X marks the spot

Mike Sciacca

A grand experiment last year at the Huntington Beach Pier has turned

into a solid reality for the ESPN X Games.

The success of the games’ first surf competition, dubbed “The

Game,” last summer led to ESPN officials adding the contest to its

regular lineup of action sports.

The Game, featuring some of the world’s hottest surfers, will be

played out at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier at 10:30

a.m. Saturday.

The X Games celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend. More

than 150 of the world’s best action sports athletes are scheduled to

compete in a wide variety of sports categories, including

skateboarding at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Huntington Beach professional skateboarders and residents Geoff

Rowley, Mark Appleyard and Bastien Salabanzi are scheduled to do a

skate jam and skate competition at Staples Center, beginning today.

The X Games X runs through Sunday.

The Game surfing format will pit an all-star team of East Coast

surfers against an all-star West Coast team.

The West Coast will be looking for a bit of revenge Saturday. Last

year, the East Coast, led by six-time world champion Kelly Slater,

handily won the inaugural the Game, 209.06-188.20.

“It was some of the worst surf conditions of the year last year,

but we all had so much fun,” said Orange County surfer Pat O’Connell,

who reached the quarterfinal round of last weekend’s U.S. Open of

Surfing men’s competition.

O’Connell will be back this weekend to add his talents to the West

Coast team.

Other key competitors include Slater, two-time world champion and

ratings leader Andy Irons and Rob Machado, one of surfing’s all-time

greats.

Also competing is Taj Burrow, last weekend’s U.S. Open men’s

winner.

“I’ll be there, ready to go again,” Burrow said.

Florida’s Cory Lopez, the 2003 U.S. Open men’s winner and

third-place finisher last weekend, also will compete.

“We’ve got almost every top surfer in the world competing in

Huntington Beach,” said Jeff Cutler of the National Surf League,

creator of The Game. “This year’s field is more stacked than last

year and it should be really exciting for everybody who comes out to

watch.”

For the first time, Cutler said, a surfing event will be televised

live: ESPN will carry live, first-quarter coverage of The Game, and

ABC television will pick up live, fourth-quarter coverage.

“We consider the X Games to be the All-Star event of the National

Surf League,” Cutler said. “It’s an exciting, three-hour game

featuring surfing’s top athletes. It’s going to be a big weekend.”

Saturday’s action begins with 10:30 a.m. introductions, followed

at 11 a.m. by the official start of “The Game.”

The West Coast squad is composed of Rob Machado, Cardiff; Andy

Irons, wildcard, Kauai; Taylor Knox, Carlsbad; Dane Reynolds,

Ventura; Shane Beschen, San Clemente; Tim Curran, Oxnard; Pat

O’Connell, Laguna Beach; Mike Losness, San Clemente; Jason “Ratboy”

Collins, Santa Cruz; Nate Yeomans, San Clemente; Mike Parsons, head

coach, San Clemente; Dino Andino, assistant coach, San Clemente; and

Garth Tarlow, assistant coach, Newport Beach.

The East Coast squad is composed of Kelly Slater, Cocoa Beach,

Fla.; Taj Burrow, wild card, Yallingup, Australia; CJ Hobgood,

wildcard, Satellite Beach, Fla.; Damien Hobgood, Satellite Beach,

Fla.; Cory Lopez, Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.; Aaron Cormican, New

Smyrna, Fla.; Asher Nolan, Neptune Beach, Fla.; Dean Randazzo,

Atlantic City, N.J.; Peter Mendia, West Palm Beach, Fla.; Bryan

Hewitson, Indialantic, Fla.; Matt Kechele, head coach, Melbourne

Beach, Fla.; and assistant coaches Todd Kline and Wes Laine.

Huntington Beach’s Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard and Bastien

Salabanzi have been invited to skate the Street Men’s competition at

Staples Center.

Appleyard, who has graced the covers and pages of skating

magazines, was Thrasher magazine 2003 Skater of the Year. TransWorld

Skateboarding honored him with Rookie of the Year honors in 2002,

Best Street Skater in 2003 and Reader’s Choice in 2004.

This will be Appleyard’s first appearance at the X Games.

“I’m looking forward to going to Staples to have a great time

skating and hanging out with my friends,” the 21-year-old said. “It’s

just another contest to me.”

Rowley has not competed in the X Games since 1997. The 28-year-old

has spent the past year skating and working on videos and

advertisements for sponsors. His name also can be found on four

brands of skateboard shoes by Van’s shoes.

He, Appleyard and Salabanzi are members of Flip Skateboard Team,

which was named Best Team by TransWorld Skateboarding the past four

years.

“I haven’t done the X Games the past few years because I didn’t

agree with the way they were run and the contest format,” said

Rowley, who added that he, Appleyard and Salabanzi will drive up to

Staples Center together today, spend the night, then skate through

the weekend.

“It wasn’t a very friendly or inviting atmosphere, and I think

competitions and jams should always be very relaxed and fun,” he

said. “They’re trying to make it a lot better and I’m going to give

them another chance, but I’ll watch them with an eagle’s eye.”

Rowley said he skates, on average, just two contests per year.

His last trip to the X Games, he recalled, wasn’t a fond memory:

He broke his right hand in two places.

He’s healthy coming into X Games X.

“I do like contests, but they should be less about the money and

more about the experience,” he said. “Some things in skating are hard

to figure out, like I want to know, why Huntington Beach has more

kids skateboarding than in any other city in the whole of Southern

California, and yet has two of the smallest skate parks in the whole

country? It doesn’t make sense.”