If any of you want to hear something other than "racers" argue about whether NASCAR sucks or exactly how much NASCAR sucks, take a listen to the archive from this mornings NPR - look for Frank DeFord's commentary on NASCAR.

"...not a real sport..."

"...rock it crawled out from under...."


That kind of thing...representing how many Americans view NASCAR and by extension I'm sure all auto racing.

Scott, who knows he was trying to be entertaining and provocative...but knows he wasn't really kidding either....

 

A Link for all those who wish to listen.

http://www.npr.org/templates/s...01252

 

I listened to that this morning. I always make a point of listening to NPR on Wednesday morning specifically to hear his commentary.

He intentionally pushes the edges as you suggested, looking for reaction.

That said, he did go a bit deep into the stereotypes in his short time on the air this morning.

Very interesting. I don't agree with all of it, but he does indeed show us part of how racing is viewed from the outside looking in.

 

I'm glad that he has a forum to speak his mind... isnt going to stop me from watching the 500 on Sunday and then going to the racetrack the following week. Don't like it? Don't watch it... millions will

 

i think most of his commentary is tongue-in-cheek, and comical not to be taken as literally. after all he did compare roundy-round to soccer, and we all know, soccer, or football is where it's all at.
stan

 

Wow, what a tard. I hate NASCAR, but this guy's "points" about NASCAR and Soccer don't make any sense. Whatever, the time I wasted on this post was too long for that guy.

 

I guess I sorta enjoyed it in that "ignorance amazes me" type of way.

He of course had facts wrong.

First, his notion that NASCAR didn't spread out of the southeast till car chases hit movies... well there were car chases long before NASCAR poked its head into the national scene with the first live Daytona 500 broadcast in 1979..

Second the "fastest growing sport" assertion. Its not. Oh it was.. 10 years ago or so but the NASCAR audiance has pretty much held steady for the last few years, even with the network tv deal. Fastest growing.. in motorsports you are probably talking Drifting or SPEED World Challenge.. Who knows what other new sport or series is growing by larger % points. He should stop reading old press releases.

But I suppose what vindicated the commentary for me was one of his final comments about people that go for the crashes. No, he argued.. "people go for the chases."

And for all the sensationalism and antagonism he gave, I believe he got that point very very right.

Jon K (Who now thinks he will pop in his copy of Ronin to watch a good car chase)
http://www.seat-time.com

 

"sports smell of sweat, not exhaust fumes." well i'll be, i guess he's volunteering to rub his face in the armpit of a racer as they exit their car after an enduro... or heck even just a spring race!? i know he wasn't be literal, but i don't understand how he can be so ignorant. if you're speaking in a public forum you should be required to do SOME research.

 

NASCAR is in fact one of the most involved types of racing because of the stringent rules and regulations. The entire sport revolves around innovation and the ability to squeeze the most out of something everybody else has and trying to get the competitive advantage.

I am a NASCAR fan by upbringing and I will hopefully be the newest employee of Hendrick Motorsports come mid April

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DirtySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">NASCAR is in fact one of the most involved types of racing because of the stringent rules and regulations. The entire sport revolves around innovation and the ability to squeeze the most out of something everybody else has and trying to get the competitive advantage. </TD></TR></TABLE>

uhh yeah ... just keep telling yourself that carbs and pushrods are at the forefront of innovation. Meanwhile I'll watch some F1 and their low tech crap that they have

 

I kind of think that the specific technology of racing isn't the most important part of it. You can be on the cutting edge of pushrod V8 development or you can be on the cutting edge of pneumatic valvetrains - RACING is still about brains and *****, character and courage.

Scott, who would rather actually race just about anything than watch...

 

thats what you get for listening to NPR garbage

 

DeFord's comments are always a little hyperbolic and he doesn't cut any sport any slack. While it helps if you agree with the politics of the John Stewarts of the world, it isn't necessary for that to be the case, to at least find them entertaining.

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats what you get for listening to NPR garbage</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/.../MediaBias.pdf - or - http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/fa...8.htm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Another somewhat surprising result is our estimate of NPR’s Morning Edition. Conservatives frequently list NPR as an egregious example of a liberal news outlet.[27] However, by our estimate the outlet hardly differs from the average mainstream news outlet. For instance, its score is approximately equal to those of Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report, and its score is slightly less than the Washington Post’s. Further, our estimate places it well to the right of the New York Times, and also to the right of the average speech by Joe Lieberman. These differences are statistically significant.[28] We mentioned this finding to Terry Anderson, an academic economist and Executive Director of the Political Economy Research Center, which is among the list of think tanks in our sample. (The average score of legislators citing PERC was 39.9, which places it as a moderate-right think tank, approximately as conservative as RAND is liberal.) Anderson told us, “When NPR interviewed us, they were nothing but fair. I think the conventional wisdom has overstated any liberal bias at NPR.” Our NPR estimate is also consistent with James Hamilton’s (2004, 108) research on audience ideology of news outlets. Hamilton finds that the average NPR listener holds approximately the same ideology as the average network news viewer or the average viewer of morning news shows, such as Today or Good Morning America. Indeed, of the outlets that he examines in this section of his book, by this measure NPR is the ninth most liberal out of eighteen.</TD></TR></TABLE>

And I listen to a whole lot of NPR garbage - and I give 'em money every year so I can listen some more Judging NPR for DeFord's comments on sports is like judging NBC for Jack Handley's "Deep Thoughts."

Now can someone PLEASE explain to me why advertising Bud, Miller, Natural Lite, Skoal, Winston, whatever has seemingly always been OK w/ NASCAR, why is Liquor sponsorship some break w/ "Nascar's Family Values?" This was what was running on ESPN (pure garbage too I suspect) as I typed this out.

FWIW, I am not against NASCAR, I actually enjoy watching it (and have flipped back and forth between a road race and a Nextel/Winston Cup race many a time in my life :eeek.


Modified by phat-S at 12:24 AM 2/17/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Judging NPR for DeFord's comments on sports is like judging NBC for Jack Handley's "Deep Thoughts."</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tell me about it. I swear, there's an awful lot of people in this forum who need to get their humor detectors rebuilt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sports smell of sweat, not exhaust fumes.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Personally, I don't think of driving, or aerobatic flying, or bobsledding as being the same kind of thing as bicycling, or football, or marathon. Certainly the former do require physical conditioning to be performed at the highest levels-- without a doubt. I don't feel there is a superiority-inferiority relationship there, but there is a distinction.. at the same time, I think there is a distinction between the bicycling/football/marathon/etc. sports and things like baseball (which many consider to _definitely_ be a "sport").

Anyway, so one guy has his personal definition of what a sport is.. from what I've heard of this guy, he seems to be purposefully hyperbolic. He's not really to try to get people to agree with him exactly as he states it-- he's trying to illustrate some point or another strongly enough (and in such an exaggerated way) that you think about it for yourself and make your own decisions on the matter. I could be wrong about that, though..

Phat-S: get your dirty "studies" and "statistical analyses" out of this discussion!! People KNOW what people KNOW.. Only pinkos listen to NPR garbage, and you're a goddamn traitor scum if you've ever read Aljazeera. Long Live Fox News!

...I should include some emoticons, but it gives me a perverse thrill to leave the post ripe for misinterpretation

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Judging NPR for DeFord's comments on sports is like judging NBC for Jack Handley's "Deep Thoughts."
</TD></TR></TABLE>
I dont judge NPR for DeFords commentary, in fact Ive never listened to him.
I judge NPR for its biased, manipulated liberal junk masquerading as "news", with the added insult of funding out of my tax dollars.

 

That's funny, E. I was defending NPR to one of my leftist buddies who was complaining that they weren't being critical enough of opinions using the term "radical environmentalist."

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... explain to me why advertising Bud, Miller, Natural Lite, Skoal, Winston, whatever has seemingly always been OK w/ NASCAR, why is Liquor sponsorship some break w/ "Nascar's Family Values?" </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll bet this has everything to do with internal business pressure from the beer boys. The longtime criticism of "hard" liquor advertising on television has been funded by the beer and wine lobbies, as have limits on mixed-drink licenses for eating establishments. They just don't want the competition.

Now, about this not being able to buy beer or wine at a grocery store on Sunday mornings in NC crap...

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Now, about this not being able to buy beer or wine at a grocery store on Sunday mornings in NC crap...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Or all ffing day in georgia...

 

Well I and the rest of my pinko-leftie-commie-scum tovariches have a Thursday 9:30 over at the 19th Hole for some flapjacks and maple syrup otherwise I'd leave some emoticons myself. But ironically, by not using the little buggers, you and I here have conspired in a rather freightful proposition ... using only language AND hoping intelligent folks will come to a logical determination. Hrmm, there's a threat in the air with such things I think.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I judge NPR for its biased, manipulated liberal junk masquerading as "news", with the added insult of funding out of my tax dollars.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by http://www.npr.org/about/privatesupport.html &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How is NPR Supported?

NPR (National Public Radio) is a private, self-supporting nonprofit media company with hundreds of independent radio stations as members. NPR receives no direct federal funding for general support. NPR supports its operations through a combination of membership dues and programming fees from stations, contributions from private foundations and corporations, and revenue from the sales of transcripts, books, CDs, and merchandise. A very small percentage - between 1-2 percent of NPR's annual budget - comes from competitive grants sought by NPR from federally funded organizations, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. At present, NPR's annual operating budget is approximately $100 million a year. View NPR's latest Annual Report (5.7 MB - Requires Adobe Acrobat).
</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> But ironically, by not using the little buggers, you and I here have conspired in a rather freightful (sic) proposition ... using only language AND hoping intelligent folks will come to a logical determination. </TD></TR></TABLE>


bwahhahahaahahaha! Not only are you a pink-leftie-commie-scum-tovarich, but you are also wonderfully naive.
It's cute, really. It is.

See ya this weekend, better bring some Stolichnaya with you phatski.

 

ha, ha, ha, sounds like one of those guys who likes to bitch and argue abotu everything just to hear himself talk, but oh well


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I kind of think that the specific technology of racing isn't the most important part of it. You can be on the cutting edge of pushrod V8 development or you can be on the cutting edge of pneumatic valvetrains - RACING is still about brains and *****, character and courage.


</TD></TR></TABLE>

Scott, finally a comment I agree with

I totally agree with the comment "if you do not like it do not watch/listen". AS much as I have the power to not listen to this mans rants he has the power to not watch racing. The funny part is that for everyone that has such a voiced distaste for NASCAR it never seems to have hurt/effected them in any negative way.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elgorey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I dont judge NPR for DeFords commentary, in fact Ive never listened to him.
I judge NPR for its biased, manipulated liberal junk masquerading as "news", with the added insult of funding out of my tax dollars.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

"and damn that sesame street for teaching kids how to read and write--and be bleeding heart ******Z!!11one!!!"

it's funny because NPR is too left for the right, and too right for the left. it's probably a good sign that they're coming down right in the middle. on top of that, morning edition's theme song is awesome. contrast this to FOXnews which might as well be called "White House Propoganda Network"--Jeff Gannon should inquire there about a job in Fox's washington bureau...

 

lotta heat and not much light here...

IMO DeFord's piece was humor. Like, laugh its funny. If you listened to him on any kind of regular basis you would have heard him make fun of just about every other sport in some way or another

As far as NPR goes, Ronnie Raygun killed federal funding for NPR and PBS. I happened to work at PBS at the time