michaelm

I am hardly Rossi’s greatest admirer on here, but while I agree with most of what you say about his treatment of competitors, I don’t go for the advantages and manipulation of officialdom things so much, basically I agree with J4rn0’s argument that he had the advantages which have always accrued to the top rider or riders such as my personal idol Mick Doohan, and perhaps at least to an extent earned and contributed to by such riders, and as far as manipulating officialdom imo it has more been his Uncle Carmelo falling over himself to aid the cause of his meal ticket, but not to the extent of contriving results. He did seem to use his influence to get on the Bridgestone tires in 2008, but as Gaz says you would in his position if you could and believed they offered an advantage. He has gotten away with a few things, the Jerez last corner pass on Gibernau for one.

Keshav

I specifically referring to the mid-season change in the front tire compound. The rest of the field were working with what was available, yet his exaggerated influence came into play, via his fixer Carmelo and it resulted in a tire with qualities tailored to his needs, and ended up disadvantaging other riders. He purposes himself as being the best, but if he was truly that good, he would have demonstrated that by beating other riders on the original tire.

Same goes for his jump to Ducati; if he were the superior rider, he'd have stayed at Yamaha and beat Lorenzo on the M1.

misfit

Looks like the same goes for the fans with big egos and opposing views!

Many of the greats, as I've witnessed, especially the ones with massive statistics will invariably find an advantage where they can. Being a purist at heart, I'd prefer if battles were fought on track but unfortunately, the mind games will forever exist in sport and also, the machinery isn't the same. Teams and riders will try at all times to get on the best machinery and will do whatever it takes to get their bikes legally quicker.

MM is the real deal. He's a true legend in the real sense of the word. Pure unadulterated talent has everything to do with his achievements to date. He's very hard on track but usually fair. Rossi can't stand this.

Furiosa

I was a competitor for many years, although in an entirely different sphere. Completely different. I can hand on heart say I never felt contempt for my competitors and knew that when I was beaten, I had to go home, do some work, get better.

There's some saying about how you don't make your light shine brighter by dimming others. I'm not eloquent enough to repeat it or bright enough to remember it, but you get the gist.

michaelm

My rancour has cooled on that one, it looks as though he was correct that ‘his’ tire was the better all-round tire. The manifestly unfair thing for me was the original tire being taken away from those it suited, which was probably down to Dorna and/or Bridgestone rather than him. To be fair to Dorna, which takes some effort on my part, I believe a rule has since been promulgated against such a tire removal in future.

MM’s reaction was instructive, iirc he said that he doubted they would do the same for him, but was mostly amused because he thought the tire was likely to suit him as well. He did get his share of golden boy treatment prior to 2015 of course.

michaelm

Sure, the highest long term achievers do tend to be that way, cf the controversies which have attached to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Keshav

I'll take your word on that one. Never followed team sports really. I only know about deflate gate because it was the subject of seemingly hundreds of late night comedy monologues over the course of several weeks.

michaelm

Sorry, on my phone and meant to reply to misfit who made the point about other statistically dominant sportsmen in a post with which you agreed. .

p4p1

I’m not so sure about that Mike. IIRC most of the riders called Rossi’s favoured tyre unridable and Michelin let slip that they went back and worked on Rossi’s favoured tyre despite the riders almost unanimously favouring the other tyre. Clearly there was still issues with the tyre that was voted in originally by the riders but it does make somewhat of a smoking gun that instead of fixing the issues with the chosen tyre Michelin seemed to have gone back and revised/reworked the tyre that Rossi chose.

320Dave

That two large Egos on track BS never applied before in the way Mustard man has made thigs.

He has used the media and fans to attack other riders and dent their confidence. Thats not even an ego thing but a cunt move.

Typical jealous gay guy/girlfriend behavior.