Archive for February, 2006

There are a few things in life that I just don’t understand. Two of these things are the show Frasier and what my girlfriend is thinking. The third is how a human could watch traffic for over three hours and pretend to enjoy it. On my personal list of favorite sports, auto racing ranks somewhere in-between women’s golf and men’s figure skating. I am immune to the rising popularity of NASCAR and could care less about Danica Patrick, sure she can drive, but I bet she parks like a woman.

On the day of the Daytona 500 I decided put aside my differences with the (cough) “sport” (cough) and give this phenomenon a chance. If it gets the best ratings of any sporting event south of the Super Bowl, why should I be above it?

To learn the most from this experience I knew I would need some help from a knowledgeable NASCAR fan, since my ignorant views and preconceived notions would cloud this column with cynicism from the green flag to the checkered one.

I decided to conduct an interview during the race, choosing my buddy Craig as the subject. His main qualification is that he was born and raised up in North Carolina, but he is also an avid racing fan. I got him away from his KFC takeout long enough to get some answers as to why America is in love with competitive rush hours.

Craig feels that NASCAR’s rise in popularity is simply a matter of exposure. “It’s the same product as it’s always been. Nobody has stopped watching, but as southern cities become more transient and less stagnant more and more people are watching. The reason for the increase in viewers is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more marketing, the more viewers, and then even more marketers are attracted to the product.”

Craig pointed to the death of Dale Earnhardt as the event that propelled auto racing, specifically NASCAR, to the front pages of sports sections across the country, and eventually into pop culture. The tragedy increased awareness of the sport and showed the country the elements drama in auto racing.

“On the bad side, the sport’s most popular figure was dead. But then that opened the door for Junior.” In my opinion, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is more popular than his father ever was. Craig agreed, but held on to the fact that true racing fanatics, and true Earnhardt Sr. fans, will never love a racer like they loved The Intimidator. “Junior has cross-over appeal, while his dad was a good ‘ol boy. Junior hits the demographics that NASCAR was never able to. A funny thing I read the other day was that people who loved Dale Sr. love Dale Jr., and people who hated Dale Sr. love Dale Jr.”

I asked Craig about how the Daytona 500 can get better ratings than the World Series, since baseball is still supposed to be America’s pastime. He laid out three reasons why it is a more popular event. The first is that it is like the Super Bowl, a four hour commitment, while the World Series can last between four and seven games, it can be over a week long and span for over 20 hours. Secondly, it happens right in the beginning of the NASCAR season, as opposed to the very end. This way it attracts all the viewers who have been starving for racing during the off-season, kind of like how baseball fans get so excited for spring training but might be bored of baseball by October. The third and final reason that Craig set fourth to explain the insane popularity of this 500 miles excursion is that every team/driver is represented at Daytona. “It would be like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, Cubs, and Dodgers being in the World Series at the same time. Anyone can win, and all the fans of all the drivers are excited for it.”

My final question to my redneck friend was whether or not NASCAR has peaked, like televised poker, or if I have to suffer through more Rusty Wallace commentary on Sportscenter. “No, I don’t think it’s peaked yet. Poker is something that has probably peaked, but NASCAR has a very solid fan base. Poker had a lot of young, distracted fans, but the people who have always watched NASCAR will continue to be fans. As the marketing and commercializing of racing continues it will most likely shed any notions of being low brow and ultimately grow.”

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The Winter Olympics are filled with some great stories of perseverance and triumph. Romanian girls who escape the ghetto and win figure skating bronze. Downhill skiers who overcome horrific injuries to finish first. And curlers, who prevail over the millions that believe that their activity hardly constitutes a sport.

These are the true tales of the Olympic Games, the ones that should fill up sports pages, blogs, and water cooler discussions. If only sport was that pure. Instead, the headlines at Torino have almost entirely consisted of two people: Wayne Gretzkey and Bode Miller.

This says a lot about the American Media, and, in turn, the American public. If you read US Weekly instead of Newsweek, you might be a typical American. If you rely on Entertainment Tonight as your primary news source, then you might be an American. If you love Pat O’Brien and think that I Love the 80s is the greatest miniseries of all time, but don’t know who Anderson Cooper is and have never seen Roots, then you just might be a typical American.

Since it is this typical portion of the population that spends the most at newsstands and watches the most television it is not surprising that Bode and The Great One are the two characters at the center of the Torino Show. And there is a good reason for it. I will never be able to ski competitively, let alone at the Olympics, and I will certainly never play in the NHL, let alone be the best ever. I can, however, drink excessively, as well as gamble addictively. That is why these two men are the ones garnering all the attention; they are part of stories that make them human. The public wants to see and hear about iconic stars doing Joe Schmo things. Whether it is Miller drinking, Gretzkey being involved in a gambling ring, Jessica Simpson eating chicken wings, or Britney Spears entering a gas station bathroom barefoot, we eat this stuff up.

Do I feel bad for these athletic celebrities? No. Do I wish that the media focused more on their athletic achievements and less on their personal woes? Not at all. Lets face it, these guys brought all this on themselves. Bode Miller went on 60 minutes and admitted that many times he is skiing wasted, which gave him instant fame and celebrity credibility outside the world of skiing, Time Magazine cover and all. Just for drinking too much and admitting it. I might hold a press conference to admit that I have, on occasion, been wasted when I was bowling, and see if I get a cover too. If it doesn’t work I’ll go on ICTV and come clean about the fact that I have also played golf and wiffleball under the influence. The fact is Miller wanted the press because media coverage leads to endorsement deals, and he was smart enough to give the typical American a story that they could sink their teeth in to.

As for The Great One, who wants none of the attention that he has received over the last few weeks, I have slightly more sympathy but can’t say that I really feel bad for the guy. Gretzkey loves his fortune, so have has to deal with his fame. Part of fame is the fact that every little thing that you do will get exaggerated and covered by the press. Gretzkey has never shied away from the spotlight, a man who loves his endorsements and loves being the face of hockey. If he wasn’t comfortable with the fame then he would have just pulled a Barry Sanders, and led a quite life after athletic dominance. Instead, he stayed involved with the sport, as the executive leader of Team Canada, and now an NHL head coach. His other career move that suggests his need for celebrity occurred years ago, when he married movie star Janet Jones (by “movie star” I mean she was in Police Academy 5).

It is ironic that it is this union that is landing Gretzkey in hot water with the gambling ring. It just shows that the typical American likes to idolize people, but loves to see them crash and burn. This would explain why the ratings for American Idol (which double those of the Grammy Awards and the Olympics) are higher when the episodes focus of the idiots who can’t sing, and less on the stars who shine.

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