Jeez..are we sentenced to spend the entire closed season slugging it out between the blue (& yellow), and the red corner?
The yellow fever on this forum is as contagious as anywhere else, the Rossi phenomenon is of pandemic proportions, and seemingly knows no bounds . As some have pointed out, there are true worshipers of the GOAT which have been ardently following their idol since '96 and before, but they tend to live in Tavullia and are far too busy for bike racing forums. Then there are those who identified early the fact that the kid had unworldly talent, and most of these began to emerge towards the end of the 1998 250 inaugural season. By the time Rossifumi, sorry, Valentinik, (no, surely he was the doctor by then), -whatever, had graduated to the 500cc class in 2000 it was apparent that something quite extraordinary was emerging - both on and off track. The supernatural abilities of the boy as both a racer and a personality was inspiring a new religion, and come raceday Sunday, the congregation of the cult of custard would convene in huge numbers. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the UK. Where the British GP during the age of Mighty Mick had been characterised by one man and his dog, the tassle jacket and denim cut off brigade, and the old boy with the camouflage hat festooned with enamel badges and a body warmer with badly stitched on Heron Suzuki, John Player and STP patches; suddenly the Donington demographic was changing and couples with kids sporting those funny yellow hats with flowers on had begun to take root alongside Craners usurping the old.
Come the 990 era the domination was complete..it was all to easy. - Rossi was bigger than Dorna, out performed and out-psyched his rivals and transcended the sport itself - he owned it, he owned his adversaries and he owned you. He had even lampooned the mighty HRC and lived to tell the tale, going on to take a mickey mouse M1 to two successive titles and transforming it into the most formidable machine in the paddock...that is until '06. A wrong turn by Yamaha in the chassis department, combined with a season of ill fortune and a doggedly determined and consistent young rider from Kentucky who had come of age and had 990cc written all over his broad infectious smirk contrived to do the unthinkable. Then it happened again - a formula change and another damn fast dirt tracker threw the Jaz'kat' among the 'Pigeon' and a successive defeat resounded around the hallowed halls of the church of Rossi.
But the denomination remained devoted...they kept their faith. How could you not? and now after 9 world titles, the records of such luminaries as Nieto and Hailwood summarily flushed down the toilet, and now - sacrilege, as the sacred sacrament of Agostini prepares to be similarly superseded you simply run out of superlatives.
Yes I agree..people support Rossi because many like sheep flock to a winner. There are undoubtably as Bunyip says a very large proportion of glory hunters who gravitated to Rossi for that very reason - he is the GOAT. And yes, it is the same as those who support Manchester United, come from Dorset and have absolutely no affinity with the City of Manchester, and have never been within 200 square miles of Old Trafford. I very much see where Bunyip is coming from when he speaks of rooting for the underdog. I was stubbornly stoically and staunchly rooting for JT throughout his Moto GP abortion of the last two years. I knew that he stood little chance of stepping onto the block, and I knew that he simply didn't make the grade in what is the pinnacle of bike sport, but those few laps when he was fighting with Rossi at Phillip Island in '08, will stay with me forever and were surely more rewarding to me than those tortuously boring Rossi victories every other week on the Rc211v in the early years of the 'diesels' were to even the most ardent Rossi advocate. But many support Vale because it is easy, believe me -supporting JT is most definitely not.
Valentino is quite simply the greatest phenomenon this sport has ever witnessed, and where we should all celebrate his reign, we should also in the spirit of tolerance allow others to worship and practice their own 'faiths' as opposed to immediately branding any suggestion that the deity of the doctor contains some flaws as heretical blasphemy!! I'll always remember how Pedrosa - pre Estoril - was roundly booed in Parc Ferme at Donington '06 having ridden an impeccable race and dared to despatch an admittedly handicapped Rossi - still smarting from his injuries at Assen, to an unceremonious second - (how dare he) - and that's the sort of mindless 'bopper bull' which I despise.
As much as I have disdain for the little turd, I was pissed when Pedrosa destroyed another year through pre season injury; pained when Casey succumbed to his illness, and frustrated when Jorge threw it down the road at PI effectively ending the last resistance to Vales title bid. Collectively those four are branded the aliens because they have arrived from another planet - and their talent is not of this world. Surely even the most mindless myopic Rossi minion would like to see a fully fit Pedrosa and Stoner, and an error free Lorenzo take it to the wire in a four way fight to the seasons end.
There are many that persistently argue on here that Nicky's '06 title was gifted by circumstance, without probably having the faintest idea about the favourable circumstances which accompanied Luchinelli and Uncini's championship <strike>travesties</strike> sorry, years. Far from being a hollow victory, Burgess himself has opined that this season was far from perfect, and although I would not go as far to venture that this title was a pyrric victory for Vale, it would not have perhaps been celebrated at Sepang were it not for circumstances surrounding Stoner and Pedrosa, and the over exuberance of Por-fuera.
So where do I stand on this? I am in awe of Rossi as the undisputed GOAT, but I am in awe of this sport and those that partake in it. Far from sitting on the fence, I believe that on his day, Casey is simply unbeatable,
meantime off his day - sometimes so is Vale - and therein lies the difference. I have been a Dovi bopper since his first ride in 125, but his attempt to assail the four has been derailed by a Texas Tornado, and next year, there's a stronger strorm blowing in from Texas, On that subject, I also strongly suspect that Ben Spies is the next Freddie Spencer.
So I digress, where do I stand? - Mr Roo put this far more eloquently and concisely than I could ever aspire to do....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Andy Roo @ Nov 20 2009, 08:46 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>In 2009 Ross was the best, and 2008, and in 2007 it was Stoner, then in 2006 Hayden and so on and so forth, I don’t need to cite all the way back to the wood bike contest won by Methuselah.
And we all argue on behalf of “our” riders (continuing that freaky stalker thing), being a Rossi bopper seems to mean however building an impenetrable wall of rhetoric and warped logic to deny years like 2006 and 2007. They begin to sound like conspiracy theory nuts, coming up with all kinds of .... to explain away what is simply “racing”. Rossi never lost because someone else was good, he lost because of (insert silliness here).
The premise always seems to be that Hayden is a luck champion and Stoner is a computer programmer, neither qualifies as a “rider” to a rossibopper. There is only one rider and all the other ones just circle around waiting to fall in behind him and join the “fans” in the reverent worship of their idol. Oh, and no mortal can beat him, but he knows that isn’t true which is why he is such a bitchy whiney sook.
....... Grade A Roo
