Whew … I’m from the Midwest
I sit here at Charlotte International Airport in awe of this cultural phenomenon called Nascar, not because of its mere existence, but the prevalence of this existence. You would not believe how many shops and restaurants are dedicated to this sport (can we call it that?) … I seriously witnessed a man on his cell phone saying, probably to his wife, that “he is going to go buy a $69.99 Nascar jacket” and requested permission to do so. This man could not wait to pay $70 to have “Busch Light” etched across his back
Now, if I were to ask the gentleman sitting beside me if Nascar is indeed a sport, he’d laugh. Well, a few minutes in Charlotte’s airport made me really thankful for the sporting culture I wake up to every morning in the Midwest.
In the Midwest, there are games … and as the title of this blog suggests, we enjoy games, we enjoy competition, to the point that games become much more to us than simple diversions. In this Nascar culture, you’d be nuts to call Nascar a “game,” and any attempts to do so or even put it on the same “playing” (more on “play” in a bit) field is an attempt to justify Nascar’s existence. Imagine that you were to say “I’m going to the game” referring to a Nascar race. No one would know what you’re talking about.
|
| This guy, or the next, could do this. |
Step back for a moment and look at Nascar for what it really is: loads of corporate sponsorship, people that love repetitive activity and well, people that apparently enjoy the concept of acquiring a sunburn. For those that are at least half-sane, but enjoy the former, they sit on their couch watching non-athletes count on others (their pit crew) and equipment (their cars) to determine their success.
“Well, drivers risk their lives!” This mere fact does not determine athlete status. I could ask the guy that served me a muffin this morning to do what (insert driver here) does. You shouldn’t be given credit a. for being a risk-hungry person; and b. success based on others.
Somewhere along the line, some heavy brainwashing occurred in this region, and we can probably trace that to corporate sponsorship and heavy marketing. We watch sports to see incredible accomplishments or team feats; not to see one guy get the credit, and sit in a car for gosh sake, because of a machine or a crew that knows how to change a tire. Maybe the crew should be considered athletes–their pulse is beating beyond a resting rate.
I seriously heard this argument once: “Nascar drivers have to sit in a car for 4-5 hours making split second decisions in 100-degree plus heat.” I don’t think simply being a little warm is a qualifier for sport. Also, I make split second decisions everyday when I drive a car on the freeway, albeit not at 200 mph speeds. I’m not that crazy. I also don’t think “crazy” is a qualifier, either.
Nascar enthusiasts would tell you that golf isn’t a sport, and they couldn’t be more wrong. The hand-eye coordination, strength and strategy makes Nascar look like Monopoly in comparison.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I don’t pay any attention to auto racing, but would have to accede to NASCAR being a sport, only in the sense that it is a competition with set rules and an obvious winner.
I don’t think you can fault the corporate sponsorship angle as demeaning to it as a sport. It’s horribly garish and obvious, certainly, but we are on the verge of yet another Super Bowl which has, as a highlight, its ludicrously expensive ads. All major sports, and certainly the “big 4″ pro team sports in America, are hugely subsidized by corporate sponsorship.
The real test for drivers as athletes would be to put the same driver in different cars with different pit crews and see if he has the same success. If ‘yes’, then he probably rises above “average guy” status as you posit here.
Thanks for the writing. I don’t follow sports much any more, but I’ve been enjoying your posts as they pop up on Northfield.org.