Another Journalist Who Doesn't Think NASCAR is a Sport And Crosses A Line Doing It

There's a site called The Sentinel, and I do believe that they are not of the mind to believe that NASCAR is a sport.  Tsk, Tsk.  They being Eric Rivera, an aspiring journalist for a North Idaho College.

Eric goes on to support his perspective by saying that NASCAR does not compare to hockey and football.  Fair enough.  And Eric does give credit to being able to turn left repeatedly with precision accuracy for hours on end.  OK, that's nice of him to give some credit.

But then he goes on to compare NASCAR to being on par with a Wii athlete and says that he, himself must then compare to a professional driver becuase he plays Gran Turismo.  If I read that right.

Then he further augments his perspectives by grouping NASCAR in with WWE and he finishes the statement by saying,

"So it makes me want to say thank you to all the people who are hardcore fans. Those that push the notion that NASCAR is a true sport. You confirm my suspicion that being dumb and dangerous go hand in hand."

That's when I quit being so understanding of the ingorance involved in proclaiming something to not be a sport when, I presume, one has not even tried it.  And calling the demographic supporting the support to be dumb.

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Indeed.  I get the premise that people WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN IN a racecar (You can spell that forwards and backward Eric) thinks it's not a sport, as compared to stick and ball events.

I get that one doesn't understand how much muscle it takes or that how damn brave you have to be to be hurtling along at 100+ mph.  When you turn left, I was surprised by the amount of G-force applied to my brain and how dang heavy my arms got in the corners.

But I'm good with that because they don't get it.

But I don't think they get the on-going and constant physical demands put upon a driver in a car without power-steering or power brakes and endure performing in an environment that gets up to 130 degrees.  Or losing several pounds of sweat per race.

Nah, I'm good with that too, because obviously he didn't do his research.  I'm OK with not getting it and that grey area of what a sport is, whereby a sport could be defined as

"An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others."

Or that it is a

"Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively."

But it's OK...

But when a reporter starts to call people dumb for what they like, then there's the backhand to a large demographic.  That same backhand comes from a writer who doesn't get it because they've never tried it.

So I'm thinking we should all pile on over and leave some friendly and constructive comments that would help Eric understand that he's a bit off the mark with his perception and calling fans names.  I will as soon as I can calm down because right now, nothing good is going to come out of my fingertips if I were to head over there.  And I want to be friendly, constructive and gentle when I tell him to go to hell.

Oh, sorry, did that come out?  See... I have to wait a bit before I get over there.

nicsentinel: nascar reputation

-Bruce