My Name is Dario. I was born in Sicily a long time ago, and I have been riding ever since. In 1997, I moved to the USA to become rich. While I clearly failed at that, I’ve had the opportunity to own and ride more bikes than I have hairs on my head (maybe a few more). This is one of the many stories, observations and experiences I have had riding and living the motorbike lifestyle with the Yankees.

Many ask what is shown on TV of the racing scene in the US. Well if you like car racing, you are in luck. OK, wait. Let me try again. If you like cars running on oval circuits with only four turns, you are in luck. There is NASCAR!!! While many consider it boring and find the technological requirements of a car that turns only left underwhelming, I actually like it. Especially after my third pint. Well, I admit I doze off occasionally; but hey, I always wake up when there is a colossal accident. Forget about when Haga’s Ducati left the Monza circuit flying outside the stratosphere in race two, Nascar accidents are really, truly colossal. They are most certainly not your run-of-the-mill fender benders. These are monumental catastrophes, with dozen of cars involved, with smoke, flying pieces of colored fiberglass, and possibly (hopefully), fire.  That is the highlight of the entertainment. Fun! Beyond that, this year a new Formula 1 television program has been added. It’s really well done, with insider reports and all. (Ed: NASCAR crashes may be huge but their safety record is actually very good and drivers normally walk away)

Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, motorbike racing.

There is only one channel (out of hundreds) that features some motorcycle races. It's called the Speed Channel. Even if you pay for cable, you’ll have to pay extra for it. The races are rarely in high definition, a way for the producers to make you focus more on the action. I use the colors to identify the fast moving blurs: red is a Ducati. Blue and white must be Yamaha. If there is some yellow in the blue and white, that is Valentino Rossi. Satellite teams are less than an educated guess. Do you get the picture? I barely do.

There are some positives though - the races are never live, so you can watch them comfortably at lunch time on Sunday. Like everything in life there are two exceptions. The newly introduced MotoGP at Indianapolis, Indiana and Laguna Seca in California. But the pleasure of watching the races live is quickly replaced by the sadness of realizing how obscure motorcycles are to Americans.

Let me be specific. The program is planned as cheaply as possible, usually with two commentators who are often very qualified (Kevin Schwantz was one of them) and who do what they can, with what they have - a camera, a microphone, and the dudes on the bikes. But then the dagger in my motorcycle nuts comes when I hear commentary like, "Motorcycles have two wheels and an engine this big. They go really fast. MotoGP is where they go the fastest and the bikes are the trickiest. Valentino Rossi is a superstar, but Hayden is really good too. Nicky is this kid from Kentucky who won the world championship in 2006.”  Kindergarten all over again.

Feel free to think I am exaggerating. I realize they are just trying to educate and to entice the public into viewing these races. I consciously know they’re trying to explain that these “crotch rockets” (as your average American calls them) are not Harleys, and, believe it or not, that the riders are not gang members. But still it is just sad.

World Superbike is unfortunately worse. This year, they’ve often aired only the first race.  Like round five at Monza, in my home country. You want to know what happened in race two after a thrilling race one? Tough luck. Go on the web and see the results, or wait for Tuesday night when they have the re-run at a time when you are still at work.

But wait! How can it be? Ben Spies, an American, is competing with the best! The second Texas tornado to land offshore is doing what a handful of people in the whole wide world can do! He is winning races in his very first year, and on tracks he’s never seen before. Isn’t that great - an American winning in an international motorsport? Ehhh, not so it seems. Motorcycles are dangerous anyway.

They don’t even bother to have their own commentators. Actually, I think the commentators are the same ones from Eurosport. Why bother? No one is watching anyway.

I understand you, the reader, perhaps are in disbelief and dismay about this state of things. To prove my point I will do a quick poll for you. I will ask at least 15 people here in San Jose, California if they have even heard of Nicky Hayden. I mean “heard of,” -- I am not going to ask what he won or what (I could, but it would be a waste of time). Simply: “Have you ever heard the name Nicky Hayden?”  I will only pose the question to men for obvious reasons. Be right back.

This is the result of my informal investigation: Of the 15 people I asked, only one had heard the name Hayden, even though he was unable to really identify him. “He won AMA super-something… from Kentucky. Formula 1?” . Ouch. Please don’t tell Nicky.

How can you blame them, though?. The press coverage here is nonexistent. Literally, non-existent. Aside from the channel I mentioned, none of my 100+ cable channels air any news of the sport whatsoever. It doesn’t matter if the winner of the race or a world championship is a 10th generation American, and he is wearing the same white red and blue outfit and underwear for months, while screaming “Go Obama!!”  Nothing. A media desert, reminiscent of the censorship of the Bush administration.

But all in all, it is not too bad. Great weather to ride for 9 months out of 12, awesome mountain roads to test your fear of  5 ton SUVs. And I know at the end of the year I can dig up some change to buy the WSBK and MotoGP recap DVDs.