I'm not even going to try to call all the tricks I just saw go down because the street contest was totally overwhelming to watch: The jam session meant a whole gang of truly excellent street skaters were practically on top of each other dropping the biggest tricks possible left and right.


This year's contest was so much better than last year's that I'm forced to take back some of what I said in my first X Games preview post: Finally, this thing feels a bit more relevant to what is actually happening in skateboarding. Chris Cole said it well, in an interview during the women's contest: "If it were individual runs again, I wouldn't be here. This is way more natural."


The evidence? Cole won again, even shorn of his trademark mane (I don't have good pictures from today yet, so I'm sticking a shot of last year's heshin' 'do up top instead). Dave Duncan, Danny Way, Christian Hosoi, and anybody ESPN let near a microphone -- including Lil' Jon -- said the same thing: The tricks going down in today's contest looked like video tricks, not contest tricks. The distinction? Contest tricks mean playing it safe, going big but staying within limits. Video tricks, where you get as many takes as you need to get it right, are about pushing limits and progressing skateboarding. This is what I'm taking about: Chris Cole's backside nollie heelflip 180, Greg Lutzka's frontside noseblunt slide on the double-set rail. The video is worth watching.


"It's a more organic feel," said Danny Way, watching his new Plan B recruit Jereme Rogers skate to third place in a jam format that suits his style. "Every year the contest gets more heated, and it's just gonna keep going. Skateboarding is the land of the infinite possibility." Cole was followed by Greg Lutzka and Rogers, at Silver and Bronze -- Lil' Jon presented the awards -- and I saw tremendous skating by everybody in the contest.


More evidence that this was the real deal: I have never, ever seen so many broken boards in a skateboarding contest. These guys were going hard. Good stuff, and another banner year for Zero Skateboards, taking the number one spots in both the men's and women's street contests for the second year in a row.


Here's the final results, if you're into that sort of thing:
1. Chris Cole
2. Greg Lutzka
3. Jereme Rogers
4. Ryan Sheckler
5. Tommy Sandoval
6. Paul Rodriguez
7. Mark Appleyard
8. Eric Koston
9. Andrew Reynolds
10. Nick Dompierre