X Games

It is easy to see why freestyle motocross is among the marquee events of the X Games, with riders soaring from ramp to ramp at distances of up to 100 feet, flipping their 250-pound bikes while performing mid-air handstands and other seemingly impossible tricks.

Jake Brown survived a harrowing 45-foot plunge to the bottom of the mega-ramp in the Skateboard big air competition Thursday night at the X Games, and Bob Burnquist walked away with the gold medal at Staples Center after producing the winning score on the ensuing run. Brown, a 32-year-old from Australia, was leading the event entering the last of his five runs. He landed the first-ever 720-degree revolution on the mega-ramp, but did not set up properly for the 27-foot high quarterpipe that followed his leap over the 70-foot gap. Fellow competitors thought he was crouched too low when he took off from the top of the quarterpipe and his momentum shot him away from the wall.

The Travis Pastrana Show did not materialize as many had hoped. The most electrifying performer in the history of freestyle motocross essentially fizzled in flight while he attempted a seemingly impossible back flip and 360-degree rotation during Friday night's moto X best trick contest. Pastrana looked as though he were piloting an out-of-control helicopter and crash-landed into the dirt on his backside and hip.

Shaun White is not the dominant force he once was in the superpipe. But that's only because of an emerging star named Kevin Pearce. Finally, a rivalry snowboarding fans can appreciate. But the edge still belongs to White, 22, who also remains the coolest competitor on the planet. A week after being upstaged by Pearce late in the European Open, White on Sunday pulled out a dramatic triumph of his own at the Winter X Games -- the world's biggest non-Olympics stage.

ASPEN, Colo. -- The X Games snowboard superpipe finals are tonight and Sunday, but a lot of talk this week has centered on the 2010 Winter Olympics. Grumbling is a more apt description. Rumors are swirling around Buttermilk Mountain regarding probable changes to the Olympic qualifying process, to begin next winter. U.S. halfpipe specialists, who've enjoyed relative autonomy from World Cup competition, may be asked by Olympic team coaches to increase participation. The U.S.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX) X Games 14 Where: Staples Center (and Event Deck at LA Live) and the Home Depot Center. When: Today-Sunday. Tickets: $10-$20 for all-day entry. Available on site or via Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster.com. OU WON'T WANT TO MISS THESE Tonight: Skateboard Big-Air -- Will Jake Brown overcome last year's frightful slam? Will Bob Burnquist repeat for gold or will Danny Way, coming back from injury, reclaim dominance in event he created?

A year ago, skateboarder Jake Brown proved from which height a man must plummet, onto an unforgiving wooden platform, to have both shoes fly from his feet on impact. Answer: 46 feet. Or about 4 1/2 stories. That's the vertical drop the skateboarder endured during his fifth and final run of the big-air competition on the mega-ramp at the 2007 X Games.

This time, Jake Brown did not hush the crowd with a perilous-looking fall. Danny Way did. But stylishly stealing the show, once again, was Bob Burnquist. Going last and needing a winning score to prevail in the skateboard big-air final Thursday night at Staples Center, as he required and obtained last year, Burnquist pulled off an astounding trick to win gold for the second consecutive year. But more on that in a moment. . . .

Street skateboarding has millions of fans and many more spectators. Anyone who drives, walks outside or looks out windows is a spectator. All those kids tooling around on skateboards on sidewalk or street corners? Street skaters. They're everywhere. In fact, skateboarding has experienced 74% growth in the last decade -- more than any other sport or form of recreation, according to a recent study -- and the number of skateboarders in the U.S. now totals more than 10 million.

Mutiny does not generally figure into new X Games events, but there was no mistaking what has happened at the Home Depot Center as anything but a rebellion. At issue is a new superpark course -- featuring a blend of vert and street elements for skateboarders and BMX riders -- that is deemed by some to be too small, too tight and with difficult transition lines. The BMX superpark final was won by Daniel Dhers, a park specialist who days beforehand had said the course did not allow for big tricks.