Earlier this afternoon I was surfing through major news Web sites checking on the day’s happenings. As I scrolled down the page on MSNBC.com I got to the ‘other top stories’ section. About halfway down was the headline ‘Opinion: NASCAR In Trouble.’ Next to it was a separate article that said something like ‘But Danica Could Help.’
Turns out the opinion piece was written by Scene Daily’s Jeff Owens, he called it “Five things NASCAR needs to happen to rekindle fan interest.” The piece was nothing ground breaking, or earth shattering (if not for the point about the spoiler the Five Things piece could have been written a year ago) but it’s just another example of a marginally negative piece that got a lot of attention.
(Before I go any further, let me say this is not a knock on Jeff Owens he’s a good and talented guy. It just happened to be his story that sparked the idea for this. It really could have been anyone.)
Over the last year I have gotten so tired of these doom and gloom stories. I don’t personally want anything to do with them. Sure things aren’t great, but do we need to make it a constant talking point? No.
I wonder too if anybody has considered that these negative stories and negative comments on mainstream sports and news channels are hurting the sport, and driving people away. It’s becoming a self-fulling prophecy.
Larry McReynold’s last year while talking on the subject quoted Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip compared it to people telling you over and over how bad your favorite restaurant is. Eventually your probably going to start to believe it. You’ll probably stop going. I think Waltrip makes a good point.
Now I’m not saying you need to drink the “kool aid,” or become mouthpieces for the ‘all is fine’ line from NASCAR (it’s not), but can we start focusing on whats good? There really are a lot of positive things to talk about (like this).
I know the lawsuits and penalties and economy talk are all very topical, and it’s fun to examine all of NASCAR’s problems, but at the end of the day it’s all irrelevant. They’re at best distractions (at worst they’re hurting the sport) to what is important and that’s what happens on the racetrack.
Stock car racing returns to Daytona this weekend with some highly anticipated storylines. Please, have fun, enjoy the racing, and don’t get bogged down in all the background noise.
Related posts:
- BREAKING NEWS: Michael Waltrip Racing in Financial Trouble?
- The Trouble with Ganassi
- The NASCAR Week That Was: May 24-30
- Trouble At Trail?
- Need Bargaining Help? Use the Media for Leverage
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on Feb 5th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Here here. Everybody has a choice in life to either look on the bright side or dwell on the negatives. I personally like my glass half full. I cannot rememeber feeling this excited about the start of speedweeks over the past few years. I love the start of the season and cannot wait to get home today after work and catch up on all the DVR programs i missed from yesterday like practice. Can you beleive that I’m even excited over practice, not a race not a race we are talking about practice here. (sorry AI I had to do it) So here is to a good season lets drop that green flag and get things started!
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 8:50 am
At the end of last season my thought was that if the 2010 season kept on the same downhill slide as others lately it would be my last season watching Nascar. I am tired of the knee jerk rule changes, phantom cautions, fans and drivers opinions being ignored.
That said I must say that I now am looking forward to the new season, I have not really cared much lately but it seems now that Nascar is listening to fans and the drivers about what they want. Or at least they want us to believe they are, we shall see.
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Good for FOX. I wonder what ad sales will do for the second half of the season with all those races on ESPN instead of ABC…it sucks for the local affiliates.
I watched a bit of Shootout pracrtice yesterday on Speed. I’m psyched for racing!!
Welcome back, T.C. and Journo!
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 9:35 am
I didn’t read Owens’ piece as critical, even marginally so, but rather as a recommendation for improving an already good product. In fact, all five recommendations could have come straight from a focus group comprised solely of die-hard NASCAR fans. It’s one thing to b***h about a restaurant, another to make recommendations for making it a better experience and I took the article as the latter, not the former.
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Fired up here for the weekend / the season. I woke up at 5 am and the first thing I did was check the lelevision schedule for the SPEED channel. Then, I went to the restroom. True that.
Later today, I may go stand at an intersection with a sign and seek donations to buy tickets for the races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway later this month.
“Will work for tickets”
on Feb 5th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
dont be so hard on Jeff or the others because they have a job to do,, now the real question is why didnt they get a real job to begin with?? is it because the general population has a thirst for information?? accurate or relevant hasnt mattered for a long time people,, in others we asked for it so live with it..
on Feb 6th, 2010 at 6:38 am
We live in a free country. Therefore, we have the right to think as we please.
Those of us who a realists understand the precarious position in which NASCAR finds itself unsettlingly placed.
Bottom line, it basically sucks.
Know it, believe it……and those of you who wish it well, all the best to you.
Personally, I’m just tired of the same ol’ schitck, and the idea that Danica Patrick will be a saviour is ludicrous.
on Feb 6th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Negativity is what brings people to the media to find out more info. For right or wrong. CNBC & Bloomberg had their highest ratings during the financial crisis. CNN ratings spiked for the Haiti earthquake.
In the days of fractured media, everyone’s looking for hits to sell ads in a competitive marketplace. The quickest way is to write a controversial headline or a tease about someone not being happy. The body of your story may even refute it, but you got the eyeballs you were looking for.
Really, it’s always been this way. (See yellow journalism in early 20th century). But now there’s more competition. And writers may not realize it, but they sure notice when their “Dale Junior Might Be Gay?” headline racks up the hits.
The only mistake is when a writer assumes all fans feel a certain way because that’s the feedback he/she gets. Really it’s just a fraction of the folks that feel that way. If you let the McDonald’s complaint department tell you about their food, they might tell you it was the worst stuff ever. But the reality is few people write in to tell them the food was fine.
99% of people may be satisfied with something. But 1% makes for great TV/columns. They get the attention because they’re different and have passion. That draws eyeballs.
As soon as I realized this, it made it easier to go back to the words of Caledonian Record writer Big Bigelow, “If you’re not having fun, don’t bother the rest of us who are.”
on Feb 6th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Supposing that the fans, the core fans that is, have to be told what to think. Is selling them way short.
We/they know what we see, & what we want to see.
P.S.
It’s not Kool Aid, it’s whatever shelled out money to be the Official Drink of NA$CAR
on Feb 6th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I prefer to be on the upbeat side, too, but I have eyes and what I’ve seen over the past few seasons has not be POSITIVE. I also got tired of having NASCAR’s management tell me in all kinds of ways that everything was wonderful and as a fan I was just stupid if I didn’t realize it.
I go to the track and watch TV to see exciting racing and enjoy myself, not high speed parades and broadcast crews that just don’t understand that I want to see the race, not single cars or all their high tech toys. Wide angle camera shots people — show me the race, not single car, in car camera or the flavor of the week driver.
For the record, I enjoyed Jeff Owen’s article.
on Feb 6th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I’ve been a NASCAR fan since the King ran hemi’s and still am. NASCAR racing isn’t perfect, but it never was – and still beats what’s in second place in my opinion. At some point in the past 15 or 20 years the so-called print media became more and more negative in its “reporting.” Years ago the print media was king as far as information about NASCAR races – but as more and more races were televised, newspaper stories became less important as far as keeping up with the sport, and I believe the print media (at least newspapers) became more and more negative in their writing in order to attract attention. In my opinion the glass is still more than half full.
on Feb 7th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
I get what you are saying, and to an extent I agree. You keep telling yourself things suck and eventually they do. At the same time, pretending everything is fine doesn’t make a problem go away, and NASCAR has a problem.
I love auto racing. Not just NASCAR, all of it. I like everything from NASCAR to Formula 1, Grand-Am, NHRA, Indy, you name it, I love watching it. Most years I wouldn’t miss a NASCAR race for anything. But last year, by and large, the races sucked. They were boring, so much, I didn’t even care to record them and fast forward to the end. Sometime around September, I stopped watching the Sprint Cup races. Just didn’t care. Maybe it’s all me, but the ratings and race attendance show that I am far from alone.
To be fair, NASCAR isn’t alone. F1 last year pretty much sucked from race 1. The Camping World truck races and the Koni Challenge races were far more exciting.
I am hoping this year will be better. I’m anxiously awaiting Daytona, hoping this year will be worth watching.
on Feb 8th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Did anyone see/read wha “Gina” said~?
I want to see racing too~! I want to see racing too~!
I’m sick to death with commercials and Chris Myers, Yackin Larry Mac~!! There are to many people telling me what is happening rather than letting me see it “Live” like I used to. Remember when we could watch the top ten all day, without missing a thing~?? Nascar has been cutting back spending for teams, it’s high time they find a way to cut back on whatever is necessary, so that all the other true fans and I can watch the race~! I want to see the race~!
Ramblin~
on Feb 10th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I actually came across a blog while I was trolling WordPress for Daytona 500 thoughts. The writer is posting a daily “How to fix NASCAR” column. It’s pretty interesting. They have a unique perspective on it. It’s at http://4thquarterpunts.wordpress.com/
They’ve done the season schedule and race day so far.