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'Action' sports have taken wing, into big air, big money, big crowds and evolved . . .
'Action' sports have taken wing, into big air, big money, big crowds and evolved . . .

By Don Norcross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 13, 2005
With the sun dipping into the Pacific on a late-December afternoon, surfers south of Del Mar's Powerhouse Park paddled out, searching for that final ride. Just north off Pacific Coast Highway, three middle-school teenagers rolled up and down a Solana Beach back alley on skateboards.
Minutes later, a pickup truck turned onto PCH. Snow shoveled into the bed of the truck hours earlier was melting, some still clinging to snowboards.
Surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding. All in our back yard. Toss in some desert motocross and you've got an adrenaline junkie's nirvana.
Said Steve Astephen of Fairbanks Ranch: "Where else can you do all that in one day?"
Ron Semiao, creator of the X Games, says that when ESPN first televised what once were considered "extreme" sports in 1996, a large segment of the population viewed the athletes as "a bunch of hoodlums."
"Now," says Semiao, "this stuff is accepted by mainstream America. It's very, very heartening."
That action sports are soaring in popularity like Encinitas skateboarder Danny Way flying off a megaramp is undeniable:
The number of skateboarders across the country is up 128 percent over the past 10 measurable years;
ESPN's X Games viewership has increased more than 350 percent the past six years;
Snowboarding and mountain biking are now part of the Olympics and there's a move afoot – although it's a long shot – to add skateboarding;
Skateboard icon Tony Hawk's presence is ubiquitous, ranging from his 15 million video-game sales to endorsements for McDonald's, Hershey's and Mattel, which markets a Tony Hawk action figure.
As big as Hawk's popularity is, his apparent successor is living right down the street in Carlsbad. Crossover snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White, 18, is the latest rage, his shocking red mane, effervescent youth and radical moves serving as calling cards.
Surfing is becoming so popular that many longtime riders, unless the swell's truly swell, pass on the weekend because the lineup's so crowded. "There's so many people in the water I say forget it," said San Clemente's Matt McClain. "I don't want to sit in the water for two hours and catch two waves."
Paralleling that growth, San Diego's coastal North County has evolved into the hub of the action sports industry. With Hawk living in Encinitas, skateboarders followed him to the West Coast. Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, Andy Macdonald, Piere Luc Gagnon, Jason Ellis and Colin McKay, all well-endorsed professionals, live in San Diego County.
With the skaters in town, business followed.
Companies based in North County include No Fear and Planet Earth clothing, Spyoptic and Dragon eyewear, DC, DVS and Adio shoes, Nixon watches, Transworld magazines and The Familie, which markets many of the world's most popular action athletes.
While some major companies are leaving San Diego or downsizing (read Gateway and Kyocera), the action sports business is booming here.
"There's just so much authenticity (to being based) here," said Astephen, president of The Familie. "It's the vibe and the lifestyle around San Diego. The coastal living and beauty of San Diego is what action sports is all about."
The reasons action sports have skyrocketed vary. Football, baseball and basketball, all the ball sports, just aren't for every kid. They're too confining. Too structured. And with parents screaming from the dugout or stands, plus teammates counting on a kid to sink the winning free throw, there can be too much pressure.
When Hawk, 36, struck out in one of his first Tierrasanta Little League games, he walked off the field and sat by himself in a ravine.
"I felt guilty, as if I'd let everyone down," he said.
But wakeboarding, snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing can be artistic expressions. Better yet, there usually are no parents around to critique a kid's style.
"(With action sports) you can develop at your own pace, and it's up to you how far you want to go with it," White said. "A lot of kids like that because they don't have to worry about their parents getting mad at them for not learning a kickflip."
In today's MTV, instant-messaging, cell-phone, instant-gratification generation, many youths don't have the patience to sit through a baseball or football game.
Hawk took his three boys to a Padres game last season and had to bring toys to keep them entertained.
"I like baseball," Hawk said. "But as a kid, if you go to a game, what do you see? The pitcher winds up ... pitches and ... ball one. Then they do it again.
"These kids watch 'SpongeBob,' 'Lord of the Rings,' the action-oriented Pixar films," Hawk said. "They're used to constant action. You watch a skateboarder or motocross, as soon as somebody goes, there's something to watch. They've gotten used to that constant stimulation."
Media exposure has played a role in the popularity of action sports. The X Games brought BMX star Dave Mirra crashing into homes, and now he appears on MTV's "Cribs" and hosts MTV's "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge."
"It has a lot to do with key figures in the media – Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk, (snowboarder) Terje (Haakonsen)," said Encinitas' Joe Prussack after surfing yesterday at Swami's. "They have taken it to the next level, competing, making it more mainstream. Big companies sponsoring and ESPN coverage. It was never like that before."
Those companies spilling sponsorship dollars into the X Games range from endemic brands such as DC Shoes to wholesome products such as Campbell's Soup.
The X Games' popularity is spawning spinoffs. NBC offers the "Gravity Games." Mountain Dew is sponsoring a five-city X Games-like tour with $1 million in prize money. Hawk's Boom Boom Huckjam Tour blends skateboarding, BMX, freestyle motocross and music in a virtual countrywide barnstorming tour.
So where do action sports take their act from here? Semiao, the X Games creator, is counting on bigger and better.
Which is why ESPN offers the European, Latin and Asian X Games.
"Clearly," said Semiao, "this is not a fad."