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And
a sport known as BASE jumping (for Buildings, Antennas, Spans,
and Earth), officially established in 1980,
now lures hundreds. Huge crowds will line city streets to
check out leather-clad street lugers lying supine on their
souped-up skateboards, flashing along at 80 mph while hovering
a mere 5/16 of an inch off the asphalt. Spectators will clog
the beach to witness snowboarders launching themselves heavenward
off a 300-foot ramp covered with man-made powder. Is it the
chance of a catastrophe that makes extreme/action sports so
enticing?. A century ago, in The Will to Believe, the philosopher
William James wrote, "It is only by risking our persons from
one hour to another that we live at all." But contemporary
societies seem bent on expunging risk from every aspect of
life. It's gotten to the point where there are no more swings
on playgrounds. At the same time, people are saying, `Where's
Tony Hawk?'(check The
End video).People need adventure in their lives."
Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist, believes this
thirst for adventure is a fundamental aspect of the American
character that refuses to wilt despite the trend toward risk
elimination. Farley's research into thrill seeking has allowed
him to construct a composite sketch of the typical extreme/action
sports athlete, a personality model he labels "Type T-positive
physical." Type T's, Farley says, tend to be extraordinarily
extroverted and creative. They crave novelty and excitement.
Some manifest these characteristics in the intellectual domain;
Farley classifies innovative thinkers such as Albert Einstein
and Francis Crick, for example, as "Type T-positive mental."
Other people gravitate toward the sinister, "Type T-negative"
end of the personality spectrum, abusing drugs or engaging
in violent crime to indulge their appetite for thrills. Still
others fit the profile of Ulmer or Lavin, satisfying their
drive for excitement by participating in sports where the
consequence of failure is more than just a bruised ego. "There
are some people who hold on to the handrails of life-the rules,
the traditions," says Farley. "The Type T let go of the handrails.
They create their own life." America, with its roots in revolution,
its prosperity grounded in the high-risk ventures of capitalism,
and its mythology filled with fearless frontiersmen, is fundamentally
a Type T nation-for better and for worse. Yet the circumstances
of our culture have teetered toward the timid-he bland environs
of suburbia, the drab rows of Dilbert-style cubicles, the
numbing boredom of 28-hour-a-week TV-watching habits. Extreme/action
sports provide a socially acceptable outlet for those Type
T-positive yearnings (see
Crusty). "George Will has said that if you want
to understand America, you must understand baseball," says
Farley. "No, if you want to understand America, you must know
extreme/action sports." Extreme/action sports not only satisfy
the need for excitement in an increasingly boring world. They
also provide an outlet for the kind of creativity and individual
expression often squashed in a homogenized culture of chain
stores and minimalls. While baseball and football remain virtually
unchanged from generation to generation, extreme/action sports
athletes are constantly fiddling with the formulas to create
new disciplines. A few years ago, a California sky diver named
Jerry Loftis decided to try something new by jumping out of
an airplane with a skateboard Velcroed to his feet. Ta-da!
Sky surfing was born. In 1993, a trio of young Colorado Springs,
Colo., residents decided they wanted to enjoy the thrills
of snowboarding in the summer. Presto! They invented the MountainBoard,
an all-terrain skateboardlike contraption that allows snowboarders
to carve turns year round. When it really comes down to it,
extreme/action sports are good clean fun and a lot safer than
driving on your friendly neighborhood freeway or autobahn.
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