question for Hugh
 

A few of us are watching the X-games on ESPN.. We can't believe your parent company let's them compete without helmets ?? I take it there's no safety officer for the X games??

Good question for which I don't have an answer. ESPN does have a couple of safety dweebs, but I think their concern is crew and the public. I don't think I've ever watched the X games, I'll have to take a look.

X-games have a built in anti-pussification device.
It's up to the participants if they want to wear protective equipment or not, just as it should be.

so...what are the health insurance arrangements for participants?

It's fair to say that I have absolutely no idea.

when are you ready for an apprentice?

These men and women are a different breed than my generation. Broken bones including broken vertebrae are taken in stride as part of the cost of doing business. Check out the obituary of one of the would - be participants who died during training just a few days before the events:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/story/2012-01-19/freestyle-skier-sarah-burke-death/52680120/1
It's a whole different world out there. I mean, those snowmobile jumpers are just fearless. Half pipe and slopestyle events feature unbelievable feats of derring-do-one right after another - any one of which would have been 'you gotta see it to believe it' unreal just a few years ago. These folks are brave. And like sammy says, they are more or less telling the organizers, we'll let you know when this is too dangerous. How they get insurance is beyond me.

Oh man I hadn't heard about Burkes' accident. What a pity. She had the whole deal going on. Athletic ability, cover girl looks. What a pity. Heaven bless.

Me? Believe me you don't want my job. In the last year I ve been in Istanbul, Prague, Budapest, Croatia, Rome, London, all across the Southwest USA, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver. I'll be spending too much time in Albuquerque, Utah and Colorado over the next six months. In the Fall I hope to be on a show some where in China. Yeah, all of that should have been in green. After working 30 years, I finally got a nice gig.