Lets get one thing out of the way before we start: that cockpit head protection thingamajig thats been delayed till 2018 is no Halo. Its a flip-flop (or thong, if youre Australian), and nothing anyone can say will convince me otherwise.Following the publication of (some of) the results of the F1 Strategy Group meeting that took place in Geneva on Thursday, there has been some muttering about Formula Ones tendency to change its mind, flip-flopping here, and U-turning there.But is it such a bad thing for an individual or an organisation to change their minds as situations change?As a private individual, if I stuck dogmatically to my opinions come hell or high water, ignoring new information or editing it to suit my preconceptions, people would think I was an idiot. As soon as one enters the public sphere, however -- as a celebrity or politician, for example -- changing your mind is no longer a sign of personal growth, changing circumstances, or new information, but instead is seen as a sign of moral or personal weakness.True, Formula One has introduced and then eliminated things that werent popular: the double-points season finale; that qualifying shake-up; restrictions on radio communication... But is it better to try new things and ditch what doesnt work, or to sit happily in a rut persisting in doing things that either dont work or never have, just because you dont want to admit that trial and error involves endless trials and quite a lot of error?Speaking to the media in an open Q&A session held between Friday practice sessions in Hockenheim, FIA race director Charlie Whiting reflected on F1s recent mistakes.If you look at the qualifying procedure, I think everyone -- I say everyone; Im talking about the Strategy Group and the members of the F1 Commission, which comprises all of the great and the good of Formula One -- felt that this was a good idea, Whiting said.It didnt work, I think we can all accept that, and we felt that the most grown-up thing to do would be to go back. I think that was that, really, with qualifying. It dragged on a little longer than it could have -- sorry, than it need have -- but there you go. I think someone asked me yesterday: Do you remember that qualifying? I couldnt actually remember what we did in Australia straight away. These things disappear.I dont feel that the radio thing is a U-turn as such. The original things were requested of us for a good reason, and it kind of worked at the beginning but it was beginning to mean that the spectators and the fans are not getting quite what they could. I think that that is why they thought it was a good idea to try and go back to something that gave them more. I think we have to respond to those sorts of things; I dont think its a bad thing at all.Several of F1s recent reassessments of new regulations or regulatory adjustments have taken place with a view to improving the fan experience, Whiting explained with reference to the radio traffic rules.We have to look back to when the Strategy Group decided that there was too much radio traffic and it was detrimental to the sport, he said. We were getting quite a few complaints, if I remember, from fans saying Why are they being told all these things? They should be driving them for themselves.In the August of 2014 the Strategy Group decided that we should cut out nearly all radio conversations. We issued a note reflecting those views and everyone said Oh, its too much, its too much. So we scaled it right back and we introduced bits and pieces and then we went to single clutch paddles and those sorts of things.Now the feedback is that weve gone too far and this actually has not been the best thing and the Commercial Rights Holder feels he can improve the content for the fans with the radio conversations. This is contingent upon the teams providing all the content from their discussions with the drivers, because before they had privacy buttons and they were chopping out great big chunks of it. So now theyve got to provide everything to the broadcasters and this is seen as a way to improve the experience for the fans and spectators.Both Formula One in general and the FIA in particular have, in recent years, been subjected to widespread criticism for their readiness to try new things and abandon that which does not work. Instead of seeing that flexibility as a personal affront, perhaps the time has come for fans and spectators to acknowledge that several recent rule adjustments have come about in response to fan feedback, and that every attempt to spice things up -- successful or not -- has been done with a view to improving fans experience of the show. Cheap Jerseys . JOHNS, N. Nike NFL Jerseys China . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. http://www.wholesalejerseysfromchinacheap.com/ . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. Wholesale Jerseys China . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. In November, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on giving.Ive been thinking a lot about losing lately, about its inevitability, and how it hurts just as bad every time. Sometimes it teaches you something, and sometimes it doesnt. Sometimes you fail despite doing everything right.If that big fail happens when youre at the top of your game, it can be a gift, as Ronda Rousey will demonstrate next month when she enters the Octagon for the first time in more than a year.Her return is brave, and I tell myself this a lot: Going back to the spot where you failed and trying again is brave.The last time Rousey was in the ring, after winning and hanging onto the UFC womens bantamweight belt over the course of six fights, Holly Holm destroyed her with a knockout kick to the head.There were, it seems, two reactions to that loss; those of us who thought Rousey was invincible, and then were shocked and disappointed to discover that she wasnt.We like our superheroes to always win. Rousey made winning look easy: fights won in 34 seconds, or 14 seconds, often by arm bar.Then there were the people who emerged to say why they couldve predicted Rouseys loss, why shed been unprepared, or distracted by celebrity and media interviews, and that she was too arrogant for her own good.The former Olympic judo medalist never struck me as arrogant. More like driven. This is a woman who started judo at 11, and whose own mother, a judoka who once won gold at the World Judo championship, used to wake her up by trying to execute an arm bar.Compared to her mom, Rousey thought of herself as laid-back. Of her upbringing, she said, The rule was you could pick anything you wanted to do in the world, but you just had to be the best in the world at it.Just.She did and she tried. She worried her body was too masculine. She binged and purged to maintain her weight class. After she took the bronze in judo in the 2008 Olympics, she struggled with depression, drank, bartended, and at points lived out of her car.When she found MMA, she wanted those wins badly, and along the way, she transformed womens MMA.Whenever people talk about how cocky and arrogant I am, it blows me away, because I worked so hard to develop self-confidence, she told the New Yorker in 2014.Rousey at the top of her game is something to behold. She glares. She struts. She cries after a win. She is an out-there character in a no-holds-barred sport, her quotes provocative, pithy and playful. Every one of my muscles is here for a purpose, she once said. And if she talked smack before fights, it was partly a manifestation of all that will, not to mention a means of making sure shed prove herself right in the ring.ddddddddddddIm willing to die in here, she said in 2014, during blustery pre-game fight interviews.Theres an interview Rousey did with UFC analyst Joe Rogan last year, before the Holm fight, where she talks about seeing herself a bit like actor Heath Ledgers Joker, a villain the audience cant help but root for. Protagonists react, while antagonists make things happen, she says.Rousey is that rare public female figure who is quite open about the fact that she does not care about being liked. After she wouldnt touch gloves with Holm before her fight -- when she lost, Lady Gaga posted an Instagram of her being pummeled with the caption, Thats what you get for not touching gloves! -- those of us that loved Rouseys swagger felt the familiar sting at a woman getting her comeuppance. We wondered when the sports world -- heck, when the rest of the world -- would be ready for a female antihero.In the months since that fight, Rousey has talked about how it felt to lose. After she got clipped by Holm, she said, I wasnt really there anymore, using language shed once used triumphantly to describe her effect on another opponent. The master of her own body, who trains by climbing trees, who describes herself as a ninja when shes feeling good, didnt even feel like she was inside it. And everybody was watching.Afterward, she told Ellen DeGeneres she felt suicidal. I was like, What am I anymore if Im not this? She said this with tears running down her face, knotting her hands together in her lap. Im thinking what my actual purpose is, and maybe just winning all the time isnt whats best, she added. Maybe I just had to be the example of picking myself up off the floor for everyone. Maybe thats what Im meant for.Ive been thinking a lot about winning lately -- about what it gives you, and what it deprives you of. How we get virtue and victory mixed up sometimes, and wind up valuing the wrong thing. The truth is, most of us dont win all the time; heck, most of us dont win half the time. Most of us know that feeling of losing better than we know the feeling of winning.Next months bout might be one of Rouseys last. I want her to win again. Im a courageous person because Im a scared person, Rousey said years ago.I believe her. ' ' '