Picking fault
By TMX Archives on 4th Jun 04
IN MY younger days love came easily - too easily, in fact. It seemed like every week or so my attentions would shift to a new young lady. And each time I was convinced that this one was the real thing - my one true love. IN MY younger days love came easily - too easily, in fact. It seemed like every week or so my attentions would shift to a new young lady. And each time I was convinced that this one was the real thing - my one true love.Of course, it was only playground love. These things always feel genuine at the beginning, the emotions that don't know when to quit, the judgement clouded by urges programmed deep in the human psyche. Within a matter of days I would come to my senses and realise that it was a simple crush, a projection of my own desires and neuroses onto another person I barely knew at all.But then came Gretchen. She was the genuine article. A mid-term transfer student to our class, she possessed that rare mix of self-conscious shyness and exotic appeal that is generally found only in the new girl at school. Our eyes locked for the first time and I was finished. I had seen in her eyes the doorway to other plains of existence, an alternate reality in which all things impossible were made possible. My notebook was soon filled with endless variations of her name, written in every colour of the rainbow which constantly sprang from my soul.Then one day I saw her sitting alone in the corner of the room, her back turned slightly away from the crowd. She was picking her nose. And I'm talking really, really picking it - like practically two knuckles deep. It was nauseating. And just as quickly as it had arrived, love ran screaming down the steps, out the door and into the street, narrowly avoiding the mailman and several small children as it sprinted off down the sidewalk and into the horizon. And I was glad to see it go. I tore the offending pages from my notebook, took her pictures from my wall and never spoke of her again until this very day.That's sort of what it's been like for James Stewart fans lately. For the past year or so Bubba has been our golden child, a young man of prodigious talent and charm who has drawn new attention to the sport. Throughout the past two seasons, the now 18-year-old has gained popularity of staggering proportions. When, for a short time, Bubba chose to wear pink gear, his fans did the same, bringing signs to the races saying things like 'Real Men Wear Pink'. And we're talking burly, manly-man-type men. Ones with families and everything. Even basketball legend Michael Jordan has taken a liking to the kid and the two speak regularly on the phone. However, it was only a matter of time before the cracks started showing. First, there was the dancing.Don't get me wrong I love a good victory celebration. A while back an NFL player scored a touchdown then pulled a permanent marker from his sock, signed the ball and gave it to someone in the crowd. Some fans were appalled by the showboating. I thought it was cool.During this year's supercross season, James began a little showboating of his own. After he'd won a race - which happened quite often - he would do a victory dance. It began simply enough with a quick seemingly improvised Michael Jackson moonwalk on the podium. But the celebrations soon became more complex. After one race he flopped to the dirt and did The Worm, body-rockin' his way across the start straight while there were still riders on the track. The list continued to grow: the Sprinkler, the Robot, hell, maybe even a quick Macarena. People began to tire of it even though Bubba insisted he was only doing it to reward his fans for their support. He was having fun!Of course it's easy to have fun when you win every race by three minutes. But the Las Vegas supercross would be quite a different story. In Sin City something unusual happened - Bubba got a race.At the annual Dave Coombs Snr 125cc East-West shootout, Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Stephane Roncada took it to Stewart, sticking with the East Region champion the entire race and finishing a close second. Suddenly Bubba looked human.He looked even more human after the race when the Frenchman Roncada in a display of good sportsmanship offered his congratulations while the two riders were still on their bikes. Stewart rode right past him. A second attempt, this time on the podium, went completely ignored."I told him 'great ride' and he turned his head away and didn't shake my hand," said Roncada before adding, "actually he blew me off twice and then made me look like a piece of shit in the press conference."Now if anyone knows anything about modern life, it's that feedback in the wired age is instant and brutal. The moto-message boards which seem to grow in popularity and influence on a daily basis exploded with anti-Stewart sentiment. The television cameras had captured The Snub and by Monday morning the entire online community was up in arms. It was Bubba backlash.Stewart certainly found out about his plummeting esteem and two weeks later at the opening round of the outdoor nationals in Sacramento, California, he was in damage-control mode. Roncada once again hounded him all day on the track, finishing second to Stewart on the day and James was quick to congratulate him afterwards. If you're going to be a star and an inspiration to the masses you have to act accordingly. It may be the biggest lesson Stewart will learn in his career.Bubba may have forever lost a few fans that day in Las Vegas but most will have forgiven him by now. After all he's still just a kid and nobody could be expected to handle so much fame so soon without the occasional lapse of judgement. We need to realise that these people that we look up to, that we place on unreasonable pedestals, are only people after all.Any particle physicist worth his salt can tell you that the very act of observing something changes the way that thing behaves. James is still adjusting to a life of public scrutiny and the pressures that come with being a superstar. As he gets used to the attention he'll learn to handle his success with grace. I think he'll be a fine champion and an excellent role model for years to come. But if I ever catch him picking his nose, man, I'm done with the kid.Words by Jeff Kocan, courtesy RacerX