Are You Already Tired of the Incessant NASCAR Coverage?
Uncategorized February 21st. 2007, 6:37pm
This swipe at ESPN comes not from us, but a concerned reader named Mark. You see, he is distressed about the over-saturation of NASCAR coverage on the network he loves so dearly. And really, PTI, must you too pander to the NASCAR crowd? Ratings for the race were insane, yes … but if you are gauging popularity by ratings, then NASCAR has more cachet than Major League Baseball and the NBA. And we know that’s not true.
If you too, have had enough of ESPN cramming NASCAR down your throat, perhaps you can sympathize with Mark. We should note that Mark is a fan of Arena Football. If that matters.
“Hey, not sure if I’m writing about this as a bloggable question or more just for my own personal edification, but the whole ESPN/Nascar thing is already getting silly. I’m not a fan of auto racing at all, and I’ve always been able to safely ignore it. However, I’ve been listening to the PTI podcasts off of iTunes and noticed that they randomly had a take on the Daytona 500 back somewhere in the first week of February. Then the show got bumped entirely for ALL of last week for some new racing show. Then when I listen to their first episode back, the 2nd thing they talk about is Daytona, even though they both make it clear that they don’t really know much about it and couldn’t really follow what was going on when they tuned into it. I can’t EVER remember when they make one of their lead stories about something that they don’t really know anything about and quite obviously have no interest in. Is there anywhere in the blogosphere where someone’s saying “Hey wait a minute, why are you suddenly trying to make us care about this?!” or is everyone just numb to ESPN’s cross promotion of their own events? I don’t hate the channel by any means, but c’mon! I’m an Arena football fan, have had season tickets for my hometown team for 15 years — can I expect my Arizona Rattlers to start leading off Sportscenter now that ESPN has the rights?”
26 Responses to “Are You Already Tired of the Incessant NASCAR Coverage?”
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February 21st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
You just don’t know you like NASCAR yet.
Every NASCAR race is on ESPN this year, so you can fully expect it to be forced down your throat at every opportunity on every outlet. Enjoy
February 21st, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I don’t exactly want to sound like I’m defending ESPN here but…I seem to remember PTI doing a little blurb last year after Daytona. This is a major sporting event whether you like racing or not. Now, if PTI starts doing bits every day or week about every race, then you know the suits got to them. I have absolutely no interest in horse racing but I do understand covering the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown. There are certain things that a sports network has to cover whether they have a TV deal with them or not. Daytona is one of them.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
It has gone overboard. No one gives a crap about Nascar. At least not enough to watch it everyday at 5pm.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:29 pm
The perfect solution to this is for espn to create yet another channel dedicated to this ridicuous “sport” so that all the race fans can go there and real sports fans can get meaningful coverage of meaningful sports on espn and the 2 sides do not have to compromise. Does this not make perfect sense?
February 21st, 2007 at 7:30 pm
I agree. Here in Philly nobody gives a hoot about NASCAR, and the incessant coverage is getting on my nerves. Even ESPN Magazine devoted half of their last issue to this boreass stuff. Every time I checked on the race Sunday it was in a delay. Hell, this is not even a sport, and the only reason people watch it is to see an accident, since there is nothing athletic involved
February 21st, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I have a feeling that even fans of stock car racing will tire of the worldwide leader’s NASCAR hyperbole. If there is a way to completely overexpose an event/sport/athlete, TWWLiS will find it.
February 21st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I’ll take NASCAR over the NBA and MLB all day long and twice on Sundays!!
February 21st, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Put NASCAR on the Speed Network, it isn’t a sport, it has nothing in common with basketball, baseball, football etc. Throw it on an appropriate network and get it away from me.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:31 pm
“…if you are gauging popularity by ratings…”
yes, that is as arbitrary as gauging wealth by the sum of one’s money and property. or gauging speed by miles per hour.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:32 pm
I work from home and every day at 4:30pm CST, when my daughter is down for her nap and I’ve cleared my desk, I look forward to turning on the TV to catch PTI, which most of the time, I really enjoy. My week was ruined last week when I discovered that PTI was replaced by some sort of preview show for the Daytona 500. Every single day. Made me ill.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Just do what I do…stop watching the programming surrounding the events and watch the games only…all of espn’s ancillery programming (especially Shill-Center which has been unwatchable since the Shapiro era) have become infomercials to promote their events and recoup their right’s fees
February 21st, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I hate nascar, and I dont care how close the finish was or about the controversey, I am a huge fan of sports and always have been, and there will NEVER be anything that will make me like nascar, EVER. I can drive fast, so can my fucking mother. so what. go away.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:41 pm
shoved down our throats like the NBA has been ever since ESPN got a hold of it or like big east basketball or like syracuse anything, and like everything else ESPN has the rights to. Think this is bad, I cant wait for “Inside the AFL” now that Arena football is off of NBC and on the OCHO. Wake up.. your replays and hi-lites are driven by what sport ESPN has the rights to not which is best. Yes they will always show the most popular sports but other than the big three everything goes through the “rights filter”. Think boxing and friday night fights versus Mixed Martial arts like UFC and others and youll get the picture
February 21st, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I think people are underestimating the appeal of auto racing in the nation and around the world. It’s much bigger than expected, and NASCAR is growing, almost able to compete with MLB and NBA. In fact, it probably already is as popular as these, especially TV wise. Just wait until there’s a Tiger Woods of NASCAR.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Is nascar or car racing even really a sport, I mean what sort of athletic ability does it take to drive a racecar, I respect what these guys do, but come on, it doesnt require a shred of athletism,its just knowing how to drive and the patience to sit inside a hot car for 4 hours while driving in a circle, espn needs to stick to giving airtime to real athletes
February 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I can take or leave NASCAR, but ESPN’s decision to yank Around the Horn and PTI off the air for the entire week was puzzling. With all the ESPN channels on the dial, they could not have put the racing show on ESPN2 or even moved AtH or PTI?
February 21st, 2007 at 9:37 pm
well, at least there’s no way to cheat in stock car racing. oh shit, nevermind.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:28 am
I had no idea ESPN was inundating viewers with NASCAR coverage. Do you know why?
Because I don’t watch that piece of garbage network.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:42 am
I think we are just looking at one of the slowest sports months, February, and Daytona is a fairly big event, I have now watched Daytona 2 years in a row because the weather has sucked the week it was on and I was staying inside.
If ESPN keeps plugging every race as much as they did Daytona, which they haven’t so far with the Califronia race this weekend, then it wouldn’t be good, but I think you are just seeing the bigness of Daytona coupled with an other wise slow period of the year sports wise.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 am
Auto racing takes precision, timing, endurance, luck, and strategy. Just because there’s no ball does not mean there is no athleticism. At the very least, it’s more of a sport than poker, which is a game.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
If you have gone from being unaware of the happenings in NASCAR to hating it being shoved down your throat, you are one step closer to becoming a fan. With the increased exposure you will be forced to learn more about it. You will then make fun of what you know about it. You will then occasionally watch parts of the races if nothing else of interest is on just to make fun of it. While making fun of it, you will discover something that you like about it. You will struggle to maintain your hating, but you will find yourself flipping over to the race during basketball and baseball commercials. You will feel dirty the first time you miss a half inning because you forgot to flip back. Eventually, you will give up and realize that you can both enjoy the endearing qualities of NASCAR and make fun of the redneckish, whoring aspects of it at the same time.
February 22nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Think about how some of us NHL fans have felt for the past 2 seasons…
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:27 am
You can’t gage popularity by ratings. It’s true, and I’ll tell you exactly why:
There is ONE major NASCAR race per week. Just one event. It features every major driver. So, everyone’s favorite driver is in that one race. Therefore, every NASCAR fan in America is either attending, or watching that race on TV. Adding to this is the fact that it only happens once per week. Hence, huge ratings.
In other sports, on a given day there can be up to 15 (16 in the NFL) events total. That is fragmenting the live and television audience into 15 or 16 parts at most, especially if you just watch your favorite team and no one else.
Plus, in the case of MLB, NHL, and NBA, teams play several times per week. So if you miss them on Tuesday, no biggie because you can watch them on Friday. That also dilutes individual game ratings.
I’m going to bring the aforementioned NHL into this, because it is the league that ESPN “mysteriously” began bashing constantly the minute it left their network. If all 30 NHL teams played in one day, the combined TV ratings and attendance for all 15 games would beat those of the one weekly NASCAR race. And this is not the NFL or MLB I’m talking about, it’s the redheaded stepchild of the major sports world, the NHL.
Another way to put it is, if NASCAR paired races off into multiple 1-on-1 “match-races” held on random, multiple nights per week, (ie fragmenting the audience instead of having one huge audience once per week) the ratings and attendance would probably be sub-NHL-like. Many people would probably only watch the “match-race” with their favorite driver in it. And even the more diehard fans would find it hard to watch every race. Hence, smaller ratings.
So yes, NASCAR’s ratings, and in turn it’s popularity, are inflated by the fact that there’s only one big Nextel Cup race with all of the major drivers per week.
Also, about hockey, ESPN did a “What’s your favorite sport?” online poll a few months back. Hockey and basketball were tied for third, and NASCAR was a distant last. (The NFL and MLB finished 1st and second respectively). So, just because it’s in ESPN’s best interests to tell you that hockey doesn’t matter anymore and NASCAR does, that doesn’t make it true.
And about the “Is NASCAR a sport?” issue… put it this way, if I’m a better driver than you, but you have a better car, you’re beating me in the race. It’s basically a “fast car building” contest! But then again, this is ESPN, the same network that also tries to make us care about Poker (which, for the record, is a fucking game of chance!!)
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 am
John, brilliant way to some it all up.
ESPN has become too big and a shell of its’ former self, but it was inevitable…I think the backlash against it will only grow, but i don’t know if any good will come of it. I think the sports channel we all loved growing up will never be the same.
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:31 pm
awful chief… you could not be more wrong. like I said earlier, there is nothing that will EVER make me watch nascar… its just cars driving, and nothing about that will ever appeal to me. John said it perfectly, its basically a fast car building contest. I would watch soccer or hockey over it, and I’m not too fond of those either.