Sports Then and Now

Extreme sports have always been there. From the ancient gladiator fights in the famous Colosseum, through marathons and rock climbing, finally evolving into forms people recognize and participate in today. The adrenaline in our head and that feeling of accomplishment when you make it happen are pretty awesome for many. Degrees of risks and type of challenges we take are obviously different. Some of us would not break a sweat surfing in the sky or kayaking in whitewater rapids. Others, who prefer slightly less extreme way to go, would choose mountain biking or surfing. Nowadays, people even go for small doses of adrenaline by playing mobile games with real money. The rush is even greater with a mobile casino bonus. Variety is there, no doubt about it.

How it all started
If we stick with recent history and not go way too back, marathon runners and rock climbers were considered as modern gladiators in 1970s. Making it to the end of a 42.195 km long race was quite a challenge. Defeating endlessly high mountains was not for everyone back then. But, as more people started accomplishing both challenges, the meaning extreme evolved. Marathons were transformed to triathlons and multi-day cycling events appeared. Extreme skiing and snowboarding also started to enjoy a steady rise in popularity. People became more creative and wanted to challenge themselves even more. Sky, water or on the ground – limits seized to exist.     Read the rest of this entry →

With the winter Olympics underway, there’s been a lot of talk about snowboarding. But let’s look back a little farther on what came BEFORE snowboarding: longboarding.   All you need is a long plank of wood, trucks and four wheels and you have the ability to coast along pavement like a surfer would on water. In fact, surfing is where longboarding and skateboarding got their start. Nowadays, the water version and land versions of boarding stand apart, but they still have histories that intertwine with each other. From the genesis of sidewalk surfing all the way to the modern day competitions, longboarding has come a long way.

Sidewalk Surfing

The lifespan of longboarding can be traced all the way back to approximately the 1950s. Longboarding and skateboarding came to be when surfers in Hawaii began taking their aquatic pastime on land. When the waves weren’t big enough for a satisfactory day of surfing, the surfers found that they could imitate those same actions by using a skateboard on the sidewalk. Thus, sidewalk surfing and skateboards were born. For surfers and teens, skateboarding then quickly caught on in California before skateboards themselves would begin to be modified.

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Motocross stunts can be amazing, but they also come with a great deal of risk.

Through its evolution, motocross has become one of the most popular motorsports in the world. Though the sport originated as time trial races, sometimes double-billed with monster truck rallies, over the last few decades motocross has become a showcase of jaw-dropping Evel Knievel-esque stunts that have stolen the spotlight from other extreme sports, like BMX and skateboarding, at events like ESPN’s X-Games.

As with other extreme sports, failing big tricks sometimes comes with serious injuries. Here is a list of pro riders who should have kept a motorcycle accident lawyer on a permanent retainer:

Bruce Cook’s Impacted Spine

On January 3, 2014, Canadian rider Bruce Cook was attempting a never-before-seen ramp-to-ramp double front flip at a Nitro Circus Live event at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Cook under rotated the flip, fell from his bike and crashed into the ramp, seriously injuring his spine. Following a three-hour surgery, Cook announced on social media that he had suffered significant spinal cord damage and lost sensation and movement below his belly button.  It remains to be seen how fully he will be able to recover.

Larry Linkogle’s Handlebar Impalement

In 1998, just after a photo shoot for a French magazine at his home in Temecula, CA, Metal Mulisha founder Larry Linkogle was attempting to recreate tricks performed during the shoot by a younger rider from Spain when he got himself stuck in an odd position while in mid-air and crashed into the ground, impaling himself with his handlebars. The impact of the accident destroyed Linkogle’s spleen and tore out eleven inches of his intestines. Larry lost a substantial amount of blood, and had to be resuscitated on the way to the hospital.
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