@Matt_P - penalty for going recursive on us. You'll have to start the next race from the back of the grid.
@Ryan - It's not just here. It's everywhere (BARF, Honda forums, Kawi forums, Yamaha forums). Jump on other forums, racing news sites, even the SCOTUS is talking about Rossi!
And @EagleRider has it - At this point Rossi is MotoGP which as much as I like him is terrible. Ben Spies, Simoncelli and other younger riders were supposed to move it and spread things out. Hasnt happened yet. George is pretty good, but he doesnt have that bit of spark or whatever. Stoner in my opinion is only a loss on the racing side, not to the business. For all his personality he might as well be in CMRA or WERA where nobody would care.
When I got in to Motorcycles and then motorcycle racing I didnt miss a race. I downloaded every AMA, WSBK, MotoGP event off of RU and watched them all. Then AMA fucked itself with the Rodger fellow so I stopped watching. WSBK w/o Haga, Ben or Troy (see I do like Aussies - ones who have personality and can articulate more than simple gruntting sounds) hasnt really held my attention. Checa is nice and all and Biaggi is great to watch...but it doesnt overcome all the other shit demanding my attention. Which leaves me with MotoGP which I've only managed to watch 2 races this year. The rest is reading the Rossi drama over the backdrop of the actual racing.
So who is going to step up from WSBK, AMA, Moto3, Moto2, BSB or fuck NASCAR to take some of the load off of Rossi's shoulders? Spies apparently can't do it. Collin Edwards makes a good Sideshow Bob, but he isn't the spotlight attraction. Pedrosa? nope. Lorenzo? Possibly, but he doesnt dominate races like Rossi used to, he doesnt seem to have the showmanship Rossi has. Stoner? Even if somehow they keep him around - he still doesnt replace Rossi. The shit Rossi did with 500cc bikes Stoner doesnt deliver. Coming from the back of the field and winning the race - havent seen Stoner do that. Nevermind the non racing stuff.
For the purests out there that want to natter on about how great Stoner is: he is a fast rider. That is the cover charge to get in to professional racing. Everybody in AMA, WSBK, BSB, MotoGP and so on is a fast rider. Done deal. He is amazingly fast. But that extra bit to be great or legendary...I don't see that he has it. He doesnt necassarily have to be the life of the party cracking jokes. He doesnt have to chase tail. But that he needs that extra bit otherwise he is just a MotoGP champion who will be forgotten like so many others.
