Olympic Games Versus X Games

When I think of the X Games, I think of extreme sports athletes, covered in tattoos and crooked hats and black socks and piercings, "going big," pulling off crazy moves, and crashing hardcore.

I didn't get to go this year because of Havoc, but I was able to watch some of it, particularly the Rally cars, on TV. Amazing stuff! You anxiously watch, clenching your fists and praying nobody kills himself. No joke.

Then there's the Olympic Games. Poise and etiquette, pride and discipline, and a lifetime of pressure for Gold characterize this cluster of summer games composed of 28 somewhat strange sports like synchronized diving (and more specifically, 10m platform men or 3m springboard women), rhythmic gymnastics, shooting, trampoline, badminton, table tennis, taekwondo, sailing, modern pentathlon, and such. You anxiously watch the coverage (which keeps you up deep into the AM hours), eyes glued to sports that you didn't even know existed. Suddenly you find yourself shrieking all sorts of bizarre, patriotic remarks that you didn't even now you were capable of, such as "Swaziland has failed!"; "Romanian gymnastics is just not what it used to be!"; "What country is that? Is that even a country?"; "It's not fair! Of course China got a higher score! Rubbish!"; "I can't stand to watch! Tell me how the U.S. relay team does..."; "I could have been an Olympic table tennis player had I just stuck with it after my college dorm ping pong/beer pong career."    
It got me thinking, what if you combined the two games?
To be continued.....

This awesome picture of Pastrana and Foust captures how extreme the X Games are.