"I Just Wanted To Do The Biggest Stunts." Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan Swap War Stories And Talk Rivalry
ILOvoyldDgM From the outside, the beef between Brian Deegan and Travis Pastrana went deep in the early days of Freestyle Motocross. But in hearing them talk about their past to one another, there was more respect. Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan, if you believe the lore, as well as what your own eyes saw at the time, heated rivals.
No, not the hockey show everyone's crazy about. But real, embittered, punch each other in the face sort of rivals. The sort that made excellent television in the late '90s and early aughts.
The freestyle motocross legends routinely were pitted against each other, with Deegan taking on the scumbag, heavily tattooed, punk-rock persona, and Pastrana the good-boy, wholesome stalwart. At least, that's how they were portrayed, and how they both played it up for the cameras, each understand the business side of things far better than either let on. For what it's worth, I identified way more with Deegan's "Metal Mulisha" crew than Pastrana's more straight-edge identity, though again, both were playing parts, something I see more with clear eyes 20 years on—God, we're all old.
Reality being what it is, however, the two never seemed to actually hate each other. In fact, there's a lot of mutal respect, as they've both shown over the years, talking each other up. But this sit-down between the two of them really lays it all out, as they swap war stories of the old days, and more.
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