SAN FRANCISCO -- Skateboarding is one of the marquee events at the X Games and the number of fans on the vert ramp and park courses on Piers 30-32 proved that fact.

The "Best Trick" skateboarding contest was a showcase for Bob Burnquist who landed an amazing fakie 5-0, fakie kickflip out off of the grind bar to win the gold. But he took the Best Trick competition even further when he took a 2-foot high box that had been placed at the top of the coping and turned it upright to eight feet. He then skated all the way up the box, tapped the tail of his board over the edge, and came back down. The "Best Trick" competition allows vert skateboarders a high level of creativity.

Park competitors wait their turn Monday.

Monday, the Skateboard Park competition took place and was equally as exciting. Already an innovator in park skating, Eric Koston pulled off a stylish and fluid run. He hit some frontside 50-50's, and nailed some tailslides on the brand new course that offered the skaters a varitey of different lines and options.

So why do vert skateboarders get a Best Trick competition and park skateboarders don't?

"I was wondering that myself, I skate park, and there is more to park skating than just flying up in the air, like vert," said one street fan.

There were other fans at the 2000 X Games who said vert skating received all of the publicity, while park was left out in the cold.

"Dude, look at what day Park is on, its at the end of the X games," said a park skater, who didn't want to be named. "Park has a bigger audience than vert skating."

A good reason for this may be that park skating can be done just about anywhere. A lot of people do not have the opportunity to skate vert and skate parks are few and far between.

However, many of the fans felt that competitions like the best trick gave vert skating great exposure, and even more exposure for the sport of skating.

"Its not a difference between good and bad, if one thing is better than another, if someone starts skating because of what they saw on television, then that is a good thing," added another fan.

While this debate could rage on, everyone, from fans to skaters, agreed any type of skating is good for the sport. Different types of skating gives the sport exposure to different audiences and everyone benefits.

Street skater Jessie Paez said it best when he stated, "They are both their own thing, and they are both good for the sport. Everthing is good. You want to skate everything, cement, wood, whatever, just as long as you skate."

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