Apology accepted, Jason. Now, what's your problem?

See More Motocross Photos at VitalMX.com

I give credit to Jason Lawrence for issuing this apology on Racer X Online, and I don't particularly care whether he was the original author of it or not. I am just happy to see signs of intelligent life from the Lawrence "camp" in a mature and timely fashion, no less. It reads authentically enough for my purposes as a motocross fan.

I also do not particularly care about Jason's sins, his ethical or moral standards (or lack thereof, others might add), whether he has a substance abuse problem or is simply another troubled American youth. As far as I'm concerned, Jason Lawrence is just another guy. He just happens to also be a reasonably-compensated professional athlete who does things on a motorcycle that I personally admire... even though that sounds kind of funny. But it is because of his prowess on his motorcycle that I even know about him and pay him any mind at all. What he does off the track is only of interest when I am bored. Which I guess is why I'm writing about this at all, as Jason Weigandt sort of predicted.

So in a way, we are all as guilty as J "no longer above the" Law. Somebody yelled "Fight! Fight!" in the AMA's schoolyard and we all quickly crowded around to egg the pitiful fools on. The would-be pugilists pay the price, of course, while we get to curse them and compliment ourselves for not being so stupid. I don't know what happened that resulted in Jason's arrest on Saturday night, but if I am to be totally honest, I have to admit that I WOULD like to know. And I'm sorta pissed off that the motocross "press" hasn't put it out there fully... I guess I'm too stingy with my time to root around to a dozen sites just to find basic info about the incident, like the name of the guy he allegedly fought. I'm a fan, not an investigative reporter!

In the grand scheme of things, in the pantheon of motocrosser transgressions, I would claim that, as it has been presented by the current stories, Lawrence's offense does not come as close to "embarrassing the sport" as the M's on-track mental meltdown during that fateful second moto at Glen Helen in '05... and Alessi took months to issue his personal apology. So I think those intent on kicking JLaw out of motocross are being tragically short-sighted.

Better days wallpaper by GuyB.