EXTREME SPORTS

Those of you who know me are aware that I am a sports fanatic - baseball, basketball, football, NASCAR, tennis, etc. During the Olympics every two years I become an "expert" in gymnastics, swimming, figure skating, skiing, even curling! Darrin & I have been called Olympic Junkies as we text each other at midnight regarding the luge competition. Somewhere along the way I became a fan of a few somewhat obcsure extreme sports, too.

Back in the late 80s while on vacation, Darrin & I stumbled onto the venue of the one of the first X-Games in San Diego taking place near Sea World. Needless to say, the biking, skating, skateboarding & snowboarding (artificial snow in the 80 degree weather) captured our attention immediately!

A few years later the X-Games were held in San Francisco. Darrin & I volunteered in order to get in for free. The organization was pretty lousy & day two found us sitting for half an hour waiting for our assignments after we were ushered into the facility. We looked at each other, said "what the hell", took off our official volunteer shirts (which were over our regular shirts) & enjoyed the remaining events for free!

Several years ago I discovered American Ninja Warrior on TV. As many of you know I am a HUGE fan of the show & managed to recruit my son & granddaughter as HUGE fans, too. Charley loves it & has her own favorite Ninja nicknamed The Lizard. I save the recordings to watch with both of them. Can't wait to share them this Christmas!

Charley loves the chant of "Beat that wall! Beat that wall!" every time someone attempts the 14-1/2 foot warped wall. She gives me a play by play of the action each time I head to the kitchen to get her a snack, "Gaga, he made it through the Flying Squirrel & is on the Spinning Bridge now!"

I just finished watching my recordings of the finals of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competition held each year in Las Vegas. Somehow this past year I got hooked watching the PBR weekly events broadcast on CBS Sports. Those guys are fricking nuts!  Everyone of them is limping, grabbing an arm or doing their damndest to get their wits about them after a ride. Even those that successfully make the 8 second ride get beat to hell getting off & away from the bulls.

The expert commentators assure me that the bulls are well cared for & actually live a far better life than most cattle which are killed for food after a couple years. Plus they are only ridden, or attempted to be ridden, a few times a week. So basically their work week is pretty simple - buck like mad for 10-12 seconds to get the crazy cowboy off your back then go hang out in the corral to eat & drink.

I'm not quite sure why I have become so enthralled with the likes of Jess Lockwood (this year's PBR champion!), Chase Outlaw or Jose Vitor Leme among others. I just semi-binge watched 12 hours of the Las Vegas finals which I recorded last week. Apparently their season lasts about 10 months with weekly events around the country including one here in Sacramento in January. I checked ticket prices only to find out it is ridiculously expensive - like upwards of $150 plus fees for the good seats near the chutes. I guess I'll just watch on TV.

I always thought these bull riders must not have much sense since they are constantly injured attempting to stay on a huge bucking animal week after week. One guy rode twice with a torn ACL in his knee before the medical staff wouldn't let him continue competing. The "bull fighters" (used to be called "clowns") who run around & distract the bulls from going after a downed rider, took extra good care of him since there was no way he could walk!

My recollection was that they didn't make much money for all the abuse their bodies took BUT I learned that with the growing popularity of the sport (& those $150 ticket prices) the top bull riders can make upwards of a million dollars a year! Maybe they aren't quite as crazy as I thought.