to compete at a high level and eventually turn pro.

To fully grasp how difficult that was for Hamilton, her deep faith in God not withstanding, consider having to paddle, standup quickly and balance while riding fast-moving waves with only one arm.

"For me, watching her do what she does just makes me want to try that much harder," elite surfer Alana Blanchard, Hamilton's close friend and witness to the 2003 attack, said in an interview. "She is amazing how motivated she is and just how inspiring she is to everyone."

"Soul Surfer" stars Anna Sophia Robb as Bethany; Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as the surfer's parents; country music star Carrie Underwood as Bethany's youth minister, and Lorraine Nicholson as Blanchard.

From an acting standpoint, Robb recalled in a Collider.com interview that it was challenging simply pretending to do ordinary things with only one arm.

"I had my arm behind my back so there were times that I was tempted to reach out for something, and then I had to remember [that I couldn't]," Robb said. "There are a lot of things that you can't really do, like tying your bathing suit, carrying bags out to the car, or opening a bottle of water, which Bethany does. She just does it all. She does more with her arm than I do with my two."

Mammoth Mountain could keep lifts open well into summer

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area has received its most snow on record -- 605 inches so far; well past the previous high of 578 inches in 2005-06. But will this also become the longest season for the Eastern Sierra resort?

That will depend on the weather. The longest Mammoth has stayed open was in 1994-95, when it closed its lifts on August 13. That season, Mammoth received 540 inches of snow. The resort opened on Oct. 8 and closed for a brief period in July before it was decided to reopen for as long as conditions allowed.

Mammoth, long a favorite destination for Southern California skiers and snowboarders, currently boasts a base depth of up to 27 feet. A resort spokeswoman said lifts will remain open "as long as possible" and added that the earliest an announcement will be made regarding a possible closing date is mid-April. View conditions here:

 

Big-wave surfers try to cope with death of Sion Milosky

The close-knit fraternity of big-wave surfers is a deeper state of mourning Thursday as realization takes hold that Sion Milosky is dead at the age of 35.

The personable surfer from Hawaii, who was coming into his own as a top-level big-wave charger, presumably drowned after a wipeout at Maverick's near Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Wednesday at dusk.

Conditions were not ideal, with bumpy storm surf and reduced visibility, and wave heights measuring perhaps to 50 feet. Milosky fell on what might have been his last wave before calling it a day.

He reportedly was held down by that wave and another without being able to surface between the two waves, and it proved overwhelming. His friend, Nathan Fletcher, found the body while cruising back toward the lineup after giving another surfer a ride from the offshore break into Pillar Point Harbor.

Milosky, while it will be said that he died doing something he loved, leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. He was not a top-level pro and held a real job, but had begun to attract the interest of sponsors.

He was recently named North Shore Underground Surfer of the Year, and was paid $25,000 by Vans, which sponsored that Hawaii competition. Milosky used some of that money to pay for his trip to Santa Cruz, where he stayed with fellow surfer Ken Collins and was among a dozen or so surfers to greet the arrival of a big northwest swell at nearby Maverick's.

Said Collins to the Santa Cruz Sentinel: "Sion was dominating it. Everybody was like, 'Who is that? What are you doing letting Hawaiians take over your wave?' That's what blows my mind the most, is that he was doing all that, and then he drowned."

Surprisingly, given the raw power of Maverick's breakers, Milosky is only the second person to have been killed there while surfing. The other was Mark Foo, also from Hawaii, in 1994.

This has been a tough winter for Hawaii's surfing community, which is still struggling to get over the death last November of three-time ASP world Tour champion Andy Irons.

News of Milosky's passing began to spread Wednesday night on social network websites. Most of the posts were heart-felt condolences, including this one on a friend's Facebook page: "Sion Milosky ... so sad to hear that we have lost you ... another great brother from Hawaii. Our deepest sympathy and aloha to your family."

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of Cestari / ASP

Big-wave surfer Sion Milosky dies at Maverick's

Sion Milosky, a surfer from Hawaii who had gained fame recently for his prowess on large waves, died Wednesday during a late-afternoon session at Maverick's off Half Moon Bay, Calif. He was 35.

Milosky's death is only the second at Maverick's involving a surfer. The other victim was renowned big-wave charger Mark Foo, also from Hawaii, who drowned after a wipeout in 1994.

Milosky, one of many big-wave chargers on hand to greet the arrival of a late-season north swell at Maverick's, apparently got pummeled by a set wave in the waning daylight. Waves were not especially large by Maverick's standards, with faces measuring 25-40 feet, but conditions were sloppy.

Jamie Norris, a paramedic with Cal Fire who was on hand after Sion's body had been delivered ashore by other surfers via personal watercraft, would not confirm the identity of the victim, who was rushed to Seaton Coastside Medical Center after unsuccessful CPR efforts.

However, various news outlets began reporting the news Wednesday night, and numerous condolences directed toward Milosky and his family have appeared on Twitter and Facebook. Sources contacted for this report verified the victim as Milosky.

Milosky, who lived on Kauai with his wife and young children, made headlines last winter for riding what some said was the largest wave ever paddled into, at an offshore Oahu reef break. Below is a video about Sion and that adventure, posted on the Surfing magazine website on Jan. 27, 2010:

 

Shane Dorian scores epic paddle-in waves at Maui's Jaws

For surfers in Hawaii on Tuesday, March Madness entailed paddling or being towed into monstrous waves, thanks to the arrival of a late-season north swell.

The swell, which also will generate giant waves at Maverick's off Half Moon Bay over the next few days, has put the world's premier big-wave surfers in a scramble to post last-minute entries in the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards.

The contest accepts photo and video entries in various categories from thrill-seeking pros who spend each year traveling the planet in search of the biggest waves. The window closes on the 2010-11 event Sunday night.

Hawaii's Shane Dorian, who is pictured above and below at Jaws off Maui, presumably has become one of the favorites to claim the Monster Paddle award after for his paddle-in exploits at the legendary tow-in spot.

As for Maverick's, the swell will arrive but wind and rain might prevent any waves from being ridden. Thanks to Mike Neal for providing the copyrighted Shane Dorian images.

-- Pete Thomas