Ok ... injure might be a little strong, but we're definitely in pain here. From a Fanhouse reader:
Could we please get Brad D. off of the air, he is horrible, now I could care less what color you are, you could be purple for all I care, but he is horrible and ruins NASCAR for me.
He is horrible indeed. But I needn't go on about it ... you already know. If not, please feel free to peruse more previous comments or better yet, watch the race on Sunday.
Daugherty's less than stellar performance certainly begs the question: Was he given his gig as an ESPN Analyst (and I use the term loosely) because he was a "former winning NASCAR owner?" Because he was better than all the other candidates for the job? Or because he is a person of color?
Now, I happen to be a fan of diversity ... but I'm no fan of affirmative action. It's a form of racism that many people in this country support or have come to accept, but I can't really get behind the idea of favoring any particular race over another for any reason.
I mean, who among us could believe that the former NBA baller was simply the best candidate for the job at the time he got hired? Especially considering they've still got Allen Bestwick, who knows more than a thing or two about NASCAR and is not at all injurious to fans, stuck in the pits most of the time.
We've heard plenty about "Coltgate" lately and the accusations that the Indianapolis Colts had pumped in crowd noise during the New England Patriots game two weeks ago.
Judging from the TV I watched it on (ABC-HD with surround sound), it sounded to me like ESPN on ABC was definitely pumping in some crowd noise during each restart of last Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500. Take a listen for yourself on the video below, as there are several instances that you can hear the not-too-natural noises.
Take note at 1:30, 5:48, 8:24, and 9:30 on the video, then continue reading for more.
I understand completely that the YouTube video isn't exactly the highest quality, but on the other hand, I've been to my fair share of races. People just don't cheer like that during restarts. Here's what they do cheer for:
Dude got shoved into a segment on ESPN2's NASCAR Now showing ESPN's impressive NASCAR coverage. Or, well, I hope he got shoved into it.
Before I rip the whole segment apart, let me allow Jeff Burton, ESPN's token driver voice for their coverage to do so as he did in the video:
"Well the first word that comes to mind is absurd. The first goal of racing is to be there at the end. This system would award people and reward people for doing things that actually would hamper the way they would finish the race," said Burton.
"So it makes no sense -- you used the worst example in the world at Talladega to expose a problem, when in fact, we don't have this problem at most race tracks. So you have to run toward the front, you have to run hard in order to be competitive at almost every race track with the exception of Talladega. So, in a word, I think it's absurd."
Amen, Jeff.
For me, this whole segment (with a nice after-touch of Judge Judy) shows why ESPN and NASCAR fans haven't exactly gotten along this season.
ABC's broadcast of last Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 4.0 ...
20 percent lower than the 4.8 NBC earned for the same race in 2006.
SportsBusinessDaily reports that ABC's broadcast of last Sunday's Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 3.7--down from 4.1 when NBC aired the race last year.
When your race broadcast gets preempted for local coverage and the network hasn't ensured that local affiliate has a backup plan or backup station to move the breaking news coverage, you get fewer eyeballs watching the race.
On the other hand, the Craftsman Truck Series Martinsville race enjoyed an 18% increase in viewership on The Speed Channel--you might be familiar with the network where more than one of their commentators actually know a thing or two about NASCAR.
Get a clue, NASCAR! It's time to kick ESPN/ABC to the curb and partner with Fox and Fox-owned Speed TV for the entire season.
Has there been a moment since July 29th when ESPN/ABC made you wish you had DirecTV's NASCAR HotPass? If so, DirecTV wants to hear about it.
The satellite TV company is sponsoring a contest put together by my fellow NASCAR blogger, CCR @ The Black Flag Blog. The Black Flag NASCAR Hotpass Moment Contest affords fans the opportunity to submit an entry of 250 words or less on the following topic:
"The moment when ESPN/ABC made me wish I had DirecTV's NASCAR HotPass was when..."
Each entry will be judged for humor, writing and creativity and the winners win stuff.
Do I even remember my first one? There have been so many moments! Maybe this was it. No matter. Unfortunately, I won't be able to submit my own because ... I will be judging the contest!
ESPN and ABC totally screwed me--and other NASCAR fans in the Los Angeles market--out of pre-race ceremonies yesterday. According to the Lowes Motor Speedway website, coverage of the Bank of America 500 was supposed to begin on ABC at 7:00PM ET, not a half-hour later at 4:30PM PT, as per my DirecTV programming guide. At 4:00PM, my ABC affiliate, KABC-TV Los Angeles, was showing news.
So, I flipped back to watch the rest of "Raceday" on Speed. At the tail end of the program, which ended at 4:30PM, Wendi Venturini commented about the chaos on the track and said the anthem was sung while some of the drivers were still going around the track for driver introductions--so even some of them missed the invocation and anthem. Regardless of the KABC programming issue, it sounds like pre-race ceremonies were screwed up anyway.
By the time I finally turned to ABC again at 4:30PM for the race, I was so annoyed. Imagine how my annoyance level skyrocketed when I discovered at 4:30PM that there was still no racing.
For your continued ESPN on ABC viewing displeasure, bumpstop3 has put together another great video - this one of what the west coast viewers experienced on Sunday, a.k.a. "The Lost 18 Laps of the Dodge Dealers 400."
Take special note of the tagline on "The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, Only on ABC" promo: Miss A Lap, Miss A Lot. Are they kidding? They are actually rubbing it in?
Everyone has a different complaint about ESPN on ABC's coverage of NASCAR, so this one's going to be a bit of a free-for-all.
What's your beef?
Is it the way they miss the restarts because they haven't learned what the different colored racing flags mean yet? Let's help them out.
Green means go. When the green flag is waving, the camera should be focused on it and that camera's feed should be transmitted live to the viewers' televisions. Not just some of the times. Every time. No exceptions. The drivers manage to be on the gas when the green flag drops every time. They certainly don't join the restart "in progress." ESPN gets the same head's up. Why should they have such difficulty heeding the "one-to-go" warning?
In case you haven't heard, ESPN is taking over Nextel Cup for the rest of the season. Or is Nextel Cup taking over ESPN ... ? I'll leave that for the non-NASCAR Fanhousers to address once football season starts.
Beginning with the July 29 running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ESPN will present the most technologically- advanced coverage of NASCAR in motorsports television history. The telecast, which begins at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, July 29, will be in high definition on ESPN. Dr. Jerry Punch will call the race with analysts Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree and pit reporters Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Mike Massaro. Brent Musburger will host the telecast, and Suzy Kolber will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown show with analyst Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN DISH Tech Center.
What's wrong with this picture? They've got Bestwick is in the pits instead of the booth. *SIGH*
The ESPN DISH Tech Center?
A fancy name for the high-tech enclosed studio that will travel to all of ESPN's NASCARNEXTEL Cup race venues and will be utilized by ESPN's producers and announcers for content segments to air during race telecasts. The unit promises to deliver "one of the most cutting-edge and educational race viewing experiences ever developed."
Ok ... injure might be a little strong, but we're definitely in pain here. From a Fanhouse reader:
The one-trick pony is back to kick ESPN on ABC while they're down. 
SportsBusinessDaily
Has there been a moment since 
Everyone has a different complaint about ESPN on ABC's coverage of NASCAR, so this one's going to be a bit of a free-for-all. 
