Over the Top

The last few days I've been catching moments of the Winter X-Games on ESPN. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, this is the extreme sports competition ESPN puts on every year for the crazy winter skiing athletes of the world. They compete in events like snow mobile racing, ski racing, snowboard racing, and various trick competitions with skis, snowboard, and snow mobiles.

This Winter X Games is nothing new but it always strikes me as funny for two reasons. First, the athletes aren't intense in the normal sense we think of athletes being. Post event interviews are dominated by "We didn't hustle and we lacked the execution we needed to get the win." No, instead they go something like "Dude, I didn't throw it down quite like I thought, man why, hmm...I'm so in my own head right now, I've got to just kick it this last time. Make it happen....whooooooo!"

It cracks me up every time.

Second funny thing is what these guys drink when they're done. Basketball and football players drink water or gatorade right? These guys do the craziest things ever, like flipping a snow mobile twenty feet in the air, or riding a vertical half pipe, twisting their bodies 18 feet above rock solid ice. I can only imagine the adrenaline flowing through their bodies. I know the adrenaline I've gotten jumping a foot off the ground on a blue square ski slope. And what do they drink at the bottom? A 20 oz. energy drink. Are you kidding me! You talk about wired. These are the last guys that need an energy drink.

Finally, I am placing a personal gag order on myself about Duke Basketball to avoid messing up the flow they are in right now.

One more thing. I watched We Are Marshall this weekend. If the part about Bobby Bowden is really true, that makes him one of the all time class acts in sports. I really enjoyed the movie, especially being so familiar with the setting. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it. A great feel good sports story.