ESPNAction Sports

Paul Rodriguez was in New York last week promoting the launch of his fourth signature shoe with Nike SB. On top of launch parties and interviews, P-Rod and his Nike SB teammates skated around the city and did a demo at Harlem's Rucker Park in conjunction with the World Basketball Festival.

The three-time X Games Skate Street gold medalist is one of 24 skateboarders who has signed a contract to skate exclusively in Rob Dyrdek's Street League. The first event of the new league kicks off Aug. 28 in Phoenix, where a $1.2 million prize purse is on the line. The events will air on ESPN2 on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, beginning Sept. 15.

I sat down with Rodriguez to talk about his new shoe, his clothing line, Street League, his deal with Target, the Plan B video and more.

After his second X Games Best Trick front flip failure, Paris Rosen is battered and bruised -- both physically and mentally -- but if you think that's going to stop him from getting back on his bike and continuing to perfect the front flip, along with other crazy tricks he has stored in his brain, you're absolutely wrong. Still healing from his laundry list of injuries acquired at X16, Rosen is charting out his future, which includes many more front flips, front flip variations, and even the bike flip.

I hooked up with Rosen to discuss the crash, what went wrong and how he plans to do to redeem himself after his second X Games blunder. Read on.

ESPN.com: Alright man, let's get right into it. What exactly happened to you injury wise from your brutal crash at X Games?
Paris Rosen: When I went down I dislocated my hip and broke a vertebrae in my lower back. And then I broke the cartilage in front of my ribcage that holds my ribs together, which is annoying because it takes longer to heal than a bone because it's cartilage and doesn't have a blood supply flowing through it. And obviously I also broke my ribs and when I did that it severed my liver and bruised one of my lungs.

Wow, that's intense. So when you crashed, what hurt the worst? How painful was it?
Well actually, believe it or not, it was the first time I'd ever be knocked out cold. I don't know, but I've taken some good hits. And every time you crash hard you immediately want to get up and walk off the pain, but when you get knocked out it's actually kind of nice because you don't feel any of it. [laughs]

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Van Homan is officially home recovering from his skull fracture, that he sustained last month during X Games street practice. After spending a couple scary days in the ICU, he was released and is expected to make a full-recovery. He wasn't allowed to fly home, so Van and his wife Samantha had to drive all the way back across the country to New Jersey. Now resting up, Van said he won't be able to ride again until November but is super happy to be home. More good news is that Van had some time from his busy schedule now, and filled out his bike check for us. So sit back, and take a personal tour of Van's Fit setup, courtesy of Van himself.

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Picture yourself a few months out from X Games. You've been before, crashed and burned, and this year there's no invite with your name on it. For seasoned FMX vet Ronnie Faisst, this was the case just weeks before X Games 16. Not even an alternate, Faisst knew deep down he should buy a 450 and train for Speed & Style like it was going to happen. Fast forward to just days before X16 -- Faisst shows up to LA with his gear bag, bike, and a spot in the Speed & Style line up. Faisst attributes his success that weekend in LA to god ... check out his interesting story in the video interview above.

X Games 16 is a wrap. Trying to find out what went down around L.A. town at the end of July? You've come to the right place: a virtual link bonanza for all things X16.

• X Games 16 home »
• Complete results »
• Video hub
• Day four photos
• Day three photos
• Day two photos
• Day one photos

My first encounter with Jamie Bestwick was in the first Ride BMX video "Thunder," way, way back in 1997. The video featured Bestwick blasting huge airs and what I thought was one of the wildest lip tricks I had seen at the time: a tailwhip toothpick on vert nailed clean during a contest run. Immediately, I became a fan of the Englishman riding vert on a chrome KHE. And throughout the years, that admiration has not wavered. After Jamie's move to the U.S. in 1999, Jamie quickly moved up through the pro vert ranks to dominate almost every contest he entered, and in the present tense, he is one of, if not the best, vert rider on the planet. Following Jamie's win at X16, Sandy Carson submitted a unique collection of Bestwick photos, spanning over a decade of riding, which we've compiled into a gallery. Follow the link below and bow down before the modern day king of vert. Okay, don't really bow down, but do take a minute to appreciate how awesome Jamie's riding is.

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What a week -- seriously, what an insane week. Now back in NYC, X Games 16 are a thing of the past, but definitely something we'll be talking about for a good while after. Now let's talk about Speed & Style -- a lot of people are pegging S&S as the most exciting event of the Games -- more specifically the Ronnie Faisst vs. Jeremy 'Twitch' Stenberg bronze medal showdown.

Travis Pastrana and Nate Adams had gold and silver on lock, so it came down to a straight up dogfight for bronze between Faisst and Stenberg after Faisst had beaten out Kevin Johnson and Twitch had topped Brian Deegan in the earlier qualifying round. In one of the most dramatic/confusing matchups, Faisst took the lead followed by Twitch -- who shortly after ended up taking a spill in the first turn after sliding out on the slick carpeted bank. Remounting his bike, Twitch got back up to speed, but Faisst was long gone. However, on lap two, Faisst stalled his bike in the tricky whoop section, allowing Twitch to take the lead. After lap two of the three lap race, the checkered flag was waved and the chaos inside the Staples Center distracted officials from realizing that both Faisst and Twitch had only completed two laps.

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Well, the X Games just wrapped and it has been a whirlwind week out here in Los Angeles. With more skate events than any X Games before, there were enough tricks, surprises, upsets and triumphs to keep people talking for quite some time. We started the week with Big Air where, with Danny Way dropping out of contention just a few days before go-time, it looked like the deep bag of tricks Bob Burnquist has would be a lock for the gold. However, Burnquist couldn't quite put it all together in the final and Jake Brown stuck a backflip into a 540 to win gold for the second year in a row.

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They say that history has a way of repeating itself, and if X Games 16 is any indication, that couldn't be more correct. Across the board, four Gold Medals went to riders that already claim ownership of X Games Gold. Respectively, Jamie Bestwick in Vert (the first four-peat win in Vert), Chad Kagy in Big Air (his third X Games Gold Medal and second in Big Air), Daniel Dhers in Park (his third X Games Gold) and Garrett Reynolds in Street (giving Garrett a three-peat in Golds.)

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X Games 16 is a wrap and you know what that means ... bring on X Games 17! In all seriousness, X16 proved to be another exciting event, but the moto portion of the games was definitely a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

The first event of the week was Moto X Freestyle, which went down at the LA Coliseum. With the most stacked field we've seen at any X Games, the competition was fierce, but it was ole' reliable, Travis Pastrana, who showed up nearly unexpected and dominated the field of 16 riders. Silver medal finisher Levi Sherwood had better tricks than Pastrana, but his runs lacked the same intensity, which ultimately gave TP the nod from the judges. Repeating last year's Freestyle finish, Nate Adams squeezed in a bronze medal with a solid, yet stock, performance in the Coliseum.

Moving things to the Staples Center, the most anticipated moto event of the Games -- Best Trick -- promised to be just as amazing as year's past, but before the event had a chance to start, the rider shrunk tremendously. First, Blake 'Bilko' Williams pulled out due to a nagging injury that wasn't quite healed. Shortly after followed Pastrana, sighting that he didn't have his TP 720 dialed as much as he would've liked, forcing him to pull out and play it safe. Then the most unexpected hit came as three-time Best Trick gold medalist Kyle Loza announced he'd be sitting out, literally less than an hour before show time.

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