Extreme Sports Popularity
Different sports are more popular due to the different types of things they offer. Extreme sports for example, are popular because they offer so much more than just adrenaline and cheap thrills. Many people only know extreme sports through the X-Games coverage and World's Worst Crashes shows, and don’t even see the participants as athletes. These sports, which have become more developed over time, show campetitors defying laws of physics and gravity and in some cases cheating death. Even a glance at the various extreme sports will show that the difficulty and creativity involved rival or even surpass those found in the traditional sports. Extreme sports, which are also known as alternate sports, require intense concentration and discipline. Although death is a possibility at best in most extreme sports, injuries of all kinds are a real risk that demands a true commitment. Athletes who accept the risk are not fearless, but rather enjoy their sport so much that the rewards outweigh any fear they might have of getting hurt. Wakeboarding, inline skating, BMX, skateboarding, snowboarding, and many other sports have athletes getting hurt more often than football, for instance. Even skydiving, the stand-by example of extreme sports, is a relatively safe pastime, and not truly a sport. This is why alternative sports is a far better title to use than extreme sports. Instead of the stereotype of thrill seekers mindlessly throwing themselves into harm's way, alternative athletes train themselves on par with those in the Olympics, with hundreds of hours of practice for every hour of competition. After falls that would sideline many traditional athletes, alternative athletes get back up and practice some more. This perseverance directly contradicts people who think extreme sports are carried out on a whim of the moment. What makes extreme sports unique and popular is the amazing athleticism of its participants, not the possible danger. Each sport...