<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Burky @ Apr 3 2007, 02:29 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>What we seem to forget is that
the season came down to a head to head, with Valentino having the advantage. Nicky won that defining head to head, therefore claiming the title.
This here is enough to remind everybody what the season came down to; both on the same track—Hayden podium and Rossi faltered.
Had Hayden crashed, he would have lost the championship too, but he didn’t. He beat Rossi fair and square. Either way you look at it: Rossi dumping his bike (without anybody else to blame) or Hayden finishing the race to secure the championship on the podium.
It came down to a good old one on one fight, and Rossi went down. There have been numerous excuses, explanations, analysis, and simplistic biases to describe the 06 championship season. But
there is one undeniable fact; they were both in the position to win at the very end. A one-race shootout!!! Rossi flinched Hayden did not.
This means he (Rossi) is the only one to blame--something that always seems to get conveniently overlooked by the many many posters that try to put their spin on the topic. Some tried to blame it on Rossi’s tires, front suspension, etc. but I think the ridiculousness of this line of reasoning quickly evaporated (I wonder why). No amount of apologies can ever change the events that transpired in Valencia last year. It reminds me of the boxing matches of old, where
the two top ranked fighters were poised to let the world know who was the best once and for all (for that fight), you could say season. This was not decided by sideline judges, it was decided by a knock out. Now all we’ve had since that day (that very moment) is a plethora of people (almost entirely Rossi fans) trying to make sense of this with dubious rationalization since the very moment Hayden crossed the line in championship victory. It has reached every imaginable and unimaginable aspect of the season and
beyond the scope of racing—the bashing has covered his outpouring of emotion of realizing a life long dream, his nationality, his thanking of God, his voice cracking from the ecstasy of the event (perhaps thinking of all the sacrifices by his parents), his art on his gear (as if he created this trend), his number plate, his frustration of having his teammate wreck him (not even mentioning the physical pain of going off your bike at that speed, which injured him for the next race—which is another reason why others account for Hayden being “lucky” that he didn’t have to contend with other “injured” riders,
overlooking that he took the grid “injured” himself!), his struggles with the bike (or are other riders the only ones that experience mechanical struggles like Rossi, Melandri, and Capirossi…) and his constancy to reach the podium throughout the season, this and more have been a cause to disparage/criticize his performance into what they would have us believe was an “unexciting” sub par championship.
And all of this from those that “claim” to be fair and balanced and not wanting to “take anything away” from Hayden’s championship or take part in the debate. And when somebody challenges their assertion, they discount them as Hayden-worshiping or Rossi hating. It’s the
people that
believe it seriously that are the object of debate, though some have hidden behind it by jokes and humor. It’s so typical (but not surprising) that the threads after Stoner’s win in Qatar came out with the
tone of pointing to the bike for Stoner’s brilliant win or explanation (excuse) Rossi not wining. Following their logic then, was Rossi’s second place “cruising” or any less admirable? After all, the fact is he (Rossi) didn’t win. So why is
<u>Hayden’s podiums</u> ridiculed with so much enthusiasm?--
I have yet to read the ‘same’ people doing this ridiculing for <u>Rossi’s podiums</u> (funny or serious). And now it’s the
“spirit” of racing? That one is new. I wonder if Rossi’s podium finish diminished the
“racing spirit” in Qatar?
I surely could go on and on rebutting every single ridiculous point that has been made to diminish Hayden’s championship. All you have to do is look no further than this thread to see how
first some have come out to
bash Hayden while they should have first been praising Rossi for that brilliant win. Some use the
bashing as a premise to make their point as on other related threads. Even though people mask their biases with the statement of the fact of Hayden being the champ but adding their bias statement <u>qualified</u> with well: “
I just don’t ‘like’…” or “
but this and but that…” bla bla bla. The fact of the matter is this: On this site, Hayden’s title win energized the unreasonable fans, almost entirely Rossi fans, to turn this into a debate between these two riders. Yet, by definition, he (Hayden) also beat the rest of the field (check the 06 final points standings if you’re unsure), why is it then that the fans of the other riders haven’t cried foul in debate but only center around Rossi? I have spent most of my time debating these unreasonable fans on this site, which has
caused me to seem anti-Rossi. It only comes off that way because it is the unreasonable Rossi fans (not all of them) that keep wanting to diminish Hayden by way of Rossi, so naturally the point of debate centers around him. But the fact of the matter is, it’s just his unreasonable fans that I’m anti, not Rossi himself. It’s the
double standard that sets them apart; and this I am anti/against. When any other rider says something about their machinery, it’s passed over, but not for Hayden; this is what I’m anti. Sure a world champ <u>deserves scrutiny</u>, but why then do other world champs get a pass when they mention machinery (Rossi, Capirossi, Melandri, etc.), it’s this
double standard that ends up precipitating.
Now its all
fun and games when its tongue and cheek, and I can kid with the best of them like my pals on this site, but the ones that actually
‘believe’ what they are saying when in reality they are
bashing or saying they are
“not” involved in the debate, or cry foul to insult, well; those are the ones that really need to look in the mirror. The ones that at every turn, they can’t help but bash or belittle Hayden, or call something clearly over the top as “gracious” all the while using this double standard,
it is these self-proclaimed fans of the sport that will be the object debate, not really the riders themselves.
I’ve said it before, this debate is not gonna end this year or ever. Though many call on it to be let go, or beating a dead horse, or it being a new season, but I expect it to continue.
1949-97 Champs (earned and deserved)
1998 Doohan (earned and deserved)
1999 Creville (earned and deserved)
2000 Roberts (earned and deserved)
2001-05 Rossi (earned and deserved)
2006 Hayden (earned and deserved)
2007 ______ (earned and deserved)
