While there are many events in the world of extreme sports, each year the best athletes from around the globe come together for the X-Games. Both the Winter and Summer versions have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. Although it rarely has the same relaxed feel that most contests in extreme sports have, the international coverage and excitement level is unparalleled.

Starting in 1995, the Summer X-Games brought a certain level of mainstream respectability to the athletes who worked so hard in relative obscurity up until then. Except for a few standouts such as Tony Hawk in skateboarding and Mat Hoffman in BMX, no one could afford to rely on their sport to pay the bills. Kids were exhilarated by the newly created alternatives to the traditional team sports, but they were under no illusion that the public at large accepted their choice. They were told that they were rebelling against authority. They were fined and arrested, and rarely received any forms of encouragement.

If nothing else, the X-Games made it okay to be an extreme sport athlete. The achievements in all these innovative sports were finally seen by a wide section of America, and not surprisingly, the people responded very favorably to them. Parents finally were given a reference to go by when their son or daughter came to them asking for money to buy a skateboard or rollerblades. The top athletes in each sport who qualified to compete at the X-Games filled the role of idol for the youth who were just starting out.

Every traditional sport has long and rich histories to draw upon, whereas those few athletes who made it to the first X-Games were the originators of their extreme sport. Now that almost a generation has gone by, the torches have been passed down for the next superstars to carry. Ryan Sheckler, a recent phenom at the X-Games, was only 6 years old when they began. He was undoubtedly encouraged by what he saw on TV every season. Now kids are looking to him as their idol.

There is still quite a long way to go before the extreme sports of X-Games fame are as popular as baseball, football, basketball, or hockey. The traditional sports so dominate the culture that they stifled any competition in the early years of extreme sports. But with the addition of major events such as the X-Games, at least now all the sports get a chance at an even playing field.

Learn more about this author, David Colello.
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