Okay, we're having technical difficulties here. First, you may have noticed the look of this blog is all wrong, which is my fault for not fully grasping the basic shell of this site. But I can pass the blame onto the man who designed it: our intern/rookie/graphic designer Jason Hooper. Hoops made this site what it is, for better or worse. Worse right now.

I might as well pick on the guy. Over the weekend, the FOT (Friend of Travis) asked his long-time girlfriend Leslie to marry him, and get this, she said yes! So congrats to both of you, Leslie and Jason. You're both now much further along the road of life than most of the stiffs here at work. And to think we call you the intern!

Hooper and Leslie are new people who I only met about two months ago. I am reminded of this when I come back ot my homeland here in New Jersey. As new friends come in, old ones have to go. I think there is a certian statute of limitations on friendships. If a friendship has dwindled to the point where all you do with the person is talk to them once a d year and "catch up" on what's going on, i.e. give them a year in review, and you find you have no common thoughts, stories or situations and none of your stories involve anyone who you both know, then that friend ship has run its course. It's time to break it off. The statute of limitations is over.

Sounds harsh I know, but how am I supposed to keep up with the Hoopers (or the Joneses) when I'm busy reciting the same stories to different people 15 times. And that's what happens when I come to NJ for the holidays. Lots of calls, a few meetings, the same stories. Something verntured, nothing gained.

So I'm purging my friend list. A few people will be stratgically ignored or left out of this holiday's festivities. It's for our own good. And if they must know what's going on, they can read BlongANDT. Although I would have to call them to tell them this exists. Hmmm.

Anyway, for those who have kept the same circle of friends for most of their life, hey, I'm right there with you. But if you leaf through your yearbook, I'm sure you'll see 50 people you knew in high school or college that you're just done with now. It's just life. For those still on board, you know who you are. If you haven't heard from me in a few months, uh, get to know this page well because it's as close as you're going to get to the real thing. I'm cleaning off the harddrive of my social circle for better performance. If it works, maybe I can get that new guy Hooper to make this page look right again.

Ha! Didn't expect BlogANDT to show up on Christmas, did you? Yes, it's fairly pathetic for me to be working on Christmas day, but I have my reasons.

A) The entire staff of BlogANDT (me) have proven themselves through the years (month and a half) to be the giving sort. And what better time to give than on a holiday known for receiving? Consider it our attempt to put your life back in ballance. Pretty nice gift, huh? Even better, this gift costs me no money to buy and very little in shipping (the bandwith my bosses pay for). How perfect!

B) This gives me a temporary break from the relatives. Not only will it take a few minutes for me to type and post this, but the intrigue of "what was he doing on the computer" will shift the focus of today's conversations onto me. And I'm all about me. Even though I did get you a gift (see A).

C) Who are you to question my motives for working on Christmas? You're freaking reading it!

(Disregard C if you're reading this on December 26th or any days beyond).

Anyway, I would write more but I have to save my good cheer for the traditional family "unwrapping of ugly clothes." You have to have your A-game working in this one.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone reading this. Yup, both of you.

Ouch. Last night = the Racer X Christmas Party. We all went down to the Fishbowl and exchanged gifts. Last year we began a White Elephant gift exchange, and it works brilliantly. Everyone brings in one gift. Then everyone picks a number, which determines the order in which you get to pick the gift off of the pile. It's pot luck what the gift you unwrap may be. It could be something great, like the William Hung Hung for the Holidays CD, or terrible, like a Toby Keith CD. But the best gifts are those that people found around the house and gave away. I was willing to part with my classic 1995 Bigfoot 4x4x4 Calendar, complete with the entire 1995 MX and SX schedule written in, as well as whatever other big events were coming up in my life (that's my Junior year in high school. Yup, still digging the monster trucks at that point).

Bigfoot was a big hit, as DC was even willing to trade his gift to get it. Yes, you can trade gifts. When it's your turn to pick, you can take someone elses' gift instead of a new one. But once a gift is traded twice, it can no longer be traded.

This always leads to big strategic battles with high-line items like a flask engraved with Racer X, motocross toys, or pictures of MX Sports Scoring Chief Tim Boryk's ex-girlfriends.

Last night was a good one. Eventually Art Director Dave Langran became Dave the Rave once a couple of Fishbowls hit him. Later, he and Dave Brozik ended up at Gibbies Pub on the Open Mic, singing beautiful duests to Guns N Roses and other power metal bands. Good times.

We were all hurting bad this morning, but luckily a huge storm hit and knocked our power out. So we left and went to breakfast.

Okay, I gotta go turn in a bike to A&B Xtreme Yamaha in Bellair, Ohio. Those guys were cool enough to loan me a bike for the year after my bike got stolen. But the stolen bike has been found, so it's time to bring the YZF back. Thanks to those guys for the help this year. As for my recovered bike, uh, if you buy a 2003 Yamaha from me in a few months, you've been warned.

Merry Christmas to all. I'll be updating from the old home in New Jersey for a few days (a great way to get out of having to hang out with relatives).

Tragedy has struck in Morgantown, and it's even closer to home than we imagined.

The buzz around the office this morning was a shooting that took place at the Radisson hotel complex and WVU building in Morgantown, which is about three miles from our office. Shootings and such don't happen in Morgantown every day, so we were all a bit surprised and shocked by the news. We've run many a Working Women's Wednesday at the Radisson after work (although our work never seems to work on those working women).

The shooting involved a husband finding his wife in a car with another man. The husband shot them both, but they both survived. Then the husband took off, until State Police finally tracked him down just over the Pennsylvania border on Interstate 79. Before the police could get to his car, however, he took out his gun again and took his life.

After discussing the story for a few minutes we all went back to work. Then a second news flash came across.

The husband who had shot at his wife and her boyfriend, and then later killed himself, was Kevin Windham's mechanic, Jonathan Hyland.

It was so shocking and disconnected that I'm not sure that any of us can make sense of it. How random is it that there was A) a rare shooting and suicide here in Morgantown and B) the party involved is a motocross mechanic who many of us know. But he lives in California.

It's not totally coincidental that motocross and Morgantown met. Apparently Jonathan met his wife while here for High Point a few years back. Obviously, things went tragically downhill for the couple.

In my brief experience talking to him, which was a few times while doing pit reporting during motos at the nationals, I found Jonathan to be a very, very nice guy. I won't even begin to describe him as a friend or someone I really know. But he seemed very nice. You never know with these things. I mean, this just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?

I know the hype is building big time for this year's supercross series, because everyone is thinking "this year we're actually going to have some close racing!"

But over the weekend I watched the Bar to Bar 2004 Supercross recap DVD. I couldn't believe how good the racing was! Anaheim 2, San Diego and Anaheim 3 were some of the best supercross races I have ever seen. Yes, ever. You basically had Windham and Reed running side-by-side through every lap of those. I was slow-moing and pausing and rewinding, watching this battle through every lap, noticing subtle differences in style and technique. It was amazing.

The battles were accompanied by a whole bunch of empty seats in the background, too. The racing actually was good and the crowd actually was small. Things were better back when McGrath and Carmichael owned the series, apparently.

Plus, the SX title fight actually went down to Las Vegas for the past two seasons. Yes, last year it was only due to the 25 point penalty the AMA tagged on Reed for finding lead in his fuel, but still, it went down to the wire. In 2003, Reed's late-season win streak took Carmichael down to the last race.

Close racing and a title that doesn't get clinched early. It's been better than you think for the last two years. Hey, I didn't realize how good the racing was in 2004 until I watched this DVD eleven months later. But trust me, if the battles early this season are merely as good as they were last time, we'll be going nuts.

The motocross world has been dreaming of the potential James Stewart has to boost the sport into mainstream popularity. Now It's becoming reality. The St. Petersburg Times just ran an awesome story called "Bubba's World," and it would be hard for anyone who reads it to not catch an interest in James and his sport. We'll all be better off for it.

If you read Racerhead yesterday you read about ace photog (and all-around funny guy) Simon Cudby visiting Kevin Windham's house. Windham has been laying very low lately, not racing the U.S. Open of the World SX GP rounds. That means he is either , completely over racing again, or, he's just taking the pressure off and recharging. Well, luckily it sounds like Kevin is still motivated, and he has simply chosen to stay away from the white hot spot light that surrounds SX 2005 right now. Kevin always seems to do better when he does that.

Cudby also mentioned that Kevin has taken off some weight compared to where he was last year. Good move. At Steel City last year, I asked Kevin why his starts weren't very good in 2004 (and he's always been a great starter). For one, he mentioned that he spent too much time testing and not enough practicing starts. For the other, he thought he needed to cut weight. If he has done both, he can be a force this season. Remember, he gave Reed all he could handle through the first half of the seaon last year. And all of his comp will be riding two-strokes. As four-stroke development gets better, and two-strokes continue to be handicapped by unleaded fuel, you never know if Kevin will end up sitting on the right bike at the right time.

But does he have the heart and tenacity to do it? Well, that's always been the question. But at least he is still trying. It seems to me that nowadays a lot of riders get burnt out on racing and think the grass is greener on the other side. A few years ago Kevin started wondering what he had missed by being at the races his entire life. He quit and found out this is what he loves. In the Stewart story mentioned above, he echoes those thoughts. Here's a sample: Occasionally, Stewart thinks of things he missed out on. "I kind of wish I went to a prom," he says. "Sometimes, it bums me out when people go. "I got homecoming this weekend; I'm taking so-and-so.' "

In the issue of Racer X that the crew is working on right now, Ping does a crazy interview with another rider who thought the grass was greener, but when he was out injured, he realized that he loved racing more than anything else.

You'll have to wait a month to read the story. But anyway, it's good too see the racers themselves love this sport so much. With Bubba carrying the flag, maybe a lot more people will realize it too.

You know where you heard it first:

BlogAndt mentioned Attack MX on Tuesday, and it's about to blow up. Just give it a few days and everyone will be wondering about it. The program still doesn't make much sense to me, although I have heard one of the guys involved is named Silver. Yes, Silver is hist first name. That's impressive.

You know where you heard it first (2):

I faxed over the agreement today. I am the new host of SX Live! the supercross webcast on supercross.cc.com. I'll help Jim Holley provide the call for all of the action, starting with Anaheim 1 on January 8 (that's 23 days away!) I never thought I would be watching that race in any kind of an official capacity, but suddenly I will be the one calling it. What's more, I will run the press conferences for supercross, which may be even bigger. If Reed, Carmichael or Stewart stumble, I'll have to ask them about it. This is a big step up for our little journal here. Wherever supercross goes, BlogAndt will be there.

Location really is key. I just read this morning that Pittsburgh is in the top ten of worst cities to meet singles. Worst! Apparently there aren't enough 18-24 year olds in town. Towns like Colorado Springs (in Colorado) have a much younger crowd. The survey also checked out how many single hot spots exist in each town, "such as concerts, coffee shops, bars, bowling alleys, etc."

Bowling alleys! Is this what I have been missing?

So Pittsburgh is no good. But hey, the news is up for my old stomping grounds, New Jersey, which for the second year in a row was awarded "Purest form of heroin in the nation"! Yee ha!

My favorite quote: "You can't buy any better heroin in the world than you can buy in New Jersey," said Michael Pasterchick, special agent in charge of the Newark DEA office.

Definitely something to be proud of. And I'm sure you have heard NJ Governor Jim McGreevey is gay and had to resign due to his affair with a goverment worker who was promoted through the ranks merely because he was having an affair with the Governor? Man, I miss that place sometimes.

I'm out of here folks. Off to enjoy a weekend of unpure heroin with old ladies in Pittsburgh.

Last night was another evening with the DMXS Radio boys, and we covered a variety of topics, with some of them involving motocross. What a fun show. They get good guests and get them to let loose, which is something no one else in the sport seems to be able to do.

Today I interviewed Moto XXX super-privateer Kyle Lewis, and he was pretty candid himself. Kyle's the ultimate MX warrior. He won two titles at Loretta's and started winning 125 Supercross races in 1987. If he did that today, he'd be making six figures and flying to the races. But back then, he was lucky to have a bike and parts deal.

He soldiered on and hooked up with Noleen Yamaha (it's worth noting that Kyle still runs Noleen suspension work today, over ten years later). Kyle won Mickey Thompson Ultracross Titles and finished fifth in the 1995 250 Nationals. He was fast and consistent, but just a spot or two below getting a ride. For example, in 1994 Yamaha fired Mike Craig part way through the nationals, and they needed a replacement rider. Kyle was running fourth in 250 points on his Noleen bike, and he had a good chance at the ride. But there was another privateer who was running second in points at the time, John Dowd, and he got the ride. John got much faster as soon as he got that factory bike, and he won two nationals that year. Dowd remained a full-factory rider for the next six years. Kyle never got there.

Lewis did get a factory ride with Suzuki. In Japan. He made big bucks there and finally got the trick bikes. Tricker, even, than the American factory bikes, since there isn't a production rule in Japan. Kyle won three Japanese National Titles, but then the series organizers decided they wanted Japanese riders to win the title, so Kyle was sent packing.

He picked up with the fledgling Moto XXX privateer effort and helped guide it to the success it has today. With names like Larry Ward, Nick Wey, Michael Brandes and Damon Huffman under their tent, Moto XXX has become arguably the most sucessful privateer team ever. But Moto XXX still has a bad image to fight, much of it stuck to their old days of sponsoring Brian Deegan and such. So Kyle has watched the team that he now manages and rides for get passed over for factory help, while other upstart (and less sucessfull) squads get the dough.

Kyle nearly died last fall. At a supercross in Spain he basically destroyed his shoulder, tearing every muscle and tendon off of his rotator cuff. In the midst of the shoulder problems, the doctors didn't realize Kyle had broken ribs and punctured his lung. He flew home, which doctors now say should have killed him. A few days later, blood started filling into his chest cavity, until enventually his heart nearly drowned in 10 centimeters of blood. Kyle went into cardiac arrest.

Yet he never even considered anything but making a comeback. "I don't know, you just think about healing up and getting back out there," said Kyle about an injury that truly became a life-and-death situation.

Doctors fixed him all up, shoulder, ribs and lungs, and Kyle was back inside the top ten at the last few 250 nationals last year. Then he nearly holeshot both mains at the Toronto and Vancouver Supercrosses the last two weekends. This year Kyle expects to get good starts, and he said that will help him re-learn the pace to run out front.

"There are going to be five fast guys out there this year, but they'll all see 23 if they get to the front," says Kyle, #23.

In addition, Kyle's nine-year-old daughter Kelsey, is making her way toward stardom in Hollywood. She recently starred in Samantha: An American Girl Holiday , a TBS original movie. She also has a deal to star in a show next year on The Disney Channel.

It's been a wild ride for Kyle, but the bottom line is he may be the most hard-core racer the sport has ever produced.

Check out this cool story on John Grewe, who won the Vet 35+ title at Loretta's this year. John's super cool.

So as you know, it was Retro Moto Theater night last night. We tried harder than ever to get a female to come by, and I even got a girl to take my Nextel number beep beep thing, but she never beep beeped. But all was not a loss ... we finally got that Fishbowl waitress to wear one of our Racer X tank tops. Tank tops rule.

Anyway, all that anticipation ended with Billy and I watching Retro Moto Theater again merely as a duo. To drown the sorrows, we were going to jump into the way back machine and select from my treasure trove of old supercross races on TV. In went Indy 1992, but then, just as Bob Hannah appeared as the pit reporter, the tape started jacking up! My VCR ate and then snapped my precious Indy SX 1992 tape!

I was really hurt at this point. Plus, we never found a copy of Steel Roots, which was our goal for the evening (besides having a girl come over).

There was only one solution: the original Fox Terrafirma. The ground-breaking (and yet also landmark) film from 1994. Maybe the broken ground is the landmark. Whatever. Bottom line is this video was way ahead of its time, because within a few years of its release, there were 1 billion knockoffs.

And here's what makes it even better. These scenes with the Fox Mini Champions - James Stewart, Travis Pastrana and Ricky Carmichael - are now more relevant than ever. We're just 25 days away from all three meeting on a starting gate for the first time ever. These scenes were taped 11 years ago! They were kids! They talk about ice cream and hanging out, and they laugh at each other. It's all so innocent and fun.

Now, as young men, all three are going to face each other under the bright lights. Their collective lives will not be the same after this race. The fates of a hundred companies and thousands of fans will hinge on their performances this year. This is like watching that Smallville show and finding out Lex Luthor and Clark Kent used to be friends!

Terrafirma is awesome.

Well, hope reigns for those privateer boys. Have you seen this crazy site, attackmx.com? This is a new company that apparently has set up a gigantic purse structure for local races, and for a variety of classes. They will hold one event per weekend for each class, which means some track somewhere will hold a 125C class race only. Yes, one entire three-day weekend of 125C class racing only. And the winner of this 125C class will get, A BRAND NEW FORD F-350! Yes, a TRUCK. For winning 125C.

And kids, don't feel left out. Winners in the 65cc and 85cc ranks get $10,000! Heck, even 15th place gets two grand. This is cash for kids (although AttackMX does take the liberty of not awarding a truck to any racer under the age of 13. Because the 14-year-olds could use it but a 13-year old? C'mon). Anyway I'm not sure how legit this whole thing is. But I wouldn't want to be the ambulance driver at the track that is holding the 125C shootout for that $40,000 new truck.

We've got vistors in town tonight: Ping and Chris Jonnum from our California office are in so they can see what real snow looks like. Sounds like a perfect night for the Fishbowl. And retro moto theater. Unfortunately we couldn't find Steel Roots, and my attempts to call Jeremy McGrath and have him send me a copy same-day-air UPS style were rebuffed. I guess we'll have to settle for one of the 1,478 other MX videos made between 1994 and 2000.

Well the high-speed web access worked, but by the time the race ended Saturday night and I got back to the room, I had basically 3 hours in which to sleep and get to the airport. So I slacked off.

In case you might have been listening, I went to Vancouver to help Chad Damiani and Jim Holley with the SX Live Web Cast, and they gave me a bunch of air time. I also got to run the press conference, which was fun. I may also run the A1 press conference (in just 27 days!) which will be a whole lot crazier. Maybe we can get some brawls going like boxers always do. This race really needs the hype. Can Clear Channel do a pre-race weigh in, perhaps?

There wasn't much drama in Vancouver. Carmichael killed them. In fact, the only controversey I saw all weekend was when I was sitting in an airport in Chicago, during what was to be a four-hour layover, and they announced that all the flights to PIttsburgh would be delayed. That got people stirring. One guy even switched to a flight to Philadelphia because "at least I'm getting somewhere." Yeah, those cities are only five hours apart.

Most of the comments in Vancouver centered around the "Glacial Till" dirt. Once they turned the work lights up after the races, you could see the track was more like the plot to one of those 1980's party movies: there were holes everywhere. Word is the dirt was so bad that Clear Channel was going to dump it into the ocean when the race was done. No joke. It was easier to get permission to dump dirt into the ocean that it was to dump it on other dirt.

Nick Wey and Damon Huffman made the podium. I got to talk to them about privateer life before the race. In some ways it reminds me of patients who are stricken by a crippling desease. Huffman, who has been a privateer for quite a few years now, has come to grips that this is his reality, and for his life to get better the privateer way has to get better. Wey, meanwhile, may still hold out hope for a cure (another ride).

Huffman had some great suggestions: like eliminate the purse altogether and put all the dough into privateer funds. Will Carmichael miss the $3500 or whatever he makes from winning a race? No. Would the privateers love to have it. Yes.

Meanwhile, Wey is just out there racing, and he means no ill-will towards anyone. In the press conference he even admitted Suzuki made a good move, since he was dropped and the new guy, Carmichael, is winning. I wonder if years in the privateer doldrums like Huffman has had makes you more calous?

Blogandt is coming to you live from The Georgian Court Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Across the street is the B.C. Place, host site for World Supercross GP. As far as Vancouver goes, the Great White North, isn't very white at all, just really gray.

Luckily there isn't much culture shock when moving from the U.S. to Canada. The language and the rules here are pretty similar, and even the currency is darn close. However, I wish the girls back in the States looked this good, and I wish the road side directions here were as clear as they are back home. Me and Mike "Fubar" Farber spent two hours circling the city searching for some indoor go-kart park. Ogio was hosting a gig there, and Racer X Publisher Scott Wallenberg and our boys from Racer X Canada were supposed to be there (not to mention RX Canda columnist Andy "Hasselhoff" Bell, who was hosting the thing).

But, we could not figure out the directions. No joke. We made some calls (at like 20 cents a minute. Like the old days ...) and found out the directions we had weren't even close. So we went on and on and back and forth. You know Richmond Motorsports, the Kawasaki team that backs Arenacross #1 Darcy Lange? Yeah, well we passed that shop 5 times. Road signs are written in a tiny font that you can't read until you're driving past them. I swear we saw Rt. 91 going north, south, east and west, too. By the time we got near the karts Fubar and I said "we're over it" in our best Californian and headed back here. Thankfully, Canada has discovered high-speed Internet access so Blogandt is on. They also seem to have much, um, looser restrictions on what they can show on TV. And by the way, if you read Racerhead today over on RacerXill.com, let me stop the rumors now. That wasn't Viagra that I got in the mail, boys. But have you seen my hair lately?

Other false rumors: Chad Reed had a YZ250 tied down in a boat and headed to the port city of Vancouver. Not true. No speedy reedy here, but Carmichael is here to lay the smack down on everyone, and he did it by over a second with his practice lap times. And those Richmond guys are here, with Lange running the 125 class against Nate Ramsey, Bobby Kiniry, his teamate Even Laughridge and a bunch of complete unknowns. If supercross comes back here next year, privateer 125 riders need to come up here and race. They'll get some real supercross track time, and I'm sure most of the A riders I know in D5 could run in the top ten against some of the supercross neophytes here. That said, these guys are a lot better than then in Toronto last weekend. At least they could all double the doubles. From what I heard, Toronto was like watching the D class.

One final note: the dirt here, dubbed "Glacial Till" looks like ash.

Okay, my time zones are way out of wack so I'm done here. If this high-speed 'net access is still free tomorrow, I'lll hastily report something right here.

Man I can't believe the stuff they are showing on TV!

Well, last night was the latest edition of Tuesday Night Retro Moto Theater. Bad Billy and I tried really hard to get a female guest to join us to reduce the "12-year-old-slumber-party" vibe, but alas, she suddenly switched from "having nothing to do" to "having a lot to do" as soon as we asked. We also rang up Racer X Production Manager Julie Kramer, but she knew better. We might as well have chanted "No girls allowed!"

Oh well. At least we had 1995's Jeremy McGrath: Winning can be Fun! This one is not a classic, to say the least. It looks like this was produced by Honda as a video to teach kids great moral values, so it's basically the McGrath family gushing about each other. Nothing wrong with that, but, the theme gets pretty tired pretty fast. There's no mention of a single other racer, just all the McGrath's going on and on about each other. And the music is HORRIBLE. The only other person in it is Skip Norfolk, Jeremy's mechanic, and even Skip gets pulled into the plot, when he says: "I think the main reason Jeremy has so much success is because he's not afraid to tell his parents he loves them, or to give his sister a hug and a kiss."

Dude, if Mike LaRocco or any of the guys who were training until they puked to beat Jeremy back then heard that the main reason they were getting beat was because Jeremy can give his sister hugs and kisses, yikes, they might have started puking more.

But, Mike LaRocco isn't the audience for this video. At least I don't think so. Kids are, and the message is to stay tight with your family, stay out of trouble, and you can be a success like Jeremy is. But I had to dig really deep to find that.

As retribution, next week we're watching Steel Roots, which is Jeremy's video from 1997 that is much, much, much better.

Hey, excerpts from the Bubba press conference are now up on Racerxill.com. I'm just waiting for a phone call saying I made him look bad by taking stuff out of context or something.

I'm not sure who this year's AMA supercross champion will be, but I do know Ricky Carmichael has put himself in the best position of any of the contenders. Of anyone with a realistic chance to win, RC has the least to lose. Chad Reed has a title to defend, and James Stewart has a ridiculous aura of invincibility that he must carry through his 250 debut, which is usually a trecherous stretch for any rider.

But Carmichael isn't worried about anything. He's now ready to win but prepared to lose. Somehow RC has kept the same work ethic and desire in tact while mellowing out on the side. Years ago any Carmichael loss was occompanied by a visit to the "swear jar," where he would basically flip out just because he got beat once every few months. If he gets beat this year, he'll just shrug his shoulders and say "Hey, I won a ton of races and made a ton of money. No regrets. Later dudes."

Usually such an attitude change is accompanied by a rash of lazyness. No chance of that here. Being able to be that relaxed and calm while still working that hard is almost paradoxical, but Ricky figured it out. And even the fans seem to be on his side, too.

Maybe the best lesson to take out of this is one the riders always fall back on: turn a negative into a positive. Carmichael's knee injury last year may have been one of the best things to ever happen to him. In the time off he became an underdog, and then a fan favorite, and now a happy-go-lucky guy. He wasn't any of those things 18 months ago. That's some progress.

It's Tuesday and Fish Bowl time. I'm hoping you found today is still living in infamy.

Hey! CycleNews.com posted a brief from the James Stewart press conference under the heading "Quote of the Week." Stewart was asked how many cars he has, and he says he has too many to count, but "I could go for two weeks and never sit in the same leather."

But Cycle News forgot to mention who primed the pump with that brilliant, earth-shattering question: me! Well, actually DC suggested I ask. So it really wasn't my idea. But CN had no way of knowing that. Can't I get an assist or something?

You know who I feel bad for? Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. Okay, they're both rich and posses some big, er, talent. At least she does. But is there a couple out there than more people want to see break up? Every week I go to the grocery store and there's another set of headlines on the check-out aisle rack, either he cheats on her and is getting dumped, or she's turned into some crazy party queen while he is left at home.

By the way I said "set of headlines" and "rack" there by complete accident.

Listen, why would this dude dump her? He's getting the full package, the big bazoobs, the money, and from what I hear, he's even got an endorsement deal with Miller Lite. And his own career has tanked so he doesn't even have to bother working anymore. C'mon man, this is heaven on Earth! Why do people want them to break up so badly?

And speaking of Jessica Simpson, have you seen Lindsay Lohan? She sure is getting some big, er, press, as well.

Also working the press is the New Jersey Off-Road Vehicle Park (NJORVPABC123XYVATV or something). I used to ride there when it was known as The Pit, which all riding areas in New Jersey are known as. Anyway they plugged this great story into the Philadelphia Inquirer over the weekend. It's like an idiots guide to off-roading called off-roading in plain English. Unfortunately you'll have to take 2 minutes and become a subscriber to read it, I think. But whoever is working for the NJORVPXYZ is much better at PR than I am. But I bet they wouldn't have thought of that Bubba car question after their boss had told them about it like I did.

Well, the GNCC Bike Banquet did not live up to the standards set at the GNCC Quad Banquet. Sure, it was fun, but this was like a 10 on a one-to-ten scale, and the ATV GNCC banquet was more like a 12.

Perhaps it's a matter of demographics. Seems our bike crowd is either teenagers or the Vet crowd. Meanwhile it seems like every ATV guy and gal is in their mid 20s like me. Not that I couldn't hang with the teens though. I mean, I'll run Mall Game just as hard as the next, cover myself in AXE body spray and just cruise with my cell and MP3. Anyway it just wasn't working last night.

Let me say this (go ahead, try to stop me): Rodney Smith is one great guy. We held a meeting for pro riders at 8:30 this morning (yeah, it was a little hard to get up that early) and Rodney was the only one there. We made the joke that he can have whatever he wants since no one could off set him, but all he did was make sensible suggestions that honestly will only help others, not him. Over and over, he said "that will only hurt the guys who are coming up through the ranks, and barely have the money to get to the next race." Rodney hasn't been in that situation in probably 20 years. He's a factory rider. But he kept sticking up for the little guy. That's great.

Later on came the Toronto SX on TV. It was a snoozer as you would expect, with RC outclassing the field (RC is either Rickey or Ricky Carmichael, as the TV graphics had him listed as both throughout the night). That's cool though, because it's all a build to A1, now just 34 days off. Sebastien Tortelli was really hauling on that RM-Z 4-5-0 though, not bad for the maiden voyage on that bike and his first SX in two years. But he ended hitting the ground hard. Please don't be hurt again, Seb.

Nice job by Robbie Floyd hosting the show, too. By the way, what happened to Nate Ramsey? I didn't even recognize him. It's like someone photoshopped his face and hair.Good news is I'm booked for the Vancouver race next weekend, so Blogant may be coming to you live from Canada, eh. I'll have to see if that really is N8dawg.

One time a teacher gave me a stupendous compliment: "Jason, you know your best quality is your attendence. You're always around." Wow. Yeah forget being smart of anything. I'm just good at showing up.

But it's getting harder to do that. Today is GNCC Banquet # 2, the bike banquet at Lakeview resort. The banquet is always a good time. But in addition, this weekend is round one of THQ World SX GP in Toronto. No it's not the RC/CR/Bubba showdown of Anaheim 1 (35 days away!), but it should be a good time. Most of our staff is up there: DC, Cudby, Fubar, Brozik, Bad Billy, Matt Ware, Taco ... and I'm holding down the fort in Mo'town. I bet they had some fun last night. Meanwhile I got dissed by like eight different groups of people and sat under a bridge in Pittsburgh listening to Christmas music on the radio and reading Road Racer X. But I digress.

Anyhoo what I did do yesterday was talk with James Stewart. He was holding a telephone media conference with his agent Tony Gardena. I'm so hyped and pumped on A1 that I asked like seven questions while everyone else asked maybe two or three. Two strange things emerged from the conference:

A) James expects to win because he knows he is good. This is not strange. But, it doesn't seem like many people are putting him on top of their title prediction list. He finds this strange, and so the press conference started with James talking about how he wants to prove all the doubters wrong. Most of the media listening in were beat writers from the sports section of newspapers. They were probably shocked to hear how this prodigy, this phenom, was actually being doubted. So ey

all of the reporters were asking questions akin to "how could anyone doubt you?" Eventually one guy asked why the outside press thinks he's great yet the motocross people don't. It had become so off base at that point that James simply refused to answer the question.

Does anyone out there who follows the sport really doubt that James Stewart is good? Didn't think so. Things just got a little mis-communicated there, I think.

B) James expects to win because he knows he is good. Again. His confidence is ridiculous at this point, and it seems almost difficult for him to contain himself. He knows he can, will and should win. But it's not right to just go out there and say that point blank. So he wanders between saying he expects to win, and then saying he would be pumped to get third because it's awesome to just be at the starting gate of a 250 race. Yes, James is pumped to have finally arrived. But he expects to win. I don't see him being happy if he gets beat straight-up and finishes third.

One writer asked if James will like finally having someone to race and battle with. James had a tough time answering that one, because he seems to expect to just kill everyone just like he always has. Now, are you a doubter that this could happen? Have you seen him ride?

Everyone is pumped over what should take place 35 days from now. But there is a good chance Bubba is going to end all the hype quickly by blowing everyone's doors off.

Okay so I missed a few updates, but I have a great excuse. Listen to this one:

On Wednesday night I was leaving the gym at 10 pm. (yup, working off all of that drinking I've been doing). I'm at a stop sign waiting to make a right turn. Another car is coming, and she's about to make a right turn onto the street I'm coming out of. But she doesn't turn nearly tight enough and starts coming right at me. I immediately try moving forward and to my right to try to get out of the way, but she still tags me in the back corner. We make complete and direct eye contact as she slams into me. But she keeps on driving!!!!! So I make a u-turn in a parking lot. It's hot pursuit, baby, I have to catch her. I catch up about a mile down the road, and I'm beeping, flashing
lights, everything, but she's oblivious to it all. Eventually I have to get into the oncoming lane next to her and roll down my windows and scream pull over.

This is where it gets good. She pulls over into a parking lot and staggers out of the car, obviously drunk. Her car is torn up, driver side fender is ripped off, but, by some miracle there is only a 1 inch thick black mark on my truck. I have no idea how her car got mangled and mine was barely touched. Perhaps, if anyone at Toyota is reading this, I could say it's because Tacomas are built tough! Still, I have no idea how to deal with this drunk woman who is now cursing me up and down for smashing her car (?!?!?!).

Enter the ultimate good samaritan: BRUCE BROTMAN! As I'm arguing with the woman, a Mercedes pulls into the lot, and a guy gets out and says "My name is Bruce Brotman and I witnessed everything." Then he calls the police. The woman now knows she is going to get a DUI. So she curses us up and down and says she can fix her own car and it's all my fault (again ...!?!?!) and tries to leave. I was thinking I have to stop her but BRUCE BROTMAN! says I can't touch her, I need to let her go. So she goes, sparks and sheetmetal spewing everywhere. Two minutes later she comes back
and drives past going the other direction. So BRUCE BROTMAN! gets in his car
and chases her! He yells "stay here and wait for the police, Jason. I'll go get her!"

About a half hour later the cops call and tell me to meet them at the station, they caught her and arrested her. But only because BRUCE BROTMAN! tailed her and told the cops where she was. Incredible.

Yesterday I headed to Pittsburgh doing more top secret TV work. On my way I stopped at a rest area, where I was cornered by some guy asking for money. He said he just dropped his son off at an army base so his son can get shipped off to Iraq. On his way back home, this guy lost his wallet, and now he was running out of gas and didn't have any money. Now, I could have easily dismissed this person as a con artist or a nutcase. But not today. I gave him a few bucks for gas. He said "Thanks, I've asked 30 people here and you're the first person to give me any money." I told him don't thank me, thank BRUCE BROTMAN!. I guess I was just paying it forward.

P.S. Thanks to loyal reader who didn't give me his name for suggesting we put the new entries at the top of the page. You know who you are.

P.P.S Thanks to USA Today for hyping up Anaheim 1. You know there are only 36 days until the gate drops!

P.P.S.S's. Thanks for GNCCer Jason Raines for giving me a call and helping me with an interview on Wednesday. I'll post some about it in a bit. I also participated in a press conference with James Stewart today. They're both amazing to talk to, although for totally different reasons. Stay tuned for more ....

Yeah so after another rousing round at the Fish Bowl, it was time for Retro Moto Theater at my house. TRP Assistant Editor Bad Billy Ursic joined me for a screening of two classic 1990s motocross videos (the golden era of motocross theater, by the way).

First up, AXO's Action Figures, which showcased, well, all of the riders who wore AXO in 1996. At this point AXO was just past its golden era with Stanton and Bradshaw, but they did have Damon Huffman in his prime, the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team (pre-Carmichael) and Ezra Lusk, who was about to enter the 250 class. By the way Ezra's transition went about as well as the leap from Elementary to Junior High for most kids. It was obvious that he would get great starts and then crash his brains out all yeah, which he did. I predicted this, except Blogandt was still eight years away so no one knows. Hell, the entire Internet was barely kicking at this point, as evidenced by AXO splashing its mailing address on the screen, and then throwing in www.pacificnet.com/axo at the very end.

Oh yeah the video. Lots of just crazy footage of guys jumping, and it's a shame because its good stuff, but anything freestyle from 8 years ago is just not going to work. Deegan is on there running the Team Chapparal colors (and wearing national #25. That guy was good!) and you just can't believe how far things have come. Grabbing the front fender in mid air was the big trick back then. This is the same guy that landed the first 360! The computer industry would have to struggle keeping up with the progression of freestyle motocross.

And speaking of, a guy named Bob Kohl is on there pulling backflips on a CR80. But it looks way sketchy. There is no way you would watch it and think "yeah, anyone who can ring to door bell at Travis Pastrana's house could be taught to flip."

On to video number two: Fly by Fox. This is a great one, really the peak of what made these videos so popular. The big factory riders jumping to great music. Now things have become so specialized that a factory rider in a jump vid would look lame, because they can't pull all the huge tricks. And there's no Jack Ass behavior since these guys are representing their sponsors. But it would seem to me that fans love these riders so much that a video, er, DVD, of them just hanging out and having fun riding could still work. But those days seem to be over.

Fly features Team Honda 1996, i.e. Jeremy McGrath and Steve Lamson, and Team Yamaha '96, Damon Bradshaw, Kevin Windham, John Dowd and Doug Henry. And Mike Metzger is out there with the Yamaha boys. They all do some no-legged whips in the dunes, and a few can throw out a heel clicker. Yeah, Metzger is going big with a whip. It's just crazy how far it has all come.

Hey one more thing. That Ezra Lusk guy. Where is he? Has anyone heard anything? My guess is he is tending to his brother Shane, but just think how people were predicting supercross title at this time last year for Ezra, and now he doesn't even have a ride. Things really happen fast around here.

37 days and counting until the world explodes

Okay this is getting out of hand. When Blogandt started the idea was to share all the racing knowledge and insight I gain from going to a lot of races. Of course I was dumb enough (or had enough free time) to start this in the off-season, so there are no races to talk about. Now I could bench-race non stop, which would be fun, but, lately I'm in this ridiculous streak of going out every night and uh, having a good time. And usually something crazy happens, and I end up sharing it here, and now people have got to be thinking I have a problem. And what if kids are reading? Or my parents?

So of course last night I ended up in Pittsburgh at some bar. But we're going to skip that story so I can keep my rep in tact. Plus I'm in a rush to get to the fishbowl tonight and ... see? This is ridiculous!

Uh, so let me throw in some moto talk here. Literally. The motonews.com message board mototalk ran a post about motocross and supercross announcers over the weekend. I haven't even done much announcing, but a bunch of people named me as one of their favorites. I was pretty surprised by that. But I do have experience. I used to turn the volume down on my TV while watching the races and do my own announcing. My parents loved that as much as they probably love reading about me going to the bar every night. I mean, they literally had to yell at me "stop announcing in the house!" Then I used to run around the house like I was riding a dirt bike and announce to that. I was a bad, bad kid. Just like now.

Okay now that I've revealed this I really better go to the bar and forget about it. Thanks mototalkers!

P.S. Anaheim 1: 38 days

Ah, the annual GNCC banquets. A rare moment where A) racers come to Morgantown B) everyone gets to hang out away from the track C) I can practically crawl to my house from the bar. Crawling back on Sunday morning for meetings isn't much fun, but it's worth it to have fun on Saturday. The ATV crew came into Morgantown this weekend, and I must admit they have the bike crew beat when it comes to the night life (prove me wrong next weekend, bike people!)

Not only are there some great people involved with the GNCC series, but ATV guys do really, really well with the ladies. And even the girls that race look, um, very good. Some parts of my PR skill set tells me to promote this more, but others tell me to ignore it since our female racers wear wedding rings under their gloves. Like I said, the ATV guys do very well with the ladies.

And as the ultimate Ace in the Hole for the quad set, they have the incomparable William Yokley. GNCC ATV pro #2 will go toe-to-toe with anyone looking to have a good time, and he was even cool enough to fly from Glamis to Mo'town for the banquet, and demonstrate his classic table-breaking dance skills again. Lest you think ATV guys just sit on couches and pin it, Yokley showed his true athletic prowess by taking that table out.

P.S. We're less than 40 days from Anaheim 1!

Time is very valuable to me. My high society living of money, fame, girls and cars is so fun you wish you had 48 hours in every day just so you could enjoy it twice as much.

Okay, actually we're all working stiffs around here (working on getting to that point).

But while I haven't won the lottery, I feel like I did just a little bit today. I won some time. We're edging back some of our deadlines for our next TRP issue. And my court date to finally nail someone for stealing my bike nine months ago has been pushed back again. I think I'm going to just lay on the couch and watch paternity tests on Maury now.

Luckily there is one event that will not be delayed. Like it or not, Anaheim 1 is coming on Saturday night, January 8th. It's time to start a count down. After all, once Ricky and James hook up on the same track in the same class the Earth is either going to explode or at least stop rotating. So, consider this a countdown to the end of society as we know it. Kind of like Y2K, only now it's Y2K5108, and this time the Earth is definitely going to blow up, and it will be worse than you could possibly imagine since the planets and the stars have aligned, too. There will be collateral damage everywhere. This may the benefit of the sport though, because we will surely garner some mainstream press for destroying the galaxy.

So, 43 days left. There will be no lottery of time on this one either, because the Anaheim supercross doesn't get postponed.

Hey happy Thanksgiving Eve. Or, perhaps Happy Thanksgiving, as you may be reading this as you duck away from your annoying relatives to pretend you have "some really important news you have to check on." But it's really just Blogandt. You know nothing is too important here.

So last night at the Fishbowl, after I ran into my ex-girlfriend, we were greeted by the well-endowed waitress who we can barely muster up the courage to speak to. But we have a conversation starter: we told her last week we were bringing her a Racer X shirt. And we fa ga (forgot). But at least we had something to talk about now. Eventually she mentioned that she will be working Tuesday nights more than ever because classes at WVU are done soon. And what class is she taking right now?

Human sexuality. Of course.

So we were back to not being able to talk. We regrouped about ten minutes later, all the really offensive jokes out of our system. We asked her more about the class, where she mentioned how they discuss the physics of the deal, including watching, ahem, adult vidoes, and even multiple partners.

So. These are the types of moments we should be thankful for. At least I am. And Brozik is bringing her a shirt tonight. The smallest one we could find. Happy holidays.

Where did everybody go? Hunting season has begun here in West Virginia, so there's camo everywhere. I haven't seen a person in two days, just a bunch of driver-less trucks crusing around. Last night I think I saw a guy in the gorcery store in full camo. Honestly he would have been more effective if he wrapped himself in a bunch of meat and hid by the butcher's shop, but I'm sure he had fun in the woods. Also, of course a bunch of ATVs came barreling down my street at like 11 pm last night because it's totally legal to ride ATVs on the street around here. And even if it wasn't, the guys were in camo so who would have been able to find them?

All this camaddness is the result of hunting season lasting two weeks. Two freakin' weeks! Imagine the entire motocross season lasting two weeks a year. Spending all that money and putting in all of that effort for just 14 days a year. I bet I would be wearing my gear in the grocery store, too.

Did anyone check out the Racer X Online Gift Guide? My eyes are bleeding after putting that all together. But people seem to like it. Pit Pass Radio called and wants me on the show tonight to talk about it. But what do I talk about? They're just products. The best information you need is right on the site. So I'll probably just end up talking about The Racing Paper and this website. And Blogandt. So, if you just listened to the show are now just checking this out, um, hey, thanks. Send me some money or something. Raise your hand. Now cluck like a chicken. Boy it's good to have power.

Pit Pass actually has a lot more important stuff going on right now, with Paul Lindsey explaining his side of the Branden Jesseman Arenacross Case. The Brando story, in the quiet way you would expect from him, continues to build kind of like the Alessi story. Everytime you think it's at a peak, more news and controversey appears. Good reporting by Tony and the Pit Pass guys. But good luck trying to make an interview with me about Christmas gifts exciting.

They didn't even give me a chance to plug this site!

For a second, it seemed like God was pulling a Punk'd.

On Sunday I attended church for the first time in ages, and I was doing it for journalistic purposes. I was there to interview a District 5 racer for an upcoming story in TRP. I was on my best behavior, but perhaps some people saw right through me. As soon as I entered His building, I saw my interview subject in the back and shot some pictures of him. A bystander witnessed the flash from my camera, and he came running up all worried "did you see that," he said to my subject. "There was this big flash of light. Did something blow up? I saw this big flash of light!"

Actually it was just the flash from my camera that he noticed, but considering my poor attendance in church lately, it could have been a flash of something much more powerful.

Anyway I was ready to wind the weekend down on Sunday night when someone started pounding on my door like they had battering rams on their fists. It was my man Timmy Coombs, traveling with a partner, GNCC Pro and Kawasaki Factory Rider Chuck Woodford. Seems Chuck was in town for some hunting on Monday, but Timmy wanted to hang out Sunday night. I told them I was busy unpacking from Vegas, so Timmy promptly dumped all of my clothes on the floor and shoveled the pile into a closet. So that took care of that.

Then we were off to play some pool in Timmy's garage. Chucky whooped 'em. But Timmy did reveal that he has a special super power. Not flight, strength or speed. But paranoia. Yes.

"See, with my heightened levels of paranoia, no one or no thing can ever sneak up on me," he explained.

Boy am I glad you found this website, TheRacingPaper.com. Consider the alternative. Visit RacingPaper.com and you will see. It's quite an alternative to our site since it uses colors that those of an, uh, alternative life style would like.

I sent RacingPaper.com and email. We'll see what happens.

Meanwhile I flooded through some of today's gossip while battling a bad hangover. TRP Assistant Editor Billy Ursic has been attacking the social scene like he normally does a motocross track, and just like at the races, I can't keep up. You truly are the Ass. Editor, Billy.

Meanwhile Jeremy McGrath is also in a battle, this one away from the track as well. McGrath's legal disputes over keeping his practice track open gained some press in his local paper. Click here for the article.

Jeremy will need all the practice he can get. The seven-time SX Champ will be racing against the James Stewart everyone worried about: the one who can adapt to a 250. Fox has some insane clips of Bubba on their website. Um, it appears he still knows how to ride. They also have an RC video, but there's too much slo-mo in there to show how well he's really doing. My guess is he's fine.

But man, I'm getting very worried that James may just crush everyone this year. Isn't this supposed to be an epic season?

Hey, Steph from the AMA: Thanks for mailing me that Vegas sign paper weight. Now I'll always be reminded of that long walk to get the mouse I'm using right now. See the November 16th entry for reference.

Got a great email today with the subject "motorrcross gloves":

Respected Sir,

We are manufacturer and exporter of a long range of Gloves, especially of paint ball gloves and especially in Motor Cross, Summer, Winter, Cycling and Leather Jackets, Garments, Judo + Karate Items covering an experience of many years and holding multi dimentional expertise in this field. We produce and export these products all over the world and are with great hope to iniate our working with your esteemed company.

To have a clear idea about our products range, you can easily visit our web sit www.mrsafia.com

We ensure you firmly to have supreme quality with most economic prices and best delivery times and with great zeal and zest to be at your service, which we are looking forward for a long long time ago.

Looking forward to hear your positive comments shortly and very anxiously.

Best Regards,

Rashid Mushtaq
M. R. Safia International Industry
Street. # 1, Sufi Pura, Rangpura Road
Sialkot - Pakistan

You have to dig a company that makes motor cross gloves alongside judo + karate items. Honestly, I have been looking forward to that for a long, long, time ago.

I called GNCC star Randy Hawkins today, and he confirmed that he, Barry Hawk and Jason Raines will be back on the Am Pro Yamaha Factory Team next year. So, this is contrary to all the insane rumors we heard over the summer, like Raines was going to Suzuki and was purposely mailing in the final rounds so Rodney Smith could win the GNCC title. Or Hawk had signed with Suzuki and was purposely sitting races out so Raines wouldn't have any help in the standings. As it turns out, no one is going anywhere.

Except you. See you tomorrow.

So I got to perform in Vegas. I interviewed four riders and tried to inject some laughs into the bit. I was underprepared (what else is new?) because I showed up late and had never met any of the riders before. But for nine minutes, we came together like a king and an ace. Thanks to ATVA MX Champ Doug Gust, World Champion Drag Racer Larry McBride, Land Speed (semi-record) Holder Sam Wheeler, and Trials God Geoff Aaron.

Having a soapbox also gave me a chance to rant about losing my AMA Print Media Journalist Award this year. This flowed nicely into the rest of the show, as Tim Cotter and Greg White never missed an opportunity to make fun of my act and my award-winning prowess. Jealousy, baby. I'm already negotiating my own show here next year where I walk up on stage and accept the AMA Print Media Journalist Award over and over for three hours.

Oh, and sorry this update is late. My mouse stopped working and I had to hunt one down. Wait until you hear that story.

Congratulations to GNCCers Heather Wilson and Stephanie Parton for claiming the Female Rider of the Year awards, and John Gallagher for being named Vet Rider of the Year. Since I am no longer and AMA Award Winner, I was happy to bask in their glow all night. But man, does the Coyote Ugly bar really have to have ugly girls?

I come from New Jersey, which has two NFL teams that play in the state, but both are called New York. The impact isn't quite so harsh. But as a Yankee fan, I can tell you, we were hating life three weeks ago.

By the way I'll actually talk about motocross on this blog one of these days. I'll be hitting all of the nationals just seven months from now!

Anyway I selected a classic, Neil Diamond's (Becomin' To) America, but the karaokee host put in the wrong CD twice. Sometimes this spells opportunity if you get a good song, but when the two incorrect CDs are a country ballad and the Friend's theme, and you're in a sports bar in front of hicks and 'roid ragers ... it's bad.