F1 driver. I've seen him on Top Gear, they pretended he was the Stig once. Hell of a thing, an F1 driver getting injured in a skiing accident. Hope he'll be OK.
This is horrible news. I'm both an F1 fan and a keen skiier. Michael's family must be very worried right now. I hope he can recover. Victory No.92!
And not just a driver, but more like the Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan of F1 drivers. He has seven championships; the next closest, the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, had five, a benchmark which stood for over 40 years till Schumacher broke it. Serious head trauma despite wearing a helmet... Doesn't sound good, but hope he can recover.
Really? I mean, he's not Nelson Mandela or whatever, but even in the US his name should be quite well known in passing. And if you've really never heard of him, what exactly is the purpose of this comment?
Because I was trying to figure out who this guy is. I know Formula 1 is basically European NASCAR, but I don't follow auto racing at all.
Bad assumption. I've never heard of this man before the news of his accident. Couldn't figure out why it was news at all. Worst part was most people just assumed I'd know who he was by name alone. Frankly, it seemed like the news was trending about some random guy's horrible accident because it was an otherwise slow day. I mean, it's terrible that it happened, but he's not as famous as some people think he is.
If "most" people assume you'd know who he is by name alone, then he must be pretty famous in your part of the world too. But anyway, I don't watch Formula 1 and I never liked Schumacher, so whatever. SmoothieX's comment annoyed me not because Schumacher is such a noteworthy person, but because it was so pointless and even the most rudimentary googling would've answered it immediately.
I'm not sure what you're arguing here. You don't know Schumacher, fine, and neither does SmoothieX , also fine, but I bet his worldwide name recognition rivals that of all but maybe a dozen or so American athletes.
I'm arguing that people need to recognize that knowing someone "famous" doesn't mean you can just post something about them without context. So what if they're famous in some circles. They're still going to be completely unknown to far more people than know him or her.
OP literally starts with "Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula 1 world champion". How much more initial explanation do you need?
What the hell is Formula 1, and why is he known particularly for it? I assume there is more than one Formula 1 driver in the world. Or is he the only one, hence his fame? Is he known for being good at it, or bad? Does he win a lot? Is he some kind of record holder? Instead of being irritated that people ask "Who?", why not just take the opportunity to share your knowledge and enjoyment of the "sport"? Asking questions isn't rude.
But that's hardly the case here. Formula One has an annual TV viewership of over half a billion people; the only sporting events that are bigger are the World Cup and summer Olympics. Schumacher is one of the most internationally well-known sports figures alive.
Oh boy, what a shame. MS has always been my favourite driver, I loved to hate him, then I just came to really enjoy his career. I hope he recovers. SmoothieX obviously wasn't making a genuine request for more information, there's plenty of context provided, he was just making a douchey comment in poor taste.
Look, the amount of posts I've made in this thread vastly overrepresents how much I care about this (although I certainly wish Schumacher a good recovery), but if you seriously don't feel SmoothieX's comment was somewhat disrespectful, I question your judgement.
Oh? Well I'd still never heard of him before yesterday, and finally just figured out why it was news at all. So what if 500 million people watch F1? That leaves about 6.5 billion people who don't. I'm one of them. Hope he recovers.