This weekend, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Luckily for me, the 14th Winter X Games were on ESPN. I grew up idolizing X Games champs; anyone from Tony Hawk and Eric Koston to Ross Powers and Shaun Palmer. I watched the summer and winter competitions every year for a long time. I’ve missed the last 5 or so, mostly due to lack of free time. The thing that I always loved about the X Games is that it represents a sub culture, maybe even counter-culture penetrating the walls of the mass commercial media.
This X Games, although I thoroughly enjoyed the competition and watching all the events, I was disheartened and disappointed in the direction the X-Games are headed. Huge corporate sponsors, that have absolutely nothing to do with winter sports, or even sports in general, are sponsoring riders and the X Games as a whole. sponsors like Monster, Red Bull, Jeep, US Navy, Taco Bell, and State Farm were listed as some of the top sponsors for the event. At first, I thought, great, more sponsors means more money and more publicity. It became clear to me that the events had been geared to make sure that the sponsors could advertise as much as possible. For example, on the side of the superpipe for snowboarding and skiing, Monster and Red Bull logos everywhere. On the rider’s bibs, Jeep. At the end of the run, the riders take off their equipment, and shove the stickers on their skis/boards in the camera. Then they were promptly handed a mountain dew or monster or any sponsor’s drink to sip before heading to the top. Even on the podium riders would sip sponsor drinks.
Maybe this is a good thing, because the games will receive so much more support. But for me, its the end of an era. Another failed attempt by the underground to get into the mainstream, but keep the underground embedded in their foundation. Below, I have a link to a picture of the podium after an event.
http://www.snowboardermag.com/features/Winter-X-Games-13-Slopestyle-Mens-Podium.jpg
