X Games Austin 2016 Saturday recap

Obviously I wasn’t expecting to go on hiatus again since I was in the middle of X Games Austin posts. It was a big snowball of work, other hobbies, politics, and yes, lack of motivation that kept me away. I’m looking to reignite the spark for blogging, and I’m gonna try to plow through these X Games posts (I may be skipping the 2017 winter events).

Just to refresh your memory, here was my previous post about the first two days of X Games Austin 2016.  Saturday was a supposed to have been a busy day, but the weather had other plans. The rain kept coming and going so events got moved to later in day or postponed until Sunday. With how frustrated I felt as a spectator, I can only imagine how much worse it was for the athletes.

Women’s Skate Street

•  I didn’t get to catch much of women’s skate street because it started pouring shortly after the comp began.
• Also, due to the raised stage, I couldn’t get a good view of the rails without going onto the grass (which I’m allergic to).
  
• It was cool seeing some of the women, especially Mariah Duran, help clean up the course later on in the replay.  They at least were in good spirits.
• Later I learned that the spines on the fake cacti were actual screws.  Are they trying to make this more dangerous?!

The one upside to the rain was that while seeking shelter, I was able to meet Jamie Bestwick and get his autograph.  He really likes Austin so he was bummed that this was the last year (and he didn’t fault me for missing BMX Vert this year).

He’s so tall and I’m so short that I wasn’t sure we’d fit in the frame.

BMX Park

• I wasn’t familiar with Logan Martin going in, but he was ripping and got silver.
• Scotty Cranmer slammed so hard. He was in good spirits, attempting to jump up on a car, but he slipped and the medics made him get an X-ray.  On his Youtube channel, he revealed that he broke his back.
• Kyle Baldock paid tribute to Dave Mirra with a double backflip. Then he wound up talking to Dave’s kids. It was so sweet.
  
• He also threw his helmet out into the crowd but had to retrieve it for the Best Trick contest.
• Dennis Enarson finally got the gold!  He’s worked really hard for it.
  

Dave Mirra Best Trick

• The tribute to Dave made everyone tear up.  We had a moment of silence, followed by a bunch of cheers.
  
• My parents dug Best Trick although they didn’t realize the comp had started since it was a jam format.
• Gary Young was trying to do a super technical double peg grind. I don’t think a lot of people picked up on just how hard it was since it’s less showy than flips and tailwhips.
  
• Everyone pushed themselves so hard even when the rain started falling again.  Dave would have been proud.
• Kyle won the “Golden Pedal” with a double tailwhip 720. He came up into the stands afterward and spent so long chatting that Kevin Robinson had to call him back to do press.

Women’s Skateboard Park

• Skateboard Park is more technical, and it was harder to see so I think the crowd overall were lukewarm like my parents.
• The one exception was Brighton Zeuner, is the youngest female competitor ever at 11.
  
• I really like watching the skaters with good flow. They made everything look so smooth.  I also like handplants because they make a good shot.
• It’s interesting that the Park girls have a more colorful (in clothing and hair) and feminine style whereas most of the Street competitors had their hair short or tied up and wore lots of white or black.
• My dad called Kisa Nakamura “fat” and made fun of her for waiting too long to drop in for warm ups. She wound up slaying in the actual competition and getting gold so don’t judge a book by the cover.
  

I don’t want to end with another rant, but a very bad storm came and postponed everything except the concert and I have to comment about the glass ceiling female action sports athletes face.  It was very apparent at the X Games.  When Women’s Skate Park was happening in person, they were actually airing TV coverage for BMX Street on the big screen.  The women have fewer events, no live coverage, mediocre announcers, and less crowd support. That’s why I made it a goal to see the ladies skate even though street/park skating isn’t my fave. I want to show that they matter and if you give them more opportunities, they start to get on the same level as the guys (see snowboarding).

I’m still plowing through photos, but check out my Youtube playlist and Flickr album.