X may be the highest-scoring letter in Scrabble, but try convincing your friends that EXPN is in the dictionary. Everybody knows the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, but really, what's up with that X?
You're smart, so we'll come out with it. The X stems from the Extreme Gamesthe cool, rebellious little bro in the World Wide Leader's stick-and-ball-filled family. The Extreme Games may not have lasted beyond their first year, back in '97, but the X is here to stay.
And the dot com? It's something you may have heard about on your morning commute. We're talking about the holy Intraweb here. Need a new shoulder to cry on? Easyjust add a 4,745th profile to your network of "friends." Want to see Rob Halford sing under oath? You can't buy tickets to that show. Curious about where to join the next Lebowski Fest? Wiki it.
Truth be told, where would your GPA have been without the Internet? Where would you have found your first edition run of Ulysses? The Internet is a mighty tool, and it's making waves for action sports.
Case in point: Winter X Games 12. This year, the busiest four days on snow could not have been better scripted. Levi. Tanner. Gretchen. Yoon. Lindsey. Andreas. Shaun. Shaun. Shaun. Shaun. Waitwho is Steve Fisher? Jim-my-Blaze!
You saw the show, but did you see the show? The one that featured an all-star cast of shred-lebrities blogging and chatting at all hours of every day? The show that opened with 45 hours of live video, photography that could make Ansel Adams pee his skeleton pants, more practice coverage than cougars in Aspen and original video clips that will keep you emailing for days? We hope you saw that show. It was of famous glasses caliber.
But wait. What if team managers, dreidel spins and Target stickers aren't your thing? Look no further. We have Shaun's phone number.
But honestly, we realize the importance of action sports in the lifelong quest to live the dream, and we know the X Games, despite being the biggest contests of the year, are just a tiny fraction of that glorious world.
So guess what? We're not an X Games-specific website anymore. From here on out, Xpect big things from your friends at EXPN. And not just big things like Shaun (though we promise you'll hear from him, too)big things like Mavericks, Sheckler's mom, motocross distance wars, bomb dropsthe misty flip for the late '00sand full coverage of anticipated anti-contest contests.
But that's not all. With the appointment of our new Blog Brigade, we have full spectrum coverage on each individual action sport on lock. Can't stand motorcycle sky dancing? Read Pressure Crack for your 7-ply skate fixupdated daily.
Throughout the year, we'll have in-depth profiles on your favorite athletes and people you'll wish you'd heard of before. We'll also let you know what's up with skate moms, what gear's cool before it's cool (even though we ride in jeans and wear fleece dreadlock hats, fanny packs and balaclavas instead of bandanas) and who's pulling porpoise flips on the stunt wood.
Ever since Tony Hawk delivered pizza to Christian Slater, media and action sports have gone hand-in-hand. And like the sports we cover, media never stands still. Yesterday, it was magazines and DVDs. Today, it's the intraweb. Tomorrow? Who knows. But whatever it is, we'll use it to cover the heck out of the sports that have shaped our liveslike golfing.
Is that a iPhone vibrating in your pocket, or are you just happy to see us?