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Rossi has announced he is NOT retiring... :angry:
A sad day for Motogp
- Thread starter RossiSucchia
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Lingering in the last positions these first practices... let's see if he reconsiders his decision if he struggles to finish within the points GP after GP...
Can’t figure out why he still wants to do it. But I’ve wondered about that for a few years now. On the surface, it appears that he does love the actual racing. Unlike say Doohan or Rainey among others, who were purely driven to win.
You’re a long time retired. Guys like Rainey (who may be a bad example because he was forced to retire), Doohan, Schwantz etc also weren’t in the paddock as teens. A guy like Rossi who was doesn’t know any other life than the one he is living. Retiring is a huge step into the unknown and he is probably scared. Obviously he could and likely will run his own team and still be in the paddock but it would still be a huge change. So many athletes go on for too long because they’re scared of retirement and they don’t know any other way to live.
I don’t have a problem with him remaining on the grid for the most part. He will likely get to be racing against MM when MM eclipses his title count. My only issue is that from his comments the team manager of Petronas didn’t want him and wanted a young rider so he is taking up a seat that a younger guy should have. If he had his own team and took up a seat that way he could race until he is 50 for all I care, he isn’t taking a seat away from anyone.
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I know Michael (God love him) will cite me for "cod psychology" but as amateur shrink, I'd say these guys in general are good at what they do, in large part because they are narrowly focused in a way that evolves from being relatively two dimensional people, somewhere in the narcissist spectrum, same way many great writers, painters, musicians etc. are. Start riding at the age of 7 on mini-bikes and spend the next 3 decades mentally and physically preparing 7 days a week for that next race, searching continuously for some tiny margin of advantage to shave off a few hundredths of a second, or a better tactic to beat a rider who knows your race-craft as well as you do . . . all so you can stand on that podium and drink in the adulation of the fans, and then coming to realize that it's all slipping away, and knowing that nothing will ever come close to that high; You're looking ....... ego death in the eye. It's why so many successful businessmen continue to work into their '80s despite being multi-billionaires.
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I'm not sure the adulation is the driving force. The bloke is just addicted to racing. He's had the thick end of 3 years without a win so he knows that feeling but he still wants to race and you can bet that he will still get some good results for a man of his age. There's only one winner in each race, that doesn't mean that the other 19 are useless and should retire. Each and every one of them brings something to the event and that's where Rossi's value currently sits.
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Trust me, you don't need to be on the podium to get a buzz from all that positive attention. I was just a mid-level club racer. I remember crashing at Mid-Ohio, my guys got the bike working (it was an AMA Pro-Am endurance race) and my teammate went out while I had an x-ray, and when he came in, I went out and raced the last hour and twenty minutes. Even back a good 8 seconds down from first place - but finishing the race as a couple thousand people in the stands (who wouldn't know me from Adam) stood up to cheer the top three riders taking the checkers - is a rush.
Even if Rossi never gets in the top ten again, there will be high-powered Yamaha executives, and devoted crew members patting him on the back every ten seconds. There will be reporters from 30 different magazines and sports programs cued up to ask him his opinion on _____ (fill in the blank) and thousands of fans running around the paddock trying to sneak past security just for a chance to get a peek at him, and all the paddock chicks and pit tootsies willing to visit his trailer. Guys like him thrive on the attention. Not all riders are like that, but Rossi? Oh yeah.
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It's interesting with all this COVID down time that has recently effected the sport. Part of me thinks that it has forced Rossi to consider life after being an active Motogp rider in a good way. However reading this thread it also makes me consider that it may also be a frightening reality for him.
I don’t think it’s just Rossi that will be feeling that. With few exceptions like Crutchlow, now most of the guys on the grid have known no other life since they were teens. I’m a Marquez fan but I don’t expect him to bow out at the top or close to the top. He was on the grid younger than Rossi was, as was Quartararo, Vinales etc, I don’t think it’s just the guys who have or who we expect will win championships that will suffer from the same thing.
We see it in boxers all the time. Sometimes they know they should retire but they don’t know any other way to live. I watched a show with 2 recently retired AFL footballers and they both spoke about how for a while after retirement they weren’t sure what to do.
On a personal level once I stopped playing competitive sport (obviously not at the level of these guys) but I struggled for a little bit with my own identity now that I wasn’t fighting. I would imagine that for someone who’s pushing 40 and been the same thing since they were a teen it’s 1000x worse.
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I struck an interest in MotoGP last year, a long time since the Rossi golden years. I've wondered why the idolization of someone that's lucky to get even fifth now, but in learning about the sport I've discovered Rossi's track record and that he has the highest net worth out of any MotoGP racer by far. He does public relations the same way Marquez does first place finishes.
If someone like Rossi is so dedicated to racing and wants to keep doing so, why has he let himself slump to the back of the pack? It surely can't be "because his body is aging and he is slowing down", it must be because he is complacent.
Personally, I am a Dovi fan to the core and want to see Dovi improve year after year to beat Marquez; but its interesting to see Miller's performance at Jerez, I wonder if Miller has the capacity to outperform Dovi and become the new Team Ducati favorite.
If someone like Rossi is so dedicated to racing and wants to keep doing so, why has he let himself slump to the back of the pack? It surely can't be "because his body is aging and he is slowing down", it must be because he is complacent.
Personally, I am a Dovi fan to the core and want to see Dovi improve year after year to beat Marquez; but its interesting to see Miller's performance at Jerez, I wonder if Miller has the capacity to outperform Dovi and become the new Team Ducati favorite.
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Your inexperience is showing!
I don't think the announcement has been made for Rossi yet? He had a poor showing over the entire weekend and seemed to be the last Yamaha almost every session. The race could be put down to a poor tyre choice, despite Mav being able to finish 2nd. I'm not sure if he will rush to sign anything after this weekend. He must be holding out for something in the contract to have not signed it yet but if next weekend is a repeat of this weekend I'm not sure he will keep going.
Yup...you certainly don't know what you're talking about. You must be very young and therefore not so smart. If you are you will soon realize as you age your performance in EVERYTHING gradually declines, including the speed which you walk. Why are there no 40 year old hockey players, soccer players, milers, basketball players?
Rossi at age 40 is fighting declining VO2 max, that been declining for 10 years already, a maximum heart rate that keeps declining and will never be as it was at peak. Even increasing his training to 'overcome' this is useless as there is point of peak benefit, you can train an extra 2 hours/day you aren't going to improve, just tired yourself out. How do I know this? As a former amateur distance runner who's fastest times came in my very early 30's, no matter what I do or how hard I train the speed/endurance is G O N E and never coming back. For Rossi to still be able to compete and up until 1-2 year ago even beat his teamate who's almost 20 years younger is still incredible and he does certainly deserve to still be on the grid.
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Welcome Mate. Ignore the trolls with nothing better to do than insult a new member. They are a small minority here. Don't even reply to them. It just encourages them.
The general consensus is that Rossi is not complacent. He's just not a kid anymore, and thus far, apparently not able to come to terms with the fact that he'll never again be fully competitive. It's really that simple.
Oh . . . and congrats on being a Dovi fan.
Everything you said before your last 11 words is at odds with them.
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I think Rossi just loves the sport and can't yet think of doing anything else. He gets a lot of fun and attention out of being in it. He has also expressed a desire to race with his brother. But, his performance is palpably declining and the tough conditions of the race sure showed up his age when the cameras were on him after his DNF.
You always been at odds with your expanding dementia. Like it or not Rossi will be riding into 2021. Deal with it.
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While, I agree that Rossi could well be riding into 2021, this doesn't mean I agree with him deserving to be doing so; certainly not from a raw competitive standpoint. His level of performance would normally be tolerated by a team only if they expect improvement because he's just beginning in the series.
Rossi will be racing next year for purely commercial reasons. Despite his apparently huge fan base on this discussion board,
, his continuing to race makes for a spectacle in itself for many of his fans and his brand will certainly bring attention to the sport and the team he's with.Living on fading memories would appear to be more your predilection than mine.
Of course he will be there unless he retires. There are reasons why he will be there, as misfit has listed, but as you yourself detailed they no longer include his riding justifying his presence on the grid. Time waits for no one, as some other old codgers sung when they were younger. Agostini, Lawson and Doohan were pretty good as well, but they are not out there still riding in the premier class.
I am on board with him actually liking riding for itself, as earlier posters in this thread have said, unlike Doohan and probably Marquez who just wanted/want to win. But it is something of a circus now, in a different way than it was in his pomp, and I don't think on the factory team he has offered much even development wise in recent years, his preferences being different than those of the younger Yamaha riders and their implementation probably damaging to their cause. If Petronas are happy to have him for the money or publicity he brings fine, but it appears they may have had a plan for the seat he will take next year.
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