Posts
11283
Joined
9/18/2007
Location
York, SC
US
Edited Date/Time
9/3/2023 8:58am
I sure do miss TFS’s reporting on what is happening behind the scenes in this sport ever since he passed away unexpectedly 10 years ago.
This sport needs to be a new TFS style reporter.
Anyone with journalist experience?
Interesting ….. I Wonder why this post was locked? OK it has been reopened.
Cooksey isn't afraid to do behind the scenes reporting, but I get the feeling that guys that do that get pushed out the back door and are not welcome back in.
TFs just didn’t make up shit tho
Things have changed in the media , and the click bait pays the bills so, so it’s more hate the game rather than the player
Behind the scenes! LOL!! that fuckwit hasn't left his couch in years he's so far from being behind the scenes that nobody will talk to him so he just makes shit up!!
I've watched his videos, and most of them are pretty good and informative. It sounds like you have a personal issue with him, which I'm not interested in, but I do think it clouds your judgement. I think it's fair to say that he does speculate about some things, but his race and rider analysis are great, and he will admit when he's wrong. He's also willing to talk about issues that seem to be hush, hush with the bigger media companies.
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TFS was a true pioneer for the sport behind the scenes and very well liked by riders, teams and media world wide.
TFS website was the 1st I had ever seen with a paid entrance fee and insiders were welcomed.
Its not a personal issue he just flat out makes shit up and that has put him in a situation where he is not allowed at SX and MX races...but if half truths and innuendo TMZ click bait journalism is your thing...you be you, just understand you are not hearing the truth and most likely he hasn't talked to anybody involved....I myself prefer to get my info from those I trust that will talk to all parties involved....like ML for example....that actually go to the races....
TEEFUS!!!
The shock rebound doesn't lift the bike higher when you seat bounce.
Ok, I’m stumped again by these abbreviations. Who was TFS?
Tony Fuckin Stewart
Yeehaw #20!
You just had to be here. I never interacted with him personally but i was around enough reading his posts and know while not everyone agreed with him he was very respected around here (well before vital). Was he ever a vital member or he pass first.
The one thing for sure that was legend was his seat bounce theory. As you can see it tok about 2-3 posts in forbit to get referenced. Good times
The Factory Spectator. He was the first guy to give live updates and results from the cheap seats at races. Worked for an airline, forget which one exactly, but would arrange his schedule to be at the location of the races every weekend in the earliest of days of web forums and social media. He sat on side of a friend of mine once and never looked up at the race and asked my buddy to narrate what he was seeing so he could type it in to his phone or computer. Dude was blazing the trail for all that we have now. Legend!
I still sort of wonder if he’d still be here if not for his weight loss program. Although, he felt unhealthy enough already to need to follow it, so who knows.
I visited the clinic that he used once, and it was shocking what the doctor was pushing. Lots of his own ‘bioidentical’ hormone concoctions, and enough actual PEDs to make the folks at BALCO blush. But the regimens definitely work in the short term, that’s why he’s went from a small office in Torrance to 5 or 6 offices in Southern California over the last 13 or 14 years.
Man, I was waiting to ask 👍
Steve (TFS) worked as a mechanic at US Airways for the first half of his Moto press career. When I had layovers where he lived he would cut out of work so we could go out to eat. He would fly standby to the races on the weekend. Once he started to make enough money off of his photos he quit, bought a nice motor home (DV’s used one I think?), and did Moto full time. Eventually he got worn out and went and worked for NASA for a short time before he passed. Battled thyroid issues, and weight, and then more health issues. Anyway, the reason everybody liked him is he was always genuinely nice to everyone. He was a true fan of the sport and had all the racers respect. He would let friends tag along with full access. I watched races sitting next to Pastrana in the press box and was at RC’s rig, getting a championship t-shirt from RC which I still have, when he won his first big bike SX championship, and many other stories. All because TFS was just that cool. Some of what was listed above had others helping him too. Mototalk was THE original forum and it kicked ass. Hutch and the crew at LCS did a great job with that. I really miss those days.
That doesn't change the fact that there is a problem in moto 'journalism' with the 'journalists' being way to close to the companies and individuals they are reporting on. In most other arenas journalists and their subjects are relatively separated - in real journalism this is considered essential to maintaining objectivity. Moto is too small for this to happen. Any 'journalist' that upsets a rider or a team, or asks uncomfortable questions, or reveals uncomfortable facts, is shut out. I'm no supporter of Kooksey by the way. It seems that the situation in moto leaves no middle ground. Those who are cast out end up becoming click baiters and conspiracy peddlers.
He was a mechanic? I thought the guy was a full on aeronautical (maybe aerospace) engineer?
Bruhn was one of kind!
There will never be another like him!
Pit Row
I agree that bug-eyed bullshitter Cooksey has probably spent plenty of time around folks back doors, but probably in a different sense of the words...
On the other hand TFS was an asset and ahead of his time now we're looking back on it.
Personally I like what Cooksie brings. He has been right on multiple occasions and calls out B.S. I also like your Vlogs but you have a different style. No offense but what "breaking" news have you reported?
Reporting.
Not going to disagree with you but I would expand that problem to motorsports journalism in general because they are afforded access that other sports don't allow media to have. As far as Kooksey for anybody that read his conspiracy theory crap he had while he was employed here was over the top and ,shall I say, caused his demise. the same thing happened at WPS and Tucker Rocky....he really is a nut job..
Very well said Shred.
From my understanding Steve had been a propulsion engineer at NASA prior to layoffs when he went to work in the airline industry. As I recall he had a very good offer to go back to NASA In Alabama where he was originally from after moto.
Steve and I sat down at Supercross races and talked about what was going on in the moto industry. Teams and riders talked with him regarding what was going on behind the scenes.
I didn’t realize he had worked at Vital. I could only stand listening to about 10 minutes of listening to him and his sounding like a AM talk show just stirring the pot.
DonM is not Donn Maeda.
He was a contributor for a (I think it was weekly/tied to the races that year?) article/feature during the 2019 season. There are about 30 of them: https://www.vitalmx.com/tags/cooksey_straight_to_the_point_vital_featur…
Lol
Pretty good write up for TFS:
About five years ago, after covering more than 450 motocross races, Steve Bruhn had left the industry’s front line, where he had been present for a decade as pioneer Internet photojournalist.
In mid 2008 he had returned back to his previous professional engineering career (where he worked for entities such NASA, Continental, US Airways and FedEx) but the mark he had left, worldwide in the motocross universe, remained indelible. Afterwards, each time he sporadically appeared to a motocross event, either a professional or a local one, his presence would always make an enriching contribution to the industry or the fans.
His ability to effortlessly start a conversation with a top-caliber racer or one of the many motocross enthusiasts that ran across his path made him very popular, more than he could have ever imagined. Now that he has prematurely passed away, only days before turning 53, that mark feels painfully accentuated.
A true fan of the sport, in 1997 Steve had left his job in the aviation industry (where he was propulsion engineer) to venture into motocross photojournalism, entering the field to experiment that new thing called The Internet as a newsman. That experiment changed forever the way motocross news would be consumed. From there things escalated and, even if he made his first steps in the motocross professional scene under the nick name of The Factory Spectator (“TFS”), a nickname that he kept from then on, he progressively became a true key and influential media entity.
He didn’t have a photography degree and he didn’t want one. All he desired was the news to be immediately available to the fans, possibly on a computer screen. He didn’t care about the quality of his images as his film-photography colleagues did. Nevertheless, he became a good digital shooter and when the world around him found out the convenience of digital photography his client list, either news outlets or advertising agencies, became the longest in the whole circuit.
His goal to be into the news was such a predominant obsession that he was able to capture the moments that made the story better than anyone else. At the end of a race, should even television have missed a crucial moment, he was always coming back to his motor home or to the pressroom with a smile on his face. He had all the moments counted in his camera.
He had the remarkable ability to communicate with people. Steve Bruhn loved people and loved to be surrounded by them. Many are those he has helped, he rarely said no. Regardless to some health conditions he was suffering and that he would barely share with a few closer friends. His likability and his generosity touched the heart of people in every corner of the planet. And his intelligence made him highly respected.
Writing was probably his best skill. There wasn’t concept or story that he wasn’t able to powerfully put into very few words. And that made people think, not just read news. He elevated the level of the “conversation” wherever that was happening: on-line, in person or in a press conference. He massively showed his writing gift in over a ten-year monumental on-line presence on the most influential motocross message boards. The first of which he helped becoming the most popular. Eventually “Steve’s way” was copied by others, but the difference his presence would make on the Internet was so significant that it’s hardly duplicable.
Steve Bruhn loved motocross regardless to the level of the competition. But his life was way larger than motocross. The lucky ones who had the chance to get into a (often challenging) conversation with him got access to a cultural universe that transcended from his infinite curiosity for history, arts, human beings and life in general. His best legacy is the motto: “People take themselves too seriously”. Steve Bruhn lived his life accordingly and made a positive impact on everyone he met.
In honor of his remarkable and invaluable contribution to the world of motocross, starting from 2013 Youthstream will permanently name the award for best journalist of the season: Steve Bruhn Journalist of the Year Award.
https://www.motoxaddicts.com/2013/05/12/remembering-tfs-steve-bruhn-jou…
Roughly 12-15 of us from the moto community were close enough friends with Steve that we come in from all over the USA to attend his funeral in Alabama.
EIDave, Sondra, Bauer, WMX champion (Steffy Bau?) and myself and others.
For being an icon in the MX world shockingly not a single person from RacerX or MXSports crew showed up.
Stephen Bonnau always spoke really highly of him, I wouldn't be surprised if him & Steffy Bau were at his funeral.
Thank you for sharing this I have never seen it before and it is 100% correct.
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