Broken bones, missing teeth: Life as usual at the X Games

Dan Pastor said it, man, and Carey Hart agrees:

"You could get hurt walking across the street. I'd rather get hurt doing something cool."

And man does Hart do something cool -- motocross. The sport is totally balls-out, and nothing fazes the people that compete in it. Especially Hart in last week's X Games.

He saw the faces of his competitors shown on the big screen at the First Union Center, and he heard their information -- their names, ages and hometowns -- announced over the PA system.

But he knew, man, he knew that there was more important information -- information that wouldn't be announced, information that any rider can rattle off as easy as their social security number.

Yeah, he didn't exactly have that info memorized, but he'd just nod in agreement if someone recited it for him:

Travis Pastrana, 17, Annapolis, Md. (nine surgeries, eight concussions, 26 broken bones).

Kenny Bartram, 22, Stillwater, Okla. (17 broken bones, seven missing teeth, an inch-long scar on his face).

Tommy Clowers, 28, San Diego, Calif. (two screws in his left ankle, two in his right shoulder).

Shawn Highland, 26, Medford, Ore. (six broken bones in his collar alone).

Kris Rourke, 22, Boise, Idaho (22 broken bones).

Man, Hart would just shrug his shoulders at all that. He could've had his own information:

Carey Hart, 26, Las Vegas, Nev. (compressed vertebrae in lower back and pulled ligaments).

And man, that injury was when he actually sorta landed a backflip last year.

But don't think it's fazed this dude. Hart. He's balls-out, man. He's tough as nails.

So what if it was AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" that was coming from the stadium's speaker system as he stood on the platform that sits atop a giant ramp?

So what if no one has ever completed a clean backflip on a motorcycle?

Hart doesn't care. He agrees with Pastor.

And why not agree with Pastor? He's in touch, man.

"I've had too many concussions to know how many broken bones I've had," said Pastor, who also said that he believes motocross is safer than riding in a car.

And why shouldn't he, man? And why shouldn't Hart spend a good 20 minutes with a ground crew, like he did on the next-to-last night of the X Games, smoothing out a dirt jump that he'd use to try that backflip?

So yeah, Hart tried that insane backflip, with the first jump of the night by any rider.

And yeah, Hart didn't make it, bailing out 30 feet in the air and 180 degrees into the jump.

And yeah, he landed pretty hard. Hard enough for him to need to be carried off by a stretcher after 10 minutes on the ground. Hard enough to break toes and ribs and bruise his tailbone.

Hard enough for other riders that were considering attempting the backflip that night on August 21 to shelve those plans.

Of course, it wasn't hard enough to knock Hart out of the sport completely. No way, man, you can't just wuss out like that.

So Hart'll remember this crash gloriously, just like his motocross buddies remember their gnarley falls, right? That's part of the appeal.

"Umm...," said a suddenly-hushed Bartram. "Most of the bad crashes you try not to remember."

But still, it's not scary when you're actually out there doing those radical jumps, right? This sport is always a blast.

"Well, sometimes you're in the air, pretty high up, on an 85-degree downslope, and you know you're gonna hit hard," Rourke said. "You've got all this time and you just tense up your full body."

But that ain't gonna stop these Moto X dudes. They're much too badass for that.

And they're definitely gonna get this whole crazy backflip thing down. One of these times, someone's gonna land it and be able to walk away unscathed.

You just wait, man. It'll be friggin' unreal.

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