By Mark Young
Not to steal any thunder from my blog brother Kurt Smith in The Infield, I feel really compelled to write about the abysmal TV coverage of the race on Saturday night. Granted it was the last race before the Chase and there was plenty of drama because of it but I think that we as race fans were royally ripped off.
I would have posted this sooner but figured for the sake of the boss man pulling my post due to censureship I needed to wait and cool off a bit. This telecast had to be the worst one I have ever seen.
To start with let's talk a bit about the over-coverage of the Chase contenders. If I was a sponsor of one of the 40 other cars there that night I would be contacting TNT (NBC's generic sibling) and express my outrage at the complete lack of coverage not only of their cars but of the race in general. I am really anxious to find the statistics showing how much airtime was spent actually covering the race on Saturday night. The last half of the race was missed because of all of the commercials that we had to endure. The remote control at my buddy Dave's house was a smoldering mass of melted plastic because we used it so much. I guess I should thank TNT in a sense for all of the commercials and so should ABC because we spent as much time watching the Ohio State vs. Texas game as we did the race. It is absolutely ludicrous to run four sets of commercials in a 20 minute time span. TNT was on the air for four laps then commercials, then another five laps and another set of commercials and what for? A bunch of interviews from drivers after the race who have ten more races to look forward to.
What about Dave Blaney? What about Ken Schrader? What about Scott Riggs? I think they all had great finishes but then again I am not sure because TNT didn't bother to give us a rundown on the final results of the race!!! It would have been really neat to hear what those three guys had to say after very good runs but NOOOOO. We had to stick a camera in Tony Stewart's face right after he got out and ask him how he felt about not making the Chase and we all know it is because everyone expected a curse-ladened tirade. They were just looking for him to blow up, I am glad Tony held his tongue and took it like a man. No offense to Denny Hamlin's parents as they have a lot to be proud of, and so would I if I were his father, but come on people we heard them talk before the race and during qualifying. Same thing with Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. They both had crappy runs and were lucky to make the Chase but there was more to that race than 11 guys.
Was it too much to ask for five minutes out of TNT's precious time to talk about the race that had just finished instead of the ten races yet to be run? I hope the ESPN/ABC guys took some serious notes and remember what was aired Saturday because I am sure there are many fans like me who will remember this next year.
In a perfect world the only green flag commercials should be on the hoods of the cars. The amount of coverage time verses the commercial time is way off! It feel that we see more commercials than racin'! I know that this is asking for too much, but I can dream........~LOL~
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back in 2001, there was a memo sent out that stated....
"Sunday coverage of NASCAR will no longer continue, due to its growing popularity. Instead, it will be replaced with 4 hours of commercials, with interuptions of stock car racing during the commercial coverage"
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mrsmopar12 Fan Club Member #1 Intimidator1951-2001 If this was the 1950's, Jeff Gordon would be Pat Boone and Dale Jr. would be Elvis....both were great singers, but we know who had the most fans.
The commercials have gotten out of hand, which is another reason I like FOX alot better than TNT. FOX focuses on the racing, unlike TNT who keeps airing the Chase drivers.
Sorry Darkside, but I have to disagree with you one one slight point, FOX had really bad coverage too! In fact FOX's coverage made me resign to never give up my Trackpass. More than a few times, they went to commercial during a yellow, then before the commercials were over, they had restarted the race, ran a few laps, and went back into a caution! They missed more restarts than they showed. We can all only hope and pray that ESPN will finally have some decent coverage. I was not a race fan back when ESPN/ABC had the TV deal, but I have heard from other race fans that they were good and better than both NBC and FOX. So I am hopeful for next season ...................................
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Location: The OC... and it's nothing like the TV Show!
Posts: 468
Myabe this should be another thread but what do you thinkabout track pass? I've thought about getting it but I so rarely watch races "live." I usually TIVO them so I can fast forward through the commercials.
Well now, if you are going to watch the race via TiVo, Trackpass will not be right for you. My Trackpass comes to me free with my cable high speed Internet, thanks to Road Runner. Trackpass is included with their service, so anyone with Road Runner has Trackpass, and that is good because I do pay a lot for my Road Runner! But the Trackpass eases my conscious about the bill!~LOL~ I do love the Trackpass because of the real time telemetry, and the in-car audio is cool, too. It is nice to know what is going on with the car set up wise, and the conversation between the driver, spotter, and crew chief can be really interesting at times!
Unfortunately, using the Trackpass means I am bound to the commercials. But I am training myself not to watch them because I have now learned how to watch the telemetry and I can "see" when Ryan is racing some one and that is pretty cool. You might consider trying the Trackpass the next time they offer it free for a race. Watching qualifying with is can be fun too!
I have found the best way to enjoy the races this season is to use my Trackpass, mute the TV, and listen to MRN on the radio!
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The amount of coverage time verses the commercial time is way off! It feel that we see more commercials than racin'!
I know that this is asking for too much, but I can dream........~LOL~
We can all only hope and pray that ESPN will finally have some decent coverage. I was not a race fan back when ESPN/ABC had the TV deal, but I have heard from other race fans that they were good and better than both NBC and FOX. So I am hopeful for next season
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My Trackpass comes to me free with my cable high speed Internet, thanks to Road Runner. Trackpass is included with their service, so anyone with Road Runner has Trackpass, and that is good because I do pay a lot for my Road Runner!
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