dorms & hung out with all the other dirt jumpers & some local girls that we met earlier. Later at night, the downhill Rollerblade team manager lady bitches started coming up to our floor & yelling at us to be quiet every 5 minutes. So when we were all leaving, we were going down the stairs & I was yelling “Rollerblade Faggots” super loud. Security started chasing me & the team manager lady tried to grab me while I was running from them. I ran right through her & then the security guard tackled me & next thing I know, the cops are there & she’s talking about pressing assault charges against me. The security guard’s head was bleeding & stuff.
The ESPN big wigs were called & woken up out of bed at midnight. They came in and they kicked me out of the X-Games. Shit! Then the Hoffman crew had to come & pick me up because they kicked me out of the dorms as well. So I had to stay at their hotel back in Newport. The ESPN people want me to get on a plane tomorrow. But I’m gonna stay. Man, I really messed up! I can’t believe it. While I was waiting for the Hoffman crew, I met this girl named Lacy & hooked up with her a bit behind this big curtain in the room that they were holding me in.
Looking Back Now: For some reason, getting “kicked out of the X-Games” has been one of my biggest claims to fame. Shoot, it was even printed on the back of one of my JNCO trading cards. “First athlete to ever get kicked out of ESPN X-Games.” –Man, that shit is funny.
The whole night was just a bunch of us BMXers being BMXers. It wasn’t our fault that they put the downhill rollerblade girls on the floor beneath us. The ESPN scheduling department should have known to keep the rollerblade girls far from the BMX dirt jumpers.
A lot of other funny stuff happened at this 2nd ever X-Games after this night. One is that ESPN wanted to kick me out of town. They told me that they wanted me to leave town & if they saw me again, they would have me arrested. Yeah right. What the heck was this? The wild, wild West? But they did take all of my credentials & they said that if they found me at the X-Games or in any of the dorms (where they put up all of the athletes) then they would have me arrested for trespassing. So for the rest of the week, I was always in some sort of disguise & sneaking around using other people’s credentials. I had no place to stay, so for the next week I stayed in Robo Morales’s truck & some local girls’ houses who I had met there. I felt like a freakin’ vagabond.
The whole story is kind of funny now. But it wasn’t so funny when it happened. It was only the 2nd year of the X-Games. And the year before, I placed 5th. At these contests back in the day, it was almost a given that they would air a bunch of my runs on TV. So when I told my sponsor (Haro), they fined me $500. And it sucked as well to call my parents & tell them that I wouldn’t be in the contest or on TV.
Like I said, it sucked then, but it’s a pretty funny story now. “First person to ever get kicked out of the X-Games.” –Nobody else can claim that!
Todd Lyons
Photo: If you remember anything from the mid 90’s, you probably remember The Macho Man all over TV “Snapping a Slim Jim!” The Macho Man meets the Wildman. While Mirra dies laughing in the background….
Actual Journal Entry: I met up with Dave Mirra in the morn & Mike Griffin and I used his rental car & drove 40 minutes from Newport, Rhode Island to Providence. That’s where the dirt jump contest is. We checked into our dorms & put our stuff in there & drove back to Newport & watched street qualifiers. There were crazy crowds here! Then we hooked up with Robbie Morales & drove back to Providence. We got some beer & went to some Nike party & ate & picked up free stuff that they gave to all of us “athletes.” Then we went back to the
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.