Happy Halloween!
November 1, 2006 -- Happy Halloween! Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, especially when my sons were young.
I was glad to see Nicky Haydn win the Rider's Championship this past weekend. When I interviewed him near the beginning of the season, for a story that will be out in InSync soon, he came off as very friendly and gracious. I watched his press conference after the race and he was choked up by his win. He said something like "When you dedicate your life to something and then achieve it, it's overwhelming." He went on to thank everyone and he said how humbling it was to win. Good stuff.
My loyalties were split a little bit, because of the Jaeger-LeCoultre/Rossi partnership. It would have been nice to have Rossi win, but I was glad that Haydn won. After the crash two weeks ago, where his own teammate Dani Pedrosa wiped him out, to come back and win the Rider's Championship was very dramatic and a good story.
It was good to see Rossi, who crashed in the fourth lap and was out of contention (he finished second in points for the season, 13th in the race), ride up and congratulate Haydn while he was taking his victory lap. Classy move.
I'm now a MotoGP fan and plan to go to several of the races next year. I hope it catches on with American TV audiences -- it's exciting, challenging, dangerous and so much more fun to watch than Formula One or NASCAR.