Yup that you do. Besides why spend all sorts of money to sit in uncomfortable stadium seats and even more on over priced crap-tacular food, when you can sit in the comfort of your own home and throw in a movie when the game gets boring. Or like I did and throw in a movie instead of the game.
Read this post to get an idea of what a NASCAR driver has to endure: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=1888383&postcount=97 The car is only half of the equation, where the driver is the rest. Without a good driver you can't win in NASCAR. If you can't win, you don't get the big endorsements. If you don't get the big endorsements, you can't afford to get more cars or the latest parts. If you can't do that you can't succeed in NASCAR. Explain this one to me then. Why would so many EUROPEAN drivers who drive in F1 or CART which is MUCH more demanding of a racing sport want to drive in NASCAR? They can make more money from the endorsements alone.
Definition-offending or no, I just can't consider a nascar driver an athelete, especially when compared to someone who plays pro sports. It just isn't gonna happen. Also, I'm STILL not watching football today!
Honestly, the only appeal of Nascar for me is the drinking and the occasional fight that breaks out. At least, football requires more audience participation, and is somewhat more complex than watching a bunch of car go around a track. On a personal note, I've never seen a fight during a football game...a few before and after though. Though I've seen more at Nascar than football.
Can you go park your RV on the field at a FOOTBALL game and watch what is happening from the comfort of your own RV with its large screen TV and radio updates from the teams directly? Do you get a chance to meet the drivers before the game, or even visit the pit teams and watch them work before the race? NASCAR is as much as an event (and an athletic endurance sport) and that is one of the reasons why MORE people watch it then they do football in America anymore.
All of which makes a Nascar Driver a skilled automobile PILOT and very good entertainers but doesn't make them Athletes to a lot of people's understanding. I don't consider them athletes, even though I admire their skill piloting a car.
None of that sounds like fun to me at all - and that's probably part of why nascar doesn't appeal to me in the least. Boring is still boring no matter where you watch it. Besides, if you're just going to sit in an RV to watch the race on TV, what's the point in going there at all? May as well watch at home - that goes for nascar, football, bowling, whatever. What exactly does this response have to do with me not considering nascar drivers to be real athletes, anyway? Getting to meet them makes them more like real athletes, somehow? I don't follow.
Now I see why this is such a touchy issue for you do deal with, I'm sorry, I did'nt intentionally mean to bring you back to that very painful and emotional time in your young life. If it's any consolation, my girlfriend grew up (early 80's) in a home with 3 TV's ... !!! believe it or not, she did'nt grow up to be the most perfect person on earth so...I don't think it matters how many TV's you grow up with but - how you spend your free time when there is something on TV that you don't want to watch, usually what worked for me when my parents watched NASCAR(as I grew up in a 1 TV house, painfully, just as you did) was I got up and went outside...!!!...to play. As for the athlete debate, racer, wrestler or football player - they ALL train hard for their job, most have professional athletic trainers. They are the best in the world at what they do and and cannot be replaced by just anyone off the street.
I only care when there's money riding on it. Sord of fell out of the sports loop when I chilled out on drinking Will take Football over Nascar anyday though, they have cheerleaders
I never said anything about the drivers getting hurt. I was referring to crashes which were/are spectacularly destructive and everyone walks away. A crash is still violent, even if no one gets hurt. When they do, it just becomes tragic as well violent. I'd like to know which NFL games you went to, specifically. What games were so bad that it gave you such a unique view of the NFL? I haven't attended many NASCAR events in my life (never that into it), but I've heard just as much cursing and yelling from the fans as I have at NFL games and hockey games. Hell, even baseball games. I think that anyone who goes through a physical and mental training regime for some kind of competition should be considered an athlete. But for me, there are different types of athletes. For instance, I consider figure skaters athletes, but not in the same vein as football players, or even NASCAR drivers. QFT!
I go to about 3 games a season. Every game I have been to involved security breaking up fights in the stands and fights between fans in the parking lot. And lots of drunk drivers and other issues in the parking lots. There is an epidemic in the NFL right now. And the NFL wants to be family friendly. Jets have gone to no selling of Alcohol and they are considering going to Breathalyzers for entry to keep people who are drunk before the game from entering due to public drunkenness. Women being assaulted: http://wcbstv.com/local/jets.giants.stadium.2.592439.html Ban on Alcohol: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007...rowdy-fans-jets-ban-alcohol-at-season-finale/ While some of it does go on at Nascar races, I never have seen it anywhere as close because for the most part you are not going to get jumped for wearing Jeff Gordan as much as you will get harassed and possibly attacked for wearing skins gear at philly. Personally I think people believe NASCAR is a bunch of dumb drunk rednecks so they assume they are violent and ******ed.
I was not going to comment on this threade, seeing as I love football, but respect those who are not into sports. However, the whole "who is an athlete who is not an athlete" debate is just asking for a comment, so... I am not a NASCAR fan. I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and there are a lot of racing fans around here. Not as much as football, but a lot nonetheless. The thing is, even though I am not a fan, I enjoy going to Talladega to watch the race, because it is an event. If you have never been, it is a very cool experience to be close to the track and hear/feel the vibrations of the car. The goings-on are fun, for the most part. However, I couldn't tell who won or what the standings are. Are drivers athletes? Hmmm, I don't know. I know it takes skill and mental toughness, so maybe. As for football players, it is one of the toughest sports on your body, and the better shape you are in, the better your longevity in the league will be. Football requires strength, stamina, agility, speed, quickness, and mental toughness - all characteristics of an athlete. I don't really know a lot about retired rugby players, or how the sport affects the body. But I work with a bunch of retired NFL players, and they have it rough. The impact of each hit in the NFL is jarring; sure they have protective pads and helmets, but it is still like being involved in a car crash each time they are put down.
i always find it funny when a buncha pencilneck geeks on an internet board discuss the merits of ones un-athlete-ness. its like comedy unto itself.
I feel the need to comment on the violence in stadiums topic. It really depends on the situation and location. For example, Raiders games? Violent rowdy fans are abundant. Niners games? Much more peaceful. It's the same for baseball as well. Giants games? Pacifist. A's games? Fights. As a person who worked in these situations, I can say with experience that violence at professional sports venues has a very high dependency on the demographics of the area. So to say that all NFL venues are violent is not really fair. It all depends on who's playing who and where it's being played at. Green Bay games? Probably not nearly as violent as one in Oakland.
What I find funny is that a bunch of adults that collect toys are ridiculing a hobby/interest of another group of people. Ironic isn't it? Do we really need reassure ourselves by hating something that another person likes? Oh and for the record, I love football but not NASCAR. But I'm not about to ridicule the sport or the people who enjoy it.
If it's so bad, why do you still go? And like Razerwire said, just because you've seen it in your own area does not mean that it's prevalent elsewhere. That is also the reason I don't think that all NASCAR fans are drunk rednecks. I just don't see the appeal for NASCAR that some others do. To each his (or her) own, I guess.
I had been contemplating how to state this after reading some of these rants. You summed it up pretty well.
