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(little meltdown late yesterday).
Special athletes doing special things are why tickets aren’t $5.
Good example of athletes (golfs a game but) that are just f’ing special, and they don’t hurt business.
And, they help evolve the sport. Gonna cry, miss ya JS7, SX ain’t the same. Stay home, make babies or whatever.
Nothing to do with colour. Pavel Bure is whiter than white, and was pure excitement on ice.
Get people interested and excited.
Pastrana helped moto more than any single rider.
Then along came Travis and James. Travis dropped out of SX but arguably was as much if not
more of a fan draw than James. But none the less James was well, James, electric and exciting.
And can you ever remember him not having that huge smile on his face? He was always fun to
watch, you never knew what to expect, sample the dirt and then go on to win the race. Whatever
it was, doing obstacles that nobody would even try to just having fun with life. the total opposite
of RC4. And we needed something new and James filled the need. I don't think being black is
why we liked James but I do think that a lot of people wanted him to succeed even more when
they heard about how hard it was for him coming up. Kind of the same as I now cheer on Alex Martin
after I read what he went through. But yes, James drew huge crowds that otherwise may not have come out.
And no, I don't think it's a black thing.
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Do I know if he’ll race ama again?
No I don’t
There hasn't been racing as good as '05 since then- you can feel the burning desire to win just watching them. Dungey vs. Villopoto never had the same punch as RC vs. Bubba. And Musquin vs. Tomac is a different Universe in terms of personality and drawing interest to the sport.
James was another animal. Now a days everyone blames the bikes and the tracks for the injuries and the lack of creativity. He was the first guy consistently jumping quads and taking it to another level. You can only take it so far before something gives. He brought the intensity and technique to a another level. In his prime James was the Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jimi Hendrix of his discipline. When he was on his game, and able to ride to his full capabilities he was a bad ass moth3r fuck3r on a dirt bike. Other than admiring how he over came the adversity of being black in a prodominatly white sport. (watch the espn interview) He was one of the guys you couldn’t help but like no matter what stereotype he fit. I never cared if he was black, white, green or purple. He was always on that “other level” to me.
That being said. He is done and people need to let it go. We are now in the next era where we went from where James set the bar to where the next guy(s), ( the Ryan’s) picked it up and left it. They both harnessed enough of his speed and technique, and then figured out how to maintain it over a 17 round series.
the thing about Mcgrath is he was a true 'showman' and was easy to promote and was great with fans.
Travis pastrana was the same but he was WAY more show, which is why he the Nitro circus now
but both of those guys were on regular tv shows highlighting what they were doing, but i dont remember james being shows like Jay Leno an what not.
To me, i think james did a good job putting on a show during a race but it was more in awe at his sheer talent and speed, but his personailty and reserved nature did not put him on the same level and TP of MC in terms of fan relations.
His TV Show brought thousands of fans from outside the sport. His compound, the cars, the lifestyle. He truly lived a wide open life style, and that alone intrigued everybody. Himself and his team marketed his FMOP because it was true. James would attempt and go for things no other rider would even think of, and he pulled them off like a beast.
He is a polarizing person for motocross, we all miss him.
To answer the OP question, I don't even think its a logical question...
We all know JS7 could of been like RD5 and played it safe and won every championship by settling. In reality, settling may get you championships and more money, but it defines who you are.
We all know James Stewart went for the win every time he was on the track. The way he raced means more to me than championships..
If anybody doubts that, if there was one supercross race of all the greats in their prime, to settle it. My money is on JS7.
Which is why i don't understand peoples hate on Tomac. You rip him apart when he crashes and loses a championship but hang from his nuts when he destroys the field. Cant have both...
And then the real trigger pullers, Hannah, Bradshaw, JS7.
Saturday night wasn’t really a “race” because the green monster took the track, chewed on it for awhile, and then spit it out. Incredible talent.
I think the reason people are confused on Tomac is when JS7 crashed at incredible speeds usually, the bike was a yard sale and he was lucky to leave the track with his torso, limbs and head still connected.
Eli’s crashes are usually kinda unique for a Beast, and the recovery seems slow and confusing at times.
The one time I saw him in person though I was rooting for him. As an orange lover, I felt shame.
But I’m gonna root for the WFO star putting on the best show.
I think JS7 grew the sport and evolved the sport when he was present. The drop off is quick though.
Do you think St. Louis would have looked so sparsely attended in a different era a time ago with a healthy JS7 present?
Pit Row
https://youtu.be/n0396DstlUI
-He made Carmichael have to ride over his head and it scared him.
-Ricky said James is the fastest rider to ever throw a leg over a motorcycle.
-Ricky also said "James would have won MULTIPLE more championships if he had just backed it down a little bit, but I don't think he really cares".
The facts are Ricky changed the sport forever because he saw that in order to beat somebody more "naturally talented" and "faster" than him in McGrath he was going to have to be in absolutely peak physical conditioning. So pre ricky and post ricky training has changed a ton and become one of the most important aspects of the sport and just being naturally gifted doesnt even come close to cutting it anymore.
Pre James corner speed was what separated fast riders from slow riders. Everyone could go fast on the straights and jumps, but corners where where you made your money. James changed this with the scrub, you now could make up a lot of time in all different areas of the track that you could not before. He made it possible to make up time everywhere depending on how much risk you wanted to take. If your scrubbing the absolute shit out of every jump, bump, hill, on the track it takes a lot of energy but your making up a lot of time. Someone that scrubs it harder than the guy next to him off that triple and takes that extra risk also gets that extra time knocked off their lap times.
Pre Dungey say Carmichael and James eras and before them, it was all about pride and you always rode for the win. Yes sometimes if you were in second and not catching first you would settle, but you would never let a guy beat you straight up and take a second for the championship. Post Dungey you now have the championship in mind and you will settle for a second or even a third to get the W at the end of the season even if that means your battling for first and have to just back off because this guy is flying. Theres a video of James vs Ricky where both of them were going as fast as humanly possible and neither would back off and rode as hard as they possibly could, both were riding the fastest Ive ever seen anyone on earth ride and were also the fastest riders on earth and even still were riding over their heads- were talking ungodly fast, and they did not give a SHIT in that moment about the championship they were going for the win and for pride. Ricky won moto 1 and James won moto 2. It was amazing, exciting, and extreeeeeemely dangerous as both could have ended their championships right there and neither cared it was all about pride. One of them literally could have died that race they were going that fast. Dungey showed that although boring, its good for your career to not get into battles like that often where both of you are riding well over your heads and on the brink of disaster for all 30 minutes straight. Usually its only a matter of time before someone crashes. The two fastest riders on earth rode even faster than their skill level allowed and still kept it on 2 wheels, that is insane. This is damn good to watch but both of them could have ended their season/career hell one of them could have died that race because it was just on a level that is almost not even possible idk how they did it without crashing truly was poetry in motion. But Dungey laid the foundation that Anderson is using this season where you just podium podium podium win podium win podium. I respect Anderson for saying Eli was a savage haha you rarely hear riders break from the script these days.
Villopoto showed basically all 3 of them combined into one. Aldon baker training, combined with modern technique brought about by james, and Dungey level consistency (without much settling for podiums though). Somehow he was able to be in peak physical form, ride with perfect modern riding technique and also stay very consistent while riding very very fast against Roczen, James, Dungey, some serious competitors. He truly was a modern marvel of motocross that had the championships and resume to back it up. I know he retired a few years ago, did not seem very happy on the podium- which rubs fans the wrong way who would kill to do this for a job, and Dungey went on to kill it after he retired, but it seems we forgot just how fast he was. He dominated Dungey who is an absolute podium machine. To beat Dungey you have to make no mistakes for an entire season and still be insane fast.
If you are interested, make me an offer to robakinsey@hotmail.com, someone might get lucky!
Thanks to everyone for some really good well thoughts out responses in this thread.
Post a reply to: Did James Stewart grow the sport??