Although flatland wasn't in the Games as part of the competition, there was a demo being held with Kevin Jones, Andrew Faris, and others. I couldn't find out when or where it was going to happen (thanks in part to the poorly organized website), so I didn't see it. However, while returning to our car, we did run into Jones on the street — and I have to admit it was cool meeting the rider who invented nearly every trick I do...
We spent Saturday walking around the area of downtown Providence taken over by the Gravity Games. (Local residents probably weren't too thrilled with having their city overrun by NBC Sports, but that's another story.) There was an area of huge dirt jumps for the freestyle motocross riders (which is also where the BMX dirt jumping was held...albeit on smaller jumps), a pretty large "street" course (half of which was mainly wedge stuff and inclines), and two vert ramps (one for bikes, and one for skaters & booters).
And of course, the sponsors of the Games had their booths set up, trying to push their products. Sometimes it was good (such as the free deodorant for Jon Kenniston, who had forgotten to put some on that morning and was getting ranker as the day went on), and other times annoying ("I almost got drafted!" — Sean Maher after being confronted by a Marine).
Speaking of commercialism, it's kind of annoying seeing company banners everywhere, and the announcers reading stuff like "...and if you're thirsty, be sure to pick up a refreshing Mountain Dew" (which they were selling at quite a markup). But on the other hand, somebody's gotta pay for the ramps and prize money, plus we've kinda gotten used to it thanks to ESPN. Like it or not, that's the way it is ("Yay capitalism" — Austin Powers). However, I don't know what market research firm suggested the Marines as a sponsor — either it was for the freestyle motocross fans, or more jocks are into "extreme sports" than I originally thought. (Actually, knowing how some riders today have such shitty attitudes, maybe that's true...)
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