The great thing about us blokes is we never moan or go on about it when the dreaded flu or in most cases heavy cold strikes at the end of January. I would not think of telling just how rotten I’ve felt for the last week and a half because we just get on with it and never moan especially to our partners.
However, while not moaning of course, it did give me the chance of taking a longer look than normal at some other sports on the television and in the newspapers. The superb three days of MotoGP testing went ahead in Sepang unnoticed and in most cases totally unreported which is no great surprise on the evidence of last season. The 2018 MotoGP season looks like another superb spectacle of close racing and pure excitement in front of record crowds and especially at the new Far East venue in Thailand. So how are the other Motorsport World Championships reacting and shaping up.
I was excited to find a double page spread in my favourite Daily Newspaper, despite the paper failing to mention Marc Marquez had clinched the 2017 Moto in their Monday edition after Valencia, about the Formula One World Championship. Would it look into new rule changes and plans to freshen up the sport they devote so many column inches to during the season. I was disappointed to find that while the Sepang test was not mentioned a lot of space was taken up telling us how Formula One was going to replace Grid Girls with Grid Kids this coming season. Some would argue replacing some of the complicated rules and making the racing a trifle more exciting might have been a greater priority.
Football rules in Britain and most of the world which is reflected in its wall to wall coverage. While not moaning of course, I even had to miss Oxford United’s brilliant away win at Charlton on Saturday because of my ailment, blimey I must have been actually poorly. One of the big talking points has been the use of Video Action Replays in certain games to check if the ball has crossed the line and important offside positions. The trouble was it took a long time for the video referee back in the studio on some distant trading estate to make the final decision. It was a bit like not letting the riders onto the rostrum because VAR had still not decided the winner. It will work in football with a bit of fine tuning and you only have to look how Tissot’s instant finish line pictures determine race and rostrum finishers in MotoGP.
I watched and marvelled at the unbelievable play of Roger Federer in the Australian Open Tennis. What an athlete and competitor showing as much unbridled enthusiasm and pure joy of playing his chosen sport as a young teenager in his very first season. It all has a familiar ring to it. Swap the tennis court to the race track and there stands Valentino Rossi. Proper sporting legends are few and far between and these two are right up there with the gods of their chosen profession.
Finally I love cricket and during the last couple of weeks have tried to recoup the considerable amount of cash I owe Jerry Burgess, Rossi’s former Crew Chief. For over a quarter of a century we have always bet of the England /Australia Ashes series and I think I’ve paid him enough cash to finance his times with Honda, Ducati and Yamaha all put together and this year looks no exception. Don’t worry I’ll get the call from Adelaide reminding me of the exact amount.
By the way thanks for asking and I’m feeling much better now. Not that you would have ever known I’d been ill.
Glad that you are over your ailment, Nick! Love reading your blog. Cheers!
It’s just staggering what little general media attention/ reporting is given to this highly skilled, hugely exciting and entertaining sport that is MotoGP! Their loss! Beyond that it was amazing to see these huge stars give back to the fans at the Day of Champions too. Roll on season 2018!
Glad to hear you over the ‘man cold’ Nick. They have had the video referee in the Australian NRL competition for a few years now ( both at the geound and from a central bunker). Apart from still getting decisions wrong and slowing the game down it works a treat.