Doctored: MotoGP’s Obsession with Valentino Rossi

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#22

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You might have already seen this but I had to post it. It's a long read but well worth it in my opinion, fascinating:

Part 1: Fans

Doctored ? MotoGP?s Obsession with Valentino Rossi | Trunk Talk

Part 2: Media

Doctored: MotoGP?s Obsession with Valentino Rossi ? Part 2 | Trunk Talk

Part 3 isn't up yet, but it will cover the organisers and the sport itself, should be interesting.



My favourite quote from part 1:

To go back to basketball, Lebron James is, right now, clearly the best player on the planet. But to read the comments under an article about him on ESPN is a mix of love, hate and indifference. To read the comments under any MotoGP article on somewhere like Crash or MCN and it will invariably have turned into an argument about Rossi. It might be someone simply saying, ‘Nice lap by Lorenzo’. Within a few comments you will find, ‘.... Lorenzo, he’s only good because he stole Rossi’s setup’. It might be an article about Suzuki but you’ll end up with ‘Rossi could win on a Suzuki tomorrow’. It is the Godwin’s Law of MotoGP online.

And from part 2:

And finally, to my personal bugbear. Rossi is constantly referred to as a nine time world champion. Which he is. But almost every time Lorenzo is mentioned, he is the double world champion. The same for Marquez. Or Pedrosa, still searching for that first title. If Lorenzo is a double world champion, then Rossi is a seven times world champion. It is still apparent Rossi has had more success and it’s accurate. Or if Rossi is a nine time world champion, Lorenzo is a four time world champion. It’s unconscious stuff like this that plays into the whole broader problem. i
 
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Fantastic read 22, thanks for posting the links.

While Rossi is a talented rider --one has to be to be in the sport for as long as he has been with the success he has had-- his fans are mostly insufferable, and irrational.

Rossi was the best/worst thing that ever happened to MotoGP. He helped raise the profile of the series, but at the same time, I don't entirely think all of it was worth it.

You still see the Rossi fan reactions here on display all the time. Migs proved it with his spirited, by inaccurate reading of Rossi's comments about the tires in 2006. Heck, people are still whining about Casey Stoner being a complainer, and they never once bring up every other rider who whines...or admit that every other rider whines just as much. Rossi just had the backing of the media, so it all was covered up.

What makes it for me lamentable, is that back then, you had a rider who was every bit, if not more than Rossi's equal, and very few had enough sense to truly appreciate what they were watching. Sure the knowledgeable fans of motorcycle racing knew, but knowledgeable fans are always in the minority....as such they get shouted down at the more popular sites because the Rossi fans don't want to hear anything that challenges their ignorance.

People still openly question Nicky Hayden's 2006 world title, but not coincidentally, many of those doing the questioning are Rossi fans who still feel he was short-changed. Maybe he was if the Michelin revenge theory over the World Cup is to be believed. ;) But while a championship may ultimately come down to one race, for it to get to that point, there's a whole slew of races before that. Nicky had to put in the work prior to Valencia to even be in the position to win. To say otherwise is incredibly unfair, and woefully ignorant of how grand prix racing works.

To sort of parallel this, while I will ..... about certain guys who have won world championships in Formula 1, the reality is, there's no such thing as an undeserving world champion driver, or rider. To call a competitor undeserving of the world championship he has won, is to display a fundamental lack of understanding with how difficult it is to win a world championship. In fact, I would argue it shows a total lack of understanding, and appreciation for motor racing at large. Every single factor has to balance with another for it to happen.

The centralized focus of MotoGP on Rossi is thankfully coming to an end within the next couple of years. For those who love motorcycle racing, it will be a welcome end. For the Rossi fans, not so much, and I would expect there to be an exodus of viewership as soon as he retires. To that, I will say, "Thank god."
 
Fantastic read 22, thanks for posting the links.

While Rossi is a talented rider --one has to be to be in the sport for as long as he has been with the success he has had-- his fans are mostly insufferable, and irrational.

Rossi was the best/worst thing that ever happened to MotoGP. He helped raise the profile of the series, but at the same time, I don't entirely think all of it was worth it.

You still see the Rossi fan reactions here on display all the time. Migs proved it with his spirited, by inaccurate reading of Rossi's comments about the tires in 2006. Heck, people are still whining about Casey Stoner being a complainer, and they never once bring up every other rider who whines...or admit that every other rider whines just as much. Rossi just had the backing of the media, so it all was covered up.

What makes it for me lamentable, is that back then, you had a rider who was every bit, if not more than Rossi's equal, and very few had enough sense to truly appreciate what they were watching. Sure the knowledgeable fans of motorcycle racing knew, but knowledgeable fans are always in the minority....as such they get shouted down at the more popular sites because the Rossi fans don't want to hear anything that challenges their ignorance.

People still openly question Nicky Hayden's 2006 world title, but not coincidentally, many of those doing the questioning are Rossi fans who still feel he was short-changed. Maybe he was if the Michelin revenge theory over the World Cup is to be believed. ;) But while a championship may ultimately come down to one race, for it to get to that point, there's a whole slew of races before that. Nicky had to put in the work prior to Valencia to even be in the position to win. To say otherwise is incredibly unfair, and woefully ignorant of how grand prix racing works.

To sort of parallel this, while I will ..... about certain guys who have won world championships in Formula 1, the reality is, there's no such thing as an undeserving world champion driver, or rider. To call a competitor undeserving of the world championship he has won, is to display a fundamental lack of understanding with how difficult it is to win a world championship. In fact, I would argue it shows a total lack of understanding, and appreciation for motor racing at large. Every single factor has to balance with another for it to happen.

The centralized focus of MotoGP on Rossi is thankfully coming to an end within the next couple of years. For those who love motorcycle racing, it will be a welcome end. For the Rossi fans, not so much, and I would expect there to be an exodus of viewership as soon as he retires. To that, I will say, "Thank god."

One post and you had to go there already jps. If anyone asks rossi after his career is over who his biggest rivals were. Stoner wont even be on the short list. He was a blip on the radar of a great career. Funny you mention CS's complaining like we were wrong. He complained more than any rider I've ever seen. His retirement speech was a giant soak and moan. He couldn't handle the circus so he quit. I don't see that as a retirement. Its what we knew he would do all along. I also complain about Jack Miller.

I personally would never say anything bad about NH69 championship but I am a big fan so are a lot of Rossi supporters.
 
One post and you had to go there already jps. If anyone asks rossi after his career is over who his biggest rivals were. Stoner wont even be on the short list. He was a blip on the radar of a great career. Funny you mention CS's complaining like we were wrong. He complained more than any rider I've ever seen. His retirement speech was a giant soak and moan. He couldn't handle the circus so he quit. I don't see that as a retirement. Its what we knew he would do all along. I also complain about Jack Miller.

I personally would never say anything bad about NH69 championship but I am a big fan so are a lot of Rossi supporters.

It was discussed in the links 22 posted MDub. The author even explicitly talked about Rossi bitched and moaned as much as Stoner did but it didn't fit the media's narrative of Rossi, so everyone left it out. They needed their villains, and portraying Stoner as the anti-Rossi kept pushing everything forward. He compared Stoner to Doohan in that both were not fans of the media obligations, they wanted to race and go home. Both were not flashy guys, so you didn't get the showmanship that Rossi has, but it also made CS an easy target. Had Doohan started his career the same time as Rossi, I have no doubt people would be slagging off Doohan to no end right now.

Casey Stoner is the exact reason we first started to really see the ugliness involved around Valentino Rossi.

If Rossi were to include him, or to not include him on his short list as you seem to think will be the case, who gives a ....? It's not like you need VR's tacit admission to determine who his biggest rivals were. The behavior tells you everything you need to know...and that doesn't even bring up how threatened his fans felt by CS, and have continued to feel by CS since then.

Rossi's entire career trajectory since 2007 was because of CS. He had the most direct impact on VR's career the last 8 years. You can deny that all you want Dubs, but it's a fact.
 
One post and you had to go there already jps. If anyone asks rossi after his career is over who his biggest rivals were. Stoner wont even be on the short list. He was a blip on the radar of a great career. Funny you mention CS's complaining like we were wrong. He complained more than any rider I've ever seen. His retirement speech was a giant soak and moan. He couldn't handle the circus so he quit. I don't see that as a retirement. Its what we knew he would do all along. I also complain about Jack Miller.

I personally would never say anything bad about NH69 championship but I am a big fan so are a lot of Rossi supporters.

See your last post on the current race thread, pretty much implying that anyone who has ever followed a rider other than Valentino in the history of GP bike racing is a "hater" discomfited by Valentino being not much more than half a second behind Jorge in FP2.

Whatever you say about Stoner's place in GP history, which will obviously be far behind Rossi's, by Valentino's deliberate and rather perverse choice Stoner will always have won 23 races on a Ducati vs none by him, and have an equal number of world championships and a 38 to 26 odd advantage for race wins over the period of coincidence of their careers despite for 5 of those 7 years being either on the lowest rung satellite bike on the grid or on a Ducati on which no other rider could win a dry race. It is a source of continuing joy to me that despite Stoner being nearly 3 years into his retirement this so obviously still rankles those of your ilk quite considerably.
 
sparrows wanted to reply, but she broke her keyboard after reading the articles and my post.

All she can do now is use the mouse to like posts.
 
sparrows wanted to reply, but she broke her keyboard after reading the articles and my post.

All she can do now is use the mouse to like posts.

ahhhh - classic.

let me guess, you are going to call me a rossi bopper next? or whatever clever & cute names you guys have come up with.
 
ahhhh - classic.

let me guess, you are going to call me a rossi bopper next? or whatever clever & cute names you guys have come up with.

I don't give you real .... because you're in a minority; levelheaded Rossi fan.

And yes that is a ....... compliment! :p
 
I don't give you real .... because you're in a minority; levelheaded Rossi fan.

And yes that is a ....... compliment! :p

god finally, that's one of the things that sucks about being a rossi fan honestly.

you get lumped into this ...... category...where it's almost embarrassing to say you are a fan of him.

do you know how terrible it feels when you encounter someone & they tell you that they love rossi & DON'T EVEN WATCH MOTOGP?!?!

:cc_hang:

in all honesty, i just want to be in pit lane & feel the sound vibrations on my body for the rest of my life because i just ....... love motorcycles & loud engines in general. it's like ..... :mask:

i am so ....... gay.
 
See your last post on the current race thread, pretty much implying that anyone who has ever followed a rider other than Valentino in the history of GP bike racing is a "hater" discomfited by Valentino being not much more than half a second behind Jorge in FP2.

Whatever you say about Stoner's place in GP history, which will obviously be far behind Rossi's, by Valentino's deliberate and rather perverse choice Stoner will always have won 23 races on a Ducati vs none by him, and have an equal number of world championships and a 38 to 26 odd advantage for race wins over the period of coincidence of their careers despite for 5 of those 7 years being either on the lowest rung satellite bike on the grid or on a Ducati on which no other rider could win a dry race. It is a source of continuing joy to me that despite Stoner being nearly 3 years into his retirement this so obviously still rankles those of your ilk quite considerably.

No my friend, I am only saying that anyone who doesn't like Rossi because of his accomplishments and personality are a hater. That pretty much is what it means. Yes I am a "hater" of a certain ex-rider. I won't deny it.
 
I'd like to point out there's a difference between bandwagoners, front-runners, and true fans that have followed the sport and Rossi's career.

And this could be an Italian thing, but ardent fans are usually the first to be overly critical of whom they support. Heck our family's email address has been "InterFaSchifo" for the past 15 years.
 
It was discussed in the links 22 posted MDub. The author even explicitly talked about Rossi bitched and moaned as much as Stoner did but it didn't fit the media's narrative of Rossi, so everyone left it out. They needed their villains, and portraying Stoner as the anti-Rossi kept pushing everything forward. He compared Stoner to Doohan in that both were not fans of the media obligations, they wanted to race and go home. Both were not flashy guys, so you didn't get the showmanship that Rossi has, but it also made CS an easy target. Had Doohan started his career the same time as Rossi, I have no doubt people would be slagging off Doohan to no end right now.

Casey Stoner is the exact reason we first started to really see the ugliness involved around Valentino Rossi.

If Rossi were to include him, or to not include him on his short list as you seem to think will be the case, who gives a ....? It's not like you need VR's tacit admission to determine who his biggest rivals were. The behavior tells you everything you need to know...and that doesn't even bring up how threatened his fans felt by CS, and have continued to feel by CS since then.

Rossi's entire career trajectory since 2007 was because of CS. He had the most direct impact on VR's career the last 8 years. You can deny that all you want Dubs, but it's a fact.
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god finally, that's one of the things that sucks about being a rossi fan honestly.

you get lumped into this ...... category...where it's almost embarrassing to say you are a fan of him.

do you know how terrible it feels when you encounter someone & they tell you that they love rossi & DON'T EVEN WATCH MOTOGP?!?!

:cc_hang:

in all honesty, i just want to be in pit lane & feel the sound vibrations on my body for the rest of my life because i just ....... love motorcycles & loud engines in general. it's like ..... :mask:

i am so ....... gay.

There was at one time such a bitter (and I really mean acridly bitter) unending flame war between the Boppers and and the Stoner fans on this forum. But there was always a tacit understanding that chicks got a pass on liking Rossi 'cause they got all wet every time he bent over in his leathers to adjust his nuts. It was always the glory seeking guys who also got wet between the legs over Rossi that were hardest for those not wearing yellow lenses to take.

One of my fondest memories is being at California Kid's apt. in LA, getting ready to go to Laguna and seeing Bonnie arrive from the airport and walk in the door with multiple pieces of Rossi-Custard-Yellow suitcases. There was never any question of where her loyalties lay, and she was and still is one of the most beloved PS members.

And about the sound of the engines and the smell of exhaust and the cool livery the whole freakin' package; it's .... for all of us. I'm getting wood just writing about it.
 
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Whatever you say about Stoner's place in GP history, which will obviously be far behind Rossi's, by Valentino's deliberate and rather perverse choice Stoner will always have won 23 races on a Ducati vs none by him, and have an equal number of world championships and a 38 to 26 odd advantage for race wins over the period of coincidence of their careers despite for 5 of those 7 years being either on the lowest rung satellite bike on the grid or on a Ducati on which no other rider could win a dry race. It is a source of continuing joy to me that despite Stoner being nearly 3 years into his retirement this so obviously still rankles those of your ilk quite considerably.

:p;):D:p;):D:p;):D:p;):D:p;):D:p;):D: (Channeling Barry)

Your ilk? Them's pretty strong words Doc.:eek:
 
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that looks an awful lot like a pic I have of you from laguna.


You catch on quick! That was the whole point of the photo and everyone (those of us who were actually there that is) got the joke. I had "threatened" CK (who really really wanted anyone to win as long as it wasn't Stoner) that I would add insult to injury if Stoner won. Everybody got the Bugs Bunny / Elmer Fudd reference. We were all laughing our ..... off. Nuf said?
 
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You catch on quick! That was the whole point of the photo and everyone (those of us who were actually there that is) got the joke. I had "threatened" CK (who really really wanted anyone to win as long as it wasn't Stoner) that I would add insult to injury if Stoner won. Everybody got the Bugs Bunny / Elmer Fudd reference. We were all laughing our ..... off. Nuf said?

How and the hell would you know? None of the people that went to laguna will even talk to you. Why do I know this? Because I talk to them. And I don't think bugs slipped elmer the tongue.
 
One of my fondest memories is being at California Kid's apt. in LA, getting ready to go to Laguna and seeing Bonnie arrive from the airport and walk in the door with multiple pieces of Rossi-Custard-Yellow suitcases. There was never any question of where her loyalties lay, and she was and still is one of the most beloved PS members.
.

Have you no decency? None!

Your "fondest memory"? Like say something you will never forget. Guess what her unforgettable memory is of you. I know what that memory is, its of you insulting her husband Roger about his parenting. What shortcoming did your sick mind see in those kids or their parents to prompt you to make such a psycho induced verbal assault? Rhetorical, asked to highlight what a sick person you are Kesh. You have absolutely no shame. You bring this up so nonchalantly here, as you have the last few months, like you were not at the center of the worst personal spat ever on this forum! Fact. The reason she is not here is specifically because of YOU!

You commandeered the personal message feature of this forum to insult a member, surely a ban worthy activity, then had the audacity to offer money to try and deflect this fact by saying you did not do this "publicly". Your delusion is disturbing.

You are a forum cancer Kesh, actually you are a form of cancer. Those PMing you and feeding this delusion should be aware of this.
 
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How and the hell would you know? None of the people that went to laguna will even talk to you. Why do I know this? Because I talk to them. And I don't think bugs slipped elmer the tongue.


I said I wouldn't attack you because I've been so tired of this whole thing.
If you want to turn everything I say into an excuse to make everything ugly - that's your prerogative.

All I'll say is - I was there - and you weren't.
 

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