Monday, January 29, 2007

NASCAR & ESPN


NASCAR & ESPN
Originally uploaded by indyjay42.
Thank goodness ESPN is going to be back in the NASCAR TV business this year. Don't get me wrong - Speed's wall to wall coverage is generally enjoyable and Bob Dilner knows his stuff. But PLEASE no more lowest common denominator coverage - who in the world doesn't know what push and loose are after all this time, and why did announcers the last couple of years think they had to show & tell us every single week? And yes pit stops are important, but I got fed up with all the single car shots, and the field rundowns where they would talk incessantly about how each guy was doing as though they were the only car on the track.



My hope is that ESPN will get back to showing RACING. Cars in packs. Wheel to wheel action regardless of position. Sometimes the best racing is at the back but we rarely saw it the last couple of years. So if someone has to fight their way to the front, then please show how they get there for goodness sake! Let's not have NASCAR forget how they got big in the first place either - Bob Jenkins and Larry Nuber et al bringing the Cup races into our homes every week, long before the series became a media juggernaut. And don't get me started on the Chase either. It's a worthless handicap system that artificially props up the series for marketing purposes only IMO.



I will miss BP though - God rest his soul.



Jay

1 comment:

Daly Planet Editor said...

Hey Jay, great article. I am a former ten year ESPN veteran, and currently run a NASCAR TV blog at http://dalyplanet.blogspot.com and I think you might get a kick out of some of my posts.

Great minds think alike ya know!