'He Got a Bruised Liver, a Bruised Lung, and a Silver'

(the title pulled from what I think J.A. Adande said while filling in on PTI today)

Insanity, pure insanity, that he was able to get up shortly after this can only be attributed to his athleticism, the angle at which he struck, and dumb luck.

I wouldn't have shown it if his injuries were worse, when you first see Jake Brown's sickening fall, it's pretty shocking, and a commenter over at Gawker (not known for their X-Games coverage, but some things transcend categories) who says they were at Staples when it happens hints at what it must have felt like to watch it live:

BY LITTLE MINTZ SUNSHINE AT 02:22 PM I only wish I had seen it on tv but I was sitting in a suite right at the pipe and saw it happen. It was a horrifying thing to see and I'm still trying to get the "thud" sound out of my head. Needless to say, the suite fridge was cleaned out of booze immediately after he dragged his damaged internal organs off the pipe

The Summer X-Games have made Los Angeles their home and will be here again for at least 2008 and 2009. It's become a pretty big event around here. L.A. really is Sportstown USA.

And above is the video of the trick Brown pulled off earlier where nothing bad happened.

And while I am at it, here's some video of Sal Masekela's (X-Games Host) dad blowing his horn (no grass was grazed in the above performance, but it was in this one (audio only, video doesn't directly match audio))

Lot's of Hype, Not Much Game . . .

The debut of Beckham just ended. He played the last 13+ minutes, had only a few touches, and got tackled in extra time which put a scare into the sold out Home Depot Center. Lucky for the LA Galaxy that Chelsea isn't in the same league, cause they aren't even close to being in the same league.

Chelsea plays at a completely different gear.

The final was 1-0, but it wasn't close, the game was played almost entirely in the Galaxy's end, but for solid goaltending by Cannon and excellent defense by Xavier, Chelsea would have scored 3 or 4 times.

Against another MLS team, they might be good, haven't been paying enough attention to know.

The ESPN coverage covered the 'stars' in the stands more than the game at times, Victoria Beckham was there of course, and she drug Eva Longoria and Katie Holmes (clutching Suri) with her. Kevin Garnett was here, I'll take that as a sign that a deal is getting done to send KG to LA. The Governator took some time off from Governating and brought the wife and kids. Drew Carey was there to actually watch the game, which seemed out of place.

Big Deal? Seriously?

Becks and Posh arrived here in Los Angeles today. The Mayor of Los Angeles himself greeted David Beckham (Villaraigosa was booed at the press conference, the local news anchor pointed out that the boos were because Villaraigosa is a Chivas fan (the other MLS team in town), and not due to his recently made public affair).

The coverage is pretty intense here, but the coverage is more about the coverage, and about how excited we're supposed to be, rather than any real excitement over the prospect of watching Beckham bend it at Home Depot Center in Carson.

They got the usual ritzy mansion in Beverly Hills for themselves, I would have been more impressed if he chose a compound in Carson and built some massively gaudy mansion near the place he'll play.

One annoying note from the coverage locally, they kept referring to the FIELD at Home Depot as the PITCH. Take your Britishisms and stuff 'em up yer arse, I say. If Beckham can call the sport he plays soccer, than we can keep calling the field, a field.

Speaking of coverage, here's BBC, The Sun, Guardian, and Evening Standard going crazy over this crap. Here's the video (with the reporter calling the field a pitch) from the local newscast on KCAL 9. And here's what his commute might look like (don't know the exact location of his new mansion, but it has to be up in those hills somewhere). I wouldn't want to drive it, the 405 is a nightmare, usually.

Purple, Gold, Crimson and Mustard (and I guess Silver and Black while I'm at it)

It's crosstown rivals day in LA.

The big one, USC v UCLA in Pasadena will decide whether or not USC plays for another championship. Don't count UCLA out. But I root for the Trojans (even though I have taken classes at UCLA and like their basketball teams, I've always been a Trojans football fan)

Nothing will ever get me to stop bleeding Purple and Gold, enough said.

And I guess I'll root for the Kings, but as Jack Kent Cooke observed there are hundreds of thousands of Canadians living in Southern California, and all of them are here because they hate Hockey.

Other than a brief time of Gretzky greatness, LA is not a hockey town.

(but the Ducks are awfully good this year)