This is an opportunity to voice your opinion on the ABC coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from Fontana, CA on Sunday afternoon.
Allen Bestwick hosted a one hour pre-race show with Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace from the Infield Pit Center. The focus of this show was the Chase for the Championship.
Jerry Punch called the racing action with Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the broadcast booth. Tim Brewer was in the Tech Center. On pit road were Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch.
This big and fast track demands that the TV coverage goes back through the field to tell the stories and show the racing. In-car cameras used live are tough because the action happens quickly.
ESPN uses a scoring ticker on the top of the screen. Green flag pitstops are often the case at this track. Cars can come through the pack with new tires and some good adjustments.
What did you think of the TV coverage? To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. Your comments will be read by thousands of Internet users over the next several days. It is important to make a record of what happened right after the race.
124 comments:
Jimmie has the points lead now. Gotta wonder if we can crown him champ already.
Another nauseating, sea-sick day.
Up and down, back and forth, roof cam, driver cam, bumper cam, and who-knows-what cam.
No flow, no continuity, no field sets after cautions. Frequently missed lead changes because we were seeing commercials. Cars smoking on the track and we get no information.
Totally inane Tech piece on how to make a driver change --- full screen and while the race was green!
Since the last image usually fixes the opinion on the whole day, totally missing the finish fight between 2nd and 3rd to focus solely on the winner --- Shame.
Just when you think it can't get worse, it does. I fail to find anything positive about this telecast. The final four laps were the entire race in microcosm - they focused almost exclusively on Jimmie Johnson, only cutting back to show battles halfway through a pass. They cut away from the battle for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to show Johnson in Turn 3 on the last lap. JP tried very hard to lend some excitement, he really did, but he once again showed he just can't do play-by-play. At the end, we should be hearing JP calling the frenzied battles in the top 10 all down the stretch. But all we got was awkward silence.
And there was no mention of Ragan in 7th, Bowyer in 9th, or Mears in 11th. Inexcusable; I think that's Ragan's best finish yet. Nor was there a follow-up on Gilliland in the 18 car (24th). AND they're not showing more interviews on any ESPN network, leaving so many stories from this race untold.
I am so done with ESPN that it's not even funny. The only reason I watched this from 5:30-6:30 instead of football is because watching the Jaguars get shut out was even worse.
Total time from the moment Jimmie crossed the line to when AB signed the network off the air: EIGHT minutes.
And they were STILL three minutes over their scheduled exit time.
Pathetic.
I'm too somnolent from that boring race and awful broadcast to write anything long-winded. I've said it all before, and so has everyone else. So I'll sum up today's coverage with one word:
Crap. Utter crap.
(OK, that was two words.)
--KarenB
Oh, and "Transformers Victory Lane" instead of Gatorade? Especially after all the ads Pepsi bought for this race and the Hendrick movie? They must be spitting nails.
Andrew,
Not quite his best, but Ragan's first top-10 of the season since he opened with a 6th at the Daytona 500.
Shame ABC couldn't tell us that.
Best part of the race was the Kasey Kahne interview where he called out NASCAR for turning the Race into a WWE event.
Utter crap---a great summary of the race and coverage.
Camera work-horrid. Calling the race-prob horrid. I listen to the radio. When I look up from being updated on Twitter (can't watch a BSPN rqce w/out it), it's the JJ show..or chase pts as they run now. Can't even keep track w/the ticker. Disgusting coverage from top to bottom. Hurrah for KK for throwing those dame fake debris cautions under the bus!!!!
From the 90 minutes I saw, ESPN dropped the ball as usual.
-There is an obvious Jimmie Johnson obsession
-Play by Play was dull as usual
-Replay mania: For some reason ESPN misses so much action live that replays have to save the day.
- Lack of info: A few times a car would have a problem and the booth would have no idea what was wrong. Yet fans do know what is wrong because we are forced to multi-task to other sorces that give us timely information on all 43 drivers. Quite embarassing.
-Old Tim Brewer segments, dumb questions and reports by the pit reporters, triple pits failure, and many drivers ignored.
Major changes are needed to fix these problems.
As a race fan, it's too bad I'm not as faxcinated by the 'chase' as the media (especially ESPN)seems to be. to the virtual exclusion of every other car and driver on the track. It took way too long for ESPN to come up with replays of any incidents on track. They, and even passes for the lead, were often missed entirely. Good thing Andy Petree was looking out the window rather than the TV feed, because he saw the on track mayhem long before a director managed to point a camera at it. Cameras bounced around from car to car giving no context as to where cars were running in relation to each other. that is poor coverage and leaves the TV sudience scratching their heads. The only way to get an overview of the race is squinting at the stupid crawler the entire race. This might just have been the worst coverage yet. If this doesn't kill any interest in Nascar and the 'chase' in particular I'll be very surprised.
Each week, I think the race coverage couldn't get any worse and the next week I am proven wrong. There is no flow to the coverage and there is no way to know what is happening in the race from the TV coverage. I guess the rest of the year will be the JJ racing network all the time.
Week after week we have to watch the dribble that ABC/ESPN gives us. I thought today would be better after the horrible coverage of yesterday's Nationwide race. But alas, I was wrong.
There was no flow. They couldn't keep up with the race. Heck.. they couldn't even keep with each other.
Tony Stewart's team said that they were putting four on Mr. Punch.
They can't even show us a good finish.
Is it really that important to end the coverage to go to lord who knows what infomercial or show.
Keeping camera on Jimmie on the final lap and missing a lot of the other close finishes behind him was bad. I think everyone who watched the race was again disappointed. No driver updates, no field summaries, not enough information on the non-chasers, too much in-car shots, and missed lead changes for a few things I noticed that ABC should improve on race.
As a Chevy fan, I shouldn't be complaining, but I love fair competition too. Seems like not too long ago that Toyota was running away with the Nationwide races that prompted a spacer. Should someone be checking the Hendrick motors on the dynos?
It's sad that I'd rather listen to the scanner and watch my driver on raceview (where I know I'll get to see him) than watching/listening to ESPN.
ESPN/ABC are allegedly leaders in sports coverage. Experience in sports coverage runs over decades combined for both networks. Nascar is NOT a stick and ball sport! This fan, who has not expertise in TV production, would like to ask ESPN/ABC to please:
1) Hire a director who KNOWS Nascar. One car shots should only be used for a car in trouble, pre-race "look at that paint job" or radio traffic spots on cautions. If there action, ANYWHERE by ANYONE, fans want to see it.
2) Synch your camera shots with the booth narration. I don't want to hear about something I am not seeing unless it's a sudden crash!
3) Split screens are your friend. Fans can handle watching two INTERESTING scenarios at once.
4) Eliminate from your pit reporters phrases such as "How did that make you feel?", "What does that feel like?". Pit reporters should have some racing strategy knowledge, not just look good in the firesuit.
5) Talk about the race...not your talking points! Fans follow all drivers. Talk about all drivers. We are tired of hearing about Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya. This fan is especially tired of hearing about Mark Martin's age!!!!!
6) Give us race coverage! I want to know if someone left the race track and why; NO MATTER WHO IT IS! I want to know who blew up and why! I can see that tires are being changed in a pit stop. Rather tell me why 4, not 2!
7) Give me a pre-race and post-race show that shows the events at the track...even if it's on another one of your 4 channels! I want to see the celebration!! I want to hear the drivers...all of them...even the ones not in the chase!
8) Mix it up a little. Interview Jeremy Mayfield, Kyle Petty, Jerry Nadeau, FANS, etc.
9) Please respect the National Anthem and hire performers who can sing it with the respect it deserves!
Thank you for listening, ESPN/ABC. I am just a fan. But I buy that stuff you are hawkin' and remember I am the reason you are covering these races!
J.D.,
In the last post you left alot of us Hanging
" Daly Planet Editor said...
AB has to be going crazy watching his sport run into the ground by Punch.
He did fire a shot across his bow in the pre-race and Punch caved like a paper tiger.
Wonder if something might change before Charlotte next week?
I might just run up there and cause a ruckus.
October 11, 2009 7:07 PM "
I went Back to the previous post you metiond to go back to :
Anonymous said...
whoa! was that just a subtle shot at the booth by Bestwick?
October 11, 2009 3:24 PM
WHat was said ?
They pay WAY too much attention to the front! There may not have been a ton of racing in the back of the pack but it was there, and they ignored it when it was. I find that incredibly frustrating, when fans are complaining out the wazoo how boring the racing is.
Punch mentioning the word Drama several times leading up to Kyle Busch getting out of the car. It is a driver's swap involving a non-chase driver. What is so dramatic about that. And Brad Doughtery saying " That's What I'm talking about", over and over and over.....Then mix in another boring California race. The Pats/ Bronco game garnered most of my viewing this afternoon, and I am a NASCAR fan in Southern California.
His intro for Punch was more of a challenge. Rewind, it's there.
There was a brief graphic about Transformers during the Countdown. I don't remember what it was. It was sponsor related though. I'm sure no $$ was paid to BSPN to get a mention.
The race coverage today was awful. I guess the long GF runs and 20 seconds back to 10th didn't help.
I agree with the monkey/football analogy mentioned in the race comments.
Pictures and words did not match today. Smoking cars and we see the leader running by himself. Stories not covered. Same complaints as before.
Dan & I laughed when Rusty called Jeff Gordon "Garden".
America's Funniest Home Videos had to be joined in progress for this AGAIN!?
I actually enjoyed the race today--but then I listened to MRN with the TV muted. And I checked Twitter frequently. I soon ceased to listen to the TV audio when radio had a commercial--the commercials were less objectionable. And then I stopped looking at the TV picture when I discovered the games on my iPod that I'd never played. I did glance up at the TV screen and saw some smoke--but ABC stayed focused on the leaders as the radio guys were calling the big wreck. Then I made a phone call during the red flag.
I like Hendrick cars, so I liked the finish. It wasn't all that bad a day. Do I wish I was at the race like last week--of course. But I'm old and remember when TV was all black and white and not many NASCAR races were shown. I have e-mailed ESPN for three years. When you smart folks figure out a way to change things, I'll be there to help. If griping makes you feel better, that's fine. I've just given up and am enjoying the races. And counting the days till February.
I've been making it a point to record & watch the NASCAR Classics races they run on the SPEED channel every Thursday morning. Many of these are from back in 2003, 2004, 2005, when NBC and CBS broadcast some of these races.
All I can say is the racing coverage of even 5 years ago was by far superior to the useless crap we are subjected to week in & out by ESPN and ABC.
Boring, watered down, Disney-fied. Useless banter in the booths follwed by stupid laughter over NOTHING!
All that they have going for them is no stupid gopher.
Good for Kasey to call out NASCAR about the mystery debris cautions.
Ok, I am not a JJ fan in any way shape or form. But still does this race coverage have to ONLY show the almighty NASCAR God named JJ?! Come on they need to change the call letters to AJJN. If he was running 43rd 100 laps down I am sure this is all they would show. They catch ONE lousy debris caution all day! Cautions during all commercials, never coming back to tell us why. They don't even allude to it.
I usually watch the race along with listen to MRN, Twiiter and the nascar scanner. I am done. Next week it is all MRN and twitter. They paint a picture 100% better than what I can see with my own eyes.
Their was a bigwig from ABC/ESPN on the Morning Drive on Sirius radio last week talking about the start times. She said to please email, write, fax and call with suggestions and complaints. She said they like to get them and make changes to help the broadcast. Ok, so she was clearly lying or we are all complaining to each other because they aren't listening!!
Im off to send them my thoughts and to let them know why I wont be watching next week and maybe not for the rest of the Chase.
Wish me luck! I also encourage you all to do they same!
Jerry Punch's list of trite phrases has become a standing joke. Today we have yet another:"a moment ago....".
How many times did he say this in referring to action missed by the ESPN booth and truck, then eventually replayed.
Isn't anyone there watching the race? We viewers certainly aren't able to.
Makiki
Honolulu
JD, please enlighten me on this---how many TV's do the guys in the booth have to watch the race? Is it the same that we at home are seeing, basically one?
The reason I ask is it's apparent that Punch misses 75% of the happenings on the track. He misses crashes, he misses cars in trouble (Kurt's car smoking a great deal near the end of the race) and misses a lot of other important events.
BTW, is anyone else hearing the tapping of another nail into Nascar's coffin? I was at a large party today, with a lot of Nascar fans, and every single one of them said, if Jimmie or a Hendrick car wins the Cup again, they're done with Nascar. More than half have said they've stopped watching the broadcasts at home because they have a lot of other things to do rather than watch another Hendrick car win.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, if JJ wins the Cup, Nascar will see huge losses in both attendance and viewers. And don't start with the "tell the other teams to get their stuff together and win". That's an adolescent's cry. Reality is, if you have 10 times the cash, 20 times the employees and the cojones to "push the envelop" aka, cheat so well you aren't caught, no one else will be able to win.
WAKE UP NASCAR !!! Your decisions, your tinkering with rules and your non-chalance to the cries of the fans have put your sport on life support, with no chance of recovery.
And one more thing! It took ABC/ESPN 10 minutes to say and explain Tony Stewart (chase contender and mover in the race) got a speeding penalty on pit road!! How could something like this happen? UNacceptable!! Too many commercials and the stuff that happens during them is very important!!!
I have another question for you JD, or any other person here on TDP.
Do you honestly think that the media and the bigwigs at Nascar fully believe that a fourth in a row for JJ is great for the sport? Whenever you listen to anyone, but it on Sirius, ESPN, Fox Sports or the print media, they are all in agreement that his winning would be the end all be all great for the sport. I just don't get that. OK, so it's historic, but the rank and file Nascar fan doesn't really care about historic acheivements like winning four Cups in a row.
Wouldn't it be healthier for the sport overall if every single driver and team had an equal shot at just winning, not to mention winning the Cup? I guess not, because if so, Nascar would be doing everything to make the playing field level.
Watched race at my mom's house and kept losing internet access (from neighbors!) We had no idea what was happening. And my brothers go to a couple races a year.
SHAMEFUL how much the tv screws us out of races & info and PERSPECTIVE. I missed my RADIO and TDP & Twitter...oh, well.
Great family visit. My one brother always fasts forwards thru races in 45 minutes due to busy lifestyle...during the red flag, I said you have to feel like it's an endurance contest! He said yes.
Also we all KNOW of bogus cautions.
And ESPN REALLY ANNOYED with showing BEGINNINGS of pitstops but would switch to another car before finished so useless.
I'd forgotten how HORRIBLE things are when you just try and watch the race on TV.
Even WORSE, NO CARS CROSSING FINISH LINE...sigh.
#ESPN FAIL
My grade D-
P.S. My final grade F
I was feeling generous earlier but we made fun of much of the coverage and LACK of replays, live missed action, etc.
After all these comments, I changed my mind. BSPN deserves to be FIRED.
Can't wait to see what today's racing ratings are.
It's NOT THE RACING IT'S THE TELECASTS.
Hello, knock, knock, is this thing on? France/Helton are you listening?????????????
word veri
war on
!!!
OK Disclaimer I am a JJ fan and am fine with him having a 8 second lead.
Now on to the TV coverage. There's a battle for the lead so lets switch to the car camera angle or better yet the battle for 3rd and then back again so I'm dizzy. There's an 8 second lead between 1 and 2 so instead of seeing the racing further back we get tight shots of the leader. There's a crash on the restart and no one calls it, raises their voice, nothing. There's a big wreck in the pack and we get a TROUBLE and then nothing. No Turn 4, no general discription, no nothing. These are just a few examples of why I dislike ESPN's coverage. Yes Fox has issues with what they choose to put on camera but I can always count on Mike Joy to call the race. Silence during a wreck would never happen. You know the coverage is bad when you refresh Twitter and look at the Pit Command circles and find out what happened before ESPN explains it.
Well, I've now decided that the monkeys are in control of the truck, the booth, the pit road crew, and probably the big conference table in Bristol.
They're all happily slapping away at buttons and have no idea what the outcome will be.
I need some help here from all the Jimmy Johnson haters who think that Jimmy possibly winning a 4th Championship in a Row ( did I mention in a Row ? ) is not something and a postive thing for NASCAR or any SPort.
Let's see, let's take a look at this situation.
There is Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush-Yates Racing and Richard Childress Racing with all thier money, employees and shop equipment.
Hmmm, last year Kyle Bush and Carl Edwards won how many races between them?
This year, was it a JJ who was leading the points after 26 races in?
How many times have pit stop screw ups happened, just in the last two races on the 48 team.
Kyle Bush makes up 20 positions in the beginning of this Race, get's a relief driver and he finishes more places behind in the same car.
Do you see any Drivers letting Jimmy Johnson just let him pass them, because it is Jimmy Johnson?
Is isn't Amazing with all those competitive cars and talented Drivers racing now in Cup racing, for Jimmie Johnson to repeat 3 times in a row as the Champion, is that not amazing?
What modern team in Professional SPorts; Baseball, Football, Hockey, Basketball, you name it, even repeat as Champions?
Ask Jeff Gordon how hard it is to win another Championship and his cars come from the same shop.
Ask the New York Yankeees, if having all the money to buy most of the Great players, wins them Chanpionships 4 times in a row.
Now for someone or actually a TEAM, to win Four Chanpionships in a Row, isn't that even more than amazing, in light of all this.
So what am I missing here?
Oops! My bad. Nate Ryan @nateryan says they have one monitor with nine views, not nine monitors. Sorry.
"control booth has cool monitor...nine views at once...think "Brady Bunch" in hi-def."
--KarenB
anon 8:58-agreed, except Nascar fans are just not like other sports fans. They will turn off in droves if JJ wins the cup again. Just the way it is. Check out Yankee haters.
@Andrew--I scratching my head over that too. Very odd with such a Pepsi filled day but it could have been OK with them?
I had MRN on and looked at the tabs every so often to see what TV was or wasn't showing. The last 20ish laps I still had MRN on and watched Crazy's channel for the pictures. Jr. wasn't on Hotpass so we didn't get that view this week.
Anywho right before the wreck I saw someone smoking since it was a millisecond and they went to the leaders it was hard to tell at first and then I saw another glimpse and then knew something was going to happen. It just had that look.
What a shame that they're pissing off fans and no one seems to care :(.
It's like they're saying be happy you can see SOMETHING. Well that SOMETHING I'd like to be seeing is the RACE and not some prepackaged garbage, someone showing me where the battery is and definitely not tight shots and tailpipes when I know full well SOMETHING is happening out there!
And I wish TV would stop ignoring guys because they're not a "name". I didn't have the audio but from the posts it seems Dr. Jerry thinks we have short term memory.
Apparently when they realized Casey was out there and showed him made a comment as if they had been talking about Casey every 5 minutes!
Sadly we could go and put on a better broadcast because we KNOW what fans want to see *and* have a clue!
PammH:
Gotta keep the history of this sport in mind however!
Remember Dale Earnhardt's run with championships in '90, '91, '93 and '94? Or Gordon's championships in '95, '97 and '98? Or even consider the seventies with Richard Petty winning in '71, '72, '74, '75, then three years with Yarborough ('76, '77 and '78) and 1979 again with the King.
When a driver and crew(team) dominates, multiyear championships happen. The sport will be fine.
Darbar and PammH ;
Remind us, how many Championships did Richard Petty win? How many Championships did Dale Earnhart Sr. win? How many did D.W. win ? Did the Fans flock away wehen they won?
NASCAR leveling the playing field ? How much more regulated or contol do you want then how NASCAR make every team build to a thousands (.001 ) of an inch, the COT cars. How they even issue the Shocks and Springs in SuperSpeedway races. How many people in the Garage and teams complain there is not much to adjust or make thier cars any different then the other teams?
For all you Rank and File fans, who think things are not fair or equal chances for teams to win, Just how, in your opinions, could things could be made more level and give other Drivers or Teams a chance to win?
Do you want NASCAR to make special rules for J.J. and Hendrick's cars to slow them down ?
Let's hear what your solutions are along with your comlplaints, Hmmmmmmmmm?
As I said in my post to the ESPN Stumbles article, I am just not letting BSPN's coverage get my knickers knotted anymore.
I watched the race around all the "utter crap" as posted in this article.
I did find it interesting that the pit "reporters" let Kahne and Almindinger continue to ramble on with their complaints. Particularly Kahne very pointedly criticizing NASCAR's fake debris cautions.
Actually, as I think about it, letting Almindinger continue making very uncomplimentary comments about RPM's engine program management, shouldn't surprise me. It is another opportunity to publicly exploit a new controversy. That certainly seems to be what they work to achieve. They are very good at finding the unhappy people, and getting them to rant when they probably wouldn't after cooling down.
I certainly understand his feelings after learning recently that he, like Sorenson, had to agree to forgo a salary in order to keep driving and keep the team's members employed.
For those of you that missed it, he complained, pretty bitterly I thought, that their engine dept. wasn't being allowed to produce the horsepower they needed to be competitive. I took that to mean the money deliberately wasn't being spent to do the necessary things to make the horsepower. Guess we won't be seeing The King with his arm around The Dinger anytime soon!
OK guys, you might be new to TDP but we are a TV and media blog.
This is not a place for in depth discussions of NASCAR teams, drivers or history.
Let's focus our efforts on the Sunday TV coverage on ABC from Fontana before we get totally off-track.
Thanks as always.
JD
ok, so i tried reviewing the race blog and pulling quotes from that to illustrate my frustration but it became cumbersome. so, here's the best summation of my feelings.
"dara2K said...
Remember when EVERY Nascar race was so compelling and interesting you wouldn't dare turn the channel for fear of missing a moment of racing? Sad...Back in the day....What have they done to this sport?"
amd i would add: back in the day was only as far back as tnt's coverage!
so much was wrong, so much was uninteresting and trite, so many statistics with no bearing on today's race, so many FACTUAL errors, so many weak and uniformative camera angles that it was all i could do to remain even moderately engaged in the race. in fact, i turned to watch football SOLELY b/c what espn was broadcasting was so relentlessly bad -- and has been since they took over.
this race was just a cluster*** and those of us who truly love our sport knew it from the beginning. each race, i have my local mrn/prn station ready to run just in case but each time, i hope i won't need it. sadly, every time, i feel forced to turn to the radio for information about the very same race i'm watching on tv. i just can't figure out what's going on when i rely on espn.
i feel as if i'm just hanging on in the fervent hope that espn will use the off-season to make the changes needed to bring excitement back to the last 10 races. i detest that espn is making it appear that the racing is non-existent and that nascar is dying as a sport b/c of "poor racing." once again, i have to say it: the racing is fine. it's espn that is abysmal.
remember the blog jd did about 'will you watch nascar next season'? well, i will, because i love our sport. but unless espn makes some changes, i won't watch their portion of the season again next year.
and espn? i AM part of the nascar fan council and you'd better believe i'll be damning you in this week's survey -- again.
Tried several things today to improve my viewing pleasure:
First, I muted the booth and just watched the race. Well, no, actually I just watched Jimmie Johnson as there didn't seem to be anyone else on the track - if I believe the TV picture.
Turned the sound back on, and turned my back on the picture. Hmmm - same scenario. Now I don't see Jimmie Johnson, but he's the only driver I hear about.
I truly appreciated all the replays of the accidents. Without them, we wouldn't have seen ANY accidents...
I've tried to be patient with Jerry Punch, but honestly, the poor man appears to be suffering from Galloping Senility. He speaks much like some of my elderly friends - same trite phrases over & over, and the inability to remember what someone else said two minutes ago.
I don't know how many cameras ESPN has at the track, but it appears that most are pointed in the wrong direction at the wrong time. Or maybe their viewing screens on the camera were foggy because of the smog and the operator couldn't find the field. Or maybe he found the field - wheat to the north. Whatever, their coverage has actually gotten worse over their portion of the season - if that's even possible.
I've lost my patience with Brian France for his inability to respond to NASCAR questions, but maybe it's not really his fault. Maybe he's watching ABC/ESPN too and is in the dark just as much as the fans who are only watching their TVs - with or without their sound muted. (Trust me, it doesn't matter which way you go - the coverage is pathetic.)
Well, at least ESPN has a trophy they can claim - the sole winner of the "Crappiest Coverage in NASCAR" Award. No one would disagree with that!
SrRaceFan
Do you guys actually ever read what I write?
Not to get off topic but COULD there be VALIDITY that after ESPN was frozen out of races after the FOX contract, they are trying to sabotage the sport with their dreck coverage?
How the hell can they or ANYBODY JUSTIFY this nonsense?
I am done being mad about it but I must say being at my 89 yr old mom's house (and only randomly picking up stray wifi and NOT being able to get info from here or TWITTER) and watching with two brothers, one who goes to Phoenix twice a year and another one going to Charlotte next week, we just made fun of the coverage as it was so maddening.
Of course the races are better in person but one brother said "ESPN might tell us what happened in 30 minutes" after one wreck. He also missed his DVR to replay what happened with the big wreck with Jr, Salder and others.
If the BSPN BOOTH is extrapolating what happened (what IS their job again? --sarcasm) and the cameras are ALWAYS MISSING THE ACTION, either it's on purpose...or the NASCAR Powers that be are AS GUILTY AS ESPN FOR ALLOWING THIS HORRIBLE COVERAGE.
sorry for the caps but I foolishly think it will get somebody's attention.
But the fact we have years left of this contract & after THREE YEARS THINGS ARE WORSE?
Even non-conspiracy theorists have to wonder....
what the heck is the deal
:(
Let's focus our efforts on the Sunday TV coverage on ABC from Fontana before we get totally off-track.
That sound familiar? Yeesh.
Arca time!!! Espn is a joke thats all I can say. not 1 person says they liked the coverage so that says it all. Oh and I got into this sport in 2004 and have many tapes from back then and the race coverage was lightyears ahead of where they are now??? Why are we going backwords????????
Jonathan
Also got into races in 2004.
ESPN = Shark Jump
An Open Question To Any ESPN TV Management or NASCAR Management that reads this Blog and we know you do :
Being the fact that any of you can reply anonymously here on this blog, do any of you read these comments on here about the T.V. coverage you provide?
If you follow last year's blog posts / replies along with this years many posts about NASCAR TV Race coverage, you will find that the same complaints regarding the Sub-par coverage of the NASCAR races from long time NASCAR Race Fans.
How can you in the Face of this, continue to provide the same coverage that you do ?
We all know you have a multi-year contract, however as you allow your ratings to slip, so will your Advertisement sales slip. We all understand that you provide Coverage to make Money, more than you provide coverage for the benefit of Race Fans. How long will you ignore Fans? Will you wait until you Advertisers stop or reduce the amount they spend on commercial time? Will you then drop coverage of this SPort and say it is not a money maker?
At least one of you could anonymously make a statement here on TDP.
Isn't the definition of Insanity; if you continue to do the same thing over and over again with out postive results ?
It is not like you do not have any feed back to make changes for the postive. SO, how about it, will one of you guys " Man Up " and at least make an Anonymous statement?
J.D.,
I had to work today. When I clocked out, I called my pal Matthew. "Don't tell me what happened, just tell me if Jimmie Johnson won the race."
I deleted the race from my DVR. I have already seen this movie. Three times.
I like vanilla ice cream. Not every night. I want some hot apple pie with cheddar, some mocha fudge almond with pralines, a bowl of fruit salad now and then.
This season is too damned long for me to stay around for the dénouemont especially if I've seen it before. Three times before.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
ESPN is inescapable, I guess. While I managed to block out the race coverage, now Kenny Mayne is a judge on Iron Chef America. Hope he's better than Jamie Little. But that wouldn't be hard to do.
Just read on Rockingham's web page that Hylton was released from the hospital with an ankle injury.
Glad it wasn't any worse than that.
Word veri is "later", so I guess I will see you all then. ;)
Terry Blount ESPN writer is reporting that the #5 Car of Mark Martin's is being taken back by to the R & D Shop by NASCAR for further inspection, in addition to the top two finishing cars in the race today, the # 48 and # 24.
Anon 10:37PM,
While I appreciate your thought process, all of the current ESPN staff is bound by the wonderful Disney rules.
The NASCAR on ESPN PR person is Andy Hall. He sends me a weekly email and updates as needed.
When we need to ask a question, he responds. Everything with ESPN is handled like the Scientologists. No one gets interviewed without a "controller" nearby.
Asking for open comments just gets a bunch of folks pretending to be someone else. Hey, it's the Internet.
You might want to hop over to Frontstretch.com and look for Phil Alloway's recent TV column on ESPN where he talked to several personalities involved in the NASCAR coverage.
TNT is rather open with their communications and SPEED is responsive, but info is funneled through two people.
I get email personally from many TV folks, but it's not fair to put them on the spot by sharing it here.
So, let's get back to talking about Fontana please.
JD
Here is my biggest complaint: How many times were they showing an important pit-stop, only to cut away before it was over. Was it a good pitstop? Was it a bad one? We never got to see. Once they had four pits on the screen at once, and then about 12 seconds in -- they just cut away to show Denny Hamlin's pit. Who won the race between the other four? Eh, who cares?
And speaking of Denny Hamlin -- the leader of the race and a serious challenger to win the title gets spun out on a restart he is leading. It's not only a dramatic moment in a race devoid of dramatic moments, but it is effectively a death sentence for his hopes of winning the Sprint Cup Championship....... but what do we hear from the booth? NOTHING?! DEAD SILENCE.
The 11 car is spinning. Jerry Punch says nothing. It hits the wall. He says nothing. And then when he finally talks, it's like "That's unfortunate for the 11." I wanted to jump into the TV and strangle Punch -- or at the very least shoot him up with adrenaline. I mean, the guy was asleep at the wheel!!!!!
When he said nothing on the Logano roll-over at Dover, that was it for me.
Punch needs to go, period. We tried to be nice, tried to be patient and tried to be supportive.
Now, it just needs to be over. ESPN has lots of college football that he can enjoy as a sideline reporter.
Your points are well-made.
JD
JD - I'm curious, how do you watch the race? Obviously it sounds like you sort of have to watch the network feed so you can make an informed criticism... but do you watch ABC all day? Do you pipe in MRN? Do you do both? Do you have ABC on the screen and something else cooking online? Would be interested in how you watch the weekly race since you are watching both as a fan and with this blog in mind.
I want to say that while there is obvious focus on Jerry Punch's horrible performance (I think his non-call on Hamlin will haunt him more than any other low point this season)... Dale Jarret was not especially "on", either. I felt every single restart he got too obsessed with why the leader wasn't starting where he thought they should, and kept making a lot of the same points over and over again. Also, a lot of times he is trying to be so diplomatic that he really doesn't offer any opinion - it's just kinda mushy.
Andy was really on. He must be tired. He is doing play-by-play. He is explaining technical issues. He is telling anecdotes from the past. He is directing the cameras where to shoot. He is the only one who seems to be watching the track and not the stat-monitors. Jerry Punch is busy counting how many cautions there have been, or how many different race leaders there have been while Andy is carrying the whole darn broadcast himself.
The funniest moment of the whole show was Tim Brewer's segment on how Kyle Busch will get out of his car and how David will get in. That has to almost top Larry MacReynold's magic trick for the longest segment of pointless television.
Second funniest moment was Jerry Punch saying "We've got an excellent crowd on hand here" just as the cameras caught the 10% full bleachers of Turn 1. OUCH.
I thought it was really fascinating the way they covered Kahne's comments on the "phantom caution."
In my opinion, those are some of the strongest words we've ever heard from a driver on the topic, and probably said in the biggest venue: network television. And what's more - they went totally unchallenged by the on-air crew.
Now, I know what you're thinking: Kasey had the cajones to say what a million fans have thought or said in the stands a bunch of times. BUT in this case, ABC actually had a camera shot of the debris. It wasn't a horribly big piece of debris. It was rather close to the wall, but it was debris nonetheless.
Given that Kahne's comments were so blatant, and so blatantly the result of frustration instead of facts (at least this time)... that I thought it was irresponsible for the on-air team to not address it and follow-up. I mean, they had the footage of the debris.
I hope NASCAR fines Kasey Kahne for his comments and docks him points as well. On one hand, he may have spoken a powerful truth about something that many have suspected happens in NASCAR. But still, in this case he was wrong and his comments could very really be very damaging for the sport. I live in California and was on the fence about attending this race and decided against it because a) the racing is usually bad here and b) the facility is a dump in need of renovation... but Kahne's comments don't make me as a fan want to attend. I might have been on the fence, but I don't want to go if all the drivers think it's a fix. What he said was really damaging to NASCAR and I suspect there will be some major fallout for him personally for letting his frustration with wrecks get the best of him.
Anon 1:17AM,
The problem is that you don't really know. One popular NASCAR trick is to locate a piece of debris outside the racing line and sit on it.
When the time is right, a caution waves and the trucks pick up a piece of debris that may have been laying there for 50 laps.
That is the optical illusion of seeing the debris but not having the TV announcers say what it is.
In the Saturday race, they brought out a caution for an empty plastic water bottle from the stands. In an instant, it was gone with the wind...literally.
Kahne may well have seen that debris long before NASCAR needed a caution.
Just saying...
JD
JD:
After two of the worst TV broadcasts I've seen, the Nationwide and Sprint Cup, both in the same weekend, my reaction has been to call the Speedway Club hotline Sunday night and buy tickets on the Club Deck for next Saturday night's race, because I love to see a race and I won't see it on ESPN.
Just to check it out, I left the TV audio on during the midstretch of the Fontana race and found myself utterly confused as to who was where in the race. Only after resuming multitasking on line and via the radio did I regain a sense of how the Fontana race was progressing and the feeling I was left with was sadness.
Perhaps it's come to this;with a script written in Connecticut and followed irregardless of the reality happening on the track, ESPN cannot present to us an actual broadcast of a race. It's like watching a version of "The Man from LaMancha" auto-racing style. Anymore, the difference between the TV broadcast and the radio/internet version is like two seperate universes. After watching Victory Lane on SPEED, my wife remarked that why bother watching (and wasting the time)the entire race when we can see an orderly synopsis of the race presented by people who can give us a good presentation intertiwined with meaningful interviews.
Anyway, I won't be watching next Saturday - I'll be watching a race live(and, as my wife reminds me, we also must make ourselves experience the pre-race buffet in the Club...)Well, as Mike Rowe says, someones got to do it!
PS:sorry, JD, about the history lesson earlier - we were off topic (that PammH...)!
I remember..what i guess we could consider the golden years of nascar on tv..those eyars would include ned and benny in the booth..with jerry on PIT ROAD...even when a race was somewhat boring..ned and the guys have the conversational and infomational skills to keep you in the game..keep your interest from wandering to another channel.
now i look at sundays race telecast..and i shake my head in misery...as time goes by...arent things supposed to improve for the betterment of all?...espn didnt get the memo..it seems they have decided to choose the lowest common denominator and run with it..the anal retentive swill that continues to spew out of jerry punch's mouth makes my head hurt.."if the race were to end now..." NO..the race werent to end now..its sunny out and the tracks fine and theres 80 laps to go..ARRRRGGGHHH...i should take up drinking..this will most likely be my last participation with this blog JD as i've decided i cant watch nascar anymore on espn/abc..so any comment i'd make would be based on guessing :( and there ya go nascar..another fan..gone..bye bye
A few years ago, the man who owned the local MRN affiliate dropped MRN, and the nearest city's MRN affiliate went from a strong station to one that we can't even get. This is the same thing with my alma mater's sports, so MRN can't help me.
A rule in motorsport broadcasting I've noticed in the past is any time there is a serious crash, the announcers should be silent until there is confirmation the driver is moving and talking. With the no racing to the flag rule, the emphasis is on the crash first, not the action on the track. After Logano's crash at Dover, I can understand the silence in the booth.
The Hamlin incident is where I think the Fox team would be on the spot, and that's why they are often criticised by fans for looking at the track. Can you imagine Darrell saying "If you want to win the championship, you cannot beat yourself -- and Hamlin beat himself on that restart with an attempt to block Montoya turning into a trip to the fence"?
Rob from Toronto wrote:
"I remember..what i guess we could consider the golden years of nascar on tv..those eyars would include ned and benny in the booth..with jerry on PIT ROAD...even when a race was somewhat boring..ned and the guys have the conversational and infomational skills to keep you in the game..keep your interest from wandering to another channel."
Great insight Rob, but you omit one crucial element. Bob Jenkins.
The best play by play man ever to do auto racing, who made the Golden Age ESPN telecasts great because he knew when to talk and when to let Ned and Benny talk. The ultimate professional.
The ESPN problems are so obvious and such a simple fix, one can only conclude that ESPN indignantly shoves it up our differentials because they are the "worlwide leaders in spits"
They suck. Period
I love all the fan comments and agree with every criticism about ESPN.
One of my own would be the gushing over Montoya (4 straight top fives!) Being from another hemisphere doesn't make someone an all-star. Wait until he does something like top the point standings or win more often than twice in three years.
The races are just fine. The "coverage" is not.
I only got to see the last hour of the race broadcast so these things stand out to me:
1) during the red light caution, Shannon Spake actually had interesting interviews with Allmendinger and Kahne -- but it was all minimized or just plain ignored by the commentators. AJ had some pointed criticisms and no one even addressed it. I don't know how casual fans were supposed to make sense of it.
2) I didn't learn the top 10 finishers until I turned over to Victory Lane on Speed. I had no idea that Bowyer and Harvick were there at the end.
ESPN/ABC and NASCAR cannot turn a deaf ear to their ratings problem. Ratings on ESPN/ABC have been down from last year during the Chase, which was not all the great anyway. And, the NFL's ratings are up over a year ago. It doesn't take a genius to figure out there's a problem.
Just some random thoughts...
I agree with Jim. I'll admit, I'm not a JPM fan. But the analysts going on like he's the most amazing story when he has won ONE race in his entire NASCAR career is a bit of overkill. And he didn't do it all by himself....not only did he probably suffer from having poor Ganassi cars the first couple years, he's enjoying the success from their improvement. I think he'd be the first to say so.
But the analysts do that with every 'story', whether it's JPM or Joey Logano. They 'beat to death' any particular thing, someone's age (Joey or Mark as extremes), a wreck like Joey's, an injury (Carl's foot), Jeff Gordon's back, Kyle's flu, etc etc etc. It's like they can't get off that one fact to talk about anything else.
I too felt like Andy was doing most of the work Sunday. I was multitasking so I can't say much about the camera work. But I had to look on a message board to find out what happened to several drivers. And I agree with those who say they'd like to see more actual analysis of comments from Kasey or AJ...but that would require honesty, something sorely lacking here.
What frustrates me most about the ESPN/ABC coverage of auto racing (beside the camera work that feels like it's being done by some kid with a Super 8 camera from way up in the stands and who can't or won't operate the zoom) is the booth work.
Every time Andy says something, then Dale repeats it, and vice-versa. It's as if they're in two separate booths and watching the event on a delay basis. Drives me nuts. Couple that with virtually no follow up of developing race stories throughout the race and almost no post race coverage and you have a petty borrowing telecast.
All that said, I'm still grateful that it's not Bill Weber in the booth--that would be insufferable.
As a JR fan, I have to say thank you ABC for showing my driver's car even though he didn't lead the race.
That is the only good thing I have to say about the race since i was brought up not to say anything if you can't say something good.
Thank god for Raceview and MRN.
Why in the heck can't the announcers keep us updated on the wave around drivers. They have made no effort to make that a routine part of pre-restart protocal. It seems like a pretty simple thing to mention while everyone is driving around at pace car speed.
Did anyone notice the national anthem and how the singer botched it? He left out "what so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming."
Spectacularly bad.
As a 15yr full time viewer, I have to say ABC is putting on the worst race coverage I've ever seen. JP has all the emotion of a door knob. Cars went a lap down, how? Cars got a lap back, how? Most of the lead changes happened during commercials. Does not Fox break from the commercial to cover the lead change? I understand covering the Chase guys mostly. However, the only other non Chase driver that was covered was Jr, why? He's in 22nd in the points and can't finish on the lead lap to save his life. How about the drivers competition for the 36 spot in the points? That will make a huge difference at Daytona Speedweeks. I'm glad to see that stupid ground hog gone, hope Fox does not bring back that ignorant cartoon character. I suggest, let Bestwick do the play by play, he's great at it. MRN gave him that experience. Either that or give JP some fun pills.
Such poor coverage!! How many times do we need to watch the times of the pit stops as they fuel up and change tires, only to have the camera shot moved somewhere else before the damn pit stop is changed and we never get to see the times!! Why bother with the timers!! Such poor coverage.
maybe they should replace jerr punch with that guy who does the truck races...i just hate how they always cut the post race short for some nonscense.. if this were the yankees playoff games it would be different.
Wow, Ragan got a top 10?? Just learned that here!! ABC sucks.
Boring, boring, boring cup race coverage. No wonder my children think I am a bit nuts for being a NASCAR fan. The TV coverage just shows a few cars driving for several hours around some oval. No new fans from TV. Pitiful.
Nothing good to say about Cup TV coverage this round. I had it on but I do not use their audio, and much of the time the TV pictures were not matching up with the radio and internet reports. Unexcuseable. I did rewind to see the Kahne TV interview and I appreciate him trying to force some honesty into this deal. Sure, yeah, "The Show" but let the teams control that, not NASCAR!
VERY disappointed with post race coverage, which I still consider to be way more important than pre race which, because of the race time, I didn't bother with at all.
NASCAR itself is in trouble, and they finally seem to know it as evidenced by the new start times, wider tires, and other "changes" that Mike Helton mentioned on RaceDay. Drivers calling them out on air and over the radio for the WWE style staging of the races have got to be getting through to them.
I have always had confidence in Mike Helton, and I am hopeful that he understands that ESPN's coverage or lack there of is yet one more place that NASCAR needs to implament some "changes".
ESPN can yap all it wants about what a great job it's done, but the raitings don't lie, and we have had more positive changes ie: double file restarts, this year as apposed to the previouse two years, that it is impossible not to acknowlage that the problem lies with the on air talent both booth, and pit reporters and the lousy direction from the production truck.
I'm sure ESPN would love to say that it's NASCAR's fault for the new car, the fake cautions, bad racing, but as has been pointed out, there have been other era's with team, driver dominance, stupid new rules and regs from NASCAR; plus we are no strangers to 'Jacque DeBris' and yet people still watched and loved the sport.
The economy might be bad, but that makes it more likely that people are watching on TV and not expensive TV but basic cable or a government converter box so NASCAR can't use that as an excuse for bad ratings.
If it was really about the sport or the team dominance, or even the 'phantom' cautions to magicly bunch up the field and create a GWC then people wouldn't watch SPEED, FOX or TNT yet they do.
The only conclusion ESPN and NASCAR can draw from sinking raitings, is that the coverage provided by ESPN sucks in every way shap and form.
As a side note, someone else here noticed that DJ has been very off his game the last two weeks. I thought it was just my perception but maybe not. He and AB seem to be VERY quiet all of a sudden, no more jumping in to clerify or amplify anything, no lifelines here.
My veri is Sedly close enough to sadly for horseshoes.
dara2k,
So that's what happened.. As a avid Tony Stewart fan I was so confused as to why he was a lap down!! As a driver 4Th in the points, how could of JP missed it?? But he misses most happenings on the track I guess. 10 minutes is a long time to relay info about a driver in 4th place in the points! Guess his initials should be that of the "annointed" one. Seems like I've heard about the "annointed" one from the media before. Hum, didn't work so good.
I skipped most of the race because California is a terrible track (I actually went to the cup race a few years back) and I had no faith in ESPN doing any race coverage.
Sounds like I made a good decision. I showed up just in time for Nascar's sympathy caution for Tony Stewart.
I was slightly impressed when Dale Jarret yelled trouble out loud. Not impressed that it took what felt like an eternity to get to the wreck.
I think I am going to continue to skip watching races this year. I can tune in for the final 20 laps and get as much information about the race as if I'd watched the whole thing.
It's sad because I do miss racing. I live in PA and I've traveled to many nascar tracks...even flown out to watch a bore fest at California...btw great to see no fans in the stands even for a chase race....when Will ISC and Nascar give up on California. Go to Iowa or anywhere...heck go back to the Rock.
Speaking of Rockingham...awesome ARCA race yesterday for the championship! Totally different level of energy for a broadcast! Rick saying, he's out of breathe from all the action...great. Great finish.
Also was impressed that ARCA didn't throw a yellow flag with the one car blowing up and smoking down the track the last 6 or 8 laps. Nascar would have taken the chance to throw the caution if a bird pooped on the track as an excuse for a debris caution.
Kudos to ARCA for letting it play out and be naturally exciting. Where as Nascar would have manufactured excitement with their BS debris caution and double file restarts.
ABC mutilated the coverage last year, and this year the sad tradition continues.
I never heard that Hamlin was black-flagged after returning to the track after his accident. No follow-up to Kahne's or Dinger's critical comments. No showing anyone but JJ at the finish line. No...the list continues ad nauseum.
Thank God there's baseball and decent TV coverage. I'm so over Nascar on ABC.
As long as Brian France continues to dictate the coverage and think everything is fine with the race coverage and there's no problems with the ratings, the ratings will continue to drop like a rock and the coverage will continue to smell like rotting fish.
JD - do you have a snail mail address where we could write ABC Sports, ABC Programming, etc? In my opinion, them getting 100 paper letters means a million times more than them getting 10,000 emails. With email, people assume every unhappy camper just sounds off. But getting a piece of mail delivered that someone had to create - well, it's always made much more of an impression in every media business I've worked at.
Where can we write to ABC to complain? I think if everyone from this blog sent a single letter, it could have a much bigger impact than all the blog comments and online petitions combined.
Because of the changes at NASCAR HotPass, I decided to tune into that for the live coverage on Sunday rather than ABC's telecast.
Everyone I've heard is right: the race covered by MRN is much different that what is covered by ABC. MRN sees the whole race instead of just a few storylines.
However, I must report that MRN stepped out a number of times for pre-taped driver interviews and a visit from a representative of the sponsor. I did not like that.
Also, Barney Hall had the day off and Mike Bagley filled in.
Still, this was much better than the usual inconsistent, lackluster coverage from ESPN on ABC. As always, it rushed off the air. Also, I understand ESPNEWS and SportsCenter had little or no followup coverage.
500 miles at Fontana. They must be kidding if they think I'm going to put up with ABC and their endless commercials and promos. Let's go to 300 miles and no sound on ABC to make things bearable.
Just wanted to add Changing the start times, tweaking the COT with better tires (so I've heard) & even shortening some races (As Helton said they MIGHT be considering)..
it all means NOTHING as long as we are all sitting in front of the tv BLINDFOLDED.
and with the horrible camera work, basically our eyes are covered as we see NONE of the real racing.
Only sponsored in car cams ad nauseum and BSPN's BUTCHERING of a sport we all love but nobody cares about the REAL ISSUE.
Horrible camera work
and NO RACE Info from the booth.
I am late to the commenting party (as usual) and all I can add to the great observations above is this...
Somebody at ESPN must get a dollar for every time they cut away from an ongoing pass attempt to a car running by itself.
in my earlier post above i stated i would not watch espn/abc anymore..may sound like extreme whing..but after so many people have emailed written blogged and such to them..that they continue to arrogantly ignore..i decided its time to exercise the only power i have in the situation and thats to turn it off..apparently i'm not alone in this as the average veiwership of espn/abc races seems to be about 500k-1million average less than when they came back..which is a strong hint to them that fans have had it.
nascar fans..will watch vorciferously anything nascar as long as its watchable..i have been since the 60's and wide world of sports segments..but alas...i'm going to be true to my word..and truely not watch anymore..fellow nascar fans..go play a game of touch football with your family next weekend..or some shinny for us canucks..and leave the tv off..spread it to your freinds..only way espn/abc will ever listen is if the sponsors bring down the wrath of losingmoneyherebubbafixitnow on them :P
and to another poster..yup..bob jenkins was awesome..he was included in "the guys"...but having been raised in the 60's watching andy griffith show..Ned(who for some reason always reminded me of andy griffith) felt like my tv uncle and was my fav..lol..so i always lead with ned :D
Anon 12:03PM,
ESPN asks that you use the viewer comment page at ESPN.com.
NASCAR does not want your email and offers no public email address.
Sending email to NASCAR.com gets the Turner Interactive people in Atlanta who run the website.
Fun huh?
JD
"NASCAR does not want your email and offers no public email address."
That should tell you everything you want to know about what NASCAR thinks of it's fans. Not very many companies out there that don't want to hear from their clientel, either good or bad.
Bad coverage! I watched the last 90 minutes of the race because there was NO way on earth I was going to waste my day watching the incredible boring "action" that Fontana has OR listen to the ESPN talking heads natter on about nothing while they aren't showing me the race.
I could tell by listening to MRN that there was a good race going on for 2nd and 3rd at the end, but I didn't get to see it. The pass had already been made when the cameras got there, nope, we watched the leader out in front by better than 5 seconds ALL alone.
Crap indeed.
I've just plain stopped watching the entire race. I don't watch the pre-race garbage either. How in the heck have NASCAR and the tv broadcast folks managed to turn an exciting sport into a bore?
And to answer an earlier posters questions, do I think it will be good for NASCAR if Johnson wins another one? Nope because for all the hype last year about the 3 in a row deal it wasn't really 3 full season championships, it was 3 10 race chase wins. I know the old points system is gone and not coming back, but I'm still not willing to give Johnson 3 or 4 in a row even if he wins this one when he's not been the points leader through the first 26 races. I'll be in Charlotte on Saturday for the race so at least I won't have to listen to ESPN's drivel. I can watch the race in peace. Imagine that.
Yesterday, I watched the entire race off of the DVR. The positive part of that was that I was able to fast forward through all of the commercials. The negative part of it was that I was stuck with the ESPN broadcast all by itself - no internet, no MRN.
Let's start with a simple change. Show green flag racing when there is green flag racing going on. I don't want to see 64 full screen replays of pit stop errors after the green flag has been thrown. I don't want to see how the pit crew changes a tire. We see that every week. It is the same thing every week. Enough already!
ESPN really needs to take a page from the SPEED trucks broadcast.
Less is More! Speed doesn't have a tech garage to show us how to get out of a seat. They don't have driver interview pieces during green flag racing where they consequently focus on that car and watch it go around the track for several laps without covering any other cars (Mark Martin). They don't have pit reporters repeating the same exact information that the booth has just given before going to the pit reporters. Keep it simple.
By the way it would save ESPN a whole lot of money if they didn't have to lug those extra trailers across the country. If indeed Tim Brewer does travel with them...
Blogger Daly Planet Editor said...
To Anon 12:03PM,
NASCAR does not want your email and offers no public email address.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOW. Well, indeed, this explains NASCAR does not TRULY care except to give lip service (DFR, earlier times, etc)
They CHOOSE to ignore my and everybody else's gripes on HORRIBLE COVERAGE.
France family has the money=they are happy.
Fans no like?= Tough.
That really hurts to see. :(
Wow, the folks have spoken.. No info from the booth, either of them. Camera shots taken off the cars that are being timed during pit stops before the pit stop is complete making the coverage worthless. Missed green flags, missed "debre" cautions. Tunnel camera shots of one car instead of a wider view so people can actually see "a race" and not "a car". An extremely boring broadcaster in JP "love your work in the 90's though". Just not now. And I have to admit. I don't dislike Johnson, however, if he pulls away in the points I'm going to "click" and turn it to football. Already seen that movie, as someone else stated it. This week I think I'm going to multi-task. I'm going to mute ABC/ESPN and turn on MRN. The wife and I will allow MRN to broadcast the vocals, just use ABC for the visual. Oh, I almost forgot. I don't give a damn about the pre-race. I want a race. Forget the worthless pre-race and get to it. Then have better coverage after the race for the top 5, or so. I don't watch ESPN, but if they are patting themselves on their backs for good coverage, they are totally lost in the world of Nascar, and Nascar fans..
Big kudos (NOT) to California track president Gillian Zucker on her choice to sing the National Anthem. What a train wreck that was.
John:
Is this "NASCAR Fan Council" for real with an alleged 12,000 members? Do they actually poll these folks and does this really exist? Something tells me it's smoke and mirrors.
another bad broadcast in smogville,why a race in smogcity is unbelievable. Northwilksboro would be a helluv a lot better
The NASCAR Fan Council is for real. It is a tool that NASCAR's contracted marketing company uses as a sounding board on various topics.
One thing to understand. ESPN paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the TV rights to the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series races.
These broadcasts are supposed to be the pinnacle of NASCAR broadcasting. After Fox and TNT are done, ESPN is supposed to put all their resources into closing out the NASCAR season on a high note.
Just like the NFL playoffs, the World Series or the Stanley Cup playoffs, this is the ten round championship for NASCAR's highest level.
That is why fans are so bent out of shape that even the TV fundamentals are being arrogantly ignored by a network clearly more interested in promoting itself and its programming then the sport.
Rather incredible that fans of Tony Stewart came to TDP and Twitter to find out what happened to him in the race. Fans of other drivers who finished in the top twenty were livid that their drivers were rarely or never mentioned.
Imagine not resetting the field before restarts. Never following the actual racing but being captivated by Jimmie Johnson's problem pit stops.
After beating us to death with music themes, ESPN now blasts random oldies music into commercial...even if the cars are still racing under green.
Imagine being almost four hours into a race and believeing that rolling a bumper of a driver introducing themselves and promoting ABC should take up time before a commercial?
This coverage has imploded and wholesale changes in the TV production truck and ESPN Motorsports management are needed immediately.
It's just too bad that something can't be done to save the remaining races. I am not too sure how many fans are going to last after the Cali debacle.
JD
You know, I was flipping through the channels today, and saw this kid's show singing a song that went 'nap time, nap time'.
That's pretty much how the tv broadcast went... and I had it muted!
Thank goodness for MRN... I found out where my David (Ragan) ended up.
Like I always say, say no to crap... in this case ABC/ESPN Cup broadcasts.
I wasn't asking for an email address. That never works. I want a physical address. I want hundreds of paper letters to show up with complaints. It will make a much bigger impact. Where can we write to ABC programming and/or ABC Sports?
Well, thanks to Direct TV and HotPass I had a very enjoyable race.
I am surprised that Nascar is letting them provide a video alternative.
It would be very interesting to see some viewer numbers on Hotpass. Do you have access to them JD?
For those of you that have not seen HotPass, there are 5 channels available. Each is dedicated to a different driver and a PIP is used with one window on that driver and the other the network broadcast.
The audio, at least the last 3 weeks, has been the radio feed. This audio is overridden by the driver radio when it is active. When the network goes to commercial that window drops out and the other window goes full screen. When tech center or infield announcers come on they are likewise dropped out.
There are only a handful of commercials on the Direct TV side for the whole race.
It is not as good as it was when it was a PayPerView service but it is free!
It actually is a very enjoyable way to watch the race. But you are still stuck with ESPU camera work which this week was really really really poor. So much missed action which the radio is describing. And if JP wants to hear PXP he needs to tune in to MRN.
Can't wait for Daytona
Really worked for me this week because my internet was down and local radio was all football.
I get so aggravated with ESPN Cup coverage that simple things can aggravate me easily. For instance, I have an excellent sound system. Am I the only one that hears Jerry Punch smacking his lips before and after he makes a comment? This freakin` drives me nuts. I don`t notice it during the NNS races, so I figure it has to be JP. Pull the mic out of your mouth Doc, before I end up with a hole in my tv screen.
One should not diminish the very high importance of "trite" phrases at EESPN - that is how you can "go all the way" at "stumblin' bumblin'" EESPN.
just glad i was at THE ROCK seeing a real race not a snooze feast
I have a few observations not only about the Ca. race but the last few races and Nascar in general. It dosen't matter to Nascar how bad and boring that the races have become, all that matters is that a Chevy wins(I own 2). Also it more important that Hendrick and J.J. win the championship than make the racing great! Oh I forgot we are suppose to be idolizing Rick Hendrick because he is the great and woundeful god of racing! Nascar has a very short memory. When Ford was winning all the races they made all these rule changes to help the Chevys in the name of competion. Also you didn't see many shots of the grandstands Sunday because there were no fans!. If memory serves me the reason they took the race from Dariington on Labor Day was fan attendance. Nascar racing is becoming like the IRL boring very boring. And lastly the Roush rule. This is a joke! Even though not all 5 teams have ran good Nascar is set to loose at least 3 teams that ran the whole race. Now we can add 3 more start and park teams to the list and Nascar has no respect for the crewmen and their families that they (Nascar) will put on the unemployment line at a time like this!
Does anybody still have the prerace show on the DVR? I was on TV shaking Jeff Gordon's hand while he was walking to driver intros after an interview with Jamie Little. I'd love to get a video of it.
Thanks!
Anon 4:49PM,
There is no such thing as ABC Sports anymore. Those days are long gone.
ESPN is in charge of the sports programming that appears on the ABC network.
You can snail mail ESPN all you want. It is NASCAR that needs the input. I had hoped that there would be contact information on the new NASCAR.com website, but no such luck.
As we have said over the last three years, NASCAR is the least user-friendly sports organization in North America.
They provide great marketing and public relations services but have little to do with the fans.
JD
For the person looking for an address, a simple google search turned up this.. Here's two actually..
Nascar
P.O. Box 2875
Daytona, Fl. 32120
Phone #386-253-0611
ESPN, Inc
Viewer Response
ESPN Plaza
Bristol, CT. 06010
Why does ESPN/ABC even bother to broadcast NASCAR races anymore? All they want to talk about all day is Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. Did they even notice that there was a race going on behind Jimmie? I am so tired of television race commentators deciding who I should pull for in a race. Not everybody is a Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon or Dale junior fan. Some of us actually like other drivers and would like to know how they are doing in a race. And what ever happened to finding out why any car drops out of the race? I know that there are several "start and park" cars at any given race, but what about the others that drop out for legitimate reasons? Shouldn't we be kept up-to-date on what happened and why they are out of the race? Are the pit reporters so lazy that they can't be troubled to find out what's really happening to all of the competitors in a race? I know that the afore mentioned drivers sell product and that's what NASCAR is all about, but is it too much to ask for TV to report all of the race and not just the Hendrick cars?
Thanks!
Bnighthawk
I know this is an old post and this might not get read.. But I'll try.. David Gilliland started in the #71 TRG Motorsports car.. However, he was waiting as a relief driver to Kyle Bush's #18 car.. ESPN didn't touch it.. They spent all that time showing the driver change, then wasting my time showing me a demo.. What happened?? Did the #71 start and park? Wreck? Blow up? Damn ESPN SUCKS!!
My thoughts when Denny Hamlin was spinning down the front straightaway and ESPN was in that God awful Full-Throttle feature without a single word being said until Denny practically got to the garage say it all: "What....The...Hell?!?!"
Pit stops were messed up multiple times, no recaps of the field, focused on only a handful of cars, it was purely rough to watch.
Only saw up until the restart for Kahne/Kurt/Biffle and missed the coverage from there but still, where the heck was the David Ragan update on how he got in the top 10 from being a lap down?
Off to Charlotte I suppose.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
John,
It was mentioned in the early going that Gilliland would be moving into the 18 car, and that talk was happening at least at around lap 6, as I remember it.
John,
While I appreciate that info, I hope you understand my point.
Snail mail ended a long time ago for viewer responses.
The NASCAR link is useless and the only thing ESPN acknowledges is the feedback form on the website.
Thanks again for all the comments, now on to Charlotte.
JD
Tom,
Can't deny that info was said at the beginning of the race.. I was still watching the 1pm NFL game at that point.. Was not going to leave a 4th quarter game at 3:30.. If ESPN covered it, then good for them.. They still missed plenty of action though.. I'll take it Gilliand did a start and park then.. This year I've watched more NFL then ever, because they start at 1pm, like Sunday afternoon sports should.. I'm glad that the Nascar gods finally got a brain cell jump started for next year and stops messing with Sunday night dinner and my grilling outside beforehand..
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