Posted by Stephen WaitsMon, 02 Oct 2006 22:32:00 GMT
Well, Autoblog never covers F1 results. Furthermore, I wouldn’t expect them to put any kind of motorsports results in the title of an article. Even futhermore, I wouldn’t expect them to do this at like 0’dark thirty in the morning before 99% of us wankers have had a chance to watch it on our PVRs.
Yet, this is exactly what they did this past Sunday morning. They spoiled the race for me, and, according to many or even most of the comments, for many others as well. In my case it popped up in my RSS reader, and caught me completely off guard.
I complained to them in my comment, even asking for an apology, and here’s the official response.
Alright, enough complaining. This is a news site. We report news. It’s not often you see people asking to have their news watered down, but if that’s the consensus, so be it.
Autoblog is a constantly-evolving site, and the coverage depends on the interests of the bloggers. I got up at the crack of dawn where I am to watch the race live and posted the results as soon as it was done, earlier than many dedicated racing sites had ‘em. I figured if this F1 fan could get up to see the race at 7am, the dedicated fans in the US could stay up on a Saturday night ‘till 1 or 2 to watch it live on one of the few occasions they can, and that those who hadn’t would benefit from the news as early as they could get it. What thanks do we get? A bunch of whiners crying – we’ll mail you some official Autoblog tissues. And you’ll get your censorship for next time.
What? His attitude seems to say, I got up early in the morning to watch a race, so fuck you, I can spoil it for you if I want (even if we’ve NEVER covered F1 before, and it would have been damn easy to post it with the spoilers “after the jump”).
Is Autoblog so big now they don’t care about us little people? I called the guy an ahole several times and am glad for it.
Posted by Stephen WaitsSat, 01 Jul 2006 15:15:54 GMT
And my friend Nate video taped it.
I’ll set this up.. It was last year, the first year MotoGP came back, and Laguna Seca was a giant mess. Parking was a horrific situation, but we avoided that by taking the bus in and out of traffic. People in cars, and even on bikes, were screwed, and many actually turned around and left after sitting in traffic for 3 or 4 hours.
Once you got into the track, you had to deal with foot traffic. Now it was ok pretty much everywhere except the narrow area between Dunlop bridge and the main food vendor and souvenir shop area. That had so many people in it it was bordering dangerous. It was probably taking 15 minutes to move a few 100 feet.
Anyway, we saw Tommy Hayden come through after an autograph session, and thought to ourselves, man that sucks. Then a few minutes later Roger Lee came through and I yelled out at him to just hop the chain link fence and he’d be right in the paddock.
Posted by Stephen WaitsWed, 22 Feb 2006 18:12:00 GMT
WSBK starts back up this weekend, in Doha, Qatar. It should be a kick ass season too, with lots of MotoGP talent trickling back down. I’m looking for Bayliss to get back to his old WSBK form!
Posted by Stephen WaitsThu, 02 Feb 2006 16:14:17 GMT
After spending his first day in the kitty litter, Rossi manages either 9th or 11th on his second official day of F1 Testing, depending who you believe. Either way, it’s pretty good.
Posted by Stephen WaitsMon, 30 Jan 2006 03:35:20 GMT
Looks like Carlos may have a ride in the works. And it looks like we have a fifth American joining the fray. Check out the entry list over at the Soup!
Posted by Stephen WaitsMon, 30 Jan 2006 02:58:44 GMT
Rossi, if nothing else, will continue to fuel the rumors of his future involvement in F1. He’s in a full test next week, mixed in with other drivers, from other teams; though, he’ll be driving last year’s Ferrari.
This should really open up the MotoGP field. The setting is as perfect as it’s ever going to be for Hayden, Pedrosa, and Melandri to have incredible seasons.
And, though WSBK is already the best series going, it could be even better with these guys. Can Bayliss do it again? Does he still have it? I say yes!
Posted by Stephen WaitsWed, 04 Jan 2006 04:43:00 GMT
The Soup just posted the final segment of a four-part interview series with Neil Hodgson.
When Hodgson dominated the Ducati Cup (aka “WSB”), I wrote him off. It seemed as if the factory team had put him on a piece of hardware that was so much better than all the others that he was able to cruise home. Well, that may have been true, but as I learned when he came over here to the AMA, it certainly didn’t mean he was short on talent. In fact, just the opposite - he’s an incredibly talented rider. On the right machine he could take AMA Superbike, Mat aside. When I saw him perform over here, I felt like a typical arrogant American Asshole for prejudging him.
Oh well.. On to the interview! It is quite long, but you really get a great feel for just how down to earth this guy is. In his mind he’s still a “builder” (construction worker). That’s really down to earth. My favorite quote from the interview, with regard to the Isle of Man TT:
If it’s balls that that’s what it takes to go down Bray Hill flat-out, I haven’t got them. I’m not too proud to say, “No, that would scare the shit out of me. I do not want to die. No.” Call me an old-fashioned bore and a gay man, I don’t know, but I don’t want to die.
That’s great – funny and smart! Read all four segments here:
Posted by Stephen WaitsTue, 03 Jan 2006 19:18:00 GMT
I just discovered a cool TV show called Roush Racing: Driver X. It may actually be in its second season now? I don’t know.
In it, Jack Roush is attempting to select a new driver, the best out of a few dozen, for his Truck racing team. Yah, truck racing managed to stick, I guess. They’re grading the drivers on not just driving, but also marketability; but I think that’s just for the camera, or a tiebreaker. They’re gonna pick the fastest guy.
I watched it for the first time last night. I enjoyed it a good deal; however, I don’t think I could stand to watch it Live (i.e. non-TiVo/DVR). The Discovery Channel editing is at an all-time high in this show – you know, where they squeeze 40+ minutes of “stuff” out of about 20 minutes of “actual stuff”? Yah, it’s annoying. Basically you just fast-forward through the commercial, and then a good 30 or 60 seconds into the continuation of the show, and then you’re where you left off.
Despite that, I plan on watching it. Seeing young guys drive Nascar/Craftsman Trucks straight at a concrete wall, really fast, is good entertainment. :)
It’s a little bit sad to me for several reasons. Mad Max plays a decent antagonist in MotoGP – I’ll miss that. Also, he’s part of the fading “old guard”. And, I’m a tiny bit sad for Troy. Though, I know he can deal with it as well as anyone, he’s one of the coolest cats around. Too, I wonder if Max will have more respect for Troy than he did Nicky; afterall, nobody can doubt Troy’s talent. He’s been around the block more than a few times.
