Extremists Extraordinaire

Is it sky surfing--jumping out of an airplane and spinning upside-down with a board strapped to your feet while being videotaped? Is it speeding down city streets on a luge? Rock climbing without a rope? Water-skiing barefoot? Racing a mountain bike down a steep, bumpy trail?

Yes. And then some.

Extreme sports are the new E-ticket rides of athletics, complete with over-the-edge, astonishing feats that push the envelope so far they make Formula One look like go-cart racing. Who ever thought skateboarding would be a competitive sport? Or, for that matter, bungee jumping, in-line skating or rock climbing? And don’t forget “eco-challenge,” a Darwinian team sport that involves biking, canoeing, climbing, hiking and rafting over hundreds of miles of terrain.

It’s athletic competition for those who like their sports served with a side of raw thrills. Evidently, a lot of people do, especially a generation raised on MTV, Ecstasy and cyberjunk.

Revenue-hungry companies are cashing in big time on this trend birthed by the youth culture with stunt-laden commercials that are on heavy rotation all over the airwaves.

ESPN and ESPN2 recently devoted eight days to the “Extreme Games,” a home-grown, full-blown mini-Olympiad featuring international teams competing in about a dozen categories for hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money.

This is prime time in our society for risky business, says Milledge Murphy, graduate research faculty member at the University of Florida.

“Historically,” he said, “as any culture becomes more controlled and there are more laws, like requiring motorcycle helmets, the natural tendency is for people to express [taking risks]. Our society is preventing us from doing most things that imply risk. One reason why [ESPN’s] games are so good is that people are watching others do things they’d like to do, and the vicarious experience of risk is therapeutic.”

ESPN offered lots of therapy during that week. The cable network legitimized extreme sports by giving them a national forum, despite some controversy.

Ron Semiao, ESPN2’s director of programming, was pretty sure that the public would take to watching skaters navigate obstacle courses and people plummeting hundreds of feet while tied to an elastic cord.

“I think the general viewing public is a little fed up with labor problems and athletes who make millions and millions of dollars and owners who make millions and millions of dollars who can’t figure out how to keep their sport running,” he said, alluding to the recent baseball strike. “That turns people off. [Extreme athletes] are not competing for big contracts. It’s a very individualistic thing, and the presentation is what interested them--we covered these sports with new technology, new cameras, that really showed the athletic abilities of these people.”

Semiao’s idea for the Extreme Games gelled when he began noticing newsstands crammed with micro-niche magazines about skateboarders, in-line skaters, climbers and mountain bikers that featured competitions and delved into each sport’s subculture.

At the same time, he realized mainstream companies were using extreme sports footage in their commercials. During the Final Four college basketball semi-finals, Semiao counted 13 different ads. That convinced him it was time to take it to the next level.

“Rather than expose them on a stand-alone basis,” he continued, “I thought, let’s bring them together under one umbrella, and have the Olympics of extreme sports.”

He didn’t want to replicate ESPN’s previous attempts at broadcasting extreme sports via such shows as “Max Out” that fused action clips with current pop hits and amounted to little more than “video wallpaper.”

Providence, R.I., was the setting for the games; the proximity to ESPN’s Connecticut headquarters was a plus, and Semiao liked the fact that the city represented preppies, yachts and polo, the antithesis of rough-edged sports such as bungee jumping and kite skiing.

“That gave it some sizzle,” he said. And after all, upsetting the status quo is what extreme sports are all about.

And Semiao was pleased enough with the response to the games (they earned an average 1.1 rating, which met projections) to make them an annual event instead of biennial.

Despite favorable reactions from spectators and participants, the Extreme Games were not without their critics, who saw them as little more than Generation X bait and air-time filler.

Said the Washington Post’s Norman Chad: “At last glance, the two fastest growing industries in America today are extreme sports and mocha frappucinos. . . . Extreme sports generally fall into one of two categories: 1) Slightly insane, somewhat shocking athletic activities at high speeds or high levels of danger. 2) Something Mickey Rourke would do on a dare.”

None of this fazed Semiao, who maintained the barbs were “not a real bother. The people who were very, very cynical were traditional, mainstream sports people,” he said, citing some positive write-ups.

“The concept of the games came from ESPN following along the lines of being innovative,” he said. “When we said we were going to film the America’s Cup, people said that would be like watching paint dry. [When ESPN started up] people said, ‘A 24-hour sports channel? Who would watch that?’ ”

*

Look over any beach boardwalk and there’s no doubt that skateboarding, in-line skating and biking are fast becoming more popular among teens and adults looking for a workout that takes them out of the gym for a little interactive fun. Sport climbing--man versus rock, using pre-imbedded bolts to facilitate the climb--is also gaining converts.

It’s spawned sport climbing gyms such as Rockcreation in Costa Mesa, which offers 11,000 square feet of faux mountain for those who feel like climbing the walls.

Reporting on some of these on-the-edge sports is Outdoor Action magazine, a new Placentia-based publication that runs features on eco-challenges, mountain biking and bouldering (climbing and traversing boulders).

“Obviously there’s a big trend toward being fit,” said editor Dan Sanchez, “and people want to experience the outdoors. We cover extreme sports, but as entertainment--that portion is like a big sign that says, ‘Look into this,’ whether you want to get into rock climbing or mountain biking.”

The magazine constantly stresses safety and proper techniques for all activities, dispelling one of the popular myths of extreme sports--that those who participate are freaks with a strong death wish.

Nothing could be further from the truth, said Sanchez, who describes extreme athletes as being passionate, not insane, and constantly concerned with safety.

“There’s a mental aspect to a lot of these sports, as well as physical, and doing them stems from the passion of doing the activity. . . . These people do it eight hours a day for years, and they’ve fine-tuned their skills so they can do it safely. [These people] are out there improving safety standards. The more extreme you go, the more you increase the margin of safety.”

*

Ken Ravizza is not surprised by our current fascination with extreme sports.

“It’s the theater of the day,” declared the Cal State Fullerton sports philosophy instructor.

“People are so tuned into sports and so tuned into their televisions,” he said. “Our culture is totally into that.”

We also watch, he noted, for the crash-and-burn factor: “If you looked at ESPN, to promote the games, what did they show? The wipeout.”

But for the athletes, it’s a different kind of thrill.

“For some,” said Ravizza, “to have total involvement we have to bring in extreme sports. It’s something that really makes us focus on what we’re doing. And the risk factor gets us totally involved in the moment. . . . Sport is designed as a contest, but it isn’t always beating other people, especially in extreme sports, where a lot of the testing has to do with yourself and dealing with your fears in taking it to the edge.”

Mountain bike racer Ken Leybourne of Aliso Viejo describes the intensity of competition this way: “You get kind of tunnel vision,” he said, “and you hear somebody yelling at you, but you don’t really know who it is. You pass your friends [on the sidelines] and you don’t even really hear them. You get your race face on and you’re going for it.”

Milledge Murphy also knows about intensity. The 55-year-old has written about ultra-high risk, or high-hazard sports, so named because a serious equipment failure or human error will result in certain death. Free-solo rock climbing (climbing without ropes) is one, as is cave diving (exploring underwater caves in scuba gear). Murphy is a veteran cave diver.

While his research has focused on high-hazard athletes, he speculates that they and extreme athletes might have a few things in common.

“These people are willing to go beyond what others do,” he said. “Even people on [in-line] skates or skateboards, they’re doing things that a normal person wouldn’t attempt. That’s what differentiates them and I think we’re seeing more of that in our culture.”

Ravizza has his theories of what separates the extreme athletes from others.

“I know from talking with a lot of these people that it’s the challenge that gets them excited. They’ve already mastered one level and they’re ready for the next progression. It provides meaning for them, which is different for every person. It can be anything from self-esteem, getting the approval of others, or just the adrenaline rush.”

But will there come a day when today’s extreme sports are tomorrow’s golf tournaments? Most think not, believing that cutting-edge athletics may gain popularity and acceptance, but will always remain on the fringe.

Joe Jennings, the camera half of the Extreme Games’ champion sky surfing team, thinks these sports “will be something like surfing--more mainstream but still different and alternative. Look at [beach] volleyball now. It’s getting into the Olympics, and that’s something that 10 years ago nobody expected. But some sports have more potential than others.”

Said cyclist Leybourne, “I don’t think anything extreme will every become mainstream. If it does, then the extreme moves that much farther out.”

Added Ravizza: “It’s not going to replace NFL football. The surfer who gets up at 5 in the morning doesn’t do it because someone is watching him, but because it’s such a thrill to ride that wave.”