More fantastic Carolina hockey coverage

[reptilia]

Anyone who would make a personal phone call to someone over the content of a sports article is equally, if not more so pathetic.

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

Anyone who would make a personal phone call to someone over the content of a sports article is equally, if not more so pathetic.

 

Why would a sports writer give his number out then? He must be lonely....

[ExiledInIllinois]

Please never refer to NASCAR as a sport, cause it is not, it is a race, an event, etc. It is not a sport. Dale Earnhardt is not an athlete when he hops into his car and drives in circles.

 

Don't get me wrong, most of my friends refer to me as a gear head, and I would love to drive a race car, but I will never refer to it as a sport. Its like calling a dog show or poker a sport, they aren't and I have no idea why ESPN (or TSN in Canada) broadcast both seeing as how they are sports networks.

 

Sports require athletes to play them, and requires a person to have some physical skills to play them.

 

I am not a NASCAR fan by any means. I have to disagree with you.

 

IMO, Hemmingway (well maybe it was Hemmingway) was spot on:

 

"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games."

[ExiledInIllinois]

Hey all,

 

I was born & raised in Watkins Glen (now am a Texas Yankee) - my parent's farm is the next hill over from the racetrack. Agree with you all that I don't understand the fascination with NASCAR (when I was little it was Formula One & Grand Prix).

 

Only explanation I might offer is that it's a great excuse to tail gate for like 3 days straight - everyone camps out and drinks beer from sunrise to sunrise.

 

Seems like you never much know what's going on with the actual race unless you sit in the grandstands at the pits and watch the finish - otherwise you see a pack of cars like every 5 minutes go flying by and that part is really boring but the party is always good (not as good as being at HSBC though but lasts longer).

 

Anyway, maybe it's different at other tracks - Watkins Glen is a road track (even has some S curves to make them turn right occasionally) and there are tons of spots to hang out - still I'd think seeing a race on an oval would really be boring even if you could see the cars the whole time. As I said, it's a mystery to me how NASCAR became one of the biggest spectator events but it's been a good thing for my home town (800,000 attendance for 3 days in a town of 3,000 sure helps the economy).

 

Any other fans down in the Texas Hill Country (San Antonio / Austin) area? Loving the success but missing the atmosphere - at least we got to catch a game at HSBC right before New Years and see Atlanta get thrashed.

 

Because it is a three day party, picnic, BBQ, and campout! I don't like NASCAR, never really understood the fascination either... Kinda like radio (free or normal non-satellite)... Do you listen for the music or are the ads the real reason they want you to tune it in? It is the ads! The music is the freeby or by-product... Same with NASCAR... But, everybody thinks they are providing the race and campout because they want you to enjoy that... Don't get me wrong, they do... But the race is the by-product.

 

The ads are the real reason... The race and party is the device to lure you in... Not really the main reason you are there (but, one likes to think that)... Quite different than other sports where the ads are not the driving force, just the by-product...

 

Get what I am saying?

 

IMO of course... Road racing and F-1 is more of a pure motor sport... That is where it all began... The oval became a simple diversion (note the Daytona 500 is not raced on the beach any more... Why?)

[Bmwolf21]

When I read Barnett's article today I was embarrassed for him. As a sports journalist covering hockey for your own city, you don't say that about the game. He sounded like an absolute idiot. He can be emailed at Columnist Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-829-4555 or nbarnett@newsobserver.com. Anyways, here's what I wrote to him. I was pretty pissed at the time, but all in all got my point across:

 

A few thoughts crossed my mind when I read your article entitled "Sorry WNY

experts, but hockey is child's play" (link:

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20060524/1042869.asp). For brevity's sake, Im

just gonna say it- Your column made me feel embarrassed for you as a sports

journalist. Granted, you probably spend most of your time writing columns on

how many Duke basketball players grow moustaches in the offseason, but my take

on your column was that many Buffalonians did bring up valid points which most

likely went against your thinking. Instead of looking into these points, or

offering a valid counter-argument, you essentially said "duh - understanding

hockey is easy **duh**, the team that scores the most goals wins **duh**". Im

sure the writing of the aforementioned column took all of 10 minutes. And I'd

venture a little further and guess that a few of your colleagues down in NC got

a crack out of it too. But just remember this - while you were coming off as a

pompous, "I know more than you because Im a journalist and you're not and

hockey is a simple game for simple people attitude" in your article, other

sports journalists were writing columns which actually contained some

substance. For example, take Al Strachan's column in the Toronto Sun (link:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playo...95313-sun.html). In

it, he discusses the current defensive system that is the fad right now in the

NHL. He goes on to say why so many shots have been blocked this season. Im

sure you wouldn't have liked it, though, since it was full of valid points and

lacked a sarcastic, arrogant tone.

 

--Jeff

I finally got to read the article, and I've got to say, what a piece of condescending crap that "column" was. Others here already nailed it - his "I'm a journalist (and you're not) so I'm smarter than you" attitude comes shining through in this column. You can boil every sport down to one premise - basketball - make more shots than the other team; NASCAR - drive across the finish line first, etc.

 

But like someone else said - don't feed the troll! His job (and obviously his enjoyment) are creating controversy, stirring the pot, giving people something to talk about, and if he gets a chance to dis & dismiss a city, team & sport with real diehard, native fans - well that's just icing on the cake for him. BTW, I wonder if some of the national hockey analysts - John Davidson, Al Morganti, Daren Eliot, etc. - might take exception to him belittling the game, and its fans...

[BuffalOhio]

I have to admit, living out here in western canada, I just don't get this fascination with NASCAR. I mean, it's mind-boggling to me. I thought all Americans liked it, sounds like it's more of a south thing.

 

Good for you Buffalo.

 

At my work, Budweiser gave all our staff some kind of Bud shirt with (? #3, #8, I think it was a guy who died in a crash a few years back ?) on it, with the guys signature embroidered on it. We added the name of our bar to it and made it a staff shirt.

 

We get a fair number of Americans from the south who stop here on their way to hunting trips. I had one of these guys offer me 500 bucks for it. I wouldn't sell it. I thought he must be wasted and I didn't want to take advantage of his drunkeness. This guy was begging me to sell this shirt to him. I couldn't understand it. Looking back on it, I guess he wasn't that drunk, just obsessed with NASCAR. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at that. 500 bucks?

 

Any of you NASCAR groupies out there now who want that shirt, I've still got it. I think it was a #8 that the guy was. Jarrett? Does that sound right to anyone?

 

Why don't you sell it on eBay?

[Campy]

Hockey fans that truly appreciate the game know that hockey strategy and execution thereof requires a commanding mastery of the details of the game.

Well said. I wonder if he feels the same way about football, basketball, and NASCAR?

 

I guess it must be fairly easy to belittle any sport when you don't even know enough about the game to know that there is strategy.

[SabresFanInTexas]

From the title, I thought he was going to talk about famous hockey names like Scotty Bowman, Harry Neale and Marcel Dionne who have made the Buffalo area home.

 

Then I quickly realized that he's an idiot.

[twolinepass]

Most Buffalonians I know would prefer stabbing themselves in the eyes to watching NASCAR. It would at least be much more interesting. There is a track at Watkins Glen, but you find that that is attended more by folks in the Southern Tier and people who travel to it from out of state than anyone in the direct Buffalo metro area. There is a dragstrip in Lancaster, but thats pretty small. Football and hockey really dominate Buffalo and Rochester.

 

I work for a division of NASCAR. When I visit WNY it amazes me how much folks in the Southern Tier have become fans. To be clear there are two area tracks that run in the NASCAR minor leagues. One is in NorthEast, PA not far from Erie and Holland Speedway in Holland, NY. The closet NASCAR venue is Watkins Glen, about a 3.5 hour drive from Buffalo. More on the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.

 

I find hockey more exciting, but a majority of fans who love NASCAR are mechanically inclined. I might be able to change a lightbulb with some luck. It is harder than pressing the gas and turning left. Much like the ignorance of the Raleigh Hockey sportswriter with two goals and getting the puck in net.

[Campy]

From the title, I thought he was going to talk about famous hockey names like Scotty Bowman, Harry Neale and Marcel Dionne who have made the Buffalo area home.

 

Then I quickly realized that he's an idiot.

Now that's a great post - pretty much sums it all up.

[BRH]

From the title, I thought he was going to talk about famous hockey names like Scotty Bowman, Harry Neale and Marcel Dionne who have made the Buffalo area home.

 

Then I quickly realized that he's an idiot.

Marcel Dionne lives in Buffalo? I didn't know that!

[Campy]

Marcel Dionne lives in Buffalo? I didn't know that!

Yup. Has a fan/memoribillia store in Boulevard Mall. We stop by everytime we're up for the TBD Tailgate game and pick up some Sabres stuff.

[SabresFanInTexas]

Now that's a great post - pretty much sums it all up.

 

Thank you very much.