DeanPrice475
Member
- Jan 17, 2002
- 9
- 0
Here's the setup: I went to an FMX event saturday in Denver, CO at the Pepsi Center. The big names were Jones, Bartram, and Clowers, with some locals and up-and-comers making the "filler". This was the first FMX event I've seen, and probably one of the last.
Let me start by saying, it was pretty cool, but to much repetition for my liking, and it had a WWF flavor that I couldn't let go. Here's the issue that's been nagging me. 3 riders left, and up comes Mad Mike, he has the run of the night and everyone is going psycho. He keeps riding after the buzzer for a few "laps" and says all of his thank you's, etc. Tommy comes up, does a decent job, gets some cheers, but doesn't get the crowd like Jones did. When the judges decide that Clowers did a better job per the scoring system, the crowd starts booing intensely. I really felt for the guy. He came out, did his best, tried to put on a good show, and what he gets for it is an arena of people booing him. He went so far as to say more or less that the judges screwed up and Jones should've scored better than him. When Bartram won Clowers took off into the pits pretty quickly.
Here's why I think this is an issue...
Before the show the chick announcer told the crowd to boo if they disagreed with the judges and cheer if they thought the judges were right. But, the crowd is clearly going to cheer for the rider who in their opinion did the best job, not which rider did the best per the scoring criteria. So telling them to boo is basically telling them to "rip on a guy who did his best and got beat because of a scoring system that doesn't work". FMX needs to be scored in a way that gets the fans into it. Period. It shouldn't be about variation, difficulty of tricks, or use of track, it should be how much the crowd reacts. FMX is about making money, and in order to make money you have to keep the fans happy. What better way then scoring the events in a way that makes the fans the judges? Use a noise measuring device, or some other system like that.
P.S. This is the first topic I've authored on this forum, so this is me saying 'Hello!'.
Let me start by saying, it was pretty cool, but to much repetition for my liking, and it had a WWF flavor that I couldn't let go. Here's the issue that's been nagging me. 3 riders left, and up comes Mad Mike, he has the run of the night and everyone is going psycho. He keeps riding after the buzzer for a few "laps" and says all of his thank you's, etc. Tommy comes up, does a decent job, gets some cheers, but doesn't get the crowd like Jones did. When the judges decide that Clowers did a better job per the scoring system, the crowd starts booing intensely. I really felt for the guy. He came out, did his best, tried to put on a good show, and what he gets for it is an arena of people booing him. He went so far as to say more or less that the judges screwed up and Jones should've scored better than him. When Bartram won Clowers took off into the pits pretty quickly.
Here's why I think this is an issue...
Before the show the chick announcer told the crowd to boo if they disagreed with the judges and cheer if they thought the judges were right. But, the crowd is clearly going to cheer for the rider who in their opinion did the best job, not which rider did the best per the scoring criteria. So telling them to boo is basically telling them to "rip on a guy who did his best and got beat because of a scoring system that doesn't work". FMX needs to be scored in a way that gets the fans into it. Period. It shouldn't be about variation, difficulty of tricks, or use of track, it should be how much the crowd reacts. FMX is about making money, and in order to make money you have to keep the fans happy. What better way then scoring the events in a way that makes the fans the judges? Use a noise measuring device, or some other system like that.
P.S. This is the first topic I've authored on this forum, so this is me saying 'Hello!'.