Walking the red carpet with extreme sports' top stars

                    

	Ryan Sheckler was named skateboarder of the year at the Action Sports Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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I've never liked red carpet affairs. They just aren't my thing. The spectacle of it all bores me and depresses me to no end. Hundreds of reporters and photographers corralled together in front of a venue, hoping to get one picture, one quote, one sound bite from a celebrity, who will be asked countless times the same question we probably get asked every day when we walk into work.

"Who are you wearing?"

Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Like when the fine folks at the Action Sports Awards invited me to their first show, not to stand behind a rope and fend for elbow room mind you, but to walk the red, or in their case blue, carpet and attend the show. I guess could handle that.

I arrived at the show with my date for the evening, a certain blonde beauty that will go unnamed in this space but will have a few cameo appearances when the show airs this Sunday night on Fox. Understanding it's important to roll with a crew, I also walked the carpet with two of the bigger names in actions sports, Carey Hart and Dave Mirra. Hart was wearing a huge cast on his right arm that made waving to fans and shaking hands almost as painful as getting a tattoo at his place in Vegas. "Just another day in the life of Carey Hart," he said.

As dozens of cameras flashed in front of us and reporters screamed out random names and questions, we were whisked into the venue and backstage where I got my first sign this wouldn't be your ordinary awards show. Jamie Kennedy, who would be hosting a portion of the show, was walking around with red underwear on his head holding up a piece of paper that read, "I found Britney's panties." Yes, I was definitely at the Action Sports Awards.

There was an interesting mix of athletes and celebrities as I walked into the VIP room and grabbed a drink that wasn't any stranger than the marriage between an open bar and Arby's, which was sponsoring the show and catering the event with tiny roast beef sandwiches. In the corner of the quaint room which was filling up fast, Andrew Dice Clay, dressed in his usual load black leather ensemble, was holding court with Tom Green. They were filming sketches for Green's Web site -- "I'm on the national Web right now, I'm hoping to go worldwide soon," he says -- and talking to anyone and everyone.