by Mike Maruska
12/10/2007
NASCAR’s slogan is How bad have you got it? It’s meant to imply an infectious passion for the sport. Listening to fans, the answer is sometimes a more cynical we’ve got it bad. One of the great talents of NASCAR fans is pointing out the flaws in our beloved sport. Sometimes the gripes are justified, others are more imaginary. I write a weekly column where I play armchair crew chief so I’m more guilty than most. Listening to many fans however, it’s easy to get the wrong idea about the sport. Sure there are things wrong with the sport, but is NASCAR worse than other sports? Let’s look at some of the common complaints.
Drivers aren’t like they used to be
Today’s crop of drivers might be talented but they are often spoiled, cocky-or worse- vanilla in personality. That might be true, but compared to the conduct and attitude of many athletes in other sports, NASCAR still trumps every other sport in this regard.
In NASCAR there are few public contract disputes, holdouts or trade me or sit me demands. There are no scandals involving dog fighting, steroids, DUI’s or criminal investigations. For every Aaron Fike or Shane Hmiel drug conviction story there are four or five times as many headlines involving the Victory Junction camp, the NASCAR foundation or raising money for a variety of charities. It’s easy to forget how lucky fans are that the drivers are for the most part good people that people can cheer for with a clean conscience. In NASCAR the word positive is usually followed by words like influence or role model instead of other sports where positive is linked with test results.
As for the vanilla driver, this is universal in sports. Some athletes either don’t want to engage the media or don’t have the comfort and skills for interviews. That’s not a crime. Besides, you hear the same cliched coachspeak in every sport.
Hendrick and Roush are too powerful, I’m tired of seeing them win everything.
Have you watched other sports lately? The Red Sox and the Yankees essentially bid against each other for the top talent in the sport. If you are another team in the AL East your season goal sounds like a take on an old Tylenol Rapid Release Gel commercial: We’re shooting for number 3. The last time a team other than Boston or New York made the playoffs was Baltimore in 1997. How is that competitive?
Even in a sport with a salary cap and other controls for parity, the Patriots are destroying all takers. Sometimes things just happen in sports where a collection of talent is so great it doesn’t matter what checks and balances are in place.
The governing body is so inconsistent and doesn’t see the big picture
It’s obvious that certain things in NASCAR are not right, but look at college football and the BCS. What would NASCAR look like if it was like college football? The first 26 races get spent fighting tooth and nail for every point, trying to win races, constantly pushing the cars’ handling and aerodynamics towards perfection only for the tour to take a month off before starting the Chase. Not only that but the criteria for making the Chase would change on a nearly yearly basis. The Chase has issues, but it’s not the worst system out there.
I’m tired of sponsorship all over the place
Try watching any NFL game without a Peyton Manning commercial (the one about killer abs is pretty funny by the way).
Television is ruining the sport. There are too many commercial breaks
. It’s true, just check out the stats gathered by Caws n Jaws. That still doesn’t mean things are greener on the other side of the sports fence.
The World Series hasn’t had a day game since the 80’s. Because of TV dictated start times the games don’t end until well after children’s bedtimes on the east coast. How about NFL games when they will go to commercial break after a score, return for the kickoff and then break again before the first play from scrimmage? They certainly don’t do it so the players can catch their breaths.
The bottom line is that television definitely has a strong pull in all sports coverage, but it’s no worse in NASCAR than any other sport.
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