The X Games is all grown up. I feel almost like a proud mom who has empty nest syndrome, sad that my little baby doesn't need me anymore. I definitely felt old when I went to all various X Games functions and realized I am at least 10 years older than everyone else there.
When it comes to action sports, you're over the hill at 35 - done, finished, forgotten and ready for retirement. I was talking to my friend Shanti about that as we were slumped on an oversized suede chair at the "Target House," at Aspen Highlands, another of at least a dozen VIP parties that were going on Saturday night. All the parties were thrown by large companies spending lots of money at the X Games, always at locations dubbed by the company sponsoring the party.
There were huge bashes at the "Vitamin Water House," the "Monster House," the "Smith House" and so on and so forth. The big corporate money is only part of the X Games growth. I've been covering this event in some capacity since its inception.
I was there when super modified shovel racing, speed ice climbing and on-snow mountain biking were events and Shaun Palmer was still a snowboarder. I was there when the athletes were worried about selling out and the gap jump on the slopestyle course was filled with sticky green Mountain Dew. I was there when even the athletes were wary of the X Games, unsure if buying into the hype of a mainstream event meant they were "selling out.
" That was back when snowboarders in particular considered themselves to be alternative or even hardcore. There was a lot of anti-contest sentiment back then, and most pros didn't think of snowboarding as a sport so much as a community that subscribed to an underground lifestyle. But put people on national TV, and all of a sudden their perspective changes.
The "x" in "exposure" was all anyone needed to come around to what ESPN was trying to do. Shanti and I were there through all that, and somehow we're still here. Except now instead of courting us, the X Games has outgrown us.
The X Games doesn't need other media - that much is obvious by the crummy "media access" we were granted with our credentials. Aside from the media tent, media credentials don't get you anywhere except corralled into areas where you can't see anything. It's clear ESPN is not going to share the best angle with anyone outside the Disney family.
That's because the X Games is huge and hugely successful. With that growth, access has gotten tighter. You would think it was the Academy Awards when it came to the private party circuit.
It seemed like I spent the entire weekend scrambling to get tickets for this and a pass to that. The most ridiculous part of it was my job was to cover the parties for a nightlife column I was hired to write by AOL's action sports website, Lat34.com.
The parties I did manage to get into were over the top. There was the X Games Kickoff party at the Belly Up, where Hell's Belles, an all-female AC/DC cover band, rocked the house until close. There was the Powder Awards, a Powder Magazine/Aspen Skiing Company awards ceremony at the Hotel Jerome that honored this year's stars of freeskiing.
The most impressive of all, though, was the Red Bull Illume photo exhibit, set up on the steep slopes of Aspen Mountain. A brightly lit metal staircase led up to the outdoor, on-slope photo exhibit set against the lights of the town below. There was a large tent on site for VIPs furnished with an open bar, deep white couches and flat-screen TVs for prime X Games viewing, and Red Bull "Ice Girls" dressed head to toe in these tight, white fur- trimmed outfits who hung out and mingled with guests.
Then there was that party at the Target House, a huge mansion at the base of Aspen Highlands where a chocolate fondue fountain, huge jars of candy and pro snowboarders shuffling around in the furry white slippers with red Target logos that made it feel more like a sleepover party for fifth-graders than a VIP industry soiree. Shanti and I sat in that one chair like two old ladies, observing the scene but no longer feeling like we were really a part of it. We lasted about 20 minutes before we headed home.
In the end, I'm not sure if it's the X Games has grown up or maybe it's me who has outgrown the X Games. All contents Copyright 2007 The Denver Post or other copyright holders. All rights reserved.
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