ESPN Starting coverage late to cover the car race aftermath was silly

Crimson Flyboy said:

I was so angry last night. I missed kickoff and the first six plays for a NASCAR celebration? Ridiculous! Have I ever mentioned how much I hate NASCAR?

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I don't hate NASCAR. Its kind of like soccer or cricket. To hate it, I'd have to care about it on some level. The only time I have any feelings whatsoever about it is when its existence causes me to miss something that I do have some interest in. Like college football, particularly Alabama football.

crimsonaudio said:

It amazes me that a sports network would not cover an actual sport (football) to cover a non-sport (racing).

Especially NASCAR racing - left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn...

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Thank you. I've argued this with ppl before. But then they always say, it's really hot in the car and they have to change the tires.

Every year someone gives me tickets to talladega. Never been there, never will go there.

acbl_phill said:

Honestly I thought they were covering a rodeo.

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There's a difference?

Florida Tom said:

When you set your DVR for an ESPN game it's just pot luck you get it, all of it before or after.

The Evil Empire is pretty much all we have, so just have to live with it.

BTW most Alabama games produce very high ratings, so really it's Stupid.

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It not just games. At least with DirecTV, the program grids for ESPN and its children are often wrong. I've never had such issue with any other channel.

CrimSonami said:

Me too..... primarily through my eye lids. Gloomy wet day. Falcons were sucking. Seemed appropriate.

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That it is....... I'm doing the same thing a few miles to the east from you on Scott RD... listening to it rain and catching bits and pieces through my eyelids

Just a bit of information on why they might have stayed on the post race celebration. The kid that won the championship is none other than Richard Childress grandson. Childress owend the car earndhart drove. Just saying... I thought it was stupid but its freaking ESPN> We could have Misslou again...

Mke4Bama said:

Watching NASCAR right now............just sayin'

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are they still driving in a circle to the left?

Not to defend ESPN or NASCAR (they lost me years ago, probably shortly after Dale Earnhardt died and they had nobody there to tell Brian France what an idiot he is), but there's a few solutions to this problem:

1) Don't have overlapping sports.

2) Allow folks at home to choose what they want to watch - make them pay a small fee, say $1, to make a choice. You think ESPN wouldn't enjoy the bucks they'd pocket on that concurrent with their sponsor funds?

It is a little hard to necessarily get onto them - after all it IS the championship. Should they move the BCS post-game to ESPN News because there's a regular season college b-ball game on?

Not that I like it. But before you blame ESPN, don't be short-sighted. This has gone on for years.

Back when that nauseating Jefferson Pilot had the games, I missed the first 18 minutes of the 1999 Florida upset in the Swamp because I was stuck with UGA-LSU. That was bad enough, but at least that game went down to the last play. In 1998, Arkansas was killing Ole Miss, 34-0, with about nine minutes left. There was NO WAY Arky was going to lose - yet they stuck with that game into the first qtr of our game with LSU. Okay, so I only missed four minutes, but why do that?

And the night we lost to USM in 2000, we missed most of the first half because of another game that wasn't even close cutting into it. That was on ESPN2.

crimsonaudio said:

It amazes me that a sports network would not cover an actual sport (football) to cover a non-sport (racing).

Especially NASCAR racing - left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn...

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Actually it's a tad more than that.

I'm not a racing fan, but I do have a lot of respect for what they do and the skills needed to do it._It takes a special type to drive 400-500 miles at the speeds they compete at and often just inches apart It has to require amazing endurance, hand-eye coordination and reflexes.

The average person couldn't force himself to drive at those speeds even if he were on the track by himself

As for the left turns, you have to consider that it IS a spectator sport. It would be kinda expensive to have race courses stretching 400-500 miles.

I watch the race with my old man on Sundays just to "bond" and all I heard today was them whining about how Jimmie Johnson is an "athlete". I don't care to hear whiny stories about how hot it is in a car and yada yada yada.

I guess tractor trailer drivers are athletes too huh? (no offense to truck drivers, I have CDL's myself)

There is zero logical reason they could have not at least switched coverage in the states of Alabama and Mississippi.

There is a reason why ESPN is the "worldwide leader in making people mad."

I was cursing at ESPN until I saw the ESPNNews ticker go by. Then I was cursing at Bama for not playing up to their potential. -Greg

That Nascar should have been on Espn 8 The Ocho the whole time.

crimsonaudio said:

So does flying a jet, but that doesn't make it a sport.


Tell that to formula 1.

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You don't fly a jet within inches of another aircraft, but I would consider fighter pilots as athletes, certainly moreso than golfers.

230kv_barehand said:

I watch the race with my old man on Sundays just to "bond" and all I heard today was them whining about how Jimmie Johnson is an "athlete". I don't care to hear whiny stories about how hot it is in a car and yada yada yada.

I guess tractor trailer drivers are athletes too huh? (no offense to truck drivers, I have CDL's myself)

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You can't logically compare driving a semi with driving a 200+ MPH race car.

Not even ESPN could be this stupid. What was to gain?

crimsonaudio said:

Golf's not a sport, either, imo. - it's a skill. Same with bowling, etc.

Just my opinion - if you don't have to physically train (at a high level), it's not a sport, it's a skill. There are lots of professions that require physical skill that aren't sports. Auto racing is one of those.

One can't logically compare auto racing to football, soccer, basketball, etc - all of those (racing aside) require serious physical training.

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If you don't think pro-golfers train all of the time these days, they you must not follow the sport. It wasn't that long ago that QB's in the NFL would have a gut. Go check out pictures of Jim McMahon.

The whole argument of what is a sports an what is not is a little too off-season for me anyway. (but Nascar certainly is not)