Posts
166
Joined
3/22/2015
Location
Kenwood, CA, USA
Edited Date/Time
3/23/2015 2:34pm
Unfortunately the current Feld, Fox, Monster Energy primary focus is not to facilitate great racing.
It is solely designed to appeal to the largest possible demographic for the purpose of attracting spectators and marketing.
This translates to a diverse multitude of absurdities.
Including but not limited to:
_Pyrotechnics
_Stadium PA systems distorting at full volume
_Track layouts with excessive jumps
_Ralph Sheheen
_Standard race & programming aspects with corporate sponsors:
......"Progressive" pre-race report
......"KTM" spider cam
......"Toyota" replay
......"Progressive" pass of the race
......"Monster Energy" finish
Feld, Fox & Monster have managed to turn motorcycle racing into a multi-hour marketing extravaganza. They cram gigantic corporate logos and or sound bytes into every single second of these races and rake in ludicrous profits doing so.
I'm a rider/former racer and a huge fan of two wheeled off road motorsports. With the exception of riders wrapping brand new goggles around their necks and pretending to sip energy drinks, I fully understand and appreciate the need for corporate backed race teams and riders. But, if someone asked me if I wanted to sit through hours of a non stop barrage of in your face, in your ears, down your throat advertising. The answer would be an emphatic no. Yet, if I want to watch SX then I'm stuck. Oh Well.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Thanks Captain Obvious
That only happens when people outside the sport see an opportunity to make a pile of money. So, they take the "sport" and package it the way they want to make as much return on their investment as they can.
It's sort of like a band hitting the big time and then complaining that the label is tainting their "purity" by placing demands, schedules, stipulations, limits, etc., on them and what they produce.
If you want to retain the "purity" and call the shots, you have to do it with your own bucks. Very few people write blank checks.
This is the price for "growth".
But, many of the items you listed are why I no longer attend SX in person... and tolerate the broadcast just to see the racing. The annoyance factor combined with the cost tipped the scales some years ago.
Heck, if you went to the Nationals many years ago you probably think they've now turned those into a bit of a NASCAR style circus with the vendor rows and all the "fan attractions".
Yep, the days of me hopping up in the back of MC's box van and shooting the breeze with Skip Norfolk all weekend are long gone - I can't imagine how big of gun they'd shoot me with nowadays if I tried to visit the mechanic in the pits outside of "visiting" hours.
Maybe it's an example of being careful what you wish for.
Pit Row
I don't turn the sound off though, the errors from Ralph & co are too funny to miss. I don't know if I'll go to another one live as long as that screaming idiot Lurch is louder than the bikes. Really would like to see Feld move the needle a bit toward road racing style coverage and away from monster truck style coverage.
Post a reply to: Oh Well