Observations After Watching First Super Bowl As It Relates To SX

Spot on.    

Just look at the pile of steaming dogshit pro sports have become with big money and all the political virtue signaling.  The NFL being the worst of them. 

Keep us niche/keep us core.       It hasn't changed in 50 years, it isn't going to now.    The mainstream public sees us as another "monster truck" joke.    Then they also see idiot wheelie boys in the news or their local town.     We are "Wheelie boys" in a stadium.

We do need to turn back from the "extreme sport" image we have now.  We have become too much of an aerial gymnastics circus.   This isn't going to help grow the sport, it's not drawing in families who see constant injuries and bad crashes/people being carted off.     Yes, that has been a part of our sport since the beginning, but it's way worse now.     Expensive bikes average folks can't afford aren't helping us either. 

Fire Bondo

We need Haiden Deegan to date Taylor Swift.

The Supebowl is usually the worst football game of the season.

I wouldn't say its the worst, but it's rarely the best.

But they do have cool commercials and nifty half-time show.

Maybe after he turns 18 possibly. 

I think he did turn 18, pretty sure that's why he got the new tat. 

The things that stood out to me was the hype/energy in the sold-out stadium, all the celebs in attendance, and the sheer amount of money involved. 

or Jett...

I hope you're kidding....

Taylor not-so-Swift is the equivalent of Jett when it comes to over-saturation coverage.   Now they're pulling her into the "unmentionable topic in Moto" propaganda arena.  

That chick is batshit crazy.

Why do we need Taylor Swift when we have Justin Bieber ?

The NFL always played the 4th quarter first to gain new fans in the early days...

and were constantly talking about the unbelievable protection provided by the addition of the leather helmet strap...

There was probably 100 times more people that know nothing about football that watch the Superbowl last night than there ever will be people that know nothing about supercross that watch a race. Not only that, football is probably 10 times harder to understand for a newbie than a motocross race is. Yet, at no point during the broadcast yesterday did I hear ''2nd and 8 at the Chief's 38 yard line. That Tony, means that the 49ers have 3 more attempts to advance the football for 8 yards.''

The vast majority of people that watch the races know what is going on. The rest will figure it out pretty rapidly if they truly have an interest. I don't think anyone will become a fan because they heard Weege explained that ''a rhythm section is a series of jump linked together''.

Why do we as core fans, purchasers of dirt bikes, care if the sport grows? What would be the benefit?

This topic comes up all the time… is it some sort of respect or recognition some are looking for? 

I've been saying it for a while, but dumbing the sport down isn't helping anything...talk to the core fans, cater the broadcast and races to the core fans...

If the broadcast team would let RC talk about dirt bikes like he normally would (like he's talking to another retired pro) I think he'd do a lot better in the booth...he's always trying to translate "core dirt bike" speak down into a simplified version of dirt bike speak and it just doesn't translate well. 

That may be true for someone who has never seen American football at all.  However most people, or most guys at least, would get some exposure to football in school or just playing around with other kids.  So they understand the basics even if they don't understand the nuances.  Mostly that is true for other stick and ball sports as well.

However that is not the case for motocross.  

It's not core fans that fill the baseball and football stadiums during supercross.  Yes they are there but there's a hell of a lot of other casual spectators too.

If you haven't listened to Weege's podcast interview on Gypsy Tales, it's well worth your time (even if you don't like Jase's style the stuff Weigandt has to say is worth it).

We tend to be dismissive of the value of what we have in SX and MX.  He relates some very telling points made by people involved in other motorsport series about the strong points of SX - it's been going for 50 years virtually unchanged; same starting venue every year, strong crowds, very heavy OEM involvement etc.  I feel SX is doing much better than we believe it is.

Well I am sure that this will start some crap but the truth hurts! Football went to Peacock for the wild card games and the fan base wend crazy complained so much they showed it on main stream tv. Football fans are smarter and realize that paying for a service that is normally free isonly good for the NFL not the fans. SX and MX go to Peacock and most of you just paid for it lining the pockets of the promoters at your expense. We should have done the same. The sport needs main stream TV to grow. Thank god most of the SX races are on mainstream tv the next day. 

It's hard to beat watching racing when it's good.   The first 4 races this year were awesome....especially the mud races which really mixed things up.      Detroit track sucked.   Glendale was startcross mixed with Straight Rhythm and I basically FF'd through everything after the 450 heats to get to the 450 main which was mostly a snoozer.   (Still jazzed for KenZooki though)

The nationals were freaking beyond boring last year..... depleted field and one dominant rider.   I mostly didn't watch them, but probably had them on in the background while working.  

If it gets to one dominant rider, I lose interest.     Lost interest back when the KING  and then RC were so dominant and basically stepped away from the sport for a while during those times..    It's not good for the sport that way.    

So basically...yeah, if it becomes dull, it makes sense to just catch the race reports/forums/YT etc. 

We don't have that kind of leverage.

We're a gnat's puckerhole compared to the NFL.      (...and FWIW - I loathe the NFL)

what’s rhude Supercross lol did I miss something 

I was wondering the same thing….

Moto will never come close to competing with stick and ball sports (and I hate stick and ball sports).  The ONLY way we'd ever see that happen is if every school in America (elementary-high school) added motocross to their list of school sports.  You sign your kid up, he gets a bike and gear for the season and there is practice every day after school at the school's motocross track and the kids race every weekend against other schools and if he does really well through high school he gets a free ride to college to go race for them.  That's the vast advantage stick and ball sports has.  It's just so much more accessible to your average kid and way easier for the average kid to go further with it vs motocross.  Moto will always remain a niche sport.

Imagine the talent this sport would have if we did live in that parallel universe though.  How many GOATS are walking around that just never had the opportunity or introduction to the sport.  Imagine a full gate of riders that every single one of them had the speed and capability to win a main, how bonkers that race would be.

You can own one too for a measly $300

https://rh-ude.com/products/canvas-supercross-trucker-hat

You’re saying moto is harder to understand for the casual fan than football?  

I took my sister to Glendale. She'd never watched nor been to Supercross. She appreciated the explanations provided by the announcers and on the screens as she had no clue on how quals, heats, LCQs, and Mains combine to select the rider group. She was also new to flagging, and got to experience 2 different red-flag scenarios with restarts. She enjoyed the show but said the PA was too loud most of the time. The ear protection I gave her was critical to her having a good time. She got to meet Jett and Kenny, and both Chis and McElrath were really approachable and friendly. She loved the pits, and the family-oriented atmosphere, especially when compared to the chaos at the WM PGA event on the same day. Our fans are usually pretty well behaved at Supercross. 

Will she become a fan and regular watcher? I doubt it. It's a niche sport that she has no real association with other than my immediate family being 100% all in.

I,ve see articles in the ny stock exchange news paper. They say anyone can watch a game and get it. You can be 94 and die of old age later in the day . But earlier they watched a game & could understand it.   I bought 2 preseason tickets from my working for farmers money  in 7 or 8th grade .  For my mom and I.  You can’t compare any sport.  As far as stick and ball . March madness will never be beat. 

Did you guys know Miss Swift is 34 years old?