January 24

BallHype exclusive

by Ric Schenck

Thursday is the day of the first finals held in this year's WINTER X GAMES in Aspen, CO, and the beginning of the live TV coverage by ESPN networks and ABC.  This 12th edition will feature all of the staple winter X sports we've come to love over the years with snowboards and skis and snowmobiles.

The most famous winter sports athlete of all grew up and still lives in warm, temperate San Diego.  His name is Shaun White, and he is one of the most famous of ALL athletes with the general population of the U.S., especially in the younger demographic. 

Shaun, who began as a skateboarder, then switched to snowboarding, and now does both professionally - won the men's snowboarding Gold Medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and has won more Winter X Games Gold medals than any other athlete.  He has appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, and twice graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.

In 2007, Shaun accomplished an amazing feat:  He won medals in both the Summer and Winter X Games in the same year;  For the first time ever, he won the Gold medal in the Skateboard Vert competition last August in L.A.

At those same Summer X Games, San Diego based athletes took home 20 medals, more than another other locality, and as they have done in many years past, captured all three medals in certain skateboarding events.

As the founder of the San Diego eXtreme Sports Coalition, I always ask the local FOX TV affiliate XETV to include the important highlights of local athletes in the Winter and Summer X Games each time they occur.  To my dismay in 2007, XETV showed ZERO highlights of both the Winter and Summer X Games, despite all of the local talent and the notoriety of Shaun White.

I remember Scrap and Jason from BallHype both choosing a skateboard vert highlight of the Summer X Games as one of the very best videos of the year.

XETV did not show this clip at all during the X Games, and they were the only station in San Diego to ignore it.  They were in fact the ONLY station in San Diego who showed no highlights. This was as true for the all of the winter events as it was for the summer games, which are only a two hour's drive away.

I investigated the situation and found disturbing documentation of the station's policies, which completely omit all news highlights and all video of the X Games while in progress, and bar any mention of them until after conclusion.

A letter from their senior producer to one viewer stated that the station's position was that X Games are "not real sports" and are something fabricated by ESPN to raise their ratings and to give the network their own marquee event - in his eyes, nothing more than a publicity stunt for the net.  The station XETV to this day REFUSES to show event highlights and news during both season's games, even with so many local athletes so well known here and around the world.

Many of you have heard of Tony Hawk, the world's most famous skateboarder.  Though now retired, he also grew up and still lives in San Diego, and in fact was a mentor of Shaun White at the local skate park.

Tony is now a commentator for the X Games, and along with other top local skateboarders who are world-famous (Bob Burnquist, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Andy MacDonald, Bucky Lasek) have tried to reiterate time and again to their own local TV news community of the very high interest in X Games news.

Note that the very first Winter X Games editions were promoted at early editions of the Summer X Games held in San Diego.  One method of hyping the winter version was to have - in the middle of the summer on a sunny day during the X Games events at Mission Bay Park - a huge SNOWBOARD ramp facing the ocean, with snowboarding events as demonstrations.

X Games are among the highest-rated local sports programs in San Diego every time they air, and the weekend ABC hours rival other more 'mainstream' sports' ratings such as Padres games in the summer and NBA in winter.

Here is the worst part of this particular situation with XETV (who is actually owned by Mexican media giant Televisa):  They will show every Red Bull stunt clip offered to them from anywhere in the world within their sports reports.  This includes the homemade airplane launching, the mountian bikes, and all of it, from the far reaches of the world whenever the events take pace.

So, what they are saying is that the Red Bull-sponsored extreme stunts ARE real sports, because they show them reguarly in their nightly 10 pm news, but that actual - and mainstream - extreme sporting events part of the X Games, such as surfing, skateboaring, and snowboarding - ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT REAL SPORTS, and do not deserve to be shown at all when they occur !

In 2007, after the conclusion of each - the Winter and Summer - X Games, I wrote to the station's management, and questioned their policies.  I presented evidence of the true popularity of these sports and athletes, of the high local interest in X Games and their TV ratings, and of the station's obligations as a local TV outlet and local news operation.  I provided contact information and extensive documentation, including the facts that every other station in San Diego showed some highlights during each of these 2007 X Games. 

I asked for an explanation, and got none.  I later once again asked for their reasoning for completely omitting these X Games, for stating that they were not real sports, and for showing Red Bull stunts and extreme sport with great regularity.

To this day, no one from the station has called or written to me.  They have not answered or offered to meet with any of the other leaders known to me who have brought this to their attention.  The extreme sports community in San Diego is not satisfied, and we are demanding and expectiing positive changes from this Fox affiliate.  They are indeed obligated to cover the sports news stories of the most interest to the local community, and they are not meeting their obligations to their viewers or even the comminity at large.

XETV has a full half hour of sports every Sunday night, and on the other six night, a sports segment within their 10 pm news.  If they can make room for Red Bull stunts at every opportunity, when they have no local connection whatsover, how is it that the very producer in charge of "That Sunady Sports Show" and of sports director CS Key's nightly sports news DOES NOT ALLOW X GAMES TO BE SHOWN ?  Why is it that he is permitted to operate with such an unfair bias against these sports, and to such a degree as to tell people that they ARE NOT REAL SPORTS ?

I wrote to the Vice President and General Manager of this station, as well as the News Director;  both parties oversee the sports news production and personnel.  While they can be held responsible and could take action, they also have not given me an answer.  The policies evidently are continuing.

The GM is Richard Doutre-Jones and the News Director is Tauna Lange.  The Sports Director (and main anchor) is CS Keys, and the sports producer quoted and referenced here - still in control of content today - is Mike Lamar.

The station's website is http://www.fox6.com  They have the youngest viewers of any local TV news in San Diego, yet still insist that X Games events are not real sports to be shown, that these famous local athletes performances there are not to be a part of the day's news and are certainly less important than everything else they show - evidently insignificant in their eyes.

I know that some in the Blogosphere may also not think of these sports as being 'real', but ask yourself why they would show Red Bull clips all through the year last year, and never one from the X Games.  Please ask yourself why any station in San Diego - an extreme sports mecca - would choose deliberately to keep their viewers from knowing about these games and the results, and especially the breathtaking performances including local talent.

I trust that many of you will be intrigued by this media conundrum, and that you will help me spread the word about the problem and assist with direct communications to the station demanding immediate and permanent corrective actions.  I want the world to know about the behavior of this station, and it would be great to get it corrected in time for this weekend's winter X.

San Diego eXtreme Sports Coaltion email is xsportscoalitionsd at yahoo .com, and you can also send me a private message here on BallHype ( I am ric-s ).  I am interested in feedback, but I hope you will read this and help the cause at any rate.  I seek to set a national example here;  It is a most eXtreme example of local TV sports news ignoring its own community...

...now for the eye candy !  

and best of all GRETCHEN BLEILER shreds the slopes....  

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