COSTA MESA, Calif.  A specter from the grittier past of skateboarding has reappeared, ready to reconnect with his past without letting it drag him down.

The X Games are scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on Thursday, and Jay Adams, whose skateboarding career has been the subject of two major films, wants to attend. Adams, 47, does not compete anymore, but he hopes to watch and visit with friends he has not seen in years. More important, he wants to reunite with his wife and a daughter he has never seen outside of prison.

The decision about the X Games will not be up to him. The relationship with his family will be.

Adams was transferred from a federal prison in Oregon on July 7 to a halfway house in Garden Grove, Calif., where he will serve the final months of a four-year sentence for his role in a major drug shipment scheme. Although he has enjoyed increased freedom, his schedule and movements remain strictly supervised.