ESPN kicks-off a long season with three hours of live coverage of Media Day from the Daytona International Speedway. The program begins on the ESPN News Network at Noon Eastern Time and continues until 3PM.
Hosting the coverage from Daytona will be new on-air personality Nicole Manske. Joining her at the Media Center will be Rusty Wallace. Back at the ESPN Studios in Bristol, CT will be Ryan Burr and Mike Massaro to round-out the coverage.
Before ESPN got the new NASCAR TV contract, the ESPN News Network used to provide extensive live coverage of the post-race driver interviews live from the Media Centers at the tracks. This coverage was eliminated in 2007.
This is a very nice first step in establishing that relationship once again. With the tight scheduling and the scripted nature of NASCAR Now, the ESPN Networks need a "destination" where fans can turn for breaking NASCAR news and live interviews.
This post will serve to host your comments on this program while it is progress. Please feel free to add your opinion before, during or after the coverage. To post your comment, simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the simple instructions. There will be a full column on this ESPN News event posted Thursday evening. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.
70 comments:
I will be taping, but I bet ya a dollar to a donut that Nascar gets dumped for the news conference w/Shaq! Even tho ESPN has a TON of other channels to run it on, I will be surprised if the first hr at least is gone!
Pammh, you're exactly right. ESPNNEWS already has the dreaded "Program Alert" for the Shaq news conference at noon Eastern listed in the corner of the screen. It may not take a full hour, but at least 30-45 minutes if it starts on time.
Welcome to NASCAR coverage on ESPN in 2008! As low priority as it was in 2007!
What really stinks is the not all cable networks offer ESPN News. Our cable company, Time Warner, got rid of ESPN News in favor of the Golf Channel, so there goes our coverage. Of course, they can't pre-empt their beloved First Take on a second showing on the Deuce, nor will they pre-empt the constant repeats of Sports Center that have been running since last night.
Yep, we can see where ESPN's priorities lie.
And they're not with NASCAR.
Brother, this isn't good. The question is, will they pick up media day from where they left off?
ESPN's like the alcoholic who will fall off the wagon is they even see someone else drinking.
Except their addiction is stick and ball sports.
Well looks like I will be tuning into SPEED tonight - they have media coverage from 6-8. And I highly doubt it will be interrupted for a press conference for a BB player. Nicole did well from what I've seen from her so far - it was refreshing after seeing Burr basically reading his prompter. The only thing he seems to know to say about this season is Dale Jr, threepeat, and Toyota.
Also, is it really neccessary to play the same press conference on two of their stations - it's playing on ESPN as well.
ok, so i finally find espn news on my cable channels, watch an uninteresting interview w/jimmie and a less-uninteresting interview w/ jeff and now . . . they break away to the shaq news conference which they are broadcasting on espn (and probably espn2.) so, as a nascar fan who really doesn't care about basketball and who actually searched out the third-tier espn channel so i could watch some racing news, i am insulted and more than annoyed. if i want to watch the press conference, i could have flipped to espn at the top of the hour. i CHOSE to find espn news solely so i could get some nascar news. silly me, i should have known that nascar would get dumped. tell me again, espn, how much you value me as a sports fan, as a race fan, as a subscriber to the cable company which carries your broadcasting. you guys really just don't get it, do you? nascar fans are fiercely loyal and we could have been won over, even after all the junk that's been handed to us over the years. but this move -- pre-empting what little coverage there was suppose to be in order to duplicate coverage -- has made clear where espn's priority has been placed. now, i suppose it's up to me to make a personal choice about how/if i will support espn going forward. sad, very sad.
Not sure why ESPN thinks their viewers are too dumb to go to the Shaq presser on ESPN and feel they need to show it on News, too.
Sorry, ESPN, you lose all your accumulated goodwill points from NASCAR fans.
Go get your parting gift. Please.
I've read this chapter before, last year all over again.
I'm a NASCAR fan, NOT a BB fan.
ESPN, don't forget, you're on probation with many NASCAR fans.
and since i'm pissed off at espn: if we're going to be treated to yet another episode of "what will little e do in '08" piece, how about using footage of earnhradt jr in his colors for this year, not last year's bud colors? may seem trivial to espn but it's yet another example of shoddy, inattentive work. see, espn-guys, it's that sort of attitude that has worn away my support of your franchise over the years. surely someone would have caught such an easy "oops" to fix IF there were folks in production who gave one healthy damn about the details.
The press conference is over.
At 12:41, Ryan Burr came on and said "NASCAR Now at Media day CONTINUES on ESPN NEWS".
No introduction to the show after the commercial break from Shaq's press conference, no explanation of the delay, just straight into a pretaped package of driver interviews about past 500s. So either they've been taping the show for 41 minutes without anyone watching or they're doing a snow job on us.
Now Ryan is interviewing Kenseth via satellite. Why not have Rusty or Nicole do it face to face?
Mike Massaro is giving (good) analysis about the 17 team after Ryan's interview now on the set.
This whole setup is awkward. I don't see why the Bristol set needs to be involved with the interviews when you've got two people there in person with all the drivers. And if they do need to be involved, Massaro would be the better choice to do the interviews.
Same thing again just now: Ryan is interviewing Denny Hamlin via satellite and then Mike analyzes. I'm on lunch and think I'll wait for SPEED's coverage tonight because this is silly.
And Ryan just said "an hour down, two hours to go - minus the Shaquille O'neal press conference" so he knew they weren't on the air when he said " NASCAR Now Continues" at the beginning.They aren't scheduled to repeat this show, so unless they made a last minute plan to tape the first 41 minutes and repeat it later, he's taking creating licence with the whole "we've been on for an hour" part.
I click on and off this thing and at 1AM they are showing OTHER NEWS??
WTF?
I am not wasting my time sitting thru all this dreck.
ESPN does NOT care about NASCAR MEDIA DAY.
Big thumbs down.
I am going to clean the litter boxes.
AS if the Shaq deal wasn't enough, we get other sports news. Not breaking news, just news.
**CLICK**
I'm done w/this crap!!!
I was expecting and hoping for more but should have known better.
And there's so much stuff on the screen you can't see the picture!
Yeah, from 1-1:09, it was regular ESPN News. Roger Clemens, Shaq again, and the NY Giants.
Nicole is talking to Michael Waltrip and was about 10 seconds into the interview when she told him he sounds like Forrest Gump. He said he gets that lot. In- person interview, they are sitting on director's chairs. I can see Mark Martin in the background standing around talking to somebody maybe another driver.
They switched back to Ryan for Juan Pablo Montoya interview. These interviews are very brief, boring and basically have the same content as the interviews from testing. Not very interesting.
I still can't take Crusty...
His take on Jimmy and Jeff getting bummed cause Jr's getting all the attention was more of Crusty projecting his own feelings on what ever driver he's talking about.. His true feelings certainly shine brightly when he gets to jawing.
He just isn't cut out for the analyst chair IMO.
Besides the shaq interruption, I've enjoyed the show so far.
Um I hate to state the obvious here, but it is called ESPN News. It makes sense that they would be covering other 'big stories' that are going on at this time in sports.
It's mostly NASCAR through out the hour.
is that all NASCAR fans do it bitch and moan?
Ok ESPN, I'm a Nascar fan. Not a baseball or basketball fan. Why are you breaking into our Nascar coverage constantly with news updates on Roger Clemens and Shaq? I could care less and you're already showing the same stuff on ESPN and ESPN2. You guys just don't get it. The vast majority of us don't give a hoot about your stick and ball sports.
That said I am enjoying what Nascar coverage we are getting in between all the stick and ball cut ins. Ryan Burr seems much more relaxed with Mike Massaro on the set with him. And I think Nicole is doing a good job too. She seems very relaxed interviewing the drivers and is interacting well with them. Plus she's asking intelligent questions and not reading from a script. Massaro is great as usual.
Lots of live driver interviews. Good stuff......
It's an hour and twenty minutes into the show and Rusty Wallace finally appears. But he's being interviewed by Ryan Burr. Why is he being interviewed? Why isn't Rusty interviewing the drivers?
Ryan just mentioned that Michael Waltrip was interviewed on the show on Wednesday. Why didn't he state that Waltrip was interviewed 10 minutes ago? Is his script written that far in advance that it can't be changed or he can't improvise?
They're going to talk to Rusty "real soon". So Nicole's the only one in Daytona who's going to be interviewing drivers?
Here I was feeling sorry for myself that I do not get ESPNNews (it evidently is on a higher digital tier) but I obviously am not missing anything. Good thing I have the DVR running for all the Speed coverage. Got to run, I am at work but just couldn't wait until I got home to find out the scoop.
It's painful watching Ryan interview these drivers. It's obvious he has no idea what to say without his script. Mike Massaro jokes that Jeff Burton wants to win the 500 since his brother did and you can tell Ryan has no clue what he is referring to. When interviewing Kurt Busch about the points swap situations, Kurt says how he did it to help the Penske organization and Ryan remarks - that's nice.
I agree with the commentator about Rusty projecting his own issues on to the Hendrick situation. Typical Rusty.
Nicole is continuing to do well and come across as natural in her interviews. I'm interested to see her host on NASCAR Now, but I doubt she can do much with the structure of this show. I don't understand why they aren't utilizing her more since she is live there with the drivers. Instead they are pretty focused on the satellite interviews.
Tony sure seems to be interested in the camera today.
is that all NASCAR fans do it bitch and moan?
When we're promised a show on NASCAR and get Shaq and endlessly repeated "news updates,' yes, it is.
Oh good. More news. The same news we saw a little while ago. Seesh.
My favorite sports are auto racing & NFL - and I do have some interest in NBA. I can understand breaking away from NASCAR Media Day for Shaq's news conference - but, I cannot understand staying. I happened to be where I could watch, or at least hear, most of the first hour of what was scheduled to be NASCAR Media Day on ESPNNNEWS. Virtually nothing of significance was said at Shaq's news conference after the 1st 5 or 6 minutes - there was no reason to stay.
The only thing ESPNNEWS' continuation of Shaq's news conf. proved was that (1) ESPN does have a deeply ingrained stick & ball bias and (2) there are no missing geniuses hiding in the press corps.
Rusty is such a dolt! Trying to insinuate there will be problems at Hendrick because of Jr's popularity. If there are four drivers who don't have big egos it's Gordon, JJ, Jr, and Mears. Rusty has always had well documented problems with all his teammates because of HIS ego.
What's that 800 lb gorilla in the room?! Oh, wait, it's Rusty's ego!!
Nicole is talking to Michael Waltrip and was about 10 seconds into the interview when she told him he sounds like Forrest Gump.
Yeah, she's a real stock-car racing expert.
Smart me taped the wrong channel so I missed the first hour...but looks like all I missed was Shaq's press conference. I found SPEED's media day coverage by flipping through the menu otherwise would have known from the gate it was ESPNN :/ but of course if I'd learn to read I would have known that as well from JDs blog
@darbar--where do you live? I have Golf not that I watch it and ESPNN here in TX.
@anonymous 1:39--uhm...this is calm compared to what I've heard from stick and ball fans
Why is Rusty still working for these people?
He offers NOTHING and assumes his experiences represent what everyone must do.
Mike Massaro just reported that "we just got something that came across the wire" about the 21-year old rule. I just read the story by Terry Blount on ESPN.com. Isn't Terry Blount a "NASCAR Insider" for NASCAR News? Why didn't he go on camera to report it himself?
And I'm sure Mike Helton didn't just issue a press release about this issue. Why isn't he on camera?
Why are they reading wire reports to us?
"Nicole is talking to Michael Waltrip and was about 10 seconds into the interview when she told him he sounds like Forrest Gump.
Yeah, she's a real stock-car racing expert."
---
Oh dear! This can't be the first time she has heard a southern accent! She will probably hear from a few Mikey fans!
I will repeat, "Oh, Dear!"
Enjoying Nicole. I think she's going to be a great addition to NASCAR now.
No enjoying the big "jr" build up. Just have him on for cripes sakes!
Hey, Nicole, you ain't from around here, are you?
Billy Delyon said...
Enjoying Nicole. I think she's going to be a great addition to NASCAR now.
No enjoying the big "jr" build up. Just have him on for cripes sakes!
February 7, 2008 2:13 PM
You would swear he won all the races last season the way they continue to build him up. It's ridiculous. If people thought the Jr. overexposure was bad last season, fasten your seatbelts.
In reference to the Forrest Gump comment from Nicole, some of you seem to be taking it out of context. Mikey laughed about it and said he's been told that before.
Can't believe Burr would ask Jr that ridiculous question about Jeff and Jimmie getting upset cause of his popularity, again, this was Crusty PROJECTING his petty jealousy's on other people. Grrrrrr....
Enjoyed the rest of the interview though...
Anonymous said...
In reference to the Forrest Gump comment from Nicole, some of you seem to be taking it out of context. Mikey laughed about it and said he's been told that before.
February 7, 2008 2:20 PM
But why did she say it? it came out of nowhere. He answered the first question and then she said you sound like Forrest Gump. He took it in good humor, but it was strange. I think maybe she was trying to say he had Forrest Gump's positive attitude, but it didn't come across that way.
Amy in FL said...
I must admit that ever since Bright House Networks added the NASA channel that I am enjoying watching the shuttle launch coverage. It is scheduled to launch at 2:45pm EST this afternoon.
I did briefly turn over to ESPNNews to watch the coverage and when I saw Shaq, I turned it back to the NASA channel.
I also watched Romney drop out of the race virtually making John McCain the Republican nominee.
Shuttle coverage is fascinating to me and I will enjoy Nascar coverage when the shuttle launches.
"I think maybe she was trying to say he had Forrest Gump's positive attitude, but it didn't come across that way."
That's the way I took it.
"I think maybe she was trying to say he had Forrest Gump's positive attitude, but it didn't come across that way."
February 7, 2008 2:29 PM
That's what I thought she meant and that was how I took it. I don't believe she was saying that his accent reminded her of Forrest or anything along those lines. To me it seemed she was saying his optimism and bright outlook were Forrest Gump like.
Mikey mentioned his mother and that's what she was referring to. In case you missed it, Forrest had a special relationship with his mother. Enough!
Nicole Manske: "Michael Waltrip. You've been busy."
Michael Waltrip: "I have."
Manske: "You have been."
Waltrip: "I like that, though."
Manske: "That's good."
Waltrip: "My momma says that idle time is the devil's workshop."
Manske: "You sound like Forrest Gump, a little bit."
Waltrip: "I know. I've been told that a lot."
She wasn't putting him down. She was being spontaneous and was actually listening to him. She was in the moment. And he really did sound like Forrest Gump!
I can't help but like Dale Earnhardt Jr. He seems like a nice guy. But this constant coverage of him was a little much. Not only did he get more interview time than the other drivers, the other drivers had to answer questions about him. I think Kasey had to answer more than one.
The final straw was that the only Nationwide driver interviewed was Brad Keselowski, who is a middle of the packer who didn't even run the full season last year. But he happens to drive for JR Motorsports. What a coincidence! And what a coincidence that the very next interview following Brad's was Junior's.
Sickening. What about interviewing Leffler, Hamilton Jr. or Ambrose?
Oh and the only other driver who is going to get Junior-like promotion this season is Joey Logano, who was interviewed and asked about his 18 Nationwide races...even though he can't race until the middle of the season after he turns 18. Because of the hype, I'm going to be sick of that kid before he steps foot in a car.
Nice kid though and his confidence is good. They asked him how many of those 18 races he was going to win and he said all 18 as far as he was concerned. Good mindset to have for an athlete.
I wish I'd known nascar.com was streaming interviews I would have watched that instead.
Did anyone watch NASCAR.com? They had live feed for a solid 7 hours. Very few commercials. It was hosted by Riki and Christine. I really enjoyed it. Though I did not "watch" the whole time, I had the sound up and listened to it all day.
From the comments I hear here, I'm sure some would not have enjoyed it. Especially Riki, he joked around with the drivers and mocked some of the "serious" questions the drivers were being asked. He made most of the drivers laugh and allowed them to be at ease.
There was print, Internet, radio, and tv media there. Hundreds of them. Some of the drivers stated that they were asked the same questions over and over again. So, I enjoyed Riki asking some rather irreverant questions. I think it was Kyle Bush that said he was told he could take a break and so he came to talk to Riki. He did not have to be "on."
Anyway, Riki will be on for the next 2 days, interviewing more drivers. I think tomorrow will be for about 2-3 hours, not sure.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to be among the top story's all season. No matter how well he does. He will be news if he is successful or if he is not. I can understand that. He's the most popular driver.
I did think the constant "up next" hype on this show was a bit much.
I understand that he is the most popular driver and is a story of interest. I don't understand him getting more attention than the defending two time champion and I don't even like Jimmie Johnson. I don't understand why he gets a longer interview than everyone else - we didn't even get an interview with Tony or some of the other guys that performed well last season like Clint Bowyer. I'm blaming Jr. for this - it's the media and it is going to continue like this the entire season I imagine.
I wish I would have known about the streaming video at NASCAR.com - I would much rather have watched that.
Oops that was supposed to say I'm NOT blaming Jr. for this. *whoops*
Anonymous said...
is that all NASCAR fans do it bitch and moan?
No. As a matter of fact I was really looking forward to ESPN providing this live coverage of Daytona Media Day. I was initially concerned that SPEED's coverage was not going to be live. Now I understand why SPEED will air a two hour program tonight. It should zip along a little faster than this show, with no downtime between interviews.
Still, to give ESPN the benefit of the doubt, the Shaq presser probably threw them off a bit. And Roger Clemens is testifying today, too. I'm just glad the Giants had their victory parade on Tuesday.
The regular edition of NASCAR Now should be interesting tonight when they show the highlights of this show. I bet they'll show the entire Dale Earnhardt Jr. interview so they can plug Shifting Gears some more.
Still, at least ESPN scheduled a three-hour program about NASCAR in the middle of the week. Even if all three hours weren't totally NASCAR.
But I wish I'd been watching NASCAR.com instead.
From the comments I hear here, I'm sure some would not have enjoyed it. Especially Riki, he joked around with the drivers and mocked some of the "serious" questions the drivers were being asked. He made most of the drivers laugh and allowed them to be at ease.
There was print, Internet, radio, and tv media there. Hundreds of them. Some of the drivers stated that they were asked the same questions over and over again. So, I enjoyed Riki asking some rather irreverant questions. I think it was Kyle Bush that said he was told he could take a break and so he came to talk to Riki. He did not have to be "on."
Wow, Good points. I am VERY disappointed in the ESPN coverage, I'm going through the recording while I'm typing. Not an original question to be found anywhere so far. I don't know what I thought media day was, but I thought it was supposed to be a little fun. They had the serious media days in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago, right? It was the exact same questions from there.
A commenter commented on Juan Pablo Montoya loving TV shows on another of JD's NASCAR Now review blogs this week. Call me shallow, but that's the stuff I wanted to hear about. From Jenna Fryer's series of Q&A's with him, JPM had all these theories about what was happening on the island on the TV show "Lost" last year. I wanted to know what he thought of the first new episode last week and the one coming on tonight. (I know, I'm shallow.) Or to talk about some movie he jsut saw and say "Omigod, that was the worst movie I've ever seen! Please don't rent it!" like he does. In other words, I wanted to see something funny or personable.
But these interviews so far are very brief, from above it sounds like they gave all the time to Dale Jr.
My issue with the ESPN presentation was the interviews were held in the open, with many trails of people walking back and forth behind the driver if they were taking to Ryan or Nicole. The people were sometimes stopping to chat with each other in full camera view.
I found it very distracting and cheesy. Surely ESPN, SPEED, FOX or TNT, nascar.com(the partners) are big enough to have their own space closed off for taped or live interviews but nascar.com didn't so I assume SPEED won't either.
Chad,
I wish you had taken the time to read the comments, as they reflect a very diverse NASCAR fan base that has a lot of good and solid opinions.
If you have an opportunity to come back and speak to the topic at-hand, I am sure your views of the Media Day coverage would be appreciated.
JD
Is this a great country or what. Live broadcast & the freedom to speak one's mind about it without disappearing.
I quit watching SPEED REPORT because I found I could get all the news from VICTORY LANE and WINDTUNNEL and because I had no reason to believe Ken & Barbie knew anything about what they were reading. From what I saw of the first hour of Media Day on ESPNEWS I was impressed with Nicole - seemed much more serious and knowledgeable than what I expected- and no distracting wardrobe.
By the way, has anything been heard of the missing Dave Despain? The rest of the racing world in the U.S. - even ESPN - seems to be up and running and Dave is still AWOL.
I don't have ESPNews, but from what I've read, doesn't seem like I missed much. I was able to watch and listen to Nascar.com's live feed and enjoyed it very much. I even went to work early today since I have dial-up at home. I absolutely hated Riki on Raceday, but he actually did a pretty good job today. Some of the questions were a little off the wall, but the drivers seemed to appreciate it and it was fun.
PEOPLE PEOPLE!!! NASCAR is not breaking news right now!! A press conference is!
LIKES:
- Nicole Manske
I never watched the Speed Report so this was the first I have ever seen of her and I thought she did an excellent job today. She had a very relaxed approach to her interviews and I thought the interviews she conducted were the best of the bunch. I think the best example of that was the Michael Waltrip interview. The quick-witted Forrest Gump joke at the start in response to Michael's "well my momma always said..." was great and the drivers seemed much more relaxed talking to her. She also seems to know her stuff and didn't seem out of place at all like some of the other "new faces" we saw grace the ESPN NASCAR airwaves last year. A fantastic start for her and I hope she keeps it up. Maybe we have another Wendy Venturini in the making on our hands here, I certainly hope so.
- Mike Massaro
I was definitely glad to see him in the studio co-hosting the show. I kept wondering why they didn't let him conduct the driver interviews instead of Ryan Burr. Eventually they finally let him chip-in and ask a question or two to a few of the drivers (and Mike's ended up being the best questions of the bunch in each case, by the way) but I still would have preferred seeing more of him and less of Burr when it came to talking to the drivers.
- The inclusion of Nationwide drivers
I'm glad that ESPN didn't ignore "their series" and included interviews with Nationwide Series drivers. Yes they certainly could have talked to more drivers but realistically the only Nationwide-only title contender that I saw get omitted was Jason Leffler.
DISLIKES:
- ESPNNEWS, and not ESPN2
Why in the world was this show on ESPNNEWS and not ESPN2? ESPNNEWS is a 'Headline News'-type network that is supposed to specialize in breaking news. I don't blame them one bit for showing the Shaq news conference live, or for giving the hourly updates on the Roger Clemens situation because THAT'S WHAT THIS CHANNEL IS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR. It is not supposed to be used for this 3-hour NASCAR Now special.
They should have pre-empted the old programming on ESPN2 and put this program there so it wouldn't be interrupted by "breaking news" on ESPNNEWS. I'm just thankful that no other unexpected news stories broke during the program because we would have lost even more NASCAR programming.
Also let's not forget that a lot of people get ESPN2 but don't get ESPNNEWS so they would have gotten a much better audience by putting this program on ESPN2.
Richard in NC
I heard despains voice in some budweiser Shoot out show..scrapbook maybe on earlier? Repeated later tonight...Friday and 9,30 is a special on Daytona but could be a repeat of last year??
I have no idea...I am sure JD may have some input into the shows if he is around.
I am enjoying the 2 hours on Speed NASCAR Media day but missed why Tony was so cranky...missed most of his interview but take it, he's not happy with their car.
I gave up on the ESPUNews station...too much crap on the screen for me. and other interference. So rather than get ,more annoyed, I turned if OFF.
Stricklinfan82 - Despain has a scheduled special from Daytona this weekend on SPEED. :)
Watching ESPN and Speed. Here I am just got home from work. My pickup truck made it home one more time. I grab a beer and sit down to watch ESPN. I flick on the channel, the guy that is talking is wearing a suit that is better then the one I wear for Weddings and Funerals. He is talking to a Nascar driver via satellite, on a split screen. So this is Nascar on ESPN.
Then Speed Channel comes on. There are two guys dressed in shirts that look like my work shirt I wear to work. They are sitting at a table in Daytona and talking to a driver, face to face. Laughing and having fun. So this is Nascar on Speed.
Though the driver interviews are very brief on SPEED, huge difference in atmosphere..but the amount of commercials is a bit much.
Guess they are paying for the new SPEED BOARD DESIGN that is a nightmare if you have bad eyes.
SPEED has NASCAR stuff on all night..the I caught part of the Bud Shootout Scrapbook earlier and hope to catch the repeat..fun look back.
"I'm glad that ESPN didn't ignore "their series" and included interviews with Nationwide Series drivers."
What Nationwide drivers were on there? Unless you're counting Carl Edwards, I saw only Brad K (however you spell it), who drives for Junior. they also had Joey Logano but I think he was representing Busch East for right now.
"From Jenna Fryer's series of Q&A's with him, JPM had all these theories about what was happening on the island on the TV show "Lost" last year. I wanted to know what he thought of the first new episode last week and the one coming on tonight. (I know, I'm shallow.)"
Lost is an ABC show, correct? You'd think they'd take advantage of how much Montoya loves their show -I've read about that as well - to do some ESPN/ABC cross-promotion. Most drivers couldn't care less about any of the current shows on television; they should be happy one of the more famous drivers does. The only other one I can think of is David Stremme who loved American Idol but he's not in Cup anymore.
NN today was just horrible. I wonder if the producer was multi-tasking or what! In the middle of the taped JJ interview from today, it was cut off and Ryan then talked to him live.
I was proud of Rusty. He said nothing negative about Jeff.
On the #7 best Daytona 500, they showed a tape of Derick Cope winning. And then, with no explanation, they interviewed Boris Said!! Amazing no comment about "we were unable to interview Derick for this piece." This just made no sense.
The difference between Jr being interviewed for NN and today by Riki was like night and day. He told Riki today that his dad had never taken him to the Daytona 500. The first time Jr came to the 500 was the year he was actually in the race. He was not even there the year his dad won. Riki asked no questions on this topic, but I think for all the Theresa haters, you can read between the lines as to how close Sr was to Jr that he would NEVER have taken him to the 500--all those years!
I wish I had taken some notes so I could share some of the other stories from today. I must say that even though I was very devoted to my craft, I did not want to talk "shop" 24/7. I saw the same today. Riki chatted with Carl Edwards and found out that he had fallen after a flip at a dirt track (no pictures). Carl seemed really excited to share about the new CD his recording company is coming out with. He talked about the artist, the name of the CD. Since I'm not a hip hop listener I was not interested in going out to buy it, however I loved seeing him get a chance to talk about one of the things he loves.
JJ was funny in talking about one of his superstitions. He is into the numbers 48 and 1. For example he gets up at 6:48 or 7:01. When he uses the microwave he always sets it at :48 and takes the food out when the timer is at 1. Riki started to laugh and said half his food must be cold or raw, JJ explained that 48 was the last number. So it could be 2:48.
I did not take notes but really enjoyed it. Most of the interviews we live, but of course some were tape delayed, but all were from today.
On a previous interview, Tony responded that he was not the person to ask technical questions. He said "I'm not an engineer." I can read their stats someplace else. I want to know them as a person. So for me, I enjoyed my 7 hours listening to nascar.com
Not sure where to post this, but the Shootout Selection show has been a lot of fun so far. Everyone is always so relaxed at it.
For the anon that did not like the open area for interviews: this has nothing to do with ESPN or SPEED or Fox being "cheesy." They had HUNDREDS of different media oulets there. If you thought this was terrible, you should see what Media day with the NFL is like. They have media from all over the world and yes it's crouded, but it's one day for 3 hours.
Hey Folks,
There is a new post about Media Day coverage on ESPN News up on the main page.
There will be additional posts tomorrow about SPEED and tonight's NASCAR in Thirty Seconds show.
Thanks! - JD
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