"I like them all"... Truer words never spoken...

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Arrabbiata1 said:
And a dentist chair in the basement dungeon.
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Which he designed obviously unassisted by CAD but rather old school drafting table and onion paper...on his spare time while not at the track wrenching on Tito's bike. BM would be impressed, like, wow this guy can multi task. Undoubtedly, STAEDTLER will soon be sponsoring Tito.
 
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I thought phd stood for pretty huge drug problems.

I got multiple of those.
 
JPSLotus said:
Why does Oxley even bring up VR's statement that he shouldn't have said anything on Thursday, or that he should have taken the normal line, when he closed out Valencia by going back to the same line of thought in Sepang?

Oxley also lumps Stoner in with Biaggi and Gibernau as guys who felt the "sting of his killer instinct."

Certainly I agree with him on the point as it relates to Biaggi and Gibernau, however to lump Stoner in there is to ignore what went on from 2007 to 2012 with regards to VR's career trajectory, and how it was influenced directly by Stoner. If anything, a stronger case can be made for VR feeling the sting from Stoner since he thought the Ducati was underperforming with CS on the bike.

This feels like a partial love affair of an article that never really asks the questions that matter. Too bad. Kropo's piece was a far better read than this.
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Yes, perhaps not so difficult to display killer instinct against someone who has brought a knife to a gun fight. Perhaps Valentino relented, but that killer instinct didn't seem to be too much in evidence in regard to Stoner in the years 2011 and 2012, committing an egregious riding error the only time he got anywhere near Stoner during a race. Before his recent episode of mental instability Rossi didn't even seem to want to revisit Laguna Seca 2008 etc after actually encountering the Ducati himself.

What really distinguishes most of these guys these days is their laziness; when in need of material rehash old themes from close to a decade ago.
 
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michaelm said:
Yes, perhaps not so difficult to display killer instinct against someone who has brought a knife to a gun fight. Perhaps Valentino relented, but that killer instinct didn't seem to be too much in evidence in regard to Stoner in the years 2011 and 2012, Committing an egregious riding error the only time he got anywhere near Stoner during a race. Before his recent episode of mental instability Rossi didn't even seem to want to revisit Laguna Seca 2008 etc after actually encountering the Ducati himself.

What really distinguishes most of these guys these days is their laziness; when in need of material rehash old themes from close to a decade ago.
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I don't think it's laziness so much as it is that no one wants to upset the apple cart. Guys have made careers out of writing about Valentino Rossi. Not like any one of them really want to admit they may have finally backed the wrong horse for far too long.
 
That's the problem with journalists who get too close to their subjects and become friends. Objectivity goes out the window. And assuming their friendship was tight, it's hard to turn your back on someone who has been a friend for decades, even when you know they are dead wrong.

The article was pure fluff.
 
JPSLotus said:
I don't think it's laziness so much as it is that no one wants to upset the apple cart. Guys have made careers out of writing about Valentino Rossi. Not like any one of them really want to admit they may have finally backed the wrong horse for far too long.
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Read the article now, I think you are correct. He did also make the fair point that making Jorge run record speeds all race was a strange way of protecting him.

I never had a problem with Valentino being ruthless of course. having been a major Mick Doohan fan. Having given no quarter it is rather inconsistent to now complain about no quarter being given to him, however; this and it now being apparent he is a more than willing participant in the vilification of his rivals by his crazy fans have been the eye-openers for me.
 
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To be fair, this episode surely made it tough for the few objective journalists to call it impartially. I say this thinking about a personal friend (who some of you here have met, and or know about, the 2008 American Rookies Cup champ) Benny, who posted on his FB a congratulations to Lorenzo, then caught .... for it by Boppers (not to be confused with Rossi fans/GP fans). The way Oxley starts his article is telling of this broader story, and that is the chilling effect it's had on people simply in good faith being fans of the sport, much less dissenting voices and the need to defend oneself. I don't have any sympathy for Matt Oxley, given his status, but I do for people like my buddy being chastised for daring to congratulate the current MotoGP champion. How did we get here? Of course I have written about why I think over the years, but now it's time for the voices with a platform to stand up. This is why I applaud Kropo for his piece, as I'm sure he caught flack for it (.... if Oxley caught flack) though from my perspective (admittedly one on the fringe) it was still mild, though I'm sure from a bopper perspective Kropo is now the anti-christ.
 
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i got the impression Oxley wanted to come out and say the truth, but his friendship with Rossi wouldnt allow him to completely tell it like it is. That equates to mediocre journalism at best. I also must have missed Rossi saying he regretted taking his meltdown to the press, i only saw where he regretted running Marc off track. On that subject, i have not seen one journalist write or say that Rossi regretted running Marc of track because he realized it was bush and dangerous. His regret is getting punished. They twist his regret to try and make it it look like Rossi is apologising and being the bigger man. Oxley is trying to serve two masters in that writeup plain and simple.
 
povol said:
i got the impression Oxley wanted to come out and say the truth, but his friendship with Rossi wouldnt allow him to completely tell it like it is. That equates to mediocre journalism at best. I also must have missed Rossi saying he regretted taking his meltdown to the press, i only saw where he regretted running Marc off track. On that subject, i have not seen one journalist write or say that Rossi regretted running Marc of track because he realized it was bush and dangerous. His regret is getting punished. They twist his regret to try and make it it look like Rossi is apologising and being the bigger man. Oxley is trying to serve two masters in that writeup plain and simple.
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I got a similar impression, and worse when he presented his "theory for Rossi wining his 10th" to supposedly dedicate it to the late Marco Simoncelli! I personally thought that was the lowest point of this piece and flagrantly preposterous considering what Rossi did at Sepang no less. I actually left that part alone in my critique of the piece because I felt it was an awful sordid attempt to recruit sympathy for his position in the article.

Disclaimer
I don't know Mat Oxley personally, he may be a nice and great guy. So this is not a statement of the man's character, as I don't even know him except for what he's published. He is a knowledgeable person of the sport, obviously a fan, etc. I say this because I've also learned that we (i) have a tendency to make judgments about real people based on so little. I'm guilty of that. So take my opinion with a grain of salt. Just a critique of his write up as I think I'm entitled.
 
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Jumkie said:
He absolutely blames Marquez for toying with Rossi in Sepang as FACT (based on what? Oh yeah because Rossi planted that absurd seed), and said Rossi with "JUSTIFICATION" reacted!

Its the intuitive argument used by all who subscribe to this line of reasoning: that Marquez toyed with Rossi because intuition is proof. I call .........

He can say a bunch of good stuff, and claim he likes them "all" but choosing to believe Marquez is a liar on zero evidence but his intuition just flushed his article; to be so wrong on such a pivotal point makes his whole article flawed.

How about "almost truer words" ever spoken.
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Genuine question: At Sepang, do you think MM was being more aggressive with VR than he would be with any other rider in that circumstance? Have you ever seen 14 passes between two riders in three laps, with the leaders checking out, when the race has just started?

Rossi irritated MM in the presser at Sepang. MM and VR spent FP3 and FP4 eyeing each other off on the track. Tension was very high. During the race, MM thought he'd show VR what it means to be stifled.

You have to view things in context.
 
Matt Oxley was VRs ghost writer for a while.
(And Doohan's)

He sometimes has some good insights, but he's never going to bite the hand that feeds him.

Plus is writing style ..... me, particularly when he puts his "enthusiasm" hat on.

Krop has been pretty good recently. He is still a thin-skinned, double-standard-dealing dude, though. Better when he joins in than when he gets on his ....... "I walk the paddock" high horse.
 
RCV600RR said:
Genuine question: At Sepang, do you think MM was being more aggressive with VR than he would be with any other rider in that circumstance? Have you ever seen 14 passes between two riders in three laps, with the leaders checking out, when the race has just started?

Rossi irritated MM in the presser at Sepang. MM and VR spent FP3 and FP4 eyeing each other off on the track. Tension was very high. During the race, MM thought he'd show VR what it means to be stifled.

You have to view things in context.
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Is there there a rule against racing someone hard?

No.

So what does it matter if he raced him hard.
 
JPSLotus said:
What's really a shame for me about Oxley is that he writes for a publication that employed the late Denis Jenkinson till the time of his death, and DSJ was notorious for not pulling any punches. He wrote what he thought, and gave not one damn about what anyone else thought even though he had plenty of rows with racers over articles he wrote. He called Jackie Stewart a "pious, beady-eyed Scot." :giggle:

But the point is that the days of journalists actually being journalists instead of sycophants is long gone. Oxley while not young, is still young enough to be more in tune with the new style of "journalism".

I blame this on the ever-increasing pressure of trying to maintain, and attract new readership, as well as not wanting to rock the boat with the sports that they cover. It's far easier to write pieces that appeal to a majority, as those readers are looking for nothing more than affirmation to whatever beliefs they hold onto, ill-informed or not. It explains the overabundance of pieces that all support VR, and offer only the mildest reprimand of his behavior over the last month.

These guys are not journalists by any stretch of the imagination, which is fine. But they should offer a disclaimer about it. Starting off the piece with the long-winded tale of how he knew VR since 1996 serves no purpose within the overall piece. What it does reinforce though, is the idea that he knows VR intimately, and that he's a better judge of VR's character because of it. He casually dismisses VR's ruthlesness as being a necessary component of the total package.

In his effort to appear to be straddling the line, and remaining objective, he lost all objectivity early on.

This is precisely why I've been extremely hard on VR these last weeks. There is so little being written to counteract the fawning, fluff pieces, that it's really distorting what went on into VR's favor.
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Exactly...but these journos also realise what happens when you whack the yellow hornets nest. The hysterical overreaction from certain elements of the fan base adds a fear factor they cant ignore.
 
RCV600RR said:
Genuine question: At Sepang, do you think MM was being more aggressive with VR than he would be with any other rider in that circumstance? Have you ever seen 14 passes between two riders in three laps, with the leaders checking out, when the race has just started?

Rossi irritated MM in the presser at Sepang. MM and VR spent FP3 and FP4 eyeing each other off on the track. Tension was very high. During the race, MM thought he'd show VR what it means to be stifled.

You have to view things in context.
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Was it Rossi that irritated MM or was it MM that irritated Rossi?
 
propagandhi said:
I keep wondering.....
If Oxley and Spalding are the best journos we have in our sport then we shouldn't complain about .... coverage,.... expertise and a plain unintelligent discourse about the matters at hand.
Its times like these I have a rejuvenated love interest in mr emmett even if he thinks I should .... my high horse
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Spalding is a good journo??
I lasted about 5 pages of his stupid MotoGP tech book (re re re edition, and still ....... .....).
The guy barely grasps half the ..... he writes about, so it comes out badly written and uninformative.
Even the photos are ....... Dorna approved, so you see jack .....
I have mentioned it before but when I see "sparks" drawn on a tyre to demonstrate (wrongly) big bang....that book gets chucked.
<rant over>
 

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