Hall of Shame

As regular readers of The Runoff Area know, polite comments are always appreciated on our articles. Unfortunately, such is the ease with which you can comment on these stories, occasionally some people will click the “Post” button without having read all the relevant details.

Specifically, what a few people miss is the “Please Note” section, over to our left, which points out that this is a satire website and that the stories herein are not to be taken seriously. I believe it is time, therefore, to honour these people with their own page – The Runoff Area’s Hall of Shame!

“This has to be a joke!”

Our first inductee is David, who couldn’t believe that Superleague Formula were seriously considering allowing Accrington Stanley to participate in their series:

this has to be a joke – is this in any way a serious post? there is no way SLF would allow Stanley to participate in the series – there are dozens of top flight world football clubs who have put applications in and you’re telling me that it’s Stanley who have been given the nod especially when there are already 2 English teams competing?!? How can Stanley afford to compete is another point – is milk advertisement a very lucrative pursuit?

- David

In defence of Kimi…

Kimi Raikkonen’s fans are well-known for their passionate defence of their hero, when he comes under (frequent) criticism for being lazy, overpaid or just plain slow. Even, it seems, when the story’s completely false…

Marc gave 110% trying to get his head around this story, but sadly, it wasn’t enough…

Watch out for Nigerians!

Betty was quick to point out that Campos might have been in some trouble, when considering a sponsorship deal from Nigeria:

You know, when we get an email telling us to send money to Nigeria, to get more money, we’re told to ignore it. Hope Campos know the backer and aren’t being scammed!

- Betty

Certainly, it would have been terrible if the whole thing was a scam.

Comical at best!

This is the comment that initially inspired the Hall of Shame. Dan is very angry that Virgin Racing have been criticised for wrongly appropriating the name of the Virgin Mary:

Okay, this article is taking the name completely out of context. The team’s main sponsorship is from Richard Branson’s Virgin group. The group which consists Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airways and even Virgin Galactic to name but a few of his ventures. The history behind the naming of his company is that it is to say something about his youth of when he set up the company. Derive from that what you want to believe… The almost ironic use of the literal meaning of virgin in this context also befits the nature that 2010 is this team’s virgin year in the sport. If you are so naive to think that the use of Virgin in this context is not befitting because of it’s religious connotations then a closer examination of the team’s livery might be needed. A quick look at the end plates of the front wing clearly displays the distinctive virgin logo, which has adorned many jetliners over the last 20 years, as well as CDs, record stores, drinks bottles and many other products of the Virgin Group set up by Richard Branson.

I cannot give any credence to the vilification of the Virgin-Racing team for the use of that word. To claim that it is inappropriate or not fitting for such an iconic and historic word, shows a great lack of knowledge of 20th century history and icons of that era. Branson being one of Great Britain’s greatest exports of the 20th Century and to say his brand name is not fitting is comical at best.

What this team is doing could well be seen as a noble act for F1. Other than USF1, which have yet to be seen at a F1 track, Virgin Racing is the only team to solely use CFD technology to design their car. In an era that is having to find massive cost cuts, improve efficiency and work towards the future more than ever, Virgin have made massive achievements in getting the car to a circuit for testing and start to make it competitive. It is yet to be seen whether they will be competitive in a race, however they are the guinea pigs, they are pushing the boundary of engineering. They are fully in the spirit of F1 racing and certainly deserve to be there, using what ever name they like.

- Dan

As I pointed out at the time: “Comment is free, but ridicule is priceless.”

Whining about colour schemes

Our most recent inductee is Erik, who took umbrage at the accusation that McLaren’s livery might be a subliminal advert:

“Conservative MP for the Cotswold constituency of Bigotry and Shouting, and patron of the Coalition for Robust Advertising Policies”????

Are you freaking kidding me?? You brits have nothing better to worry about that whining about colour schemes?

- Erik

I’m not sure what’s more amusing, that Erik believes that there is a British Parliamentary constituency called Bigotry and Shouting, or that any pressure group would give itself the acronym C.R.A.P.

I’m sure that more comments of this nature will come by in the future! Keep checking back for more!