Souptastic has often contemplated the idea of compiling a year's worth of "Hair on Fire" incidents in MotoGP into a spreadsheet and sharing it with the public on December 31st. The aim is to demonstrate that the vast majority of the so-called "disasters" hyped by certain corners of the MotoGP media and on social media ultimately amount to very little (jack squat!), echoing the sentiment of the late Chris Farley's iconic "Van Down By The River" SNL skit.

During a couple of weeks, there was a prevailing sense of gloom and doom surrounding issues like visa problems in the paddock and the condition of the India track, which was described as a muddy trail through a snake-infested gravel pit. However, it turned out that these concerns were largely unfounded, as the majority of the paddock found themselves in India, enjoying the place and the racetrack.

This prompts an important question for fans who engage with social media: should they consider the possibility that they are being manipulated?Somebody posts sensational headlines and provocative crap to grab readers' attention: MOTOGP RIDER HAIR ON FIRE. PLUS, SNAKES! OMG, MOTOGP RIDER HAIR ON FIRE WITH SNAKES! BETTER UNLEASH THIS NEWS TO ALL MY SOCIAL MEDIA "FRIENDS". BETTER CHECK BACK AND—OMG SOUNDS LIKE THE SNAKES ARE ACTUALLY BLOWING FLAMES ON OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PADDOCK. Click back, click back, click back ....anxiety level near redline. SNAKES BLOWING FLAMES FROM THEIR MOUTHS WHILE ATOP MOTOGP RIDER HEADS MEANS EVENT PROBABLY CANCELLED. OMG. THE EVENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO FLAME-BLOWING SNAKES NESTLED IN MOTOGP RIDERS HAIR (Binder not applicable obvs.) Anxiety now well-over redline. BETTER TELL ALL MY SOCIAL MEDIA FRIENDS HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS DISASTER AND ALSO GAUGE AND AFFIRM HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT FLAME-BLOWING SNAKES ON MOTOGP RIDER HEADS AT SUBSTANDARD RACETRACK IN GRAVEL PIT. Click back, click back, click back ....anxiety level pegged deep in redline. 15 minutes without an update to this emotional or controversial content??! THIS CAN ONLY MEAN ITS EVEN WORSE THAN TRUE. IT'S VERY EXTREMELY TRUE--paraphrase of Medley-ism. then sees visual proof that MotoGP riders are at the seemingly nice track in India without snakes breathing fire in their hair. In fact, paddock people seem to be enjoying India and find it a powerfully spiritual country just like George Harrison, Steve Jobs and our Nick Hayden did (after Nick got over the cows in the street). WELL, I GUESS ALL THAT WAS FOR NOTHING. What time is FP1 again? Oh! Okay, I'm going to record it then. I am going to try and stay off social media so no spoilers ruin it for me.