Why is Nascar Sport's Entertainment?
Here is a nice, recent column:
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/mo...ts/6610029.htm
Busch is NASCAR's newest villain
By SCOTT FOWLER
Charlotte Observer
BRISTOL, Tenn. - Kurt Busch is such a despised man among the NASCAR faithful right now that he even caused the fireworks to be booed Saturday night.
Have you ever seen 160,000 people boo while fireworks light up the sky? I hadn't either - not until Saturday night, when Busch was in Victory Lane and the boos of the fans couldn't be drowned out even by the firework explosions.
Busch is young, fast and controversial. Like it or not, he is NASCAR's newest villain. And he might as well like it.
Embrace the role, Kurt. Dale Earnhardt made a decent living playing it.
Racing - like wrestling and a great movie - always needs a good bad guy. But in NASCAR, there's been a black hole in the black hat lately.
Jeff Gordon got divorced, making him less perfect and more palatable. Tony Stewart got quiet and stopped winning races in bunches, making him an afterthought.
Somebody had to step into the void, and Busch stumbled into it this week with a series of defiant interviews. Then - and give him a ton of credit for this - he drove a superb race to win the Sharpie500 Saturday night in Bristol after a turmoil-filled week.
There was that one little problem Busch had with Sterling Marlin - the latest person Busch must apologize to after he accidentally wrecked Marlin in the 500. Marlin will have to get in line to be angry with Busch, however, who has performed the remarkable feat of being hit by a Jimmy Spencer punch eight days ago and nevertheless seeming like a bully.
"He's a cocky, arrogant punk," second-place finisher Kevin Harvick sneered about Busch after the race.
That comment smacks of the old story about a pot and a kettle. But Busch also angered some of the establishment racers with his comments about how flattening a fender - ruining another car's aerodynamics for your own benefit - is an accepted practice.
____________________________________________________
Remember when Vince McMahon swore for years up one side and down the other that (then) WWF wrestlin' was the real deal? That nothing was fixed? C'mon, you Nascar guys remember, you were watching.
This is Sport's Entertainment. It is marketed with Heros (Earnhardt, Jr - Stonecold) and Villans (Kurt Busch - Undertaker). There are "storylines" throughout, that build to a "climax". This isn't a pitcher battling a bater. This is soap opera stuff.
I posted the article above because I saw many like it after last weeks event. There is no discussion of 'points' or 'strategy' or anything else that factors into real sport. This is an article devoted to the entertainment side of Nascar. It serves no other purpose.
Nascar markets crashes. Crashes. Not "who will win the points." Fans cheer when people crash.
The author even admits Nascar has many "grey areas." This means no concrete rules.
I respect everyone's opinion on this board. Answer me one thing - why is it so important to everyone who is a Nascar fan that this be considered a sport?