Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Are we forcing our kids to be what we never were at the expe nse of their childhood...? II Children and Racing Without a do ubt, th e LCQ column written b y Ste ve Co x hel p e d b ring out m otorcycling's part of a n insa nity we as a na tion ar e subjecting o ur ch ildren to. Be it soccer, baseball, o r m inibike racing , Am e rica ha s decided tha t our childr en s hou ld stop having fu n and ge t with th e serious busi ne ss of a veng ing o ur ow n mi ss pe nt and non -com pe titiv e yo uths . Ha vin g be en inv olved fo r m an y years in one for m of Am ateur m o to rspo rts o r anoth er , I always took pride in telling m y non -ra c ing frie nd s th at those Little Le ag ue par en t horror stories did n 't exist in rac ing. We were too cool a nd too "with it" to act that way . We ll, g ues s wha t? I was a bo ut 18 0 degrees aw a y fro m th e truth . All you ha ve to do is watch a 50cc ra ce to see how ins a ne ra c ing pare nts are beg in ning to get . Th ey ru n aroun d the trac k. practic ally falling over each ot her, urq ing Junio r on to higher (?) s peeds. Or what a bout protest tim e a t th e lo ca l "nat io na l" (have you noticed tha t all ra ce s a re n o w n ati o n a ls ? ) . Ar e we fo rcing o ur kids to be what we never wer e at th e exp en se of their child hood and its inn ocence? I coac hed yo uth so ccer for the last two ye a rs. I no lon ge r d o . Th e re ason was n 't th e k id s ; it wa s the parents . They w e re s o e n a mo re d w it h th e thought t ha t th e ir littl e ma n or lady was th e ne xt Pel e tha t the y co uld n 't eve n e njoy t h e g am e . If o u r t e a m wa s n 't w inn ing , it was d eadly si le nt be h in d m e . S o mu ch for s u p po rt ing our kids no m atter wh at. S ev eral tim es I have seen pa rents ejected from th ese g a m e s for thre aten in g official s , the oth er teams coache s, etc. Did I m e n t ion I coach e d 6-y ear -o ld s ? At th is a g e , we we re n ' t e ve n supposed to keep score. I ha d a kid o n m y team wh o had a h ea rt d efec t. T h e ot her coac he s w e p la y e d a g a inst w e re amazed I would jeopard ize m y te a m 's cha nces by actua lly pla ying him . Th is is a fine ex a m ple of Am e rican sports mans hip . Are we so infected with winning that we 've lost tra ck of o ur co mpassio n? Are we cr eating a gen eration of even bigge r spoiled brats tha n us ? If yo u wa n t t o see yo u t h sp ort s totally out of co ntr o l, check o ut th os e 10 million or s o ] 0 - to 14- ye a r-ol d select soccer pla yers being fleeced to the tune of several th ou s a nd dollars a yea r by a bun ch of wa sh ed -up Britis h soccer playe rs . Th e ir parents a re a ll co nvinced th e y will get o ne of those co u ple h undred o r so soccer scho larshi ps available in th e U.S. each year. These kid s ha ve to s ig n contracts to thes e teams. Th e y practice fou r da ys a we ek, at least th ree to four hours , and pl a y , o r t ra ve l to , g ames th e o t he r three. As k a s elect socce r co ach about' little thi ngs like homewor k o r familie s a c t uall y sitti ng d o wn a nd eati n g a meal toge the r (fast foo d in the cafe S uburban doesn't count) . He isn't con cerne d. Afte r all , Junior is under contract a nd h as to b e t her e or he's be nc he d a ny way. G et a g rip , p a re n t s . Did a nyo ne stres s yo u o ut (o the r th an to tell you to get a jo b) in th e '70s when yo u were a lon g - ha ired, 1977 RM 12 5 -rid ing, tr iple- d igit-plate -ca rrying flower ch ild? I doubt it. Let yo ur kids enjo y it , or in yo ur q ue s t fo r gl o ry t h ro u g h juni o r, yo u ' ll b e c a lli n g in "s p e c ia l- sk ills coache s fo r eme rgency trai ning befo re a game : as o ne of m y 10 - year-old 's baseball -playing friends ' mother told m e she felt com pelled to do the other da y. Ho pe full y, m o tocr os s won 't get to th at point, will it? Enjoy the fa ct th at you r kids fe lt th at wha t Dad o r Mo m thought wa s a cool sport was cool to the m, to o . Let th em be as good a s they can, but love them no matter ho w th ey fini sh . A c c ept tha t whil e t h e y aren 't as fast a s yo u imagined yo urself to be, th e y're trying , and that's a ll yo u can a sk of anyone, is n' t it? Anyway, yo ur kid is n' t going to be th e next J e remy McG rath ; m ine is . Rick Oestrlcher \110 the Inremet Expensive? You mu s t be ki d di ng- "t ic ke ts were q uite ex pensive ($ 9 and $1 4 a day) ." O bviously, Mr. Candellone ha sn 't had to pa y to get into a m otorsport event in q uite some time . Tha nks fo r the great trials coverage a nd the coverage of the Isle of Man TT . Ed Rckess \110 the Internet Springer Ru les II l owe Scott Pa rker and Steve Moreh ead a n apology for over loo king their Grand Nationa l Dirt Track wins in 1979 . Their wins in the '70s,'8 0s an d '9 0s m ak e s it poss ible fo r them to tie Jay Springst een 's record of winn ing in four d e c a d e s if t he y win a n o t h e r Grand Natio nal Dirt Track race in th is decade something they are both very ca pable of doi ng . But if they do win a ra ce, it will still take another 11 years b e fore Springer's record ca n be broken . Springer's record m ay be tied, but it will never be broken . ::John Reinhard Coronq.CA Springer Rules III Not to take anything a wa y fro m J a y S prin gsteen , but wasn' t Terry Poovey th e first to win Nati on a ls in fo ur co nsec ut iv e de cad es? Th is wou ld a lso m a ke him the first to win in two con sec utive c e nt uries a nd two consec u tive millennia. BIIoftIverson RIversIde, CA You 're right, Elliott. Our ap olog ies to Terry Poovey for the oversig h t...Ed ito r Swimsuits Okay I t hin k Cycle News is a n awes o me p ub lic a t ion . No t h in g b eats k n o wing exactly who is winning in a lmost a ny kind of b ike ra cing sho rt ly after th e races. I just had to send in a response to Tra cy Stanton's negative opinion on the picture of the wo m an posing in a very modest swims uit from the Ju ne 28 is sue . I am assuming that Tracy is fem a le and that is why s he takes offense to this sim ple ph ot o . (I hon estl y hope it is n o t a man co mplai ning a bo ut th e pho to .) It blo ws m y mind ho w Tra c y can compa re this p icture to th e Spo rts Illu s t ra ted Swi msu it Issu e . The last time I saw a Swimsuit Is sue , the sui ts were muc h more rev ea ling tha n wha t was d isp layed in the fron t of th e Cycle New s iss ue in qu estion. It' s a good thing Tr ac y doesn 't re ad t he Eu rope an m a ga zine , Su p er b ik e . The y have a la yo ut of a to pless m od el ev ery m onth . Some a d vice fo r Tra cy Stanton: If yo u don 't like it, do n't read it, don't loo k at it, or don 't watch it . I a m s ick of hea ring re aders co mplai n a b out wo m en in b at h in g s uits d is pla yed in m o to rc yc le pu blica t io ns . Can't yo u th ink of something bette r to do with yo ur tim e than whine a bo ut a s im ple photo of a femal e in a bathing s uit? It's not like what was shown was a n e nti re nude layout of some po rn model. Complaining about that would be u nd erst and ab le and justifie d. In c losing, I'd just like to say , "T ra c y , stop whining ." T ha n ks fo r the g reat ma gaz ine . I lov e ev e rything a bout it. Ke e p yo ur fingers crossed for Colin Ed war ds and that Honda RC5 ] in World Supe rbike . Brian D. Lee 8ozeman,MO Jeremy Paget On Saturday , June 3 ,2000, d uring th e second m oto of h is 12 5 pro ra ce at the fourth round of th e Wild We st Nat ion als in Ogden , Uta h, J er e m y Paget, a ge 23 , suffered a cr a sh that ultimately led to his passing away to a better p la ce. J erem y Paget s tarte d ra ci ng HiII climb moto rc ycles when he was s even ye ars old , and by th e time he was 15 he was racing as a professiona l. He was introd uced to motocross in 1996, where he sta rted a s a 25 0 cc Be ginner. By 1999 . he had turned profes s ion a l. In his first pro fess iona l ra c e , J eremy q ualified for the m ain event at the PJ 1 Ar ena c ross s eries in Sa lt La ke C ity , Uta h. Th e re a re no words that co uld pos s ibly ex pla in what I felt when I found o ut . aft er his fall, that he would ne ve r be getting ba ck up again. I wo uld like to ta ke this o pportunity to ex te nd m y de epe st apo log ies and re g rets to J e rem y 's fam ily , who m I hav e be en luc ky enough to kn ow a nd be with o ver the ye ars . Jeremy P ag et # 2 1 9 , go ne , bu t ne ver fo rgotte n. CraIg Crazier Qearfleld, cue I e n e _ s J U LY 19. 2000 ur 5

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