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That was being said all over social media.
Giving my post a thumbs up 👍
And in RC's case, speak.
We just can’t live in the past, we’ve got eyes on the future and more great stuff on the way. It’s not for everyone, and that’s ok. We’ve made massive changes in the past, the logo has changed several times over 57 years, and we know full well that stagnation can be the death of a brand. We race forward.
To shed some light…many of us in the industry read along with this forum. Most have stopped responding because it is frustrating trying to exchange with the ill-informed who stand firm with their notably off base guesses about what’s really going on. I personally started chiming in because I have dedicated my life to this industry and love the banter, plus it is important to me to help clarify a lot of the aforementioned “guesses”, just trying to help folks out to better and more accurately understand how things work.
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I mean, I think the forum has minimal impact given how the broadcast caters to newbies (which I'm not entirely against). But the lack of technical and deep insights makes the value-add of the broadcast pretty low for people who ride bikes.
There have been some fairly constructive criticisms of the broadcast which they have not really changed, such as the race coverage (e.g. missing incidents), use of split screens / PiP, the terrible number board that used to have (hated the one on Speed across the top)... and list goes on. I don't understand why American broadcasts insist on doing stuff at a dumbed down level. Even mentioning Monster in tandem with Supercross makes the whole series sound less prestigious than what it could be. It could be worse - the Australian commentators name each section. One race I went to called a small section "Coolangatta Sands" (a popular beachside suburb) and every lap they mentioned it.
When it comes to the bikes, again, hard to think the forum has much impact. I would say perhaps with the media given DC is on here, and RacerX. If anything, Vital is known just as a whinge channel.
The new Thor logo looks a lot like one of these

I always wonder why they dumb some stuff down for the "casual" viewer these days. It's being broadcast on a streaming service that we pay for each month, and you intentionally have to scroll thru and choose the link. It's not like anyone is just flipping channels & SX happens to be on ESPN2, so a viewer will watch because it looks exciting. That only happened in the 90's & '00's at 2am on a Sunday morning.
Knowledgeable people are watching the broadcasts. It would be great to have knowledgeable broadcasters that can communicate well without the nonsense.
Jmo of course...
I have always struggled with this. All of your points are spot on, regarding how we knowledgeable fans seek out and watch these broadcasts. But we do need to have that balance for people who are otherwise new to the sport; Diffey is great for the lay person, while Carmichael and Stewie provide legit insights for those of us who know what’s going on? It was the same, I feel, with Ralph and Fro - one for the “civilian” and one for those of us in the scene.
The most common style of commentating is to have the lead commentator (examples, Diffey, Blair, Shaheen, Art etc.) who call the race, and then the "colour" commentator for technical comment (example, Fro, the past pro riders on MX season (my favourite season for race calling), Carmichael, Stew, AC, Martin (also pretty decent). Then you have a pit / roaming reporter (Erin Bates, Jt etc.). That's it.
It is a standard formula and tried and true. The current broadcast has up to 5 people involved with a race broadcast, not to mention the non-race elements.
The issue is finding a good colour commentator. You need to know your stuff AND be well spoken. In my view, both Carmichael and Stew need to work on the latter, although Stew is far more chill and thus easier to listen to. I would much prefer AC, Martin, Rick Johnson, Emig to name a few alternatives. As for the lead commentator, I think they all are decent, but Diffey or Blair I would say are my top picks. I do like Weege but he is does way more yelling in SX than MX - not sure if that is the broadcast director making him to that.
Gotta disagree with what you said about Seven. Axo did it first but it didn’t really take off because it didn’t have the name behind it like seven.
There is…but they were made in the 70s and were called Scramblers or Enduros…😂
That thor stuff is fine. i like it. it'll catch on.
Keep killin it JJ!
“I can’t believe that dickhead StillSmokin calls me BoxHead” - Sexton
*crashes again*
*industrie
I may be completely wrong here but thought today that I didn't see another publication other than on vital of KTM's financial problems...I did see the usual socials presenting it but that was only after a 5+ page thread on here discussing it.
And then boom...this week KTM releases a social media post telling us of 'everything's ok and new beginnings' etc.
Maybe I'm off base but absolutely someone on the orange crew saw that.
I will say, the Daytona race was called in a way, way, way more chill manner. It's almost like they all took a chill pill... or some pill. Except for Diffy.
It was actually an enjoyable broadcast in my view. Ricky wasn't doing his usual "A lot of time left" statements (with 1 minute to go) and Stew kept it professional with less jokes and stuff. So maybe.... just maybe there is some impact.
Pit Row
Gotta agree. Substitute Weege for Diff would be big improvement.
Nice not have Screech chime in with her 3min long 'I talked to' diatribes. They really only need one sideline reporter anyway.
Really? Oh, let me try then:
- Hey, broadcast team, can you fellas PLEASE stop with the constant and exagerated compliments about the riders?? for f sake.
We understood that EVERY RIDER on the screen "has been different this year, its a new ~rider~, more motivated, more healthy, more strong, more confident with his bike". ...Jeezz cut that S out, PLEASE.
Daytona 25 was my first time watching most of the race on MUTE because this is getting out of their hands!
Diffey, Weege are good, why not to have both on the team instead of the others?
Thanks!
hope it works
Cooksy announced it before it caught fire on this forum.
Don't wanna jinx it, but I thought to myself Rick sounds like he might finally be done trying to play analyst. No wind in those sails tonight. Or maybe he just didn't drink enough white monster idk
Did Daytona use a different TV crew?
In the practice broadcast they kept showing riders just putting around the track not on a hot lap and they weren’t showing the lap times.
A couple of weeks ago one of my buddies and his wife where watching the races with me and she said "Does it say "T.H.O.T." on his shirt?" hahaha
Dude, the original version of our “tech logo” fully looked like THOT, we had to make a change after a couple seasons, it was hilarious.
Leigh Diffey is still making ears bleed with his announcing. I'd say we haven't enough influence.
The thing I noticed about Leigh is that he spends 50% talking about something not on the screen. It's kind of distracting when there is a good race happening.
"It's pretty cool how much influence this forum has on the industry"
The last time I mentioned vital around actual racers they stuffed me into a trash can after giving me a wedgie. I wont make that mistake again. Apparently watching racing and actually racing is WAY different.
I learned.
There were a few times tho it was appreciated. He was trying to call a race while Bondo still wanted to play Blow the Leader.
The amount of calls I get from around the industry about what's on the forum and what people comment towards it would beg to differ.
Post a reply to: It's pretty cool how much influence this forum has on the industry