X Games 8 in Philadelphia

August 19, 2002

The X Games were happening in Philadelphia this past weekend, and coicendentally Dad just happens to live there. So, Braad and I met up at Dad's apartment in Philadelphia to catch some of the action I have previously only seen on TV.

Mom and Dad suggested a different path to drive to Philly because going I-95 South is a friggin nightmare. There is just too many damn people living in the East! It was a little bit longer, but I went for it anyway. I packed up and loaded Missy in the Wolfsburg and left Dartmouth at 6:30 and headed west to Providence then Hartford, CT across Rt. 6. The whole time I felt like I was going the wrong way. The route took me out and around New York City, down I-84, to I-76 to Allentown, then into Philly from the other side. It takes about 7 hours, but it is a much more relaxing drive. Except for the morons making the exit ramps, or lack of, in PA. I was to drive west on I-76 to Allentown where I-476 intersected I-76, and I was to go west. "Pretty simple" I thought sure there would be GIANT GREEN signs for I-476, but no! I ended up driving all the way to Putztown before I realized I had long passed the exit. By this time, it was about 12:30am, and I was beat. I asked some guy in a gas station why I couldn't exit onto I-476, and he was like "Do you have an ATV?" It was a bad timed joke because I was in no mood. I finally found the stupid road and made it to Philly at about 1:30am.

Braad and I stayed up until about 4:00am playing video games including our first attempt at Madden 2003. We made it down to hte X-Games in downtown Philly Saturday afternoon. Everything was free; it was awesome! I was expecting to see some cool tricks and stuff, but I wasn't really expecting to see anyone I knew of. I was into the X Games on ESPN2 for a while, and I watched quite a bit of Half Pipe (Vert) competition amoung skateboarders and bikes. Tony Hawk and Dave Mira were my favorites. Braad and I wandered around checking out some Flatlands practice where guys do wild displays of balance on bikes. Then, we wandered into the stadium where the Flyers play, and they had Vert ramps in there. They were doing skakeboard practice, so we hung out and watched. We saw guys like Bucky Lasek that we had heard of before; that was cool. We had heard Tony Hawk had retired, so we weren't expecting to see him. Then, Braad goes "I think that is Tony Hawk" peering through his Camcorder from our nose bleed seats at the guy standing on the Vert ramp. We finally figured out, sure enough it was Tony Hawk and Andy McDonald, the five time Vert Doubles champs! They had come to defend their title. They were practicing much, but we watched for hours as the other doubles practiced. The competion finally rolled around. Tony Hawk and Andy McDonald ran after Bucky Lasek and Bob Burnquist. They had put together a good run and were in first place. I thought Tony and Andy beat them with their mind boggling run, but they ended up in second. I was thinking "They can't do it any perfect than they did."

Then, the second round rolls around. Tony and Andy give it another go, and MAN! They were doing stuff far and beyond what the others were struggling with with ease. It was an incredible, impossible run they they did perfectly. They are still undefeated. Check out their run that we watched here.

Braad and I went to dinner at TGI Fridays, and played video games until 1:00am or so. Then, Sunday we drove home.


I decided on going the new, long way around New York, and it was a pretty peaceful drive. Except I-84 on the home on Sunday was kind of crazy packed with idiot drivers that speed up to 95MPH for half a mile, then slow down to a dead stop. Un-friggin-real! However, it is a short haul on I-84, and much better because I-95 is like that the whole way!