T+MX will be there for you
By TMX Archives on 4th Sep 08
JD is still rattling on about the Olympics and how much money they waste compared to our own sport which gets jack s**t! JUST a little follow-up really to last week's column in which I shared with you my conclusions following extensive research into the recent Olympic Games, what it cost you (around £300,000,000 and yes, that's right) and what you got out of it, i.e. 19 Gold medals (they are in fact silver with a thin gold veneer – because Gordon Brown sold all our gold years ago to fund his pension pot, but that's another story) in mainly obscure sports that for 207 consecutive weeks (just short of four years in fact) no-one gives a flying fig about but the following week they become VERY IMPORTANT INDEED!
Actually, I have to start with an apology as, may I roast in hell, I wrongly spelled the name of the obscure sailing class, that I sarcastically referred to, as Yling Yling. This should have course have read Yngling, as millions of you pointed out.
Truthfully, as I write this, no-one at all has pointed it out, it was pure professional curiosity that led me to research it properly. That I should have done this in the first place is neither here nor there – as I don't actually care HOW you spell it as I have no more interest in Ynglings now as I had two weeks ago. Terribly sorry, Yngling fans, but if it is any consolation my lack of interest is not confined to sailing, I also have zero interest in lots of other Olympic sports, such as handball, or the daft variations on cycling in the Velodrome.
Now don't get me wrong about cycling, I love downhill MTB and can see the excitement in BMX while those guys who do the Tour de France et al, wow: they are simply beyond my capacity to praise highly enough. Mega heroes . But what the hell is Keirin and Madison all about? I'll tell you what they are all about. Because riding round and round that little wooden track is unbelievably boring – to prevent everyone falling asleep, including the riders, the organisers dreamed-up a couple of crazy ideas – and then doled out Gold medals for them. And which our Lottery money in its millions will go to fund I hasten to add.
Good on those who get their hands on the money I say – but doesn't it just make you mad that rubbish like that is funded without question yet a deep-seated sport like motorcycling can't get threepence-worth of funding to help stage a British GP, a MX des Nations or a World Trial. £300,000,000 is one HELL of a lot of money... and you have to ask the question, exactly how much does it cost to fund someone to run 100 metres? I make it nothing but I'm biased. By all means pay the lads and lasses expenses, but why should you and me pay them a wage...
Whatever, it will very soon be time for the off-road world's very own version of the Olympics, by which I mean the MX des Nations and the Trial des Nations. And can the powers that be please tell me why they are both always scheduled to take place on the same day. Personally, I would love to see both events – as would a great many fans. OK, it is the trialers who will suffer most as many of them would love to see the MX des Nations at Donington but their event is scheduled for the exact same day in Andorra. You might not think that matters much but again I think that trials is getting the raw deal from the authorities, simply because it is always going to be overshadowed.
MX is by far the bigger event from a spectator viewpoint and by that very fact, as it is forced to make a choice, the press is duty-bound to make a much bigger fuss of it. This is a fact of life but T+MX will give the trial fair coverage.
And talking of press bias, the MX des Nations will be a HUGE event by any standards when it takes place at Donington. Will Britain's wonderful daily press give it any credence in relation to its crowd?
Come on, you know the answer better than me. Yes, you can invite the sports hacks along with their Press passes tucked in the band of their pork-pie hats, ply them with booze and grub in the VIP tent and give them a goody bag to go home with. You won't see a thing in return but there will be a full report of Bagthorpe Town v Riverside Rovers, attendance 1,346.
Which is exactly why we have T+MX News...!