Grant Dalton speaks truth to Bloomberg

Interviewed yesterday by Bloomberg's Mike Schneider, Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) chief Grant Dalton (NZL) told it the way it is:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=amof5eS3fIt0

Summarizing major events in words everyone can understand, Grant spoke plainly about America's Cup. It's not about us (and all the other global teams) said Grant. It's about BMW Oracle (USA) and Alinghi (SUI). The rest of us, he said, aren't involved. And frankly, teams like mine (ETNZ), said Grant, are stuggling to keep things together.

Isn't that the truth about all this?

Somehow, BMW Oracle is trying to dispose of AC33 in the most expeditious way. Almost everyone in sailing wants that to happen, and fast.

But aren't all of us also majorly interested in how humongous 90-foot multihulls will actually square off in competition and race against each other?

Don't all of us want to watch this gross-out event?

Aren't we all excited about these big, huge, lumbering, but ultimately breathtakingly rapid, dangerous, and bizarre craft?

Of course we are.

Right now, everyone is working out in multihulls. Boats are capsizing. Skippers like Spithill and Coutts are competing against each other, everywhere.

All of them are preparing for what is, in fact, an incredible, futile and absurd waste of resources, manpower, energy, intelligence, sanity and common sense, all of it in pursuit of an ancient trophy in dispute.

And all of us will be there on the magical day, regardless, focused on the event, downloading images live-in-real-time, plundering online data, and calling friends to proclaim one victory or another.

We hate this and love this.