X-Games

We're getting the X-Games.  People in Detroit are wondering why we got it when they cared so much and wanted it so bad, while we were pretty ambivalent about it.  I think I've got a good idea.

Let's start with the videos.  Here's Detroit's.

It's actually really good.  It reminds me of Chrysler's "Imported from Detroit" Super Bowl commercial featuring Eminem.  I can understand drawing inspiration from that, it was the first time in a long time that Detroit could really celebrate being Detroit and it was immensely empowering.   This video really shows off Detroit and its beautiful ruins and shows how the X-Games could really rock this gritty, urban feel.  It shows the enthusiasm the people who live there have for the city and how they really want this and how they'll work their ass off to make it work.  It's a video from the heart and it really connects and it's great and wonderful.

If this had been the only video I watched, I'd wonder why they didn't get it.

The only problem is that Austin's is better.  Seriously, watch this.

Yeah.

The intro to the Detroit video is grit and gloom and beautiful ruins. It's a full minute and 40 seconds before anything exciting happens. It's got a cold sepia look to it that feels like winter is never going to be over and summer may never arrive. It certainly fits Detroit, but I wouldn't say it fits the X-Games.

The X-Games is all about flash and style and being hip and trendy and cool.

Oh by the way, guess what city is currently gaining a huge reputation for being hip and trendy and cool?  That's right, it's practically Red Bull Ground Zero around here. Guess what city really captured that feeling in their video? It starts off with trendy dubstep backing music and an edgy little intro. 10 seconds in, we're already seeing skateboarders and BMXers. People out in the sunshine having fun. It doesn't look like we're outside making the best of a bad situation, it looks like we're outside because that's where all the goddamn fun is. These aren't furry monsters in coats, these are fit, tan, toned, and beautiful people. We didn't make a makeshift BMX track out of garbage, that shit already existed (incidentally, I always forget about our downtown BMX park and apparently, it's really, really good). Wakeboarding? Shit, we do that year 'round. A minute in and it feels like I've already seen more action in the Austin video than I saw in the entire Detroit one.

Let's be honest, the Detroit video shows me an X-Games that I want to see on television. I really do want to see those ruins and watch people tearing it up. However, when I watch the Austin video, all I can think of is, why am I not out there doing that? I want to be there. I want to be those people. I want them to be my friends and come over to their house and drink their beer. Best of all, living here, I know that's my town. That's what it's really like here. Bring your shit here, because here in Austin, there's always a party and summer never ends.

In the end, both videos are very much in the spirit of their cities and they're both very, very well done. But it's obvious which is a better fit for X-Games.  We're practically Red Bull Ground Zero around here, and it shows in our video.  It shows in everything we do here and on all the lists we find our city on.  I'm sorry for Detroit, they really needed this in a way that we don't -- but I'm not sure they ever stood a chance.