Posts
1930
Joined
3/11/2013
Location
Tacoma, WA
US
Edited Date/Time
4/22/2013 4:23pm
After the race on Saturday night, I was waiting at the Seattle ferry terminal with my group of friends. There was a huge crowd of people who had walked down from the stadium in there. Just in front of us, some people were talking about the "show". They were all agreeing that Redbull X-Fighters is a better "show" than Supercross.
A couple of my friends heard them too, we just looked at eachother like WTF? We all own bikes and love racing. Obviously those people were part of that "monster truck crowd". It's interesting to hear the other perspective, even if I can't make sense of it.
I started to think about how bad our sport is for spectating from a seat in a stadium. Unfortunately, even my friends who race don't know very many riders. They don't know the numbers of those riders, and they pretty much just watched Ryan Villopoto and Justin Barcia in the 450 main. They scarcely know a 250 rider at all, but they could probably name the entire Seahawks roster. Meanwhile, I'm watching Dungey carve through the pack on his way to a top 5 finish and telling them that he had the best ride of the night due to the solid work he put in on a sketchy track.
The lap time board flashes by so quickly and then spends about 30-40 seconds on a rider's face, name and number... but the only riders they show are the front runners like Barcia and Villopoto, the guys who everyone knows.
I'm not proposing any solutions here... just saying it would be almost impossible to really follow a live race unless you're pretty much a super fan.
A couple of my friends heard them too, we just looked at eachother like WTF? We all own bikes and love racing. Obviously those people were part of that "monster truck crowd". It's interesting to hear the other perspective, even if I can't make sense of it.
I started to think about how bad our sport is for spectating from a seat in a stadium. Unfortunately, even my friends who race don't know very many riders. They don't know the numbers of those riders, and they pretty much just watched Ryan Villopoto and Justin Barcia in the 450 main. They scarcely know a 250 rider at all, but they could probably name the entire Seahawks roster. Meanwhile, I'm watching Dungey carve through the pack on his way to a top 5 finish and telling them that he had the best ride of the night due to the solid work he put in on a sketchy track.
The lap time board flashes by so quickly and then spends about 30-40 seconds on a rider's face, name and number... but the only riders they show are the front runners like Barcia and Villopoto, the guys who everyone knows.
I'm not proposing any solutions here... just saying it would be almost impossible to really follow a live race unless you're pretty much a super fan.
Most of us who love racing have a lot of time and background built into our enthusiasm.
Ivars? I'm not really into seafood.
The Shop
Now I don't pretend to have the answers. I think that they need to put some emphasis on some other kind of connection between the riders and the spectators. Perhaps a good message board drawing attention to the different riders that are doing something special. This would take a person on the keyboard that understands the sport.
I'm just rambling so cut me slack!
Racing should be a show...it should cater to the loyalist and the casual fan. Could they do a better job? Sure. Do you enjoy yourself at the race? I know I do. What's the problem then?
More fans = more exposure = more money in the sport.
Hey if some of those Monster Truck fans want to get into MX...that's awesome. (and it will give you one more thing to complain about so that should keep you happy)
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