Voting with your (remote control) thumb?

Kropotkin said:

What is sport? What is a pure sport? How do you make MotoGP a pure sport? Was there ever a time when MotoGP was a pure sport?

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The show has taken precedence over the sport. Some people will eat what you shovel, some wont. Dorna is betting that there are more sheep.

povol said:

The show has taken precedence over the sport. Some people will eat what you shovel, some wont. Dorna is betting that there are more sheep.

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In what way?

Kropotkin said:

What is sport? What is a pure sport? How do you make MotoGP a pure sport? Was there ever a time when MotoGP was a pure sport?

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Ha, well, I had been expecting you here and you sure do not dissappoint.



Well, like I said in my opening post, discussing whether I'm justified in feeling the way I feel about things does not change a lot for me.You and me have done so in other threads, and I suspect you know damn well what I think is wrong with the way bikeracing is now and is going to be in the near future. But that's beside the point.



Why I started this thread, is because for myself, I'm noticing that I'm starting to loose interested in it all and fear that I won't bother watching the whole thing at all anymore at some point in the near future. I am just curious if others are feeling likewise, and if yes, how they think they'll deal with it.

Kropotkin said:

In what way?

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Look no further than proposed rules, and listen to what Ezy says. "We must improve the show". The other manufacturers saying they wont enter GP because of cost is a false flag. They wont enter GP because they cant beat Honda and Yamaha, and until the regs are changed that will allow them to catch up on ten years of testing and commitment, they dont want to play. They want a reset on performance that has been earned over years of hard work. If i were Honda and Yamaha, i would tell them to .... off.

Personally, I think it's more just a sense of tiredness. The season is more or less over, championship is close, and watching racing for us in Europe entails getting up at ....... hell o'clock in the morning to watch a predictable procession. There's little reason to be watching. I think that by mid-March, we will all be feeling differently.



I am finding it more and more difficult to get excited by the racing, as you are. However, in my view, that is not because the racing is becoming less and less pure, but because it is becoming less and less entertaining. The riders are becoming more professional, are not speaking their minds, the image is becoming too corporate.

povol said:

Look no further than proposed rules, and listen to what Ezy says. "We must improve the show". The other manufacturers saying they wont enter GP because of cost is a false flag. They wont enter GP because they cant beat Honda and Yamaha, and until the regs are changed that will allow them to catch up on ten years of testing and commitment, they dont want to play. They want a reset on performance that has been earned over years of hard work. If i were Honda and Yamaha, i would tell them to .... off.

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How much would it cost to catch up with the results of Honda's and Yamaha's commitment?

And nailing my flag to the mast: All forms of professional sport, bar none, are showbizz, nothing more, nothing less. It is entertainment paid for by an audience, who want a way to spend their leisure time.



Now, this does not mean that all professional sport is or should be like WWE. Entertainment takes many forms: so people go to science museums, others go to strip joints. On TV you can watch America's Next Model or you can watch The Wire. You can read Dan Brown or you can read Charlotte Bronte. All are entertainment. Some are better than others.



The only thing you can hope for in a professional sport is some form of integrity. That is about ensuring the reasonableness of the rules and the fairness of their application.

Kropotkin said:

Personally, I think it's more just a sense of tiredness. The season is more or less over, championship is close, and watching racing for us in Europe entails getting up at ....... hell o'clock in the morning to watch a predictable procession. There's little reason to be watching. I think that by mid-March, we will all be feeling differently.



I am finding it more and more difficult to get excited by the racing, as you are. However, in my view, that is not because the racing is becoming less and less pure, but because it is becoming less and less entertaining. The riders are becoming more professional, are not speaking their minds, the image is becoming too corporate.

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I wish. It's been quitly building since even before last season. I mean, I loved seeing my favorite rider doing so well last year, I loved the riding as always, but besides that, there's also been this growing feeling of discontent with the whole thing. I think last weeks news were something of final nail in the coffin. ... Of course, you can only listen to Cox and Parrish's godafwul commentary for so many years before becoming suicidal.



Absolutely agree about the corporate thing, the paddock is starting to become is streamlined and muzzled as F1.

It´s good for things to fade aways in life every now and then, you get back to old favorites with more excitement when they show back up in life! This can be for an old flame, or an old toy you forgot about in the shed.





Living in Minnesota for a few years made it impossible to follow GP or futbol. So I forgot about it.

When I moved to Japan, going to GP races was again new and exciting. Seeing the new bikes, teams etc. Moving back to Spain brought futbol back too. My lady feels too much!



I understand where your comming from Stiefel. Even if you loose touch with GP for a bit, you´ll come back. Wait to forget!

Kropotkin said:

How much would it cost to catch up with the results of Honda's and Yamaha's commitment?

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Dont care. All i know, or think i know, is that Yamaha has proven that you can compete in Moto GP without spending Honda money.

povol said:

Dont care. All i know, or think i know, is that Yamaha has proven that you can compete in Moto GP without spending Honda money.

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How much does Yamaha spend? How much does Honda spend?

My interest in the sport has certainly ebbed. (And if you're tempted to dismiss my take citing its because Nicky is struggling, well, then that's been true since 07). There are many reasons why my interest has decreased, I'd summarize its due to the hyper and blatant changes that have occurred in the last two years, but its started with the single tire debacle back in 08. It seems this year they aren't even trying to cover it up (minus the official press release that still some await).



I've been a motogp.com vid pass season ticket holder for many years (before that a money contributing member of torrent sites) and I've attended GPs whenever funds have allowed and more importantly, marital permits have been issued. I will buy next year's vid pass, and I will attempt to go to the inaugural GP in Austin next year (which may land me in divorce court). Why? Because I'll admit, Im addicted to this sport. Seriously, I'd say its an addiction, similar to drug addiction (except mine is more expensive). Its hurting my life and wastes much of my time. Even last night, after a tired day of working, got in late, and I needed to sleep early. I rewatch Motegi, one of the most boring races in recent memory. I did that because watching these riders travel around a track at speed is like a fix. And it actually put me too sleep (no ........, not sure if it fed my addiction enough to relax me, or maybe its just that it was that boring.)



But make no mistake, despite Kropo and others honest, passionate, and articulate defense, the sport of GP is at its worst its ever been in my limited memory. And I realize that much of sport has a show biz side to it, but the magnitude of this reality has shifted. As I see it, there is a spectrum, perhaps The Olympics on one side with WWE on the other, GP has been moving decidedly toward a full contrived sport and abandoned the authenticity of competition at an alarming rate; from the scope of at very least my point of view--a person who follows the sport closely, reads the sport media religiously, follows the drama and the results on the field chronically, spends excessive time and significant fortune on the sport, and whose most significant real and virtual relationships revolve around motorcycle racing.

sometimes i catch myself not paying attention during a race and then realize it, but I still wake up every race sunday and watch motogp and moto2, and if my gf doesnt complain, moto3 as well.



I also watch sbk like 50% of the time, and watch the last few laps of f1 if i catch it, its so long tho.



So i would have to say no, I'm not tired of the sport, but as a rossi fan I did get more excited to watch it when he was winning, but lorenzo is keeping me interested

amen jumkie.

couldn't have said it better myself

Jum, I would agree that the sport is close to its lowest ebb. But I believe it is heading in the right direction now, away from the fake technology race towards a contest between athletes.

Kropotkin said:

Jum, I would agree that the sport is close to its lowest ebb. But I believe it is heading in the right direction now, away from the fake technology race towards a contest between athletes.

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I wholeheartedly hope you're right Kropo. Time will tell.









(On a side note, if you are right, given CS retirement, its too bad we won't get to witness him contest among all these great riders. Sigh.)

count me in on that hope list.

i've stated countless times i would love to see them all on equal bikes, the (4 stroke) combustion engine is at a dead end anyways, so why .... up the rider competition? i couldn't care less if its a suzuki,yamaha or whatever by now

See I don't like that F1 has gone downhill, it's less and less about the skill of the driver, it's KERS, DRS, and now the whole tyre situation which takes away the driver's skill and ability a huge amount. The final straw for me was not being able to watch all the races live. I HATE with a fiery passion the delayed highlights, having to avoid the result etc. then you watch it and miss passes and so on, it makes it awful to watch. Not keen on Ben Edwards as a commentator etiher I have to admit, it's nothing like as good as when we had DC and Brundle last year.



With motogp I don't have to worry about that. Sure it could do with some more passing maybe and it will be better for me personally once I know more about who is who etc. I am already relishing the idea of Rossi and Lorenzo on the same team next year, that should be interesting from what little I know so far. So yeah, I'm just getting into this whole thing and it's sad you guys say it's not as good as it was. For me, it's a breath of fresh air so far and I hope it stays that way too.



Oh and all on the same bikes, count me in on that too, I'd LOVE that!!

i'm hopeful.

as motorcycle racing fans we were spoiled with the 500cc era and the 990s.if ezy doesn't bend over for honda all could be good for motorcycle racing (motogp + wsbk ) to become way better than the past few years.

if i imagine it could be even better than motogp in 2006 we'd be in for a real treat

As bad as we all think it is, as soon as you get to the track, it all feels real good again.