Pyle of List

Well here we are. After a grueling Blogfrican Idol (thanks to all the voters; sorry Mako there’s always a winner and loser) here we go.

I’ve decided it’s high time to settle a recurring series of sports arguments. Those pesky “Is _____ a sport?” discussions that happen in bars, offices, chat rooms and message boards. So let’s get this decided once and for all. For the next few weeks I’ll give you a “sport”, look at both sides then I’ll leave it in your capable hands to decide the future of the quasi-sport. (Burnsy, I said capable, that probably leaves you out.) Without further ado, this week we decide…..

NASCAR
Sport or Not?


Sport
NASCAR is one of the fastest growing entities in the US today. No longer can NASCAR fans be referred to as Bubba and Billy Joe. With more and more fans flocking to the tracks week after week and more and bigger corporate sponsors jumping into the fray, what reasons could you give to keep the sports tag away from NASCAR. This sport requires just as much strategy, teamwork and athleticism of other traditional sports.
The strategy involved when it comes to engine, tires, aerodynamics and the like has taken this sport out of the garage out back and put it on the forefront of technology with teams building facilities that rival some traditional sports teams’ facilities.
No other sport relies more on the idea of team working together as intricately as the teamwork required in NASCAR. The driver is simply the quarterback of a large team. From the guys in the garage working hard to find any extra horsepower whether it be legal or not, to the crew going over the wall to do more work to a car in 19 seconds than some mechanics do all day.(You hear me Joey, I need my car back) If any of the players on the football field take a play off it may or may not be detrimental to the team…I mean Randy Moss admitted to taking plays off when he played for the Raiders and they didn’t seem to have any issue with him. Heck his 50% on some plays was still better than the rest of the team’s 100% most of the time. However, in NASCAR if the jack-man decides to go get a beer and misses a pit-stop there’s going to be issues, unless you have Bubba Smith standing around in your pit-box.

“That’s a Stoker Ace Reference folks!!”

And these drivers don’t have it easy. They sit in the same position inside a hot metal box with every nerve on end as they go 200 mph for 3 and a half or 4 hours. Until very recently they had no cooling system and could only grab a quick sip of water while sitting in the pit for 20 seconds or so; the only break they get. On top of the constant physical taxing of the drivers you have a mental aspect that might just be the highest concentration level required by any sport. Stock cars aren’t equipped with the same luxuries as your car. No break lights, windshield wipers, or those drop down sun shades that my wife uses whether it 12 am or pm but I’m too tall and have to duck underneath it to watch the traffic in front of the car….and yes, she does insist that I put it down even if she’s not driving. Drivers use hand signals to communicate with the drivers around them. (not just that one) That’s impressive when you take into account the road grit and sunlight aspect not to mention driving 200 mph. You miss the guy in front of you telling you he’s checking up and that’s going to be the end of your day and your owner isn’t going to replace or fix that many cars before he decides you ain’t cut out for this.
Face it, NASCAR is here to stay and it’s time the sports world secures a spot for it.

Not
Then again, are you kidding? Raise your hand if you’ve ever sat through an entire NASCAR race from beginning to end without flipping channels or napping. I know there are a few folks out there proudly shoving their hands in the air. Congratulations! You might think about another quasi-sport; competitive house painting.

Ernie Lewis CHP champion 3 years running

3 and a half to 4 hours worth of cars going in circles that only has a possibility of being interesting in the last 10-15 minutes. More than often, however, you have the race end on a caution or a leader so far ahead that the 07 Spurs beating the Cavs in 4 straight games looks like a close finish.
As far as strategy, there is a ton of it, all unintelligible to most of America. Forget the sometimes impossible to muddle through southern accent for a moment and realize this is an entirely new language for 80% of viewers. I know basic principles of aerodynamics and the engine but frankly…I learned the details of football strategy by the age of 14 and I still don’t fully understand the draft. Vacuum and wind resistance and slingshoting around another car only make since in my mind because it’s works that way. I could no more tell you why it works than the Arizona Cardinals could win a championship.
Teamwork is the defining aspect of most sports to me. The team in NASCAR relies on loosely connected individual performances and hinges on the performance of the driver. When NASCAR starts marketing the hardworking pit guys as part of the team I’ll buy it. Until that point NASCAR markets it as an individual sport and that’s how I’m going to see it.
And that driver they market is not an athlete. I drove a 1987 Jeep Cherokee for 5 years without an air conditioner in Texas. And when I drove from college 5 hours home there was nobody spraying me down with champagne and urging me to do back flips. I remember thinking that would be an excellent welcome home but alas no one would put that together. There are people who deal with worse situations on a daily basis to get back and forth to their meager jobs and don’t feel they should be touted as professional athletes.
 Remember, it’s all pretty simple; down to the end of the straightaway and make a left.

So once and for all, is NASCAR a sport or not?