if there old enough to have watched in 125 and 250 and still stand by him all these years later especially after last year then yes they are glory fans. Anyone who has raced bikes knows Rossi broke the unwritten rule of racing, deliberately running your opponent off track.
Joined Oct 2012
3K Posts | 725+
Crab Key
I was joking.
And I attend (or did) lots of Club races. It's the way to go.
Rugby.
The All Blacks have been the number one team since there were world rankings, apart from the first year - 2003 - where they ranked third.
It's hard to make it a parallel, as games aren't played in a 'series', like MotoGP, but during the period 2003-2016, they have played 171 matches and won 149 of them, drawn 2.
In the last ten years, only 4 teams have beaten them, powerhouse England has only managed it once in ten years, but they have remained number one, despite those losses. So an analogy would be that they lost a round or two, but won the series.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
I was countering the hyperbolic statement that no-one ever said no to Rossi. He demanded priority in the team, threatening to leave if he didn't get his way. Simples.
Joined Mar 2016
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FNQ
Joined Jul 2007
5K Posts | 1K+
unda cheese
The Daytona 200 was this weekend.
The race winner was 47 year old Michael Barnes. He's a local rider from here in south Florida. Barneys been a journeyman in the AMA most of his career. Last year he was offered rides but turned them down because he was having lingering affects from his 15th concussion.
He believed his racing career was over and was faced with possible long term debilitating affects from a lifetime of racing.
He is the perpetual underdog. When I saw that he won there were tears in my eyes. In his victory speech he was crying and mentioned riders that are no longer with us. It was one of the most amazing sports moments I've ever seen. I could empathize with this ordinary man who accomplished the extraordinary. His weathered face bespoke of the endless circles he had spun on the long and arduous journey of a perennial privateer.
Despite not being the race it used to be, no one can ever take that Rolex away from him. His name is etched in the halls of Daytona amongst some of the greatest to ever swing a leg.
It's for days like this that we watch sport.
When he lined up on the grid on Saturday there was no predetermined outcome. No manufacturer fine tuned the rules so that 3 laps in 98% of the field was mathematically eliminated from contention.
GP is nothing but a proving ground and pissing contest for Kings (and their queens ) to volley flaming boulders on trebuchets against peasants brandishing pea shooters. They've skued the spirit of the tilt.
Our expectations have been whittled down so low that we accept that only 5 or 6 bikes can podium and even fewer can win. To make it interesting we focus on the off track soap opera.
I suspect that Casey stoners unpredictable and meteoric rise inspired a whole generation of fans to believe that anything is possible. History has proven that Stoners are few and far between.
Why am I here Krop? The same reason why old Cuban men in Miami sit around playing dominoes and plotting Castros demise in a world where Castro is irrelevant.
Maybe, like them, I'm just pointlessly pining away for the old days, or maybe some day, Castro will die and a Stoner will rise from the ashes
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
Bravo! This is a fantastic post Johnny, ....... ace. I watched that podium interview, and I admit I got emotional too. Perhaps because like you, we had a personal connection with Barney and his career being a journeyman AMA rider. Watching the last ten laps was brutal, imagining all the thoughts that must have ran through his mind. Sometimes the good guys win.
Btw, here is an interesting bit of trivia mentioned at the Daytona 200 coverage. Michael Barnes rode the Britten VTR1000 to a race victory in the 1990s. How cool is that!
Found link to pic. Enjoy.
http://superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/britten/brian/britten1.htm
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Joined Oct 2012
3K Posts | 725+
Crab Key
Beautifully written. I really enjoyed that.
One minor quibble: the reason Barnes won is because nobody gives a .... about the Daytona 200 any more. It is literally a random results generator: the best rider who happens to turn up gets to win it.
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
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Joined Oct 2015
985 Posts | 634+
Siebenbürgen süße Heimat!
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
I respond to your sig, and refer you to Shakespeare; the quality of mercy is not strained.
I directly said that I am old and implied that I was unfit, although I wasn't when I was your age, and said that even if you are a lightweight if you are a young fit Muay Thai lightweight you could easily kick my ... in a physical fight.
I took note of your pm, but if you wish to resume a battle of wits I believe there is some chance I might be up to it, and can certainly re-extend my definition of a lightweight where you ate concerned, conceding that I would likely have little chance in my second language which is not German against anyone vaguely fluent in French, and that I don't have a 3rd let alone a 4th language.
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Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Joined Mar 2016
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FNQ
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