Recently, a brief discussion in the HMN editorial bullpen touched on that social networking nuisance, Facebook, and our various curmudgeonly opinions of it: “In MY day, we networked the old-fashioned way with faxes, chatrooms and e-mail….”
Needless to say, none of us have seen the movie, and frankly, the only reason I joined Facebook was so that I could send off-road racing legend Malcolm Smith a friend request and hopefully get back a message reading: “You and Malcolm Smith are now friends.”
I got this pathetic idea from a guy on an online dirt bike forum who friended the great Mr. Smith, and then proudly shared his virtual friendship notification with the rest of us losers.
Creepy I know, but Malcolm Smith and I are now Facebook friends, and if I died tomorrow, it would be mostly okay. (I still haven’t owned a Husqvarna enduro bike or ridden on the Baja peninsula.)
This man crush can be traced directly back to the copy of Bruce Brown’s documentary, On Any Sunday, rented approximately 957 times from the local video store while I was in junior high and the owner of a 1975 Yamaha MX 100 exactly like this one.
On Any Sunday focuses on much more than Malcolm, but the man’s otherworldly displays of finesse aboard an ordinary Husqvarna steal the show again and again.
If you haven’t seen OAS (some guy named Steve McQueen is in it too), you can watch it for free and in its entirety online at Hulu.com.
Getting back to Facebook, if you have an account, you too can become one of Malcolm’s 2,870-plus friends, or check out this album of Husqvarna Heroes (Hey, Husqvarna! Why aren’t there a few dozen photos of Dick Burleson posted?).