We were at the Quik Pro New York. We raved to everyone who would listen about how it was as good a World Tour event as we’d ever seen. We texted photos to buddies on the West Coast with mocking messages, we bemoaned having to sit on the beach and report while missing the day of the year in the water, and we watched, slack-jawed, as Slater and Wright battled their way to their second consecutive final. It was, in a word, epic. But it wasn’t this epic:
Well done, Quiksilver marketing department; well done.
LOS ANGELES — The sun sets on downtown Los Angeles. Fans, hoarse from cheering and glowing with too much sun, stream from the Staples Center, and L.A. Live. The Jersey barriers are being removed, returning Figueroa Street to a northbound thoroughfare when just a few hours ago it was a hotly contested stretch of the RallyCross course. That transformation was just one first in a four-day stretch of them that prove X Games 17 to be historic.
The Games began Thursday, but the fuse that sparked this action sports explosion was lit months ago with the announcement of the four-day “Pastranathon.” Travis Pastrana’s attempt to wrap the end of his competitive freestyle career into the beginning of his NASCAR career (never mind the 4,000-mile round-trip commute to Indianapolis right in the middle of the weekend) appeared to be doused before it really started after he shattered his leg and ankle attempting a rodeo 720 in Moto X Best Trick. The air seemed to follow Pastrana out of the Staples Center as he was stretchered to an ambulance, partially overshadowing Jackson Strong, who won the event by becoming the first competitor to successfully land a frontflip in competition.
It’s been written about everywhere from the Australia’s Surfing Life to The New York Times, but after weeks of conspicuous silence in hopes of a big scoop, ESPN finally decided to publish something on the proposed rebel/breakaway/Slater/communist surf tour. I gave it my best crack.
