It’s late to be asking this, but when did everything turn – Extreme?

One of the earliest appearances, as far as I can recall, had to do with ESPN and their Extreme Sports. Compared to four hour baseball games and Sunday afternoon coverage of quietly-announced golf events, leaping from a helicopter to ski down the snow-covered face of an Alpine mountainside does seem pretty extreme.

But it didn’t stop at sky-diving, bull-running, or Snake Canyon motorcycle jumping.

Okay. So maybe skateboarding in those events that have contestants shooting fifteen or twenty feet into the air could be considered extreme. Pushing yourself one-footed down the sidewalk and then coasting for six feet – not so much.

On my way to work this morning, I noticed that Broken Arrow has an Extreme hair salon. I’m not really sure what that means. Will you leave later with all your hair hacked off? To the point your friends will notice your ‘extreme’ style change? Or is the trim achieved with a chainsaw? That, even I would admit, would be a fairly extreme way to get a haircut.

What about the Extreme nail salon? There is one of those, too. It makes me think of those pictures of oddballs who never, ever, trim their fingernails and have those long twisty things hanging off the ends of their digits. That’s extreme, in my book. Clippers and a nail file? I don’t see how that qualifies. Applying nail polish and paint? Extreme? Maybe if it is done with a snow-blower.

Most of these, I’ve seen. Some are courtesy of Google. They are local.

Extreme sports camp. Extreme nutrition. Extreme DJs. Extreme food couponing.

Then, there are the products. Drink down a No Fear Extreme energy drink and perhaps you’ll experience supersonic flight – without the jet. The Extreme-Clean drink promises to run through your gastric system eliminating toxins on its merry (but extreme) journey.

Are things better, when Extreme?

If so, then let me show you some Extreme Books, or try the Extreme Irish Stew!

Nah…

On second thought, I’ll stick with moderate to slightly-exciting.