By Mike Sanders
Drunk, Lazy, And Stupid Is No Way To Go Through Life, Son...
Especially if you're the chairman and CEO of a major sports organization. But Brain Dead manages to pull it off. On May 19th, just before the Sprint All-Star Race, he stated that he's pleased with the 2012 season: "It's been a good, solid year". Really? For whom? Maybe for you, because you're making a boat-load of cash, and The Felon is keeping your liquor cabinet fully-stocked with his weekly "donations", but what about the fans? It doesn't appears to have been such a great year for most of them, if you go by TV ratings and race attendence. Almost every track now has several sections covered by flags, tarps, or sponsor banners to attempt to hide all of the empty seats. Blimp shots of the stands get cut off abruptly once the large sections of uncovered empty seats come into view. There are no official race attendence numbers; everything is fudged. That's why you'll see numbers like "100,000" or "80,000" for race attendence. Most are completely bogus and insult the intelligence of most of the fans at the race or those watching (in decreasing numbers) at home on TV. Speaking of the All-Star Race...
The All-Star Debacle
This season, the Sprint All-Star Race was advertised as the only major sport All-Star contest in which the participants are actually trying. Considering what the NFL Pro Bowl has degraded to lately, that wouldn't be a difficult statement to make. And it has that potential: no points are on the line, and the winner gets a cool million bucks. There won't be any "points racing", so everybody can just go for it. Well, that's not quite what happened this year. The winners of the first three segments played possum at the back of the field after they won their segment, and then raced hard during the final 10 lap segment that decided the race. It was a monumental pile of horse dung. I don't want to hear about how those three drivers were "employing strategy by not using their cars up". Bull crap! After Bent Sh!tcan won the first segment then started the second segment a full straightaway behind the field, driving about as fast as my 82 year old mother, the whole thing went to hell. Someone from NASCAR should have been on the phone to the 48 team and told them that if the 48 didn't move up to the pack and race like he had a pair, he would be parked for the remainder of the race. "Sorry...no balls, no million bucks. If we wanted to see someone drive like that, we'd have put your wife behind the wheel." My solution for this mess is a simple one: make it a 100 lap race with no segments. Period. No mandatory pit stops. Stop when you need to or under caution. Determining the participants would also be simple: anybody who won a race between last year's ASR and this year's ASR gets in, as do past ASR winners. That's it. No bogus fan vote, no heat races. I can dream, can't I?
An Update On The Best Female Driver In NASCAR
And of course, it's not The Bimbo. It's Johanna Long. I wrote about her after Daytona, and, after being prodded by a couple of readers after my last article, I'll do it again now, and I'll continue to do it later in the year. The recently-turned 20 year old from Pensacola, driving for the under-funded ML Motorsports in the number 70 car, has now run 8 races this year, with an average starting position of 21.0 and an average finish of 23.8 (skewed by a 37th place finish at Talladega in which she ran only 18 laps due to overheating). The Talladega race is her only DNF of the year. She's doing great considering the lack of funding she has to deal with. By contrast, The Bimbo, in just about the best equipment money can buy, has stats of 15.4-21.0 and 3 DNF's. The Bimbo also leads Johanna in excuses for non-performance by about 23 quadrillion to zero. And speaking of The Bimbo...
Payback Is A ... Well, You Know
Good for Sam Hornish, Jr. for not putting up with The Bimbo's crap. The Bimbo puts him into the wall on the cooldown lap at Talladega, Sam retaliates with a well-timed (and COMPLETELY UNINTENTIONAL *cough, cough*) tap at Dover that basically ends her day. Good going, Sam! Unfortunately, there was a bit of collateral damage, as Brad Sweet got caught up in it. Wrong place, wrong time, etc.
NASCAR Sends Another Message
NASCAR probation has been universally scoffed at and mocked. It is (or was) completely toothless; it was their way of saying "stop...or I'll say 'stop' again". It meant nothing. Well, their suspension of Maxi Douche after his incident with writer Bob Pockrass after the Dover Nationwide race was a message to all drivers: when you're on probation, don't piss us off, or we WILL do something about it. Message received (I think). BTW, if the NASCAR media were polled off the record, I'm sure most of them would rather interview Maxi or even Mini Douche (as long as they had taken their meds) than interview Bent Sh!tcan, whose grating monotone drives everybody up the wall.
A Job Lost, A Job Saved?
I think this might have been Maxi Douche's last chance. It's a good thing that the contract between him and car owner James Finch was a handshake deal and not in writing. Finch was already having a hard time finding sponsors for the 51, but now (with the possible exception of Jerry Springer's offer, which I think is just a publicity stunt...but what a fitting driver to sponsor) I doubt any top-tier or even mid-tier sponsor would touch the 51 with a 10 foot pole as long as Maxi is behind the wheel. On the other side of things, did the win at Pocono save Burnt Toast's job in the 20 car? As much as I'd like to say that it's The Coach's call on that one, sadly the call will probably be made by Home Depot. Yep, sponsors run NASCAR these days, especially big name sponsors like HD. If they want somebody else behind the wheel of the 20 next year (this is the final year of BT's contract), then The Coach will be forced to make a change. Gotta keep the big money guys happy.
Could It Happen?
We all know that the dreaded disease know as "The Chase for the Sprint Cup" was the kneejerk reaction to Matt Kenseth winning the 2003 championship going away despite only winning one race all year. Thus far in 2012, the most consistent driver in the Cup series is also one of the drivers who hasn't won this year: that's right, it's June Bug. Wouldn't it be a nice thumb in the eye of Brain Dead and the other chuckleheads-in-charge if June Bug won the championship this year and didn't win a race? You'd be able to hear the cementheads exploding all the way here in Orlando.
TNT Takes Charge
TNT telecasted the Pocono race and has the next five races before ESPN takes over. For the first time all year I could actually see more than two cars on the track at the same time. What a concept! And while the guys in the booth aren't as bad as FOX's crew, they've got some improving to do. Still, nothing beats a "boogity"-less green flag to start a race.
Curtis Turner for 2016 HOF
Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, November 7, 2011
Marketing, Poor Taste & Other Stuff
Who’s the Marketable Chump Going to Be?
Looking at the current points standings and who’s actually got a shot at being this year’s chumpion, who is the most marketable? Cousin/Crazy Carl with his big toothy grin, his “aw shucks” demeanor, and his time with the BSPN Booth Buffoons definitely makes him marketable. His Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth on the other hand isn’t that marketable as Faux King Brian and his band of mental midgets found out when Matt won the last real Cup championship. Bad Brad is an articulate kid with an expensive smile but he doesn’t have the name recognition that Cousin/Crazy Carl does outside of his supposedly continuing bad blood with Cousin/Crazy Carl. That’s a key point in marketing. Name recognition. Tony Stewart’s got name recognition but between the changes in his expanding and contracting girth, some whining the last couple of seasons, and not being marketed the way he was when he was at JGR, he might be a little more difficult to market. Mr Happy isn’t so happy this season despite KHI performing well. The commercials he was in for his previous sponsor showed he can do commercials but was it enough to get more folks to buy their product? Not that I can find. He does have some name recognition but not enough to really make him a highly marketable chump. Neither Busch brother is that marketable. Despite both being in commercials, their on-track antics and comments don’t exactly endear them to many folks outside of their fan base. Some race fans have written their sponsors to let them know they will no longer use/buy their products because of their attitude, antics, and comments. And after the elder Busch became the first chump in the Chase for the Chumps, Faux King Brian and company found out that the elder Busch wasn’t very marketable at all. Normally NA$CAR cranks out a lot of PR, pounds their chest, and does more than the usual late night show appearances. With the elder Busch, it was like he didn’t exist. Folks are tired of Jimmie Johnson. And his chances of being a 6 time chump have all but evaporated. And as Faux King Brian has found out, JJ has become less and less marketable after each chumpionship he’s won even though he’s got name recognition. It’s like the Head-On commercial. Folks get tired of the repetition. Plus it doesn’t help to have the likes of the Focks Sports and BSPN Booth Buffoons yammering on and on time and again about “ole 5 time”. That’s probably been a big detriment to him despite being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As the rest of the drivers in the points standing don’t have a snowballs chance of winning, I’m not going to address them.
I’m not slamming these guys. Just pointing out their marketability. So it comes down to Cousin/Crazy Carl being the most marketable of the bunch should he be this years chumpion. I know some folks won’t be happy about that. And should his Roush teammate be this years chump, the folks in NA$CAR’s marketing conglomerate will be sweating bullets and having nightmares on how they can market him. For me, from a marketing standpoint, the perfect 2011 chump would be Matt simply because of the headaches it’s going to cause the Ivory Tower gang.
Poor Taste Department
DuPont has been running some commercials on radio recently with two supposedly fictional characters named “Fireball” and “Hardhead”. In the background, you can hear Indy cars running. The first time these ads were heard, from what I can find out, was the day after Dan Wheldon’s fiery crash and death. Not to mention Fireball Roberts, who’s death was caused by a fiery crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in 1964, and Iron Head, aka Dale Sr, whose death I don’t need to go into.
You’ve Got to Wonder
IndyCar, F-1, and the FIA world sanctioning body are all looking at what could’ve cause Dan Wheldon’s death and what can be done to prevent something like that happening again. And yet outside of some Cup drivers making some donations to the Wheldon fundraising auction and some comments about his loss, we see absolutely nothing out of NA$CAR saying there are things that could be learned or offering up any sort of assistance in analyzing the wreck data or helping to improve the design of the DW 12 car which is currently undergoing testing. While the rest of the world’s racing community has come together to prevent something like Wheldon’s wreck from happening again, NA$CAR remains aloof.
Point To Ponder
By now most folks are aware that OOPS, currently on David Regan’s car, is going to be an “official sponsor” of NA$CAR and an associate sponsor on Cousin/Crazy Carl’s car. What happens when somebody becomes an “official sponsor/product/service provider” of NA$CAR, like with Badyear, Splint, or Sumoco? It means there’s usually an “exclusivity deal” that goes along with it. And what happens when there’s an exclusivity deal? It means that businesses in that same field cannot sponsor a car unless they’re “grandfathered”, the way AT&T & Alltel were in the past. So, if OOPS is the official delivery provider of NA$CAR, that means that Fed-Up isn’t, which means that Fed-Up will be grandfathered until their contract with JGR runs out, which means once their contract runs out there will be one less team sponsor which in turn will mean one less team if what’s happening to Roush and what happened to Robby Gordon with Motorola is an indication.
From Deep in the Heart of Texas
This is from my old racing buddy Dave from down in the Dallas area:
TMS is touting a "4 Pack" for this week's race. For one price you get all 4 events. What's that you say? There's only 3 races? As far as they are concerned, Thursday's practice and Truck Qualifying is an official "event". Ignore the fact that there are coupons in the paper for free admission to Thursday's "event". Anyway, the "4 Pack" is $121.00. This gets you a row 1 - 10 seat for the events. Oh. You don't want to sit behind the concrete wall and see nothing? Then the "4 Pack" is $176.00 for rows 11 - 20. They have plenty of them, they said. (No kidding.) And one more thing. This package is considered a "mini season ticket" (that's what they said on the phone - with a straight face too), so........there is a $15 fee added. The fee is added whether you buy the ticket on the phone or at the box office. Nice, eh?
Oh, and one more thing. All the ticket prices were raised this week. The cheap seats went up $5.00 (for the Truck and Nationwide races) and more (they wouldn't say how much for the Cup tickets) for the rest. Hey, if you can't sell them at regular price - raise it the week of the event, right? There are $10 off coupons for the Truck race, which are buried in the Metro section of the Sunday Dallas Morning News with no heading, no nothing. Just two coupons on the bottom of the page. The speedway couldn't tell me if there were coupons as no one there had actually seen one, and no one knew anything about them.
And they wonder why the place isn't full??????
Tell me again why the media keeps telling me Eddie Gossage is a marketing genius?
Real Stock Car Racing Coming to Sears Point
In 2012, the FIA World Touring Championship will be racing at Sears Point. The series involves real cars with real bodies and real fenders and bodies that are easily identifiable to a specific make. They’ll be running 2 thirty minute races which means you’ll be seeing short track action on a road course. Bumping, banging, and fenders rubbing. Whether or not it’ll be shown here is a different matter. It’s going to be carried on Eurovision. I know in the past Speed TV has carried some Eurovision broadcasts related to racing so maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to see some stock looking cars racing each other just like the Aussie V-8 Series. What a concept. Stock cars racing each other. Oh wait. Isn’t that what the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is supposed to be? Stock car racing?
Don’t Be Fooled
Despite all the “happy happy joy joy” things being written about the ratings being up, they’re still down by 5+ million viewers since 2008. Step back from the Kool Aid boys & girls and quit using the “1984” Doublespeak Dictionary to make things look better than they truly are.
Around the Web
After the Martinsville race, I went to a number of web sites and read comments regarding the race at Martinsville. Overall fan feel for the race was, “Why aren’t there more races like Martinsville?”. They enjoyed the beating and banging that went on. Well, it comes down to a very simple reason. Faux King Brian has all but eliminated the short tracks and the unique designed tracks which gave us a lot of exciting racing in favor of his much ballyhooed and beloved 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks. Darlington got cut back to one race. Rockingham was dropped off the schedule altogether. The formerly much beloved Bristol was turned into a shadow of it’s former self when it was reconfigured because the drivers, not racers, complained that they couldn’t race there because they had to beat and bang on each other to actually get ahead a position. In other words do some bare knuckle racing.
But not all the blame should be levied against Faux King Brian. A lot of the blame can also be placed on his dad and his grandfather when Winston and the networks showed up. Tracks like Columbia, Occoneechee, Hickory, Nashville Fairgrounds, and Bowman-Gray were dropped from the schedule. Short tracks with a lot of action. But because they were either dirt or didn’t have the amenities that Winston and the networks wanted, they got dropped.
Where Are Your Tax Dollars Going?
If this isn’t enough to make you want to call or write your congressmen I don’t know what will:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-politicians-ought-to-put-brakes-on-nascar-1936006.html
Looking at the current points standings and who’s actually got a shot at being this year’s chumpion, who is the most marketable? Cousin/Crazy Carl with his big toothy grin, his “aw shucks” demeanor, and his time with the BSPN Booth Buffoons definitely makes him marketable. His Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth on the other hand isn’t that marketable as Faux King Brian and his band of mental midgets found out when Matt won the last real Cup championship. Bad Brad is an articulate kid with an expensive smile but he doesn’t have the name recognition that Cousin/Crazy Carl does outside of his supposedly continuing bad blood with Cousin/Crazy Carl. That’s a key point in marketing. Name recognition. Tony Stewart’s got name recognition but between the changes in his expanding and contracting girth, some whining the last couple of seasons, and not being marketed the way he was when he was at JGR, he might be a little more difficult to market. Mr Happy isn’t so happy this season despite KHI performing well. The commercials he was in for his previous sponsor showed he can do commercials but was it enough to get more folks to buy their product? Not that I can find. He does have some name recognition but not enough to really make him a highly marketable chump. Neither Busch brother is that marketable. Despite both being in commercials, their on-track antics and comments don’t exactly endear them to many folks outside of their fan base. Some race fans have written their sponsors to let them know they will no longer use/buy their products because of their attitude, antics, and comments. And after the elder Busch became the first chump in the Chase for the Chumps, Faux King Brian and company found out that the elder Busch wasn’t very marketable at all. Normally NA$CAR cranks out a lot of PR, pounds their chest, and does more than the usual late night show appearances. With the elder Busch, it was like he didn’t exist. Folks are tired of Jimmie Johnson. And his chances of being a 6 time chump have all but evaporated. And as Faux King Brian has found out, JJ has become less and less marketable after each chumpionship he’s won even though he’s got name recognition. It’s like the Head-On commercial. Folks get tired of the repetition. Plus it doesn’t help to have the likes of the Focks Sports and BSPN Booth Buffoons yammering on and on time and again about “ole 5 time”. That’s probably been a big detriment to him despite being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As the rest of the drivers in the points standing don’t have a snowballs chance of winning, I’m not going to address them.
I’m not slamming these guys. Just pointing out their marketability. So it comes down to Cousin/Crazy Carl being the most marketable of the bunch should he be this years chumpion. I know some folks won’t be happy about that. And should his Roush teammate be this years chump, the folks in NA$CAR’s marketing conglomerate will be sweating bullets and having nightmares on how they can market him. For me, from a marketing standpoint, the perfect 2011 chump would be Matt simply because of the headaches it’s going to cause the Ivory Tower gang.
Poor Taste Department
DuPont has been running some commercials on radio recently with two supposedly fictional characters named “Fireball” and “Hardhead”. In the background, you can hear Indy cars running. The first time these ads were heard, from what I can find out, was the day after Dan Wheldon’s fiery crash and death. Not to mention Fireball Roberts, who’s death was caused by a fiery crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in 1964, and Iron Head, aka Dale Sr, whose death I don’t need to go into.
You’ve Got to Wonder
IndyCar, F-1, and the FIA world sanctioning body are all looking at what could’ve cause Dan Wheldon’s death and what can be done to prevent something like that happening again. And yet outside of some Cup drivers making some donations to the Wheldon fundraising auction and some comments about his loss, we see absolutely nothing out of NA$CAR saying there are things that could be learned or offering up any sort of assistance in analyzing the wreck data or helping to improve the design of the DW 12 car which is currently undergoing testing. While the rest of the world’s racing community has come together to prevent something like Wheldon’s wreck from happening again, NA$CAR remains aloof.
Point To Ponder
By now most folks are aware that OOPS, currently on David Regan’s car, is going to be an “official sponsor” of NA$CAR and an associate sponsor on Cousin/Crazy Carl’s car. What happens when somebody becomes an “official sponsor/product/service provider” of NA$CAR, like with Badyear, Splint, or Sumoco? It means there’s usually an “exclusivity deal” that goes along with it. And what happens when there’s an exclusivity deal? It means that businesses in that same field cannot sponsor a car unless they’re “grandfathered”, the way AT&T & Alltel were in the past. So, if OOPS is the official delivery provider of NA$CAR, that means that Fed-Up isn’t, which means that Fed-Up will be grandfathered until their contract with JGR runs out, which means once their contract runs out there will be one less team sponsor which in turn will mean one less team if what’s happening to Roush and what happened to Robby Gordon with Motorola is an indication.
From Deep in the Heart of Texas
This is from my old racing buddy Dave from down in the Dallas area:
TMS is touting a "4 Pack" for this week's race. For one price you get all 4 events. What's that you say? There's only 3 races? As far as they are concerned, Thursday's practice and Truck Qualifying is an official "event". Ignore the fact that there are coupons in the paper for free admission to Thursday's "event". Anyway, the "4 Pack" is $121.00. This gets you a row 1 - 10 seat for the events. Oh. You don't want to sit behind the concrete wall and see nothing? Then the "4 Pack" is $176.00 for rows 11 - 20. They have plenty of them, they said. (No kidding.) And one more thing. This package is considered a "mini season ticket" (that's what they said on the phone - with a straight face too), so........there is a $15 fee added. The fee is added whether you buy the ticket on the phone or at the box office. Nice, eh?
Oh, and one more thing. All the ticket prices were raised this week. The cheap seats went up $5.00 (for the Truck and Nationwide races) and more (they wouldn't say how much for the Cup tickets) for the rest. Hey, if you can't sell them at regular price - raise it the week of the event, right? There are $10 off coupons for the Truck race, which are buried in the Metro section of the Sunday Dallas Morning News with no heading, no nothing. Just two coupons on the bottom of the page. The speedway couldn't tell me if there were coupons as no one there had actually seen one, and no one knew anything about them.
And they wonder why the place isn't full??????
Tell me again why the media keeps telling me Eddie Gossage is a marketing genius?
Real Stock Car Racing Coming to Sears Point
In 2012, the FIA World Touring Championship will be racing at Sears Point. The series involves real cars with real bodies and real fenders and bodies that are easily identifiable to a specific make. They’ll be running 2 thirty minute races which means you’ll be seeing short track action on a road course. Bumping, banging, and fenders rubbing. Whether or not it’ll be shown here is a different matter. It’s going to be carried on Eurovision. I know in the past Speed TV has carried some Eurovision broadcasts related to racing so maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to see some stock looking cars racing each other just like the Aussie V-8 Series. What a concept. Stock cars racing each other. Oh wait. Isn’t that what the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is supposed to be? Stock car racing?
Don’t Be Fooled
Despite all the “happy happy joy joy” things being written about the ratings being up, they’re still down by 5+ million viewers since 2008. Step back from the Kool Aid boys & girls and quit using the “1984” Doublespeak Dictionary to make things look better than they truly are.
Around the Web
After the Martinsville race, I went to a number of web sites and read comments regarding the race at Martinsville. Overall fan feel for the race was, “Why aren’t there more races like Martinsville?”. They enjoyed the beating and banging that went on. Well, it comes down to a very simple reason. Faux King Brian has all but eliminated the short tracks and the unique designed tracks which gave us a lot of exciting racing in favor of his much ballyhooed and beloved 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks. Darlington got cut back to one race. Rockingham was dropped off the schedule altogether. The formerly much beloved Bristol was turned into a shadow of it’s former self when it was reconfigured because the drivers, not racers, complained that they couldn’t race there because they had to beat and bang on each other to actually get ahead a position. In other words do some bare knuckle racing.
But not all the blame should be levied against Faux King Brian. A lot of the blame can also be placed on his dad and his grandfather when Winston and the networks showed up. Tracks like Columbia, Occoneechee, Hickory, Nashville Fairgrounds, and Bowman-Gray were dropped from the schedule. Short tracks with a lot of action. But because they were either dirt or didn’t have the amenities that Winston and the networks wanted, they got dropped.
Where Are Your Tax Dollars Going?
If this isn’t enough to make you want to call or write your congressmen I don’t know what will:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-politicians-ought-to-put-brakes-on-nascar-1936006.html
Monday, March 7, 2011
Provider Issues, Twitter, Firestone, & Legends Helping Legends
Dish Network & LIN Media Making Enemies Quick
In the battle between Dish Network and LIN Media, a lot of stations were cut off from not only Fox but also local news coverage. It appears Dish is not willing to pay LIN Media for a rate increase so LIN Media cut off their service to Dish. This definitely will not help the ratings this weekend and will also serve as an excuse should the ratings be down because of the affected cities. From reading several comments by Dish subscribers, they plan to discontinue service because of this dispute.
Championship Worries
Back in 2003, the big worry was about having a Cup Series champion who didn’t have a win. This same worry is starting to come up now with the Busch Series as a result of the new rules and points restructuring. As it stands right now, and based on the performance of the Buschwackers over the last several years, this problem could be a very real one for Faux King Brian and friends. If it does happen, don’t be a bit surprised if there’s another restructuring of the points system specifically for the Busch Series.
Something to Think About
Old Man Time wins the Busch Series race and gets one headline. The Queen of Hype finishes 4th and gets 11 headlines as of Sunday. Is 4th the new 1st? Or is it that she’s been deemed the new Messiah to save NA$CAR from it’s woes of poor attendance, poor TV ratings, poor souvenir sales, and financial problems caused by their previous Messiah not living to all the hype that was generated by him from the Ivory Towers?
And don't fall for the hype. The Queen of Hype finished 4th, which is the highest finish for a female driver in the Busch Series. Sara Christian finished 5th in the NASCAR Stritctly Stock Series in 1949, which is today's Cup Series. There's a big difference between Cup and Busch. So while she did set a record, she hasn't set THE record. Keep trying.
It’s Official, Firestone is Leaving IndyCar
Firestone announced that they will be leaving the IndyCar Series at the end of the 2011 season. This opens the door for a lot of tire manufacturers to step up and fill the gap. It would be quite a marketing coup if Hoosier got the contract. Hoosier tires on race cars in the Hoosier state. The Dallara “tub” being built in the Hoosier state. Lots of possibilities there on the Hoosier connection if they land the tire contract.
According to Robin Miller of Speed TV, Goodyear, Hoosier, and Cooper are all interested in being the replacement tire company. Miller thinks Goodyear will get the nod.
Twitter Traffic of Interest
I don’t know how many folks heard about Jeremy Mayfield’s interview on Speed TV being stopped by Paul Brooks, but here’s a couple of Tweets regarding that from Mayfield himself:
jeremymayfield
Paul Brooks, "you won't be able to stop my next interview"
jeremymayfield
@beaverlakekid thanks, I'm gonna start telling my side of the story, "everything" they can't control what I say here.
I mentioned Jabber Jaws and his remarks about being a fan.
Darrell Waltrip
hey twitterville, I have absolutely nothing to do with the tv coverage of the Nationwide series, I'm a fan and follow it just like you do !
Just remember what the lamestream whiners said, “if you have media credentials you can’t cheer or applaud”. Not to mention Jabber Jaws own words from the Truck Series days. “You shouldn’t be involved if you’re a fan”. Words to live by there Jabber Jaws. So leave the announcing booth.
Jeff Gluck
Danica was pissed she didn't get the free pass there: "F---- lucky dog!!! Keeps biting my ass!!!" or something like that.
If you believe the hype she should’ve won the race before the green flag dropped. As to the quote by Gluck, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. Ever so ladylike. Maybe she needs to hang out with Jennifer Jo Cobb and learn how a female driver handles adversity.
ESPN Strikes Again
In what was supposed to be an article titled “Danica Patrick Talks Crashes, NASCAR”. This would lead you to think that it’s about her racing in NA$CAR. But no, the first two paragraphs are about promoting IndyCar races in Texas and mentioning there might be a crash. Is that what IndyCar fans turn out for nowadays? Crashes? Isn’t that what they say NA$CAR fans turn out for? She spends more time talking about IndyCar than she does about NA$CAR and her Busch Series races. Maybe it should’ve been titled “Danica Talks About Her 2011 Racing Season”. It seems like sort of deceptive way to get some web hits on the article.
Another “strike” against BSPN came this past weekend when the Busch Series race was pre-empted by college basketball in a number of cities. If the Disney bunch (Disney/ABC/BSPN) knew this would happen, then why even bother bidding on the TV contract and angering race fans around the country who have no interest in college hoops? Any bets more races get pre-empted as March Madness continues?
Oops!
Leave it to Speed TV expert and alienator of race fans everywhere to pull one like this. This is from Bob Pockrass on Twitter last Thursday:
Kenny Wallace gets black-flagged. He says on radio "They're black-flagging me?" And then he says, "Oh, I never signed in."
You’re not a real race car driver if you can’t remember to sign in at the NA$CAR trailer? I guess that’s a good paraphrase of his famous weekly remark.
Your Bias is Showing Again
During Cup qualifying, the almighty Jabbers Jaws couldn’t give the Fords credit for qualifying well. Any time a Chosen One or his favorite brand of car didn’t qualify well, it was because of the bumps on the track even though the Fords ran over the same exact bumps as everyone else.
Astute Observation
Erin made a very astute observation about the so-called “journalists” covering NA$CAR.
If you cover NASCAR you are an entertainment reporter...and as we've all seen covering entertainment requires no ethics!
And she makes a very good point. As NA$CAR events are held in entertainment venues and by their own admission is sports entertainment, they are entertainment and as such, all the ethical standards of “real journalism” do not apply. That means all of these supposed journalist covering NA$CAR are little more than reporters for shows like Entertainment Tonight or magazines like Entertainment Weekly. This explains why there are so many fluff pieces written or shown on the NA$CAR related TV shows. That’s racer-tainment!
Premature Enunciations
Some of the Kool Aid drinkers are saying that all of NA$CAR’s woes are over now and that everything has turned around and everything is sunshine and lollipops. We’re 3 races into the new season. There is no sports competition to speak of at this point, like play-offs or the start of the new stick and ball seasons. Unlike the Kool Aid Kids, I’m not quite ready to pull the patient off of life support yet just because they’re twitching from autonomous system reactions. Lets see how things go when we’ve got March Madness going on, MLB is playing, and the NBA play-offs are hitting their stride.
Robby Gordon on Double Secret Probation
It seems that after a shouting match between Robby and driver of the Stiffy Mobile Kevin Conway over money matters, Conway filed a report with the LVPD and complained to NA$CAR. NA$CAR in turn placed Robby on Indefinite Probation. I wonder just how long that will be considering Curtis Turner was banned for life and re-instated and some other folks more recently who were booted for drug use with indefinite suspensions have been re-instated. Will he have to pray to the Ivory Towers, wear a camel hair fire suit, and do thousands of mea culpas as penance?
Plus a few unanswered questions. Just what was a Busch Series driver (Conway) doing in the Cup garage? That sounds to me like he was looking for trouble. No answer out of NA$CAR. So why didn't they both receive the same punishment? No answer out of NA$CAR. Based on my past experience, unless you have Cup credentials, you can't go into the Cup garage if the area is segregated from the other series. But then the lamestream media isn't asking the questions either, which is no surprise.
Upcoming Events
5th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser at the Memory Lane Museum
Date: March 26, 2011
Location: Memory Lane Museum
Street: 769 River Highway (Hwy 150) I mile west of I-77 Exit 36
City/Town: Mooresville, NC
Time: 10 AM to 5 PM
Phone: 704-662-3673
As of right now, there’s expected to be 40 racing personalities there. That’s on the same weekend as the annual Fontana snooze fest so if you want to stay awake for something a little more interesting, you should come to this fundraiser and meet some of the racing greats who drove when it really was stock cars.
Cool Deal
LVMS and the USAF did something pretty cool with the large enlistment ceremony that was done at LVMS before the race. One of my son’s friend’s had her son swear in as part of the ceremony and she’s a very proud mom. I don’t blame her either. So thanks to LVMS for providing the time and space for the enlistment ceremony of these fine young folks who will be serving our country and keeping us safe. Too bad Focks didn’t have the gumption to show this. It would’ve been more interesting than hearing the English language get repeatedly butchered or the continuous yammering of Jabber Jaws.
In the battle between Dish Network and LIN Media, a lot of stations were cut off from not only Fox but also local news coverage. It appears Dish is not willing to pay LIN Media for a rate increase so LIN Media cut off their service to Dish. This definitely will not help the ratings this weekend and will also serve as an excuse should the ratings be down because of the affected cities. From reading several comments by Dish subscribers, they plan to discontinue service because of this dispute.
Championship Worries
Back in 2003, the big worry was about having a Cup Series champion who didn’t have a win. This same worry is starting to come up now with the Busch Series as a result of the new rules and points restructuring. As it stands right now, and based on the performance of the Buschwackers over the last several years, this problem could be a very real one for Faux King Brian and friends. If it does happen, don’t be a bit surprised if there’s another restructuring of the points system specifically for the Busch Series.
Something to Think About
Old Man Time wins the Busch Series race and gets one headline. The Queen of Hype finishes 4th and gets 11 headlines as of Sunday. Is 4th the new 1st? Or is it that she’s been deemed the new Messiah to save NA$CAR from it’s woes of poor attendance, poor TV ratings, poor souvenir sales, and financial problems caused by their previous Messiah not living to all the hype that was generated by him from the Ivory Towers?
And don't fall for the hype. The Queen of Hype finished 4th, which is the highest finish for a female driver in the Busch Series. Sara Christian finished 5th in the NASCAR Stritctly Stock Series in 1949, which is today's Cup Series. There's a big difference between Cup and Busch. So while she did set a record, she hasn't set THE record. Keep trying.
It’s Official, Firestone is Leaving IndyCar
Firestone announced that they will be leaving the IndyCar Series at the end of the 2011 season. This opens the door for a lot of tire manufacturers to step up and fill the gap. It would be quite a marketing coup if Hoosier got the contract. Hoosier tires on race cars in the Hoosier state. The Dallara “tub” being built in the Hoosier state. Lots of possibilities there on the Hoosier connection if they land the tire contract.
According to Robin Miller of Speed TV, Goodyear, Hoosier, and Cooper are all interested in being the replacement tire company. Miller thinks Goodyear will get the nod.
Twitter Traffic of Interest
I don’t know how many folks heard about Jeremy Mayfield’s interview on Speed TV being stopped by Paul Brooks, but here’s a couple of Tweets regarding that from Mayfield himself:
jeremymayfield
Paul Brooks, "you won't be able to stop my next interview"
jeremymayfield
@beaverlakekid thanks, I'm gonna start telling my side of the story, "everything" they can't control what I say here.
I mentioned Jabber Jaws and his remarks about being a fan.
Darrell Waltrip
hey twitterville, I have absolutely nothing to do with the tv coverage of the Nationwide series, I'm a fan and follow it just like you do !
Just remember what the lamestream whiners said, “if you have media credentials you can’t cheer or applaud”. Not to mention Jabber Jaws own words from the Truck Series days. “You shouldn’t be involved if you’re a fan”. Words to live by there Jabber Jaws. So leave the announcing booth.
Jeff Gluck
Danica was pissed she didn't get the free pass there: "F---- lucky dog!!! Keeps biting my ass!!!" or something like that.
If you believe the hype she should’ve won the race before the green flag dropped. As to the quote by Gluck, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true. Ever so ladylike. Maybe she needs to hang out with Jennifer Jo Cobb and learn how a female driver handles adversity.
ESPN Strikes Again
In what was supposed to be an article titled “Danica Patrick Talks Crashes, NASCAR”. This would lead you to think that it’s about her racing in NA$CAR. But no, the first two paragraphs are about promoting IndyCar races in Texas and mentioning there might be a crash. Is that what IndyCar fans turn out for nowadays? Crashes? Isn’t that what they say NA$CAR fans turn out for? She spends more time talking about IndyCar than she does about NA$CAR and her Busch Series races. Maybe it should’ve been titled “Danica Talks About Her 2011 Racing Season”. It seems like sort of deceptive way to get some web hits on the article.
Another “strike” against BSPN came this past weekend when the Busch Series race was pre-empted by college basketball in a number of cities. If the Disney bunch (Disney/ABC/BSPN) knew this would happen, then why even bother bidding on the TV contract and angering race fans around the country who have no interest in college hoops? Any bets more races get pre-empted as March Madness continues?
Oops!
Leave it to Speed TV expert and alienator of race fans everywhere to pull one like this. This is from Bob Pockrass on Twitter last Thursday:
Kenny Wallace gets black-flagged. He says on radio "They're black-flagging me?" And then he says, "Oh, I never signed in."
You’re not a real race car driver if you can’t remember to sign in at the NA$CAR trailer? I guess that’s a good paraphrase of his famous weekly remark.
Your Bias is Showing Again
During Cup qualifying, the almighty Jabbers Jaws couldn’t give the Fords credit for qualifying well. Any time a Chosen One or his favorite brand of car didn’t qualify well, it was because of the bumps on the track even though the Fords ran over the same exact bumps as everyone else.
Astute Observation
Erin made a very astute observation about the so-called “journalists” covering NA$CAR.
If you cover NASCAR you are an entertainment reporter...and as we've all seen covering entertainment requires no ethics!
And she makes a very good point. As NA$CAR events are held in entertainment venues and by their own admission is sports entertainment, they are entertainment and as such, all the ethical standards of “real journalism” do not apply. That means all of these supposed journalist covering NA$CAR are little more than reporters for shows like Entertainment Tonight or magazines like Entertainment Weekly. This explains why there are so many fluff pieces written or shown on the NA$CAR related TV shows. That’s racer-tainment!
Premature Enunciations
Some of the Kool Aid drinkers are saying that all of NA$CAR’s woes are over now and that everything has turned around and everything is sunshine and lollipops. We’re 3 races into the new season. There is no sports competition to speak of at this point, like play-offs or the start of the new stick and ball seasons. Unlike the Kool Aid Kids, I’m not quite ready to pull the patient off of life support yet just because they’re twitching from autonomous system reactions. Lets see how things go when we’ve got March Madness going on, MLB is playing, and the NBA play-offs are hitting their stride.
Robby Gordon on Double Secret Probation
It seems that after a shouting match between Robby and driver of the Stiffy Mobile Kevin Conway over money matters, Conway filed a report with the LVPD and complained to NA$CAR. NA$CAR in turn placed Robby on Indefinite Probation. I wonder just how long that will be considering Curtis Turner was banned for life and re-instated and some other folks more recently who were booted for drug use with indefinite suspensions have been re-instated. Will he have to pray to the Ivory Towers, wear a camel hair fire suit, and do thousands of mea culpas as penance?
Plus a few unanswered questions. Just what was a Busch Series driver (Conway) doing in the Cup garage? That sounds to me like he was looking for trouble. No answer out of NA$CAR. So why didn't they both receive the same punishment? No answer out of NA$CAR. Based on my past experience, unless you have Cup credentials, you can't go into the Cup garage if the area is segregated from the other series. But then the lamestream media isn't asking the questions either, which is no surprise.
Upcoming Events
5th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser at the Memory Lane Museum
Date: March 26, 2011
Location: Memory Lane Museum
Street: 769 River Highway (Hwy 150) I mile west of I-77 Exit 36
City/Town: Mooresville, NC
Time: 10 AM to 5 PM
Phone: 704-662-3673
As of right now, there’s expected to be 40 racing personalities there. That’s on the same weekend as the annual Fontana snooze fest so if you want to stay awake for something a little more interesting, you should come to this fundraiser and meet some of the racing greats who drove when it really was stock cars.
Cool Deal
LVMS and the USAF did something pretty cool with the large enlistment ceremony that was done at LVMS before the race. One of my son’s friend’s had her son swear in as part of the ceremony and she’s a very proud mom. I don’t blame her either. So thanks to LVMS for providing the time and space for the enlistment ceremony of these fine young folks who will be serving our country and keeping us safe. Too bad Focks didn’t have the gumption to show this. It would’ve been more interesting than hearing the English language get repeatedly butchered or the continuous yammering of Jabber Jaws.
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