The nearly spontaneous emergence of "extreme sports" was a testimony to the competitive instincts of men and women. With roots often far outside traditional sporting pastimes, such as baseball and basketball, the development of competitions in these extreme sports had innocent enough origins. Indeed, these athletes were often the geeks and nerds who did not try out for "organized" team sports that required the systematic discipline of weight lifting and daily group calisthenics. These young men and women marched to their own drummer, did their own thing, even spoke their own language (for example, "fakies" and "grinds"). Originally, skateboarding was simply a preadolescent activity carried out in the neighborhoods and on the sidewalks of the strip malls while parents were shop-ping or having their hair done. Their presence was often unappreciated and scorned—what shopper with a pile of packages wanted to be knocked...