Sal Masekela with the 'Godfather' of motocross jumping, Mike Metzger
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Video: Ron Metzger (1 minute 18 seconds)
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Masekela: Mike Metzger, I've been watching you jump for many, many, many moons, my friend and I uh I don't get tired. I lost my voice for you just there. But for you this ... you are the godfather, you've been...freestyle motocross is your life. What does it mean to you to be able to come here this morning and really kickoff this XGames Xperience? Because I've been told that Disney has a very special place in your heart.

Metzger: Yeah, definitely, you know, uh, Disneyland is what dreams are made of, for sure. I've been coming here since I was a little kid. As a matter of fact, this is probably like my second home I grew up in Huntington Beach and my grandmother brought me here consistently almost every day and its in my heart. I love Disneyland. I have two kids of my own, a two year old and a 6 month old. I can't wait until they get a little bit bigger so I can ride all the rides with them. It's a great time to be here at Disneyland and it's a good way to kick off this year for the XGames. I'll be here until Aug 10th and then I get about three days before the XGames start. It's radical to be here riding our motorcycles at Disneyalnd. We got a good group of individuals who are skating and BMXing. You've got the best of the best guys here, Bestwick, and Bob and Fabby. You've got a really good crew of motocrossers.

Masekela: When you first started jumping when you first started riding your bike did you ever think we'd be in front of an international stage of media like this at Disneyland? And really what does it mean to you? What does it mean for the sport? And where are we going with this action sports thing? Are we ever going to stop? Are we ever going to fall off?

Metzger: Well definitely I feel that this kick-off for 2003 XGames here at Disneyland is the biggest thing we done so far. I think it is just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.Every year the athletes raise the bar on our tricks, last year I did a back flip and hopefully I can take the back flip to the next level this year. Same with the people I never expected to be jumping dirt bikes in front of the thousands and millions of people, let alone at Disneyalnd. It's great for everyone let alone the athletes, being able to do what we love.

Masekela: You know what? If you didn't think that the action sports athletes had something good to say, now you know. And the fine folks at Disney, they just love you. They love your story. They love the whole coming here as a kid thing. This is crazy. We didn't expect to do this but they gave me a very special thing here I gotta give you. Hold on a second brother, you're going to be stoked. First off, the Disneyalnd Resort and ESPN thank you and they want to give you the XGames Xperience special Mickey gold medal.

Crowd cheers.

AND...if that wasn't enough dude, you are an honorary Disney Cast Member. You have your own "Godfather" name tag for life, brother. You just put that on there and anybody give you any sort of hassle you just point down at the chest, excuse me, Godfather, Cast Member, thank you very much. And because I've gotten to know you over the years, we're going places aren't we.

Metzger: Yeah, definitely. I just want to say, thanks first off to all the Disney people for having us. And Ron Simeo for bringing the XGames to Planet Earth because without XGames we wouldn't be able to go to as big as we do. So big thanks. And I heard that I'm the first guy to work at Disneyalnd that has tatoos so I apologize Walt!

Masekela: A new day has dawned here at Disney. Let's here it for the Godfather, Mike Metzger.

Masekela shows Metzger his new name badge...
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...as Metzger is made an honorary Cast Member - Godfather
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