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Watch any other main stream sport and you'll see people being interviewed right after the heat of the moment. It's what builds stories and keeps fans interested. It makes things interesting and right now our sport could use as many interested fans as it can get.
Mainly US MX press is pretty softball. Most of the guys are barely making a living so if you get blacklisted, you're out.
Cooksey is the only one not tossing softball questions up, you guys love you some Matthes, but he has alienated himself from a lot of the riders now with him trying to be the show, instead of the riders, who are the show.
If anyone says they were not watching to see how, when and where Tomac was going to pass Barcia and how it would play out, they are full of shit.
SurleyTomac would be thinking differently about passing Barcia compared to any other rider in front of him on Saturday night.
It was a situation that played out big time last week, a situation that has big championship involvement between two of the guys inside the top 3-4 in points.
In any other sport, it would have been one of the first questions asked, the athlete in any sport probably would not want to answer it, or not give a full answer, but it would be the first one asked.
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Like, some iconic moments in F1 history came from the post race press conferences, just search 'Aarton Senna press conference' on YT... same with UFC and many other sports I assume.
I get this is a cottage industry but we can do better.
Press conferences for football suck too...nobody wants to give anyone info to lose that edge....
If its essentially all of the usuals only, is there any point even holding press conferences when each media outlet corners them right afterward for their own exclusive content anyway? Assuming most outlets hold back asking the majority of their questions at the press conference itself, saving it for their own exclusive interviews.
Going by the number of posts, reposts, shares, likes and comments after last weekend, and the fact that every outlet posted the drama last week would suggest the majority enjoy the drama a championship battle between four riders can bring.
The racing this year is great, the off-track drama is helping build the hype, the personal battles are adding to the excitement.
Walk into a bike shop or when riding on the weekend, everyone wants to talk AMA Supercross, this year's series is being talked about and discussed more than any I can remember for a long time where I live. I would guess it would be the same in most places.
Over halfway through the series, two riders separated by just 3 points, two more guys with an outside chance ofa title run, both the 250 series have more than one title contender.
Its a good year, with some great drama adding to some awesome racing.
I agree with most people here that the press conferences have just become the usual "white noise going through the motions" question & answer sessions.
Do I consider them friends or buddies? Probably a whole lot less than you'd think. It's more like a co-worker relationship We don't hang out away from the races. We're not blowing each other up on the phone during the week...though I do check in with some of them when I have a particular question. Generally, they live in their world. I live in mine.
I do check in with lots of riders (from privateer to points leaders) nearly every week in pre-race and one-on-one post-race interviews. I generally have questions that I ask in a press conference setting, and others that I ask in a one-on-one setting.
This week's 450 press conference in Daytona started out with a reporter from a local newspaper in the Daytona area. Then it went to Weege, the weekly stats guy, and then me. A lot of the questions that I would have asked were already off the table by the time it got to me.
Sometimes questions are based on what I think I can get a productive answer out of. Sometimes they're designed to let them vent on a particular topic.
Asking Eli about Barcia would have probably elicited not much more than an eye-roll from Eli. It also proved to be a non-factor. I did ask Eli in our pre-race video if we'd hit the grumpy part of the season. He laughed.
During the season, I've also asked things like whether Plessinger is headed to off-road next year (he said no), and Cooper about his back injury (both before and after the race). I think he's tired of talking about it, and after two straight podiums, it's also a non-factor. I also asked them about the back-to-back dragonback to triple section in Arlington, and got a lot of good answers from the riders about track design, construction, and safety.
In closing, I can say that there was a recent post-press conference video that may have proven to be a one-hit wonder with fans, but it wasn't all that popular with the rider who was being quizzed. He felt a bit put on the spot, and told me last week that future interviews likely wouldn't be nearly as productive for the person who asked the questions.
Pit Row
The, “what kind of changes to your bike did you do this week” Wouldn’t get much of an answer as like a “you mentioned you went to work during the week at the test track and found some good changes, what were those changes to the bike and how did the feedback transfer to speed during the race” might get something a little more specific, even though you’re basically asking the same question. And when they try to round about the question, keep the mic to dig deeper.
They are flat out articulating the question.
Post a reply to: A plea to the media asking riders questions