P128
CN
III CROSS-RUTTED
BY JEAN TURNER
I
t's the halfway point of the AMA
Supercross Series, and there
couldn't be a more fitting time for
the top-two to pull even in cham-
pionship points. As Ricky Carmi-
chael has said, "this series starts
in Daytona." Here we are preparing
for the iconic Daytona race, and
Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen have
gained zero ground on each other.
Between the two of them, it might
as well be Anaheim 1 all over again.
Thinking back to the actual start
of the season, a group text with
riding buddies asked the inevitable
question before the first gate of
2020 dropped: Who's your pick
for the Supercross championship?
I admitted that I'm not a big fan of
Eli, but I think he's going to get it
together this season and finally
pull it off.
A reply immediately came: "Peo-
ple have been saying Eli Tomac for
three years! Definition of insanity!"
Of course, this refers to the
widespread quote that is often
attributed to Albert Einstein: "The
definition of insanity is doing the
same thing over and over and
expecting a different result." But ev-
erything about that famous "quote"
is untrue. Not only is the statement
categorically false, but Einstein also
never said that. So please throw
away that inspirational coffee mug
because it is full of lies.
The spread of misinformation,
no matter how trivial, is the bane
of my existence, especially in this
case as it has to do with my field
of study—psychology. A true men-
tal disorder that would fit the col-
loquial definition of "insane" (i.e.,
schizophrenia, antisocial person-
ality disorder, etc.) has nothing to
do with repetitive behavior.
This brings me to another com-
mon misused quote that makes
me cringe: "You never see a
motorcycle parked outside a psy-
chologist's office." Not only is that
highly unlikely, there is also no
way to definitively know that there
has never been a motorcycle
rider who visited a psychologist.
Now, I realize that saying is a hy-
perbole, but like I've said a million
times, it's still misinformation!
While we're squashing false-
hoods, there's another one I
need to get off my chest. All due
respect to my co-worker, Rennie
Scaysbrook, who wrote a nice
editorial a while back about mo-
torcycling and mental health, but
I quietly took issue with that col-
umn (or at least the title, anyway).
Experiencing stress and sad-
ness in life is not "mental illness."
Reacting to life's ups and downs
is perfectly normal—healthy,
even. We're humans, and life is
tough. We're happy, then we're
sad. Then we're angry, then we
forgive. We worry, then we cel-
INSANITY AND THE CHAOTIC SYSTEM
When it comes to racing, is it logical or
insane to expect the unexpected?
PHOTO: GARTH MILAN/RBCP
