Sparkplug 51

This week’s Sparkplug is all about the love… the love that I have for the sport of motocross. Specifically, what does it mean to love a sport and how does one express it? Yes, this essay is going to get a little personal and only those who share my emotions about the sport will understand.

Here’s the thing: if one were to judge my feelings about the sport by my current level of non-involvement, it might be easy to conclude that I’m not much of a motocross fat at all. After all, I’m not racing right now, I very rarely ride these days… in fact, I don’t even own a motocross bike. To make matters worse, the last race I attended was back in January and I no longer go to local races. I don’t sound like much of a motocross fan, do
I?

In my entire life, I have only owned 4 racebikes… contrast that with some guys who buy 4 bikes a year. Who loves the sport more? I live in the city; I have to drive at least an hour before I get to a place where I can ride. Some people I know can kickstart their bikes in their garage and ride right out the door. Who loves the sport more? My job is about as far removed from racing as any line of work can possibly be; I know more than a few good people who feed their family directly from their involvement in the motocross industry. Again, who loves the sport more?

And what gives me the right to say I’m a motocross fan?

I first stopped racing to attend college. Yet everyday during classes, I would find myself daydreaming about racing. I even stole a line from a philosophy class and decorated my notebook cover with the statement, “I race motocross, therefore I am!” It was my intent to make my way into the world, earn a great deal of money and return to racing with a big buck racing setup: motorhome, multiple bikes, the works. Funny how life doesn’t always work out the way we plan it. Years went by before I decided that if I was going to make my return to racing, it will just have to be in the same low-budget way that I started. And there I was, a racer again… a VET racer, to be sure, but a motocross racer.

After a couple of years I stopped racing again. I have more to accomplish in the world of business, and I just don’t have the time it takes to properly mount a racing campaign… at least, that’s what I have been telling myself. So I sold my bike and decided to be content with going to a few races and reading and writing about motocross for fun.

I’m not content.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy writing about motocross on this site and engaging in moto-banter with my fellow fools at Motodrive.com. And I still follow the sport religiously (I spend more time listening to races on the internet on Sundays than going to church!), but… that FEELING is still haunting me, that yearning feeling that makes me want to ride. I still catch myself “launching” down stairways, doing imaginary “bermshots” off of parking garage walls… and the main reason I stopped going to see my friends ride at local races is because it hurts too much to watch them ride and not be able to join them. You can see where this is all heading, right? There’s a bike in my near future, no doubt.

But until then, I maintain that I still LOVE this sport, bike or no bike. And here’s how I manifest this love: I CARE about the way the sport is portrayed in the mainstream media, I am CONCERNED about the future of the sport. I want this sport to be RESPECTED as a legitimate sport, and no longer treated like a spectacle, like a sideshow. And that’s why I am so outspoken about the way the sport is promoted, about the way the sport is (mis-)managed, about the way the media covers this sport. Yes, my only outlet is this tiny webpage and a post or two at Motodrive, but it’s a start and it’s my way of giving back.

I was watching NBC’s coverage of the French Open tennis tournament earlier today. I’d like to see motocross treated with the same respect that professional tennis gets. No one questions whether tennis players are “true” athletes. There is a lot of hype and drama surrounding some players, but the journalists covering the sport never blow it up or treat it like “professional” wrestling or “monster” truck “racing”. But as long as our promoters continue to put short-term goals like stadium seat-filling at the top of their agenda, motocross will never outlive this circus mentality. I hate that. (By the way, did you know SFX Sports, a division of LiveNation, manages a number of pro tennis players like Andre Agassi and tennis tournaments?)

I also hate the fact that I have allowed “life” to move me away from this sport that I love. So I am in the process of making some changes… changes in my expectations as to what life is supposed to be like, changes in my living conditions, changes in my environment… and finally changes in my chosen field of employment. It’s time to take back control and to get back to what really matters to me. One of these days, I am going to figure out how to make a living doing what I love: writing and communicating about motocross, using words, photographs and videos. And my love of the sport will be apparent in the quality of my work.