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 Trying to ignore the sound of crashing celebrities
From the small office in the back corner,
near the water cooler
September 25th, 2007
It had been weeks in the making, between the first few
thoughts, organizing them into some kind of order and then
typing it all out.
Everything looked
great.
It was a deep introspective into our riding world, what
bikers are facing, possible consequences and most
importantly how we as a group can handle them.
I mean, we are talking deep-thinking with even deeper
writing. Even the grammar would be correct.
 The moment was taking over and at one point I struck the
famous 'Thinker' pose on my motorcycle.
I promptly fell off.
But its okay, nothing happened to the
bike.
Everything was set to make this editorial more than the
usual light-hearted fluff which connects cerebral dots to
come a humorous, if not unexpected conclusion.
Even had a cool headline!
Then George Clooney came off his motorcycle.
Now
how am I supposed to ignore this phenomenal editorial
opportunity? Do I stand on principle and go ahead with the
high-brow musings letting the rest of the free world's
entertainment press having fun with the Clooney crash?
And the answer is no.
Some of you may remember the hard-hitting expose
'What every biker has in common with
Brad Pitt', which
equated the person who's won sexiest man alive more times
than the average biker has had a bad roadside burger with
the everyday humble rider.
 Even
without the passion for motorcycles, George Clooney is
probably the celebrity closest associated with Brad Pitt,
besides Angelina Jolie of course. If you wonder why
the obvious latter point is made, bear in mind it gives us
an excuse to include the hot picture to the left.
You're welcome.
Maybe it's their insanely
good looks, or the sheer popularity of the Oceans series of
movies, but George and Brad seem to roll off the lips
together like Harley and Davidson. So none were more
surprised than those around the Clutch and Chrome offices
when we found out hot on the heels (sort of) of writing about Brad on
his Ducati that Mr. Clooney has a few rides of his own. Back
in 2000 he was pictured on his Indian and possibly owns the
Harley involved in his recent accident.
Who would've thought
George was the cruiser type?
This accident highlighted
all the usual suspects and expectations in the make-up of the popular media.
When we first reported Mr. Clooney's accident on
Saturday, a full day after it had happened, the media was
fairly oblivious to the event. Where it did appear, the
story certainly wasn't the lead and there wasn't much print
given to it. As they say in the news biz, it didn't get
much ink.
Some of the Clutch and
Chrome gang were out at a party Saturday night with mostly non-riders and
none of them had heard the news. As matter of fact, while we
were explaining the story, blow-by-blow, everyone anticipated
a punch line as if it were a joke.
No video, lack of
pictures equals no story it would seem.
But as soon as Mr. Studly
made an appearance with bandaged wrist and his close friend,
um associate, er girlfriend....what the heck, main squeeze
Sarah Larson
hobbled up on crutches, the press couldn't get enough of the
accident.
Emails sent by George to media outlets
were printed, boasts of getting the first
post-accident
picture were made and it was the main topic of the
red-carpet premiere for George Clooney's latest movie,
"Michael Clayton".
What was more interesting than
the media taking such a light-hearted approach to a
fairly serious event (which wasn't any worse thanks only to sheer
luck) is the track record the same said media has with
crashing celebrities.
When it came to Schwarzenegger
and Roethlisberger, condemnation and advice was given more
freely than a handful of beads thrust at a bunch of drunken
women at Mardi Gras. The most hard-hitting comments Mr.
Clooney deflected was the hug he didn't get from
a red carpet reporter as she was afraid of hurting him any
further.
I understand there are
different circumstances between the various accidents. The
Governor didn't have his motorcycle endorsement. Not only
did the Steelers favorite quarterback match that omission but he also
used his head to find out at exactly what speed automobile
impact glass breaks using his unprotected head, all shortly
before football season was due to start.
At worst, George Clooney is
apparently guilty of using the right lane to overtake an
obviously unsure driver.
 Maybe
I'm just jealous. Let's forget for the moment that he has
already dated some of the hottest women known to
civilization, omitting Jennifer Anniston (excuse
noted and picture published to the left) and Angelina Jolie
(buddy Brad holds those honors) but currently the guy is 46
dating a 27 year old. Forgetting her youth and hotness,
after throwing her from the motorcycle during the accident
leaving the poor young thing with a black eye, broken foot
and bruises, she's still with him!
Hands up of all the bikers
reading who've had the threat of death from their passengers
of the fairer-sex before, during and after a ride?
I rest my case.
It could also be that there's
a touch of resentment of all the attention (all of it
strictly good) he's received for dropping his bike. I guess
he doesn't have to worry about avoiding his favorite biker
bar for a month or two in fear of facing all the obvious
jokes and jibes. The guy even had someone else ride the bike away from the
accident! Everything fell only slightly short of declaring a
national holiday to memorialize the moment. My mishaps aren't
nearly as
warmly remembered and not forgetting the less than flattering nicknames
that flew around when I dropped my bike.
Lets be honest though,
George Clooney doesn't pop to mind when you think of your
typical biker. Maybe he is the new generation of rider? By
the way, that subject of the new emerging eco-social profile
of the biker was a prominent point of the intellectual
editorial abandoned for this hard-hitting piece you're
currently reading. See what you have to look forward to?
The only great thing
about this series of events (not mentioning the obvious that
we're all happy no-one was seriously hurt) is how ahead of
our time Clutch and Chrome was in announcing how much our
biker brethren have in common with a handsome Hollywood star
like Brad Pitt. Now we can add George Clooney that
comparison.
Wow, we're a good looking
bunch!
The Editor
Because we know most of our readers love beautiful women as
much as motorcycles, all of the pictures can be enlarged for
larger 'more complete' versions |
