Gnarly! The 5 Things You Need To Know About The Summer X Games

These athletes are conquering feats that so many wouldn’t even dare to attempt.

Total domination,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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1. The first Extreme Games were started by ESPN in 1995 with the idea that they would be every two years. But the fans loved it and the games evolved into to an annual contest. In 1996, the X Games as we know it, became a reality with the first Winter Games taking place in 1997. This year’s Summer Games take place on August 1 - 4 in Minneapolis, MN. LET’S GET CRAZY 

2. At the heart of the X Games is the Shred Hate campaign. The campaign talks about how sports can provide a safe harbor from bullying or create it; that many of their athletes didn’t fit into traditional sports. So they created a campaign that takes a stand against bullying through partnerships with innovative bullying prevention programs in the country. TAKE A STAND

3. The popularity of the sport of skateboarding skyrocketed partly because of the X Games. Now skateboarding will make its Summer Olympics debut in Tokyo in 2020. Watch for the “Flying Tomato” himself, Shaun White, who is the first athlete to win in both the summer and winter X Games. It may be a long road as skateboarding Olympians will compete in street and park events and White’s expertise is the vert. Also look out for Brighton Zeuner. At age 13, she became the youngest athlete in the X Games’ 21-year history to take home gold and is hoping to qualify for Tokyo. GET IT GIRL

4. We all remember the man, the myth and the legend, Tony Hawk. Well, these games mark the 20th anniversary of his famed 900 (two-and-a-half rotations = 900 degrees) on a skateboard, something that had never been done before. It took him 10 years of practice, a broken rib, lost teeth and several concussions but in 1999, he landed the iconic trick. (Now the 1080 is the trick to land). PERSISTENCE IS EVERYTHING

5. Skateboarding isn’t the only soon-to-be global sport, BMX freestyle is coming to the 2020 Summer Olympics as well. BMX has grown faster than the CBD craze, with the first World Cup taking place in 2016. What is BMX freestyle? In two one-minute runs each, riders will be judged on the difficulty, originality, style, flow, risk, height and execution of their tricks and jumps. THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

Wednesday Wisdom 

Let’s talk about what’s blowing up your phone today including a big change for the two-time World Cup Champion U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, why LeBron is being dad shamed and would you get a head tattoo in exchange for game tickets? READ

Buy You A Drink?

Forget the small talk about the weather, let’s get right down to it this Friday.

Come here often?

The Last Night’s Game Team

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MLB (Major League Baseball)

When your plan backfires. On Monday, the Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper won the home run derby. The fans weren’t simply excited for his win but also for the fact that the Nationals promised $1 off of tickets for every home run Harper hit. Let’s just say the accounting department is not happy with the marketing department right now as some tickets are going as low as $1. CHEAP THRILLS

Overtime

Can you believe that Discovery Channel’s Shark Week is turning 30 this year? To celebrate 30 years of surfers losing limbs and other stories that scare you out of putting a toe in the ocean, a plethora of celebrities will be making cameos during the week. None of them hold a candle to Shaq’s Shark Week promo. (Say that five times fast). WATCH

Sideline stat

It’s going to be tough to find someone who is having a better week than Liz Cambage of the Dallas Wings (WNBA – Women’s National Basketball Association). This week she set the WNBA record for points in a game, followed it up in the next game with the highest ever points total for a two-game span AND was named a WNBA all-star. PINCH ME

Coaches’ corner

People freaked out when Tiger Woods showed up to play in the first round of the British Open yesterday with KT Tape on his neck to relieve his neck discomfort.  Clearly people were curious because the KT Tape website saw a 300% increase in web traffic. Woods not only started a new trend but went on to have a great round. Although he probably didn’t think about how bad it was going to hurt to take the tape off. WAX ON, WAX OFF

What to watch

If high flying action with a few broken bones is how you like to spend your weekend, then you’re in luck. The Summer X Games started yesterday in Minneapolis and will run through the weekend. Even cooler than a rad cast that all your friends can sign is the Shred Hate campaign. The X Games are continuing their in-school program to reduce bullying by 90% through education and 24/7 support via text for anyone who is being bullied or encountering a crisis. LEARN MORE