Editor’s Note: This column is the first of a three-part series Matt’s writing about the pending return of NBC to covering the sport full-time. Come back for Parts II & III Wednesday and Thursday!
Dear NBC,
Howdy. Welcome back. Has it really been eight years? I know you all must be busy as you get set to take over Cup Series coverage for the year but I thought I’d take a few moments to express some thoughts on behalf of the fans, as a fan myself.
First off, you needn’t be too jittery out of the gate. A lot of fans are ready to welcome you back with open arms. After what we’ve been through this year (and, in fact, the last 14) the general assumption is whatever NASCAR TV coverage you provide simply can’t be worse than FOX. Please don’t prove us wrong.
In fact, that might be a real fine place for all of you to start getting ready over the next few weeks. Watch every NASCAR broadcast that has run on FOX in 2015. Study all the little gimmicks, special segments, and the general level of competence by their color analysts. Study it all and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T DO THAT!
ALLAWAY: A Look At Danica’s Debut In The Booth
See, y’all are walking back into a very different NASCAR scenario than you knew when you packed your bags back in 2006. Back then, the sport was at the zenith of its popularity with an average of 7.85 million people watching the races every week. Bad news: most of them left. Somewhere around 66% of them have found better things to do on a Sunday afternoon. Most of that can be attributed to the tepid state of racing over the last half-dozen years, but the abject stupidity of race broadcasts in that era hasn’t helped. It’s hard to enjoy a Sunday afternoon of stock car racing when you come away with some nagging feeling the broadcasters and the broadcasting network think you’re an idiot.
Back in the day, to an extent, I suppose you had to cater to newcomers, fans who had just recently begun following the sport. Most of them decided they didn’t like it. What you’re left with, by and large (and your grip on them is a whole lot more tenuous than the folks at NASCAR would have you believe) is the longtime fans who’ve supported the sport through thick and thin, or at least still tune into races as a habit after all those thousands of Sunday afternoons. A percentage of them know more about the about the sport than you do. The rest of them think that they do. That’s your target audience. Use complicated, computer-generated graphics to explain the difference between a loose racecar and a tight one more than once a month and you’ll cause a fusillade of beer bottles thrown through TV screens nationwide. (It’s pretty simple. When a race car is tight, you see what you’re about to hit. When a race car is loose, you don’t.)
We all have pet peeves. I have a menagerie worth of them. Here’s a few that seem to irk my fellow old-timers the worst: “Richard Petty won seven Sprint Cup championships.” The Hell he did! Richard Petty never ran a Sprint Cup race. He ran a whole bunch of Winston Cup races. “Driver X went with two tires.” Well then, he’s going to be going pretty damn slow dragging two brake rotors around the track. Did he think he was on a motorcycle? Now, Driver X might have chosen to go with two fresh tires rather than four like the rest of the pack to gain some track position. And I know damn well what brand of tires the teams installed. You needn’t remind me. If points were awarded right now…then we could turn off the TV for the rest of the season and spend our Sundays more productively. They won’t be awarded “right now.” They will be awarded after the race. Shut up and watch until then. Make the broadcast team throw a buck in a pickle jar every time they violate one of the above rules. We won’t just send a sick kid to Disney World, we’ll buy her the joint.
Since you’ve already watched those FOX tapes (and someone in the legal department is doubtlessly checking to see if they violate the Geneva Convention rules regarding torture) now I want you to choose 10 ESPN races from back in the mid-’90s. You know, back when Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were calling the shots. That trio were like friends you invited over for the race, guys who sat on the couch beside you and watched the race with you, occasionally pointing out something you hadn’t seen yet or didn’t understand. Jarrett, he was like Radar O’Reilly. He could see a wreck a lap before it happened. That’s opposed to Darrell Waltrip, who might not notice a wreck until a lap after it happened because he had something else he was talking about – usually himself. Watch those ESPN tapes closely. That’s what we old-timers want. That’s what we expect. Do that and you’ll be just fine.
(As an aside, I’d practically forgotten but back in that era when NASCAR threw a caution for debris, the cameras scoured the track until they found it. Nowadays, not so much because there’s often no debris to be located and shown. If that’s the case, report that’s what’s happened. Yeah, some NASCAR officials might be steamed but let’s get things straight from Jump Street. You are not guests that they’ve allowed in the booth out of the kindness of their hearts. You just spent $4.4 billion to be there. By the way, are you nuts?)
If you’re just looking to burn money, feel free to send a few bales of the stuff my way. Anyway, don’t be afraid of those dudes and dudesses in the NASCAR shirts. If the booth feels a ref blew a call in an NFL game, they say so, and the NFL doesn’t yank their credentials. You’re in the dominant position here, not them. I just talked to the folks at the Home And Garden network; they’re not interested. NASCAR is going to have a hell of a time finding some other imbecile… sorry, broadcasting network willing to fork over $4.4 billion. Hold their feet to the fire. It doesn’t have to be an adversarial relationship, but neither should you let them treat you like the school headmaster sending a dumb kid out to recess after a pat on the head. That’s how NASCAR treats the fans. Did I mention about 5 million of them have gone missing? As we approach the last Grateful Dead concert ever (the same weekend you take over NASCAR, as a matter of fact, but I will DVR the race, promise) let’s recall what Uncle Jerry once wrote.
Like a steam locomotive, rolling down the track, they’re gone, gone, and nothing’s going to bring them back….
About the author
Matt joined Frontstretch in 2007 after a decade of race-writing, paired with the first generation of racing internet sites like RaceComm and Racing One. Now semi-retired, he submits occasional special features while his retrospectives on drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, and other fallen NASCAR legends pop up every summer on Frontstretch. A motorcycle nut, look for the closest open road near you and you can catch him on the Harley during those bright, summer days in his beloved Pennsylvania.
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Good try Matt. Do you think anyone’s listening?
Whatever it is it has to be better. Try to imagine worse coverage than Fox. Can’t can you?
hello…is this thing on? we can ONLY HOPE that someone from NBC will be listening. bad enough majority of the races will be on the nbcsp channel.
What’s bothering me is 1.) Why is the Grateful Dead performing their last shows in Chicago? The last Grateful Dead show should be in San Francisco; and 2.) Why are they billing this show as the Grateful Dead? The full reunion shows they’ve done since Jerry died have been billed simply as “The Dead”. It’s their band and they can call it what they want, but why go back to “Grateful” for one last set of shows? By the way, I saw “The Dead” in 2004 in Charlotte with Warren Haynes on guitar. Awesome concert.
As for the Nascar stuff, I agree with Matt.
If I’m not mistake Jerry last played with the band at Soldiers Field in Chicago. Maybe they think he just wandered off?
As for the Grateful Dead name it has after all been 50 years. Time to bookend the Long Strange Trip. It may leave open the possibility “The Dead” could do future tours as well since this is only billed as the Last Grateful Dead concert.
I still have my old “Grateful Dead- 20 years So Far” T-shirt with a statue of a minuteman with a skull in place of the face. It might have been from a concert in Boston or Providence but my recollections of that era are suspect.
But as they’ve said all along. The Grateful Dead- They’re not the best at what they do, they’re the ONLY ONES that do what they do. No they never got the radio airplay and multi-zilliion record sales but for all those decades they sold out every show mainly by word of mouth (sort of like NASCAR in the the 70s and 80s.) Let’s see if anyone is still camping outside for Taylor Swift tickets when she’s 65.
Great start Matt. Can’t wait to read Parts 2 and 3.
Great start Matt, can’t wait to read parts 2 and 3.
“now I want you to choose ten ESPN races from back in the mid-80s, back when Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were calling the shots. That trio were like friends you invited over for the race, guys who sat on the couch beside you and watched the race with you, occasionally pointing out something you hadn’t seen yet or didn’t understand.”
Add in Buddy Baker, Glen Jarrett, & Neil Bonnett from the old TNN days, too
Maybe we should all hammer them with links to Matt’s articles!
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/contact-us/
Hi Matt,
Are you a diaper wipe?
BEST TV COVERAGE EVER……The Fox crew……NOBODY has been together as long as that team, do you wonder why? They are just that good!
The Bill Goats Gruff called….they miss you.
Your delusional! The only one that could fall into that category is maybe Mike Joy. The rest of them are a clown show. My guess is, since you started out with an insult you are one of the ADD crowd that is under 25 and needs gimmicks, like ferris wheels, pre-race concerts, and some idiot running down pit road, pissing off the drivers, making a fool of himself before each race, to enjoy NASCAR. If so, those guys are right up your alley. I’m willing to bet you are in the minority though
Well said Steve… Fox paid these clowns a bunch of money and are stuck with them….
Their race coverage is horrible….. I wait untill I know for sure the race is on (10-20 laps in) so i know I’m not subjected to any pre race propaganda about how great Nascar and it’s 4-6 favorite drivers are….. You know Jimmie,Dale Jr.,Jeff (did you know he’s retiring this year) or Danica… Danica…? Didn’t she finish 28’th last year and has no sponsor now….? Ther coverage is so bad that they have turned into TMZ in their coverage…. Dale jr is engaged…? Kyle’s trophy wife had a baby…? Danica has to take selfies in yoga poses to try to attract a sponsor….? They talk about everything BUT racing….. Great article Matt…!!!!
Matt, you mentioned that some of us still watch nascar races out of long ingrained habits. You’re right. But it’s gotten to the point where habit has slowly turned to apathy. You can blame it on a long list of bad decisions that were made (and are still being made.) Having to listen to the Waltrip brothers is torture that ranks right up there with water boarding. Yet FUX continues to give the big bird to the viewers (the ones who are left. And as far as the Hendricks cup championship….Oh sorry. nascar doesn’t to get it, as far as how many other sports programming there is to watch. Since Brain far France took over this sport, it’s turned into WWE like organization. Oh well. Good to hear from you, Matt. Can’t wait for parts 2 & 3.
We can only hope that NBC will choose to cover the entire field at least sometime during the race, and will avoid any cutsie, annoying phrases to begin races with. I feel like Prioncess Leia….”Help us NBC Kenobi, you’re our only hope!”
Good column! Hope NBC can cover a green flag start for a lap without going to the in-car camera and let us see the racing from overhead.
Word to Don……. Ease up on the crack….. It makes you type silly things.
This article is like music to my ears. Thanks, Matt! How I wish NBC actually listened.
This year I am watching 1993 NASCAR season from my vault, and indeed, not only racing but TV coverage as well was infinitely better than today. What I really appreciated was that ESPN and TNN (alas, CBS and TNN were doing a poor job in this aspect) never failed to explain debris cautions. One of the vivid examples is inaugural race in Loudon. One of the cautions was called due to wheel hub from Michael Waltrip’s car. Not only cameraman managed to find this small piece of debris on the dark asphalt, but network actually followed this hub until the moment it was blown off the track to the infield.
Good article Matt. Wish the “official” scribe of Couch Potato Tuesday would say it like it is!