Maya Nibbe
Dr. Smith
English
2-21-2019
How the X-Games Benefits Society
Extreme sports have been going on for years, but in the last few decades, the popularity of extreme sports has skyrocketed. People from all over the world go to the X-Games to watch the best of the best compete in their chosen extreme sport.
The X-Games have given extreme sports a spotlight they never had before. Thanks to the X-Games, extreme sports have been broadcast for the world to see for over 20 years. Extreme sports are more popular than ever, and will likely continue to grow in popularity, partly because of the X-Games. As a result of the X-Games, pop culture has been and is being heavily influenced by extreme sports.
According to the History of the X-Games, (1) , they were first introduced as an idea by ESPN management in 1993. ESPN wanted to create a competition for extreme sports that was a lot like the Olympics, because of how popular extreme sports were becoming. Over the next two years, ESPN began to develop the X-Games, which was originally called the Extreme Games. The first competition was held in the summer of 1995 in Rhode Island. Almost 200,000 spectators showed up along with seven corporate sponsors.
Thanks to the success of the Extreme Games in 1995, ESPN decided to host a winter competition as well as a summer competition every year from then on (1).
According to the History of the X-Games, when the X-Games first began in 1995, the sports included were bungy jumping, eco-challenge, in-line skating, skateboarding, skysurfing, sport climbing, street lunge, biking, and various water sports, (1). However, each year brought in new sports. As new sports were introduced, old sports were retired. However, the old sports were never completely retired. The sports were swapped out every year, depending on their popularity (1).
Each year, the sports got more competitive and more extreme. For instance, in 1999, Tony Hawk landed the first ever “900” skateboard trick at an X-Games competition in San Francisco, (2). And in 2006, Travis Pastrana landed the first ever double backflip on a dirtbike, during an X-Games competition in Los Angeles, (3).
Because competition was ramping up between athletes in extreme sports, the sports got even more dangerous. At first, athletes were only leaving the competitions in ambulances from time to time, and would make full recoveries. But the X-Games began to put pressure on athletes to attempt to beat the records set at the X-Games or during other, non-X-Games related competitions. In 2008, a freestyle motocross rider named Jeremy Lusk died three days after crashing his dirtbike at a non X-Games competition. At first, no one really knew why Lusk failed to land the backflip safely, until his friend, Brian Deegan, came forward. Deegan also suffered major injuries after he had a similar crash in 2005. Deegan speculated that windy conditions and failure to practice contributed to the crash that killed Jeremy Lusk. (4)
The X-Games became much more conscious about weather conditions and athlete performance due to Lusk’s death, as well as many other serious injuries sustained by athletes during X-Games and non X-Games competitions. The X-Games hoped to never lose an athlete at one of their competitions.
But in 2013, Caleb Moore died the morning after he crashed his Snowmobile during an X-Games competition in Aspen, Colorado, (5). He was the first person in the history of the X-Games to pass away due to injuries sustained during the X-Games.
Still, athletes continue to push the limits of what is possible during X-Games competitions, knowing full well that if they go too far, they could also die.
As dangerous as extreme sports are, the athletes in extreme sports don’t actually have a death wish. They are just biologically wired to do extreme sports. According to a short article called “Type T personality and the Jungian classification system” (6), people who often seek thrilling adventures have the Type T personality. Those with the Type T personality have almost no fear in the face of danger.
According to The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (7), a 2011 study done by Australasian psychiatric research on 120 base jumpers and mountaineers, found that those athletes had high scores for thrill-seeking and very low scores for harm avoidance, and also found that 90% of them had witnessed a death in their sports.
According to Dr. Frank Farley, (8) , extreme sports provide Type Ts an outlet that isn’t completely destructive. Without extreme sports, Type Ts tend to commit crime and do drugs, in an attempt to get the same thrills and chills they get while doing extreme sports. In his own words, Dr.Farley said, “I argue that a lot of delinquency in crime, is connected in with thrill value.”(8)
The X-Games has helped to broadcast extreme sports to a much larger audience, and possibly even helped people with the Type T personality to find a better, less destructive way of tending to their needs (9). Rather than committing crime and doing drugs, the X-Games has probably encouraged many people to instead compete in extreme sports, because extreme sports offer the same level of excitement, without the destruction.
The X-Games has also offered a helping hand in other ways. In 2017, the X-Games announced an anti-bullying campaign called Shred Hate. Shred Hate has hoped to reduce bullying by up to 90% in their selected schools, according to “Introducing X Games Shred Hate” (10). So far, it has worked in the schools that it has been implemented in. Shred Hate invites athletes to talk about bullying to students, and implements a reward system for those who choose kindness over bullying.
The X-Games has had a huge impact on both the extreme sports community and popular culture. Had the X-Games not been established, or had the popularity it has, extreme sports and pop culture would likely be much different today. Extreme sports wouldn’t be nearly as extreme as they are today, had they not been broadcasted live for everyone to see on TV, nor would they have been as safe.
Plus, extreme sports has had a hand in shaping pop culture thanks to the X-Games. The X-Games has been nothing but a positive influence on the world, as it’s helped people with the type T personality find what they need in the world of extreme sports, rather than turning to things that could be seriously detrimental to themselves and others. Further, the X-Games has encouraged people from all walks of life to join in on the fun, and compete in extreme sports.
Extreme sports have proven to be helpful to the health of people and society in general, as it brings people together, and pushes people to go where no one else has gone before.
Sources:
- “History of the X-Games”, XGames, 2019, https://www.xgamesmediakit.com/read-me/
- “Tony Hawk lands the first-ever 900 - ESPN X Games”, XGames, 5 April 2011, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYTNkAdDD8 .
- “X Games 2006 - Double Backflip from Travis Pastrana! - HD”, XGames, 28 April 2009, Youtube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLtRW_7_piY .
- Higgins, Matt. “A New Group Seeks to Ease the Risks of Freestyle Motocross” NYtimes,https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/sports/31xgames.html
- “Caleb Moore dies one week after snowmobile crash at Winter X Games”, The Denver Post, https://www.denverpost.com/2013/01/31/caleb-moore-dies-one-week-after-snowmobile-crash-at-winter-x-games/
“Type T personality and the Jungian classification system.” NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2313544?report=abstract
- The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, “Story: Extreme sports and adventure sports”, Teara, https://teara.govt.nz/en/extreme-sports-and-adventure-sports/page-1 ,
- “Type T Personalities -- Thrill Seekers”, 8 June 2011, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIFBc7QiaEU
- “Crime prevention through sports” , UNODC, https://www.unodc.org/dohadeclaration/en/topics/crime-prevention-through-sports.html
- “Introducing X Games Shred Hate”, XGames, 2018, XGames
http://www.xgames.com/home/article/21273802/x-games-shred-hate
