A new record was broken today at the Rockstar Energy Drink U.S. Open at the MGM Grand Garden Arena: Longest Press Conference in Supercross history.
And it was oh, so worth it. First,
Grant Langston is now up to Kevin Windham level in the battle for most eloquent speaker in the sport, so his speech today was amazing. Normally, you don't want to look at the faces in the crowd during a PC because you see nothing but blank stares. When people are listening as a group, they're not paying attention to what they look like. So they look like they're bored even when they're not (and yes, they look bored when they are bored, too, which is often the case).
Today, I saw a different look on the faces. Genuine concern. People had their jaws dropped and not because they were yawning, but because they were both concerned for Grant. He said the Cancer word. He also waxed on eloquently about his life, his past, and his love of the sport. It was good.
Chad Reed came up and actually inspired the press to ask a lot of questions. Chad's persona wasn't even as a big of a deal as it was last year, when he seemed all pissed off at the world. But he's switching teams, he's riding with the #8 in support of Langston, he's managing his own supercross series over in Australia. Chad is has a lot going on, and while he might not be a lightning rod like he was at this time last year, there were still a lot of questions to be asked.
But then came the Main Event. Bradshaw and Matiasevich.
Let me tell you about these guys. When they really hit their slamming and ramming peak back in 1990, I was 12 years old. Supercross had just begun airing on TV. The shows would come on every Thursday night at 12:30 am, and I taught myself how to set the time record on a VCR so I could watch those races. Larry Maiers and Dave Despain would do the commentating, and I have almost every word they said that season memorized. Still do. I've watched those races over and over and over. The Chicken and the Beast. The rivalry lived on for a few more years, culminating with the 1992 Vegas SX that led Despain to open the weekly MotoWorld broadcast with "Crashes and controversey highlight the Las Vegas Supercross." Those were some epic years, and I was at just the right age to absorb it all. Old enough to remember it, young enough not to care about anything else.
So here they came to the stage together in the press conference. I had been readying these questions for 18 years, and of course, I remembered details that they didn't. Matiasevich didn't even remember that they rode the same heat race together and collided back at that '92 Vegas race. It reminds me of these baseball shows when Mickey Mantle would sign autographs for fans, and they would remember things that he did that he didn't even remember doing. As a fan, you often care so much more than the players. For Damon and Jeff, they both eventually lost interest in racing and never found the success they seemed destined to find. As fans, we never lost interest.
But once those guys got up there, they remembered how to hate each other. This was not a mockery of their old battles. This wasn't a "hey, we were just kids then, let's laugh about it." Nope. I think the flame to beat each other still burns. They never once looked at each other up on that stage. And the racing Gods aren't going to let them race for two nights without some contact.
And best of all, it was genuinely cool to work with Bradshaw. Too often you meet your heroes, get a peek behind the curtain and flinch at what you see. But Damon is a showman. He understands how to hype this, he knows what to say. He even started pointing out to me which reporters had raised their hands to ask a question. He made a point to come over and thank me after the show, and to thank the other Supercross people who have made this happen.
On the track, there were times when Bradshaw turned into this crazy redneck who seemed to ride with little regard for anything except the heat of the moment. No one accused him of being the smartest rider on the track. But in reality, I think he really is a smart guy, and he knows how to give the people what they want to see. There are athletes who become starts because they have to be. I think Damon, for a little while, was in the spotlight because he wanted to be, and he knew how to keep it on him.
Now that I know he has that knowledge, I think he'll make sure not to let the fans down this weekend.
