Ask Ping

Jim,

I'm glad you sent me this question. Last week I was watching the races at my buddy’s house and I almost started cracking on him for having a POS television set. It was like I was watching the race through muddy goggles. It turns out the races are not broadcast in HD when they're broadcast on Fox Sports 2 (they are on Fox Sports 1, however) and we've all become a bit too spoiled with our television clarity. I'm not one to be overly particular about these types of things, but that last broadcast made the Zapruder film look like a high-definition showing at an IMAX theatre. During the NASCAR races it feels like the small bits of rubber on the side of the course are going to fly out of the TV and land in your lap. In an NFL game you can see individual blades of grass stuck in a player’s helmet after a good hit. And in tennis the resolution is so high I can tell when Caroline Wozniacki has a wedgie, and it almost feels as if I could reach right through the screen and pull the silky fabric out of the Danish beauty's rear end if I wanted to. And I do. But despite the clarity in other sports, us simple motocross folk have to squint if we want to read a number on the side of a bike during our sports coverage. What's going on here, Fox Sports? I'm not banging rocks together to make fire anymore or hunting mastodon for food, so why am I watching television coverage that looks grainier than the footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing? Pull it together! 

PING

 

Hey Ping,  

I am sure I am not the first person to think of this magnificent idea of mine but I can't help but feel that these specialty themed supercross/Motocross races can really help support our sport beyond the coolness factor.  I think that they are absolutely awesome and it's refreshing to see some creativity thrown into the mix every once in a while. Okay, okay,  I'll get to my point... My thought is, it would be awesome if they took all the graphics/plastics, jerseys, riding gear that are one-offs from the throwback/military appreciation/etc and auctioned them off. All or portions of the proceeds could split up to support the Asterisk medical crew,  road to recovery, spinal injury research, help provide more affordable health insurance to privateers or some entity that would provide support to the riders who have given so much of themselves to this sport. Even if just the factory teams did this it could help some. I am sure they can afford to auction off these type items and not feel it in their massive pocket books. It would be nice if Feld would schedule just a few more of these it may go along way,  assuming this auction process was in place. I don't know who would be in charge of pursuing something (or if the teams would even support it) like this but it seems to me like a good idea. A quick small ad on the bottom of the TV screen to the auction site and 5 second mention from race analysts  could produce valuable revenue for organizations that really need it.   

Do you see any reason this couldn't be arranged?  Or is my idea just unrealistic?

Thanks, Eryk

Eryk,

All I really want to do is spend the next several paragraphs talking about the thought process that went into the spelling of your name. Did your folks sit down and hash out all the possible ways to spell the name they chose for you and then decide on the most absurd, unrealistic version? I'm just curious because unless you are Scandinavian and you have an umlaut over a vowel it seems a little contrived. But I'm getting off on a tangent here. You were saying that you thought all the items from themed races should be auctioned off for charity and I think that is an amazing idea. Seriously. I would bet most of that stuff is given away or taken by team members anyway. If somebody was willing to do the legwork to round everything up, post an auction, and manage the sale of it all I'm sure it could happen. So, the only question is who is going to make it happen? Thanks for the letter, Eryk with a "Y." I'll see what I can do to make this happen.

PING

 

Ping,

Sorry if this seems a little scatter brained… I am recovering from foot surgery. Being a former team manager, maybe you can provide some clarity to this: what is your thought process when your " second fiddle" rider is doing much better then your high profile rider? JGR dropped a massive amount of money to get Barcia on their team and didn't even want Weston at one point. Before either injury, Weston was constantly placing in front of their high profile rider. Brock Tickle is looking better then Ken Roczen right now. Just curious to hear your opinion.

Accident prone in Texas...