Did Mookie and Bogle Deserve Fines?
Did Mookie and Bogle Deserve Fines?
Swizzle- I had my points on this topic all written up and was just summarizing my final point when I questioned something I had written which caused me to “go back to the tape”. I queued up “the incident” one more time, looking less at the angle of bike trajectory and contact and more at Mookie’s body and it hit me. Not unlike Mookie hitting Bogle. I was floored. How could I have overlooked it so many times before? I was so focused on bike trajectory and point of impact I completely missed the blinding evidence which made my theory more holey than swiss cheese.
All along I was basing my opinion on the benefit of doubt. That maybe, it was Bogle’s leg that changed everything about this instance. But no. It was Mookie pushing the rear brake pedal below the frame rail for a solid 2 seconds after initial contact that proved what I had been questioning. It was obvious and unarguable. Like a detective on a crime, I was looking at the wrong clues. Stupid.
Mookie absolutely deserved a fine. As did Bogle for his retaliatory “bitch-slap heard round the internets”. I’d like to take a second here to commend both dudes on their restraint too though. For Bogle to stop at the single bitch-slap is some great restraint. Likewise for Mookie to receive the bitch-slap and not return the favor was, I’m sure very tough.
The only issue I have here is one we see often in the sport and that is the incompetent rulings made by the AMA. There is no consistency with rule enforcement and when the law is not strictly adhered to, it might as well be complete anarchy out there. In Phoenix this year Matt Moss made another obviously finable move of Ryan Sipes yet there was no fine handed out. Shit, last week Jake Weimer took Pooh Sipes over the berm but, oh that’s right, Jake apologized on TV. For craps sakes, Darryn Durham took Blake Wharton off the track on the approach to a triple in Dallas! Is the rule too vague? Where’s the consistency? What will it take to instate a rule-set which is actually enforced based on the rules and not on how loud a team complains? Is the AMA capable of rule enforcement based on the book and not team influence?
At this point it’s obvious the answer is no but that’s one of many problems with the sanctioning body of our sport.
Matthes- I’m confused by your side Swizzle but it seems like you are taking the side that the guys did deserve the fines. And yeah, I’d definitely go along with that except I can’t get something out of my head. And that is, what in the hell is the difference between what these guys did and what has happened numerous other times? The take-outs by Weimer on Sipes, Hansen on Sipes or even Dungey on Weimer one week ago were all very similar to the Mookie/Bogle incident and not a peep from the AMA. Or is it the FIM? Or is it Feld? Or the guy behind the grassy knoll?
Oh you say that in those incidents there wasn’t the physical contact like there was in this case? Well what exactly did Mookie do to get fined? He showed some restraint in not going back at Bogle for the helmet slap (although he showed no restraint in dirtying up Bogle right before the slap) so if you’re going by the logic that you can never lay a hand on another rider no matter what, then fine Bogle and move along. The inconsistency of the fines and penalties is what drives the teams and riders nuts. It appears that there is none. If you’re not going to fine Matt Moss for his kamikaze take-out of Sipes then you leave Mookie alone and fine Bogle for the slap (although just to be clear, I think the slap is awesome. It’s harmless but yet so effective because now we don’t know if Bogle is a loose cannon or not. He could be nuts! Or he could not be. He’s a rookie and there’s no book on him yet- brilliant move by Justin to do that)
And let me just say Swiz that I’m excited to know that by changing your stance on the take-out move, you have proven to be sane and I don’t need to call the authorities and report a 5150.
Swizzle- What a strange turn of events my own thoughts process has lead me to. You see, for nearly 36 hours I was reluctant to see Mookie as the villain for the move which brought about this situation. Then, on my 37th viewing of the incident I moved my focus from Mookie’s trajectory to the dagger in the coffin; his right foot. That is all you need to see to know his intention was to leave Bogle collecting his yard-sale. Mookie’s nearly 2 second rear-brake lock-up, after his bike was past Bogle’s, showed intent to halt his forward progress. If Mookie had done everything he did except lock up the rear (well, things probably would have turned out the same because I highly doubt the AMA was looking into the incident beyond a contact pass that lead to the bitch-slap) in my mind though, without that brake-check Mookie doesn’t deserve a fine. Without that brake-check it’s an aggressive contact pass but the brake-check exacerbates the situation because it’s after the pass is made showing unnecessary malicious intent.
Mookie deserves a fine because the right foot proves the move was malicious, and that proof is beyond a shadow of doubt. Bogle deserves a fine because slapping an opponent upside-his-head can never go unpunished. Bottom line.
I just went Judge Wapner on your ass. Feel free to add a closing argument but I’d just save your breath because case #5150 is closed.
Matthes- The bottom line is (and by the way, that may be coming back this year) that if you’re saying Mookie needs to fined for his move, I can’t disagree except for the fact that there have been many, many times before that riders have done the same thing as Mookie and nothing has come from it. It’s like if we went to the store and you stole some chocolate bars, got caught and thrown into jail for five years and I did the same thing, got caught and they just told me to never do it again and sent me home. It makes no sense, you want to fine Bogle for his slap? Ok fine. But what Mookie did, although ridiculously dumb, was not a finable offense. The whole rule book needs to be looked at maybe some “set” fines for dirty riding need to be decided. Until then, I’m not sure why, just because a guy slapped another guy, you have to decide to fine one guy. And that’s just coming from a simple guy like myself.
