Sometimes maybe it's better to just switch the internet off for a day.

Smoke and Noise #2
A Racetime.com Column by TFS

Welcome to "Smoke and Noise," a new column for Racetime.com about what's really going on behind the smoke and noise in the world's coolest sport!

Sometimes maybe it's better to just switch the internet off for a day. I find myself saying that more and more these past few months, mostly from something directly or indirectly starting from the change and turmoil in the sport over contracts, which is clearly heating up.

This week was a sad example of non-news made out like it was something - by people who should know better - and double standards.

The resignation of Bill Amick seemed like just another "That's it, this isn't the AMA anymore and I'm outa here" deals we see so much lately, but this one was different. Amick actually left the AMA years ago and held a representative's seat on the FIM MX Commission until this week. He also worked for a while before the MXoN as a consultant for Youthstream.

As we mentioned in Smoke and Noise #1, Youthstream has wanted to run a GP in the US, and we have seen various proposals and offers to run more MXoN events here, which are pretty much viewed with skepticism here - fear of competition. I've seen Amick here and there at races for a couple of seasons working on this and it's no secret. He worked in the open.

So now that he left the AMA seat and took his parting shots, someone dug up that he got paid for his work. Scandal! Heaven forbid someone get paid for working in the open.

Amick did background work for a race and got paid for it. He even came under criticism for "not promoting AT the race." Big deal, no one's business. He worked on the thing beforehand, and wasn't hiding. I saw him working. These jabs are coming from people who profit more from races than Amick did and they don't work in the open, so they have no room to talk.

It's a sad situation in US racing as far as all the jabs and misinformation that is starting to hit the internet.

As we learned right after the Budds MXoN, Youthstream came to America hoping it's work on the MXoN would be a showcase race and open the door for GPs. Instead, the AMA surprised them by an invitation to bid for running the AMA motocross nationals, causing panic at the NPG.

One party bidding for an AMA contract has too many fingers in the pie - a website with a weekly column (about Amick, of course) a major magazine, 2 of the 12 nationals, plus more races and who-knows-what else that is kept out of public view. This is also where the (as far as I can tell) false rumor about the Budds MXoN losing money started. It's misinformation central. Wonder why?

I'd like to shut the internet off for today and forget about this crap...and I wonder what the people jabbing at Amick are not telling us. He worked in the open, and they don't.

Little Known Fact About Americans Making a Big Deal About LL's Paying for MXoN Travel a Few Years Ago - The reason you keep hearing someone brag about LL's paying for Team USA to go to the MXoN is this - A couple years ago, the internet was a cluster-f of complaints about the race and he AMA was resisting participating. Youthstream offered to pay Team USA's way to solve the problem, but the team would need to run Youthstream logos right on the front of the jerseys. The US side felt embarrassed that such a thing could happen, and suddenly the money was found, with LL's name on it. True story.

I'm going to take my own advice and shut the internet off, and enjoy the supercross tonight.