Here's a good tip if you want to make a New Year's Resolution: Resolve to follow supercross races every weekend. You're guaranteed to make it all the way until Easter before breaking the resolution. Yup, it's basically been since CHRISTMAS since we didn't have a race to cover on the weekend.
Now, sometimes the GPs bail us out and hold a race on Easter weekend, but that's not the case this year. No racing anywhere.
What are you going to do? How about grabbing a slice of Internet interest via the Word On...? You'll find much to love here, and it goes down well with a slice of some chocolate Easter Bunny.
Stewart’s Golf Game
Austin White caught up with James Stewart last week to talk about his future, Malcolm’s win and his golf game. (You can check it out here.) We received a lot of questions about the Instagram video James referred to in regards to his golf game. (You can check it out below.) James, who likes to play golf, was mimicking the god-awful swing of former pro basketball player Charles Barkley. The national media picked up the story, including ESPN among others. Most of the stories were poorly researched and featured headlines such as “Pro motocross racer has worst swing off all time, and it’s not even close.” Look, mistakes happen in journalism. (I know I make my fair share. Hell, I probably made a couple in this feature.) Especially when you’re talking about a sport you probably don’t follow and are in a rush to bust the story out. It happens … TO EVERYONE. The Golfchannel.com was one of those. They have since updated and changed the story that appeared in February, but the original, which is screenshot below, is pretty bad—something a quick Google search would have solved. Anyway, James isn’t that bad at golf. Barkley, on the other hand, is.
James Mimicking Barkley
Barkley’s Swing
James’ Real Swing
A Paris Hilton Flip?
Paris Hilton, heiress to Hilton Hotels, famous for being famous and according to Wikipedia, an actress and singer (sure, okay), apparently has a freestyle trick named after her. Who knew? Red Bull put together a “freestyle motocross tricktionary,” a first-hand look at some oddly named tricks, which include, but are not limited to, the Oxecutionar, 9 O’Clock and our personal favorite, the Paris Hilton.
We're Going to Mars
Previously in The Word On… we’ve told you about racing on the moon and going to Mars. Pretty badass stuff, right? This week, according to Motherboard, NASA conducted a spin test on a “flying saucer.” Let me repeat: A FLYING SAUCER. Why? Because they want to bring “larger payloads to Mars— and hopefully, in time, humans," says Motherboard. It’s settled: WE’RE GOING TO MARS!!!!! From Motherboard:
The spin test was in preparation for a more elaborate trial run to take place in June, the second of three tests that will bring the LDSD 180,000 feet above the Earth to test its ability to safely land.
But Tuesday’s test was just to ensure that the LDSD is able to reach up to 20 rotations per minute, which, as you’ll see here, it definitely can:
“It’s the same rationale behind by bullets and arrows spin: it stabilizes the object in flight,” explained Paul Lytal, the integration and test mechanical lead for LDSD, during the livesteam of the test. “The reason bullets don’t tumble when they’re flying is really because they’re spinning.”
Read the entire piece here.
10 Videos Car Enthusiast Must Watch
I’m not much of a car guy, per se. I probably couldn’t tell you the difference between a Ford and a Mustang. Oh, Ford makes Mustangs? Gotcha. But when Weege sent me this link last week, I figured I’d check it out. Why not, right? Well, I stumbled upon greatness. The folks at Jalopnik put together the “Ten Videos Every Car Enthusiast Needs to Watch,” and it’s great. Really, you don't have to be a car enthusiast to enjoy these, since they're basically the ten best car videos on the internet. Our boy Ken Block even shows up at #2. You can read the entire list here and check out one of my favorites below.
Special Drone Delivery
Drones have been a hot topic in The Word On… lately. We told you about Monster Energy Supercross testing drone usage for broadcast and about the Golf Channel implementing drones for coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. This, on the other hand, is a little different. As it seems, Amazon has been “very vocal” about its frustrations with FAA restrictions on commercial drones and how and when they can use them. So, like any 5-year-old, they’ve taken their ball and gone home—to be more specific, to Canada. Amazon has been doing a lot of testing in Canada recently, and according to Slate, “wants to use airspace above 200 feet and below 500 feet as a neutral zone for drones. This height range is above most buildings but below planes and helicopters.” Drones, coming to a neighborhood near you, eh. More from Slate:
The Guardian reports that Amazon's drones would weigh less than 55 pounds and carry 5-pound or lighter loads (no lawn chair deliveries yet). The plan is for the drones to fly at 50 miles per hour.
The team running the tests includes aeronautics experts, software developers, a former NASA astronaut, and a former Boeing 787 engineer. The Guardian describes the scene at the test range:
Read the entire piece here.
Twitter Makes Update For Media
[WARNING: You probably don’t care about this. Feel free to skip.] Twitter recently launched Curator, a tool for media outlets that helps “collect tweets and Vines based around specific topics, perform more advanced searches and get access to better analytics,” according to Mashable. It’s a pretty cool tool that you may see more of in the future. Again, you probably don’t care, we're basically showing our media-geek colors here :(. From Mashable:
Think of Curator as an even more advanced version of Twitter's advanced search. Users can fine tune their searches to find tweets based on very narrow criteria — such as exact location, word count or what type of smartphone was used.
It also provides better analytics — "real-time insights into trending topics and conversations on Twitter," according to Curator's website. This could help news outlets identify viral trends or important topics before most users notice them.
If you’re interested, and you're probably not, read the entire thing here.
Ice Drift
GoPro sure does make my job putting together this feature a lot easier. They always have some rad stuff, and this week is no different. According to their YouTube description, this is a video of the “Stunt Freaks Team.” I have no idea of the location or who, or what, the Stunt Freaks Team is. Honestly, it doesn’t matter because this video is f-ing sweet.
Kite Aerial Photography
Can’t afford a drone to capture that epic shot, bro? No worries, go fly a kite. Mashable takes you through the steps of kite aerial photography. I have no idea if this is a joke or not. Could go either way.
Hiker Selfies
Selfies, making sorority girls happy since 2003, are inherently stupid. Nay, selfies might be the single worst thing this century. But if I’m going to get behind some joe bro taking some 2,600 selfies, it better be cool. And this kind of is. Kind of. According to For the Win, “hiker and filmmaker Andy Davidhazy took a selfie every mile for his 2,600-mile trip up the Pacific Crest Trail.” You can watch the kind of cool video below.
Classic Podcast
Steve has hit a new low. He’s decided to pawn off his “Classic Podcast” duties to unsuspecting readers. He counters that with this quote: “Bro, I'm giving the fans a voice!” I’m not buying it. Anyway, thanks to Andrew Royce for submitting some of his favorite podcasts. Hope Pulp pays well, Andrew.
#1 Damon Bradshaw
Damon was my first mx hero as a kid. I had pictures all over my bedroom walls of "The Beast from The East". The podcast was a great introspective into a man I only knew through magazines and the occasional TV interview. In the end, I realized (like so many of our moto heroes) he was just a regular guy who could ride dirt bike better then most. I also could hear that the sport that he once loved had become something he resented, and ultimately caused him to walk away. I still listen to this podcast to from time to time just because I always find it motivating to hear such a cool perspective from a superstar, that really is just a good old boy. You can listen here.
#2 Rich Taylor #1
I remember seeing Rich on the cover of Dirt Rider all the time as a kid. I always wondered who the dude was, and I always dug his style. His laid back modest attitude in the pod really made me respect all he had done in the industry. Much like the Damon podcast, when Rich talked about the technical side of things with his bikes, and testing, it gave you such an appreciation for how good bikes have become, and just how soft riders have gotten nowadays. You can listen here.
#3 Show 100
I grew up racing in the 1990s and remember reading about the formation of the Great Western Bank team and how big it was to have an outside sponsor in the sport. From the outside looking in, it seemed like a legit highly structured program. The podcast captured that it wasn't exactly that, but it did show why the team was successful. You hear the guys talk about the parties and the girls, but you also hear about the effort and the passion that went into raceday. It was a time before trainers, training facilities, and it was all about the guy who showed up and was the most badass on that day. These guys loved to race and enjoyed the ride all the way. Awesome podcast, that showed all that was good about ‘90s moto. You can listen here.
OMG
No words needed. Just watch.
St. Louis Stadium Deal Is Messy
St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kronke, who, in short, owns property in L.A. and probably wants to move the football team there, has already proposed a plan for a nearly two billon dollar stadium in Inglewood, CA. That’s not good news for fans of St. Louis. This week, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "St. Louis County's participation would not be necessary in the stadium deal." According to Deadspin, “St. Louis County currently pays $6 million annually to pay off bonds issued to build the 20-year-old Edward Jones Dome, and will be paying that $6 million per year until 2021.” If the Rams move to L.A., it’s hard to imagine a spot for Monster Energy Supercross in the future. From Deadspin:
Those that would like to keep the Rams in St. Louis have a hard row to hoe. For local governments unsure about committing public money for new NFL stadiums, relocation is not a threat but a promise. As unfortunate as it would be for fans of the Rams if the team moved 1,800 miles west, the very least the residents of St. Louis County deserve is to vote on whether to use their own tax money to support a scam. It'd be more than the residents of Inglewood got.
Read more here.
Ortiz vs. Boston Globe Columnist
The Players’ Tribune, founded by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, is, according to their website, “a new media platform that will present the voices of professional athletes, bringing fans closer to the games they love than ever before.” I won’t bore you with my thoughts on sites like these, so I’ll digress. Recently, Red Sox DH David Ortiz threw some shade at Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy about a piece Shaughnessy wrote about PED usage. Ortiz didn’t refer to him by name, instead saying: “And the reporter with the red jheri curl from The Boston Globe…” Shaughnessy, of course, fired back calling bluff on a lot of Ortiz’s points in the piece, blah, blah. Look, I don’t care who is right or wrong really, but this verbal warfare was pretty funny. From Shaughnessy:
That hurts, David. Is that all I am to you? Nothing more than Eriq La Salle pushing “Soul Glo” in “Coming to America”? For the record, my hair is naturally curly, a gift from my parents. It is not permed. And it is not red. But these are not the errors or details that are bothersome in your essay.
Read Ortiz’s piece here. And Shaughnessy’s here.
RX Social Stats. Thanks, Eli!
Hookit, who, as you know by now, is a “company that supports and connects athletes, brands and sports through the 'Internet,' aka your computer, phone, apps and sites you use everyday,” not only tracks athletes, but also companies—including Racer X. Simply: If Rider X posts a photo and tags @racerxonline or uses the hashtags #racerx, #racerxonline Hookit is able to track said posts. It’s pretty cool. [Note: This is only for Instagram.] Since the first of January, until the end of March, Hookit has tracked which posts from riders have gained the most traction for Racer X. Check out the chart below. Thanks to the riders below for sharing! You’re all number 1 in our books! [Note: Only 2015 Monster Energy Supercross racers were tracked in the stats below.]
