Did you read Stoner's response saying that Rossi is always following him around...come on Casey at least stay credible when you want to enter the verbal games. That was my issue with his response and I've found that people who are angry and emotional will be the first ones to tell a lie, and not even on purpose, his anger has clouded his memories and Rossi is clearly a burning image in his head. We all know Rossi wasn't getting a tow and if Casey would have waited to respond he wouldn't look as foolish(to me). Gamesmanship requires calculated responses not impulsiveness and it's why I think if you want to 'play' with Rossi you shouldn't always be the one reacting/responding, if you want to play you need to catch him off gaurd. Casey also makes it to easy by complaing so much, it lets everybody know what they have to do to get under your skin. We all know he hates being followed during practice so what does Rossi do, exactly that, and they all hate it but who makes the biggest fuss about it... Casey does.
Why yes, yes I did read his comments and personally I took them with a grain of salt and I will explain why.
Maybe to you and others he was
factually incorrect, but as with many things he used colloquialism to explain away his problem (and not a lie as you assert).
For example, when you take holidays, does it rain?
Have you ever said - 'every bloody time I take holidays it damn well rains'?
If so, I doubt that your statement is factually correct but you have said it out of a level of frustration and as hyperbole to make your point. This I do believe was CS' motive and though process, he used a generic Aussie hyperbole statement when discussing it or answering the question. Does he believe that every time VR is on track he is trying to get a tow - probably not but at the same time let me ask have you watched every second of every practice to determine that there may not be some truth is CS' statement?
I ask as I have not and cannot and there is no doubt in my mind that there will be times when VR will follow CS and vice versa simply because of the track positioning at the time and where one will slow to try to obtain clear track, basically sometimes .... happens and they line up.
Now, to the specific incident you (like many) seem to be looking at CS' comments without paying questionable/reasoned thought to VR's actions. VR admitted that he slowed down and then sped up once CS had passed (in comments that I had seen), thus is it possible that he was indeed trying to gain 'something' else why not wait until Elias had also passed to get the clear track?
With regards to the 'gamesmanship' comment it is very true to say that reasoned responses have a better effect, but even here CS gets pilloried as un-sportsmanlike (refer Jerez after race), thus in his case he cannot win either way as he has the 'reputation' already established and thus people automatically perceive his comments negatively (not a one way street either).
Interestingly as Kropo posted on his site, all of Casey's comments were in response to direct questions and answered in a level headed, respectful tone, not that of a frustrated or pissed off rider and he even reported taht CS answered many questions with a smile. Kropo did say that the same could not be said of other riders commentary or response to questions, yet again CS is pilloried.
Again and before the usual suspects jump onto the hater bandwagon, I personally have no issue with the comments of Stoner or Rossi or Lorenzo or Simoncelli during the press conferences as it is these guys that are there, not us and as such I do think that they have a greater understanding of the meaning of their words than we can ever have.
Gaz
