After five years of mixed results and a failure to find a competition format that worked and excited, the plug has officially been pulled on surfing for this years Summer X Games in Los Angeles. And while earlier this year we witnessed ESPN and X Games organizers get blasted for the decision (one that was soon after overturned) to axe the half-pipe competition, I’m not so sure that the exclusion of surfing from this years games is going to elicit the same type of reaction.

The allure of the X Games is seeing the worlds most talented and skilled athletes competing at the highest level and in the most challenging arenas for each sport respectively. While that was the case for the majority of the action sports showcased in the games, organizers were simply unable to find a way to fit surfing into their mold in order to capture the hearts and minds of their audience when it came to surfing.

The conflicting schedules of the ASP world tour with the timing of the summer games was one of the major issues that organizers were facing. There was no way they were going to pull any of the fellas off of the WCT in order to participate in their event. Although I would personally be thrilled beyond belief to watch the mind-blowing exhibitions of WQS regulars such as Clay Marzo, Dusty Payne, and Pat Gudauskas as well as the always explosive and innovative Jamie O’Brien running wild on Puerto Escondido, it doesn’t appear that was a sentiment shared by those calling the shots. Those looking to sponsor the event were undoubtedly looking for surfers with highly recognizable names more along the lines of Slater, Taj, A.I., and Parko. With the Billabong Pro J-Bay running in the same time frame as Summer X, that simply wasn’t going to happen.

Try as they may, I’m not sure the X Games will ever be able to capture the greatness of surfing the way they have been able to with many of the other featured events. The same unpredictability and uniqueness of surfing that draws many of us to this amazing sport is what makes it difficult for X Games to package up and deliver to those they are seeking to reach. The ocean runs on it’s own schedule and waves cannot be built and disassembled in a matter of hours. So while the plan is for the surfing portion of Summer X to take a year off and be evaluated for future improvements, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go away completely. If the X Games remains unable to put on surfing’s best face and celebrate it’s majesty, maybe it’s better that they didn’t put it on at all.

San Diego, CA - With more than 20 X Games Medals to their credit, Vans Team Riders Bucky Lasek, Dennis McCoy and Neal Hendrix will perform at the 5th Annual Action Sports Day on May 24th prior to the San Diego Padres v. Cincinnati Reds game.

“The demo will be fun, but I need to practice for the pitch – so I can show off my fastball.” Said Lasek who will toss out the ceremonial first pitch.

In addition to Lasek and the other luminaries of action sports, San Diego native and skate phenom Alex Perelson will participate. “Having grown up in San Diego, skating at a Padres game with guys like Bucky, Neal and everyone is really exciting” said the 17-year old Perelson who finished 4th in his first ever X Games.

Other athletes participating in Action Sports Day include world-renown Brazilian Skater Lincoln Ueda and BMXers Coco Zurita, Ben Snowden and Austin Coleman. The event will be hosted by X Games announcer Dave Duncan.

A 40-foot half pipe will be placed on the wiffle ball field in the Park at the Park at PETCO Park for the performance, which is set to start 6:15. In addition to the demo, there will be prizes and give-aways from Vans and Camp Woodward. Following the game there will be a post game Family Fireworks show.

Fans can purchase tickets via the Internet at padres.com, padresbeisbol.com or by phone at 1-877-FRIARTIX

The much publicized decision made by ESPN to file a lawsuit against Quiksilver over the letter ‘X‘ (silly, isn’t it?) is a decision that will continue to find ESPN and the X-Games painted into a corner all by themselves when it comes to the action sports industry.

In short, the lawsuit basically states that Quiksilver uses a stylized “X” emblem on clothing, labels and accessories that is “confusingly similar” to ESPN’s logo for the series of surfing and biking contests.

Aside from the fact that the basis of this lawsuit appears to be petty and childish, picking a fight with one of the biggest brands in all of action sports isn’t going to do anything beneficial for the continually sagging ratings of the X-Games. For most of us, Quiksilver is a brand that is near and dear to our hearts and one that we would side with over ESPN in a heartbeat.

It has been a gradual decline for the X-Games, but ESPN seems intent on speeding up the process of seeing the games go by the wayside altogether. We just witnessed how well the ‘let’s drop Vert, the event that put us on the map and gave us our signature moment’ decision went over with the masses. Hint: the decision was quickly reversed. They are even going as far as to infuse Hollywood actors into the games and having them judge sports that they know absolutely nothing about.

The thought process being used by the decision-makers at ESPN and X-Games over the last few years is highly questionable. With the direction they’ve taken it’s hard to know what their intentions for the future are. Surely these aren’t the types of decisions made by people who are at all in touch with what makes their fan-base tick.

The X-Games have decided to keep the skateboarding vert competitions around for at least one more summer. What was a widely criticized decision, ESPN had originally announced they were killing off the vert skate events from the Summer X-Games and that prompted me to write that they’ve officially jumped the shark.

While I still think the X-Games have been on a decline, it’s pretty refreshing that they have listened to their audience and changed their minds. They had a poll up on their site asking if the decision to drop the vert event was a good idea. The people spoke and 80% said it was a bad decision. I can’t help but think this decision to reinstate the vert comps was also influenced by the athletes of the games.

Even tough ESPN went back on their original decision, it says a lot about them to drop this event in the first place. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point where their intentions lie and they’re willing to sell us out in a second for the almighty dollar. I guess that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, afterall they’re owned by ABC and we both know ABC doesn’t care about much besides their bottom-line.

Ruben’s post about the X-Games killing vert skateboarding today really caught my attention. Why? Simply because I associate much of the Summer X-Games with vert skateboarding and I think this is a huge mistake by ESPN. Just about every time I’ve watched the games on TV, they’ve almost always had vert skate on. And I enjoyed watching it, even though the only time I ever tried dropping in on a vert ramp I ate shit.

Some of my best Summer X memories consist of vert highlights, most notably Tony’s 900 that none of us will soon forget. I can’t help but think I’m not alone with my Summer X/vert connection. I’m willing to bet a large number of people who either are or aren’t heavily involved in action sports see it as their signature sport.

I’m sure ESPN has good reasons for making this move, financial being the top. But I can’t help but think this rubs many of us the wrong way and is (in my opinion) a huge slap in the face to athletes like Tony Hawk. Because of old media decisions like this, the games have slowly been getting worse over the years and now they’ve just completely jumped the shark.

On April 3rd, ESPN announced the “death” of the Vert competition in the upcoming X-Games. They are getting rid of it entirely and replacing it with a superpark style competition.

First off, since when did we start using the term known as “superpark”? And secondly, Vert has always come and gone but when I think of the X-Games I think of the Vert competition right away. I am pretty sure many other skateboarders and spectators do as well. Afterall, it seems to be a highly-featured event every year.

The signature moment in X-Games skateboarding, as well as for the X-Games in general was Tony Hawks 900. This of course was done on the Vert ramp. It’s cool that they have the street competition now, but I feel like no matter what they do its always never going to really be a “street” competition. And if I am not mistaken, don’t motocross and countless other categories have over 3 events in the X-Games?

It would be a real bummer if skateboarding was downgraded and left with only the Mega Ramp and “superpark” event. I personally have never dropped in on a full sized vert ramp but I could only imagine what it must be like. I have an immense amount of respect for the vert skateboarders who are out doing their thing. I really enjoy watching them throw it down on the massive vert ramp.

On top of that, there are tons of skateboarding street competitions but not that many for the vert guys. The X-Games to me was the contest that all vert skateboarders look forward to winning. And yes, X-Games style vert ramps seem limited almost solely to California when it comes to availability. But you have to remember that the X-Games have almost always taken place in California. I’m a street skateboarder and have always skated street. Here I am telling you that we need the Vert competition badly. Don’t let it be pulled away from us. They’re our brothers just as much as the dudes you skate street with. Help vote to keep the Vert competition around!