This is why we kid, because we care about Chris Myers improving his material. We put up with the groaners, because every so often he busts out a zinger. Of course, even Carl Edwards couldn’t resist commenting on Jeff Hammond wearing, what was for all intensive purposes, an ascot. So, with Fred from “Scooby Doo” in tow this Fox NASCAR broadcast began.
Yes, it was much like a cartoon, a Digger cartoon in fact. The merchandising empire spokes-rodent was, thankfully pretty low-key in his appearances, if not ignored, throughout the race. The way God intended.
I liked “DW’s Rant,” and wouldn’t mind if this was a semi-regular feature. However, the topic was really self-serving for the network. This goes back to the Bristol race. Fox is begging for some controversy to stir up some interest. DW seems to be blaming NASCAR for being too authoritative. How about adding the sponsors and the up-armored, Tank-of-Tomorrow vehicle as also diffusing some tensions.
Well as the broadcasters noted, this race had a lot of lead changes. Great. Finally, a race where several drivers had a good chance to win based their abilities and their cars’ setup. As opposed to one driver dominating the day, with only the possibility of some fluke taking him out. The downside is that this leaves me little to complain about, and apparently little to comment on about the race itself. I’ve always been afraid this would happen. I wonder if NASCAR discussion might disappear entirely if the fans are made too consistently happy.
I have to give Fox one big up and one big down in the way they handled the end of the race. On the negative, what happened to Carl Edwards in his last pit stop? Why weren’t they covering the leader’s pit stop? It’s not another “Tiregate” issue, but really this was a big broadcasting whiff, as it impacted the race finish. Thankfully, Fox’s director made a good decision after the checkers in carrying the Jeff Gordon’s and Steve Letarte’s radio chatter. Those two certainly the expressed the emotion in ending Gordon’s season plus win-less drought better than any commentator could.
I could swear I heard the crowd cheering after Jeff won the race. Don’t they know that they hate him? Has Jeff been replaced by Kyle Busch as NASCAR’s most despised driver? I hate fair-weather haters. Or perhaps the fans were in a giddy, euphoric mood as Junior managed to lead the race for like two seconds under green and were confused into cheering for anything.
Dad called me right after Jeff’s exuberant Victory Lane interview. “Where’s Ingrid?” he began. Dad wanted to see her new hairstyle after reading my blog. Oh, and it gets worse. Drivers are all superstitious. Ingrid and Ella (and Mr. Hendricks) may not invited back to the track until Jeff loses again. I have mixed feelings about that possibility.
J.
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