The weather was clear, the track was fast and the racing was intense.
Chris Myers started the day from the Hollywood Hotel with Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. Slice of Pizzi returned, Digger was nowhere in sight and the DirecTV contest continued. Mike Joy called the race with Waltrip and Larry McReynolds.
From the start, Joy was more conversational with Waltrip and McReynolds than ever before this season. Just like ESPN last season, the commentary was more like three guys talking while watching a race on TV. It was very different.
FOX inserted a significant number of commercial breaks, promos and billboards into the race. Eventually, it seemed that the segments of racing grew shorter and shorter. In the last hour, the commercials directly affected the ability to view and follow the race.
Joy promised that one commercial would be the last, but then FOX continued to run multiple commercials during the remainder of the telecast. Joy was clearly embarrassed, but that was only one of the issues for FOX.
Waltrip and McReynolds continued the habit of speaking about whatever was on their minds. These topics included a lot of Alabama college football and Dale Earnhardt Junior. It certainly made for a rather scattered commentary at times.
The race had several late accidents, so the green/white/checker rule was in effect. One late accident included Jimmy Johnson and Greg Biffle. FOX tried to keep up with the action, but it was a struggle.
This post is your opportunity to tell us what you thought of the NASCAR on FOX telecast of the Sprint Cup Series race from Talladega. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.
101 comments:
Less commercials or put them on the side please
It was more of a Commercials 499 not a race for the telecast!!! More Racing less commercials..
Poor Mike Joy saying no more commercials and then there were tons!
Post-race show ahead on SPEED? A strike back at Turner?
Wait, did they just say they were switching to Speed? I am recording the Supercross races and will be pissed if they are stopped mid-run.
Well, Where should I start...
1) In the whole DW was more awful than usual. The new format did nothing but make DW talk more. Wrong more than often than not. Does he ever listen to any conversations that they carry on with each other, or does he just like to hear himself talk?
2) Several times especially at the beginning production only showed in car cameras. Since when at Talladega do the fans want to watch from bumpercam. I certainly don't, as I want to see the 2-3 wide action not the front of someone's car. They didn't show the wreak of Keslowski/Ambrose in the pits until way after the fact.
3) Commercials. Could we have anymore? I know that you have to pay bills, but really? Especially since Mike joy had just said that they were done until the end. What an joke.
4) Racing overall was really good. Listened to radio and kept up on twitter when I was disgusted with Fox.
Another grade of F from me. I know I am only just a fan, but I spend my money on sponser items and tickets, I hope that when TNT starts along with ESPN it will get better.
I'll keep an eye on SPEED and SPEEDtv.com for ya.
NASCAR on FOX team is now live on SPEED!
why is Fox on SPEED after the race??
Camera work STUNK. Too many in car cams. Too many commercials the end. Not enough info too many commercials.
Damn them stopping the Supercross, I'm going out.
Like the past two races, I have seen increasing moments of competence from Fox during the Cup telecasts. Yet, they are still just too few and far between. There remains just too much disconnect between the truck and the booth and within the booth itself along with a continuing huge under-utilization of Fox's great pit reporters. The timing of the late commercials before the late run of cautions was inexcusable -- a horrible way to dismember the flow and excitement which might keep more viewers watching through the end (and through the post-race commercials) so they could see Jeff Gordon say a slightly naughty word. ;-) (and who'd of ever thought that the big testy rivalry of the year would be between NASCAR's two "nice guy" teammates?)
Basically, Fox made what appeared to be one of the most exciting from flag-to-flag races in recent NASCAR history very difficult to watch. I think most of us still sit in amazement at the complete implosion of Fox NASCAR coverage. Sure, we have all had our beefs here and there, but this is becoming a total train wreck...and we often can't even hear the steaming whistle of the locomotive because DW will not shut up.
Daly Planet Editor said...
NASCAR on FOX team is now live on SPEED!
no thanks, jd: i've had enough of one of them for the day. wonder how the broadcast would change if one switch was made?
will add thoughts later tonight -- promise.
So many commercials especially at the end. It's like there are more commercials than the law allows I wonder if someone keeps track of stuff like that. And Fox seemed to only show the cars in front, hardly ever midpack or farther back than that. DW was up to his tricks and yakkin' so much. Glad Fox extended their post-race show too.
This may come as a shock, but some of us care about point standings outside the top 24 at the end of the race. Fawks decided to push their primetime schedule instead. Thanks for nothing.
You know, this post-race show could be related to FOX's sudden promotion of its sports cable properties. That also seems like it came out of the blue, promoting SPEED, their soccer channel, and the regional FSNs.
This is a level of synergy only seen between ESPN and ABC.
And not enough pit reporter interviews from the drivers who were crashed out or blew up. DeLana's hair is sopping wet!
Finally, something that makes sense to me. Cut the live show on network tv and move to the cable channel and finish telling the stories and getting interviews.
As long as they will not interupt another live broadcast.
Something done right for a change!
(well almost, that was short)
As for the race broadcast, what I was awake for seemed ok to me. I've not been as enthused about the "show" this year. I think the "show" has got in the way of watching racing. That's why I like the trucks the best, not as much corporate mess, so we get to see more racing.
Vicky D said...
So many commercials especially at the end. It's like there are more commercials than the law allows I wonder if someone keeps track of stuff like that.
Vicky, with the exception of children's programming, the old regulations regarding the amount of advertising on broadcast television were thrown out long ago.
Glad they threw away the stupid commercial bumpers and thrilled for the extra post-race show on Speed. The pre-race show was still a total disaster though and the commercials were ridiculous. Hey David Hill, if you could put down your wrecking ball for a minute how about getting back into the good graces of Nascar fans and becoming the first network to have side-by-side commercials??
It only seemed like there were more commercials because they went through two full cycles of green flag pitstops ... Fewer cautions make it look like there's more commercials ...
My disappointment came from DW trying to absolve Joey of wrecking Newman ...
And there were way too many yellow cars ... Hard to tell who was whom ...
Broadcast was bad. Camera work was slightly better, but you get a lot of cars in a small amount of space at rp tracks, so it's not so hard to show lots of cars in a shot.
The booth is bad. Just 3 good ole boys chit chatting away... well, mainly one. It seems like the truck has decided that NASCAR races don't need no stinkin' play by play. Pit reporters way under used. And when they were used, hey, we don't need to see the crew chiefs face instead of the race! There is close captioning for the hearing impaired; they don't need to lip read the crew chief.
Just bad coverage all around.
One word, commercials. geez
All the bad stuff has already been said. But I don't get really upset with Fox anymore, it's just not worth it. Their NASCAR broadcasts are what they are, rather lame. No wonder Mike Joy seems depressed.
The good thing was that at certain times, albeit not way enough, there were some really nice looking shots: aerials, long lens showing the field coming off turn 2 down the backstretch, multi-angle replays of various incidents, that made for some decent TV viewing.
Kind of reminded me a little of those classic ESPN races of days past, if the sound was muted.
I watch the race on the international feed here in the uk - essentially its the same feed as in the US except during most of the ad breaks we see an in car shot with no sound or comms. So while we don't have to watch commercials the viewing experienced is still disrupted by so dam many breaks - if regs that limit the amount of breaks have been removed - bring em back! You guys have so many more than we do that we find it hard to follow any sport broadcast from the US and Nascar is particularly bad.
However what got my back up in this race was the lack of coverage of 3 and 4 wide racing down the pack. There was little use of the split screen allowing the comms to concentrate (if thats the right word for DW) on moves developing down the field whist keeping the viewer in touch with the almost constant lead changes in what was a classic race. MustangMarkF
I want to agree with longtimeracefan, it seemed like there were some interesting camera shots that didn't look all that familiar.
I go back to the ESPN/TNN/TBS/CBS days, so I would like to push for a return to simplicity.
OK I have had a break- the N'wide race is about to start I have eaten, I will keep this civil.
WTH Shut DW UP!!!!!!!!!!! He does not need to speak every last flippin minute Flops is on air. I wish Mike Joy would tell him to shut up - on air - so we all could share the moment. I like DW - however less is more, let Mike call the PbP please. Mike if you read this - 2 words - duct tape.
I am a grown up I know commercials pay the bills. Got it. Not in the last 20 laps, ever.
And since you managed (Truck pay attention here) to miss the competition caution & were horridly out of sync, please return your paychecks for today. You did not do your job period. And covering up the racing with anything is grounds for firing in the real world.
Failing to cover all the stories of the race, or worse, today - you started a story line & then simply forgot about it. No tie up - no end just dangle.
Good to hear there was a record number of lead changes, we at home didn't get to see most of them. But then again there were only 20 cars on the track -going single file in a box (under green) or Noahs Ark Fashion, you know 2 by 2- in a box.
A Scream at the TV Failure a freakin F-
or incomplete.
Thank the stars for this blog, LiveleaderBoard, Trackpass & MRN. Otherwise I would have had no cue Tony & Carl were hanging back deliberately...or most anything else having to do with the Race on The Track Happening LIVE!!!
Great broadcasting today-these guys have really cleaned up their acts since Daytona. I enjoyed today's broadcast. I have to agree with the commercials-lots of them. Commercials are detrimental to restrictor plate racing-that's why TNT does their wide open coverage for Daytona. All restrictor plate races need that format-but I think today will go down as one of the best NASCAR races in history.
Outstanding race. Good broadcast. Mike Joy was terrific with play-by-play. Chris Myers was better than usual. We were shown most of the lead changes, given bonus post-race coverage on Speed, and given more pit reports than in the past on FOX. I really enjoyed the entire broadcast (sounds like I'm in the minority).
The only thing I'm confused about is the decision-making process FOX goes through when deciding who gets interviewed after the race. Today, instead of interviewing the 5th place finisher, they interviewed the 13th place finisher and played Jeff Gordon's interview twice.
Jojaye said:
"And since you managed (Truck pay attention here) to miss the competition caution & were horridly out of sync, please return your paychecks for today. You did not do your job period. And covering up the racing with anything is grounds for firing in the real world."
In the real world, not showing all those commercials, not showing all those sponsor graphics in, that's grounds for being fired. That's not doing your job. Just remember that the people in the truck have a job to do, and that job is first and foremost for a company that pays millions upon millions to show these races. Who do you think the people in the truck are listening to, the fans posting on blogs, or their corporate bosses who want to recoup all their money??
I understand what your saying, but IMO the problem here isn't the truck. I really don't think the truck wants to put all these commercials in. The problem is corporate management, forcing them to do things that pay their bills, and corporate management are their bosses. If they don't do the commercials that they want, guess what happens to the people in the truck? They get fired. No wonder they jam in all those commercials.
IMO the anger is misplaced, save your venom for the Rupert Murdochs, Ted Turners, and Michael Eisners of the world, people who shouldn't be involved with NASCAR.
JMHO.
DW was much less annoying than usual but whatever goodwill that gained Fox was pretty much depleted by their drama-killing coverage of the last 25 laps. Even before the yellows started coming out with 10 to go, between the constant commercials and Joy suddenly thinking he was covering a funeral procession, I was about ready to go outside and watch the grass grow. That would have been more exciting
You can't make fans go big. All they know is that another NASCAR race was ruined by too many commercials.
Ultimately, the producer places the breaks in this format. FOX has been doing this for ten years and won an Emmy.
Today, they made fools out of themselves with the commercials. Fools.
While I'm no fan of the incessant commercial breaks and the way they are injected into Nascar races, you all have to realize these networks have to pay the bills somehow due to the money they lined the France family's pockets with. Why not put some of the blame for these commercials directly where it belongs, the money grubbing France family who made demands of the networks with regards to how much money they wanted for their business. Also, have any of you noticed that commercials ruin a lot of programming nowadays? It used to be that an hour program would show nearly 50 minutes of program and 10 of commercials. Now, you're lucky to get 42 minutes of an hour long program and the rest commercials. Take a look at how they show movies on TV now. An uncut movie that might run 100 minutes on a DVD, can take as long as 160 minutes on regular TV, with the difference being commercials.
Another point is, other sports have built in breaks for commercials, while Nascar does not. Unless Nascar starts doing competition cautions to allow for commercial breaks, this will continue.
Now, I'm definitely not defending Fox and their commercial-rich race coverage. And I do know there must be some way to break for commercials without ruining the ebb and flow of races, but commercials are ruining more than just race coverage.
Sadly, over on Speed for the post-race, I thought that Chris Myers and Hammond were going to jump with glee over Jeff's comments about Jimmie. I have news for them - Jeff just played them and the whole media for the next week. That will be all they talk about. Jeff needs media attention. FOX and Speed bit. Jeff gets what he wants.
As for FOX. DW....please don't go away mad....just go away. You jabber about something that is so outlandish that Larry Mac just has to ignore it or politely try to correct it.
I had a great race. After all I could take of DW and them missing the competition yellow. I turned the TV off and enjoyed the outdoors!
As usual an awful broadcast from Fox and the three stooges
Gave up on Fox, listened to the radio. It was the only way to survive as a fan. Great race on MRN! Enthusiasm, great descriptions, great calls.
Anon
I mentioned earlier in ONE of my rants on camera work...if it's not the TRUCK production doing a lousy job, the SUITS OF NASCAR telling them what to show us the fans at home is an OUTRAGE. OUTRAGE I tell ya.
It's a crime how the butcher the race w in car & EXCESS BUMPER cams!!!!!!!!!!!!
I take it eh "SUITS" also canceled TWIN and gave us the lame shows on Monday night...cooking?????? Talent show????
Again I have no problem with the voices or faces on SPEED/FOX.
But the camera work is HORRIBLE. Back to DVR next week since Dega was one of my fave tracks. I usually listened to MRN but what i heard on tv was fine as I musta tuned in at the correct times.
I still ENJOY Mike, DW, and Larry..and all the other crew, Steve Byrnes, Matt Y, etc
No complaints here. Another good day at the races. It is more enjoyable at the race track though, but what the hay, that statement can be made of just about any sport. I don't know what the directors liberties are on commercial placement but I do know without them there is no telecast and that goes for any sport.
Anyone who thinks anything is going to change at NASCAR on Fox is out of their mind. As long as David Hill is steering this ship every broadcast is going to continue to be a catastrophy.
No matter how talented the individuals sitting in the chairs or standing on pit road are, the overall broadcast is handcuffed by the vision of this crazy ring leader. Cartoons, slimeball comedy acts, talent shows, cooking shows, product placement, their company's fantasy games, catch phrases, his sponsors, and goofball acts are all that matter to this guy. He just doesn't care. Even if he "listens" and changes some things for next year he'll just replace today's crap with a different type of crap. This year it was replacing Digger and Friends with Slice of Pizzi. When Fast Track to Fame and the Racing Chef get canceled they'll probably be replaced with trackside quiltmaking contests and "Fred the Racing Fireman".
Good luck expecting a quick resolution when the guy at the top of the food chain is the weak link, he ain't firing himself anytime soon......
Maybe ESPN will bid on the whole NASCAR season now that they got beat out on the NCAA Tourney?
I fully understand that commercials are what pay the bills, and the dollar amounts involved in the current tv contract means there will be more commercials than there were back in the '90s. But this was simply unbelievable. How can they show only 2 or 3 laps of racing sandwiched between 4 or 5 minute long commercial breaks, towards the end of the race when everyone knows all heck can break out at any moment! And to do that several times back to back!
I'll give Joy a pass on the last commercial comment since I assume it would have actually been the last commercial break had the race actually gone green to the end. It might have been nice if he had said it would be the last commercial break as long as the race stays green.
Other than the commercials I didn't have too many issues with the broadcast. Not enough timely follow up or replays on the Keselowski/Ambrose pit incident, and the odd camera angle on the cars coming to the finish that almost didn't get the noses of Harvick and McMurray's cars in the shot as they crossed the line were the main gripes I had with the broadcast. Interviews with Johnny Sauter and Regan Smith after they dropped out would have been nice as well.
If Fox could air the race commercial free, and still be able to make a return on their investment, they'd do it in heartbeat. Somehow, the bills have to be paid.
Thats just the cold, hard reality of the situation. This TV contract was priced while NASCAR was at is peak, in anticipation with even further gains.
However, the exact opposite ended up happening, with dropping popularity, and a recession that has slashed advertising budgets.
And, a broadcast full of ads is what we end up.
anon 6:56...Ted Turner has had nothing to do with the network in years. Just saying...
Alabama football related directly to the livery of the #00. Aaron's (NYSE : AAN) is a sponsor of both the Tide and the Longhorns, and added a side bet; whichever team won would have the #00 car wrapped in National Champions livery for the proper race. The Tide won, so the #00 car received the treatment for Talladega. Texas Motor Speedway also had to fly a Talladega flag.
The "last commercial" reference, as is the tradition in motorsport coverage, refers to the last commercial should the race stay green.
The show was only slotted for 5 PM because of how the network gave time. But Speed and Feld Motorsports had to arrange this; Feld is the group that owns Monster Jam, Supercross, and the IHRA -- all Speed properties.
As for commercials ruining television, someone recently analysed that there was far more time for game play on [i]The Price Is Right[/i] from 1975 (when the show adopted the current format) than currently (2009 format). For example, there were nine breaks (1, later 2 minutes) in the 1979 format (six pricing games, two Showcase Showdowns, Showcase). There are eight breaks (all 2:30 now) in the current format (no break after first pricing game; pricing games #2-6, two Showcase Showdowns, and the Showcase between bid and reveal -- note that the break format was different on the Carl Edwards episode last year). Only 38 minutes of game play on current shows. Since daytime television has 22 minutes of commercials per hour, CBS had to make Let's Make a Deal one hour to ensure the same amount of time was played in games as could in a 25-minute format in 1963.
I don't understand a lot of the complaints by many on here. This is the same thing we've been getting from Fox since 2001. Announcers calling something we don't see on TV, lots of commercials and self-promotions, general chit-chat about nothing in particular, and Larry Mac and DW talking over each other on the last lap of the race.
Aside from the usual nonsense, the race was great.
my observations:
* once again, a weak broadcast was saved by a dramatic set of finishes
* the flow of the last 25 laps was undercut by the commercial overload. whatever drama was building was destroyed by the commercial bundle, 5-7 laps of racing, commercial bundle pattern.
* the use of aerial shots to demonstrate what may have been happening on some of the wrecks was strong.
* fox persistently relies on in-car cams to "show the racing" but it just as consistently fails because racing isn't experienced that way. even at a restrictor track like dega, an aerial shot or wide shot actually shows more b/c it shows how the two cars hook up, follows them for a lap or so and then how/when they disengage.
* "two car tango" has to go the way of "double file shootout style restarts."
* once again, fox sets up a story, gives us some info and then fails to follow through on it. biggest example: telling us mark martin was starting to pull a second line, start to show it happening and then we went to commercial. ditto with the kez/ambrose "wreck" on pit road, the hat on the track and more.
* it felt as if a lot of the action we saw was in replay mode. you know the drill: it's missed when it happens & then we get to see it on replay, over and over, until we miss seeing the next one live.
* i did appreciate the audio of kenseth and his spotter: it wasn't sensational, it was just 2 professionals discussing what one needed and what could be done to provide that. to me, it was refreshing and respectful and i'm glad it was played.
as for the booth:
* mike joy is seriously underutilized. he is one of the best PxPs out there but it feels as if he's literally fighting to get heard
* larry mac has a wealth of crew chief information and is always well-informed on fuel runs and lap times but he gets sucked into the "good old boys chatting syndrome" as the race progresses
* dw. in my opinion, he is the weakest partner in the booth, primarily because his incessant talking overwhelms his broadcast partners. he simply doesn't stop and allow them to participate in a meaningful way throughout the event. in addition, much of his information is just wrong. last week, his definitive statement about 2 vs 4 tires; this week, his declarations about who could make it on fuel. he was just flat out wrong, factually wrong.
as i say, this broadcast was saved by the dramatic finishes but so many stories were left hanging or unexplored, even before the triple GWC finish. as someone pointed out in the race blog, it's like listening to guys just jawing on about the race without any real preparation or thought, "stream of consciousness" broadcasting. and while that technique worked for james joyce when writing "ulysses," it doesn't work for me in a nascar broadcast.
Wow what an exciting race, unfortunately the book of quotes from Alabama got the full workout today and they even went through the appendix, glossary and the second printing... Fox seems so determined to treat every NASCAR fan at home like a they have no brains and teeth.
Here is an example.. Do you remember who call the Superbowl in February? i don't even know what network it was on, but what a great game.
Today was a great race interrupted by a group in the booth and they continued to drum over and over the redneckedness of Talladega Alabama and its race. It is old and tired. Fox is trying to sell the personality of the announcing crew and not the sport..
The pit reporters won't ask anything but softball questions. Dick Bergron must have been on the way the airport to leave is why he wiffed on the jimmy Johnson Questions. He is getting special treatment in the press this year and it shows..
The only saving grace for NASCAR fans at Tallladega is they all run in a big pack and FOX has no choice but to talk about all of them because they are there..
I would like to give a special award to the pace car driver who ran over digger on the pace laps and messed it up for the rest of the race... Otherwise we would have seen it even more...
I watched the first 60 or 80 laps and the last 20 or so laps + GWC's and I thought what I saw was fine. It does seem to me that DW and Larry Mc are in a better position to explain the why and predict what might happen given their experience.
I have found it fascinating that all of the media seems to have completely forgotten about Danica in connection with where Kahne and Harvick are going to be in 2011.
There was a lot of activity all afternoon and the booth seemed focused on other things. I like DW, but he needs to shut up if he isn't going to limit himself to what's happening on the track. Interesting things would be happening on the track and DW would be BS'ing about something irrelevant. The in-car shots for the most part are useless. Once they showed mini-screens of nine cars coming at you. Someone in the truck obviously got a new toy to play with. Just useless.Mike Joy must believe that a lot of viewers never saw a race before as he keeps repeating extreme basics about racing in Nascar. A lot of issues developed that could have been resolved by having the pit reporters follow up with someone on the box and then reporting to the viewers what was going on,but it didn't happen. With a double header, it was a long day for a lot track and TV personnel.
I was fortunate to be out of town and traveling and that forced me to listen to the race on MRN. I had forgotten what real race calling and excitement was all aobut and it is a total shame that the Fox gang cannot do the same thing and might be tempted to listen to the rest of the races until TNT gets the tv package for the summer.
Yeah, that was it for me.
Last year I boycotted ABC/ESPN at the end of the season because it was so bad. Now, I am gonna do the same to FOX, and look forward to TNT/ESPN!
Why?
DW just makes my blood boil. EVERYTHING he says sounds like a plug or a lie. Cars don't get airborne? great tells us once and be done with it. I used to really like DW when he started, now he is just a product shilling, koolaide drinking clown. Mike Joy has always been the best, but he must be in unhappy circumstances because he has been wildly uneven this year. I also noticed that he made it a point to say that the cameras were doing an outstanding job at the end of the broadcast. I have never been a fan of Larry Mac, yes he knows a lot and has some interesting things to say, but I do believe that neatness counts, and his use of language is off the charts bad.
FOX could perhaps regain solid broadcasts, but it would mean getting rid of DW and Larry. Their time is done, bring in some fresh blood.
Until then, it is Speed Report highlights until TNT takes over.
Tom
Inverness, FL
Jeez, Fox really knows how to ruin some of the more exciting races of the year! Yesterday, in the latter portion fo the race, they went away for commercial every 3 laps there for a while.
Thank God I have MRN on my XM radio so we could actually hear about all the racing we were missing while Fox was away! This had me remembering that the Talladega broadcast by Fox in 2004 is what finally drove me to get an XM radio. Things were just as bad that year for Bristol and Talladega - where Fox decided to milk their sponsors for loads and loads of commercials and gip the viewers from watching much of two of the better races on the circuit.
During the one series of pitstops where Keselowski got into someone on pit road and Mike Joy literally screamed about it, my husband said "he's sure not the Mike Joy of old." I said "well being locked up with DW and Larry for 9 years must be taking the toll on him."
The PxP was absolutly horrible. No more excuses for Joy, his job is PxP. DW, analyst from drivers view. LarryMac, analyst from crew chief side. Joy needs to do his job. No more excuses of being talked over - do your job. As far as PxP, in a nutshell, there Was None! Not until about the last five minutes or so, big deal, did someone take an energy drink? Good grief. Joy said once, more first place changes "at the line" then ever in Nascar history. He was wrong, but corrected it. He finally then said more first place changes "on the track", or something to that affect. Over and over he said this. Really? How does he know that? Before computers and tracking exactly where the cars were with transponders on them and electrical wiring embedded into the track they never knew, or counted that information. Why, it isn't relevant. Joy has turned from bad to crap. Oh, and if I may Joy, if all the lead changes occured, you claimed 175ish or more, where where they?? Not on my TV. Once two cars pulled ahead they kinda stayed there for several laps. Remember? And it's only a 200 lap race. Your math does not add up anymore today then it did yesterday. Your flapping has turned as bad as DW's. All junk. As far as DW, it's all been pointed out before. Simply retire the man. He WAS good for the sport, but now he is hurting it.
Total complete booth/truck change needed NOW for Fox!!
Oh, even though not media related this obversation was glaring to us. Both sets of fans, Cup & Nationwide, were at the track yesterday. Still lots and lots of empty seats. This is really becoming telling about where the sport is heading. Personally, I blame the broadcasting. Oh, but wait, that's media afterall :)
The last half of the race was a disaster. Two laps, then commercial, two laps, then commercial. Horrible! I would watch with baited breath, action taking place just at the corner of the screen, then of course FOX would cut away to something irrelevant: Like a car running by itself.David Hill has to go. Somewher. I don't care where, but somewhere where he can't screw up anything. Can you imagine the dinner table at the Hill household? "Daddy, what did you do today?" "Well, kids, I put out a terrible, shoddy product, and everyone in America hates me." Real proud he must be of his work ethic.
The Pizzi segment really showed Southerners in a poor light. Again, why in the hell is that segment on? What does it do for the sport? You can clearly see DW and Hammond were speechless. Even Myers didn't know what to say.
Follow up: Ambrose and BK wreck on pit road, Mike Joy is incredulous about it, and pit reporters, even Yocum, saying "you should see the damage on the 12 car!" It was ten minutes before we seen anything about it. Did I mention that David Hill is an embarrassment to television?
1. Camera action was once again poor.
2. Booth did not see the race that was on TV.
3. Hours of constant commercials and endless promotions.
4. DW was his normal dufus self.
5. Stellar effort by the Daly Planet during the race. Call it like you see it. Thanks
Was I hallucinating during the Cup race or was the lap tracker screwed up. Once,there were two cars running all by themselves and the tracker showed another car between them. I wasn't impressed with the booth during the Nationwide race. Last year and this year,Marty Reid often loses track of who's leading the race.
DW cannot have it both ways, he wants the teams to gamble, well Harvick and more gambled yesterday, then DW says they should have pitted! Not a word about them gambling!!
Fox commercials were bad, but ESPN'S Nationwide Race was ridiculus. 1st commercial lap 5 gone for 2 laps +. Then another one at 12 laps. This trend ran the whole race I guess. I cut it off at 50 laps and read a book.
thxs
slkfis
I really enjoyed all of the commercials.was there a race in there somewhere?
What purpose does pizzi DW Larry Mac and Jeff Hammonds senseless blathering serve?
We gave up 10 laps into the race, muted the tv broadcast as no useful info was being provided and turned on MRN.
Is Fox Sport owned by Hoover, Bissel, or Monica Lewinsky cause they all four have something in common.
it was one of the best races to watch even with all the commercials...this is not nascar in the 80's and thank goodness fox does not broadcast it that way..at least dw has great passion and myers is a host with professionalism and class..the pit reporters give you the info you need..and mike joy sounds like he is doing the same race every week..
@Speedcouch -- you may just have hit on it - "During the one series of pitstops where Keselowski got into someone on pit road and Mike Joy literally screamed about it, my husband said "he's sure not the Mike Joy of old." I said "well being locked up with DW and Larry for 9 years must be taking the toll on him.""
I say we send Mike Joy a roll of duct tape to use at his discretion.
I think Tom may have the best advice until TNT takes over -- listen to the radio or catch it on the highlights.
Richmond is a night race and I usually love the racing at Richmond, but I don't think I can sit through another broadcast from Fox.
My fellow followers of the Daly Planet. Do the following and you will have better race weekends.First off, do not watch "Raceday" or Fox's prerace show. If you are a diehard fan you know all the news of the week anyway. They never have anything to offer. If there are weather threats, sure tune in for 5 seconds and see what the conditions look like. Second, listen to the race via MRN/PRN. Mrn was 7 seconds ahead of the TV yesterday and it was still better than those "cooler than we are" Fox/Speed team. Trust me, you will have a better experience. Fox ain't gonna change anytime soon.
Come on people work it a little. Go to MRN when Fox does commercials and back to Fox when MRN goes to commercial. Get a single remote to do so and you won't complain again.
I finally took the advice from others on here: turned the tv sound to 3 and turned up MRN radio and watched Trackpass. My driver was running up front so following him I got to see a lot of action on my computer. The radio descriptions made the race far more exciting and the only time I looked at the TV was when they said "TROUBLE!" or went to commercial. When I did watch TV it was annoying ole DW trying so hard to prove to the world he knows everything. Sad. Radio spreads around the action, TV focuses on their favorites and as so many have said the camera work sucks. But thanks to the radio and the superb work of those announcers it was the most enjoyable race I've watched in a while.
I listened to the first half of the race on MRN as I drove home. I watched and listened to the second half of the race on Fox. The first half sounded very exciting on the radio and made me want to be at the track. The second half on Fox didn't make me to want to see the race anywhere. I think that is part of why the crowds are down at the races. The TV coverage does not make the viewers want to see a race in person and they are turning off their TVs in droves. As they say in the restaurant business, a great deal of customer satisfaction is based on the presentation.
Maybe NASCAR on FOX should be presented by Cymbalta?
Ben, I understand what your saying. I did that exact same thing last week. Went to radio for the first time and it was good, and it's logged on a post here. I even tried twitter but it does not work for some unknow reason, nothing comes thru. Tried Facebook, I much much prefer MySpace. The Nascar fans there are awsome.
The thing is this though.
We should not have to bail TV for radio in the first place. Or the internet. Or Twitter, just to get good coverage.
The broadcast should simply be good. It once was, and there is no reason in this world it can't be again. The broadcasting people need to get their head out of their sand and change.
But, at the end of the day, broadcasting HAS TO CHANGE. Rating are over a cliff.
If allowed, I'm gonna post some numbers as provided via Jayski.com.
Daytona race tv viewership.
2008. 10.2 market share/17.8 million viewers.
2009. 9.2 market share/16 million viewers.
2010. 7.7 market share/13.3 million viewers.
I'm no mathamation(or speller) but that's over a 25% drop in just two years.
With the economy bad, the tv viewership should Up!
Someone should test Ol' DW for Alzheimers or Dementia, because he doesn't recall what he said only minutes before!
He made a comment that Jeff Gordon 'just can't seem to close the deal to get to the front when he is drafting his way forward and gets stuck in third place, etc.'
It wasn't two minutes later and he is all excited saying ' just look at Jeff Gordon, he really knows how to get to the front of the pack in these races'!!
He either partakes in too much Cerveza or is 'missing' something!
I too cerainly feel the pain from all the comercials. The problem started with the rights fees the networks must pay NASCAR, they have to make all that money somehow and commercials are the only way, the only entity making money from all these commercials is NASCAR
JohnP I hear ya and understand where you are coming from. I guess I'm old school but Barney Hall's voice is racing to me. As much as the numbers 3,43,24,11,and 28 are to racing. And Fox/Speed/Espn and anybody else who covers racing will never match MRN's Hall,Moore, Moody, Bagley, and Striegle's call of that race yesterday. Their knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport are unmatched. And no, I don't work for MRN.
I loved it and think Fox did one hell of a job! Great race, sorry most here dont think so but man I couldnt get enough
Looks like ESPN is picking up and FOX is downfalling. The evolutionary clock has started ticking backwards. If everything is going backwards, I'd might as well buy ice cream from Waste Management trucks and have Mister Softee pick up my garbage.
It sucks that we don't have more than one Wide-Open race. That coverage is the best in all of motorsports: enhanced HD and picture-in-picture commercials only. I'll pass this one this year because I will be going to the Coke Zero 400. If only going to races was easier.
Jonathan, I don't think any of the comments above said the race was the problem.
If anything, that made this very strange telecast even more maddening.
Mike Joy never called the PXP once, meanwhile the MRN guys on the radio were out of control with excitement for hours.
I guess maybe 66 minutes of TV commercials in 167 minutes of racing will mess up any telecast.
Marty Reid produced more excitement on the first lap of yesterday's nationwide race than Mike Joy did for the whole Sprint Cup race.
Mister Daly you called out ESPN time and again for the past few years and they've improved dramatically.
Maybe it's time to call out FOX???
I think FOX is acutely aware of the issues the NASCAR coverage is facing.
It does bode well for the future of the ESPN coverage once we get to July.
I was at this race and if this one was not exciting on TV you might as well not watch another race this year.This was the best DEGA race ever.
That is what Andy Petree said on NASCAR Now.
On Fox we saw various clumps of cars, awkward in-car cameras and DW talking about everything as if he is always right.
I might be sticking with the radio for the next couple of races.
I sat 2 rows back right on the start finish line and listened to MRN and watched the race.This race was a fans dream.Lead change after lead change and then a .011 sec win. If FOX messed this up and I have not seen a replay it is a sad day.Both races were the best to watch so far this year easily but I was there not watching on TV.I did not get a commercial break so I had to use cautions for my breaks.LOL
Time for pay per view with NO commercials and no DW..........Hear us nascar.
Going to leave this post up for Tuesday since we are still getting such good comments.
The update is that there was 66 minutes of commercials run in the 167 minutes of the race. 3 commercial breaks happened after Mike Joy said no more commercials in the race telecast.
Yahoo! Sports and several other media outlets remarked on the commercial frequency affecting the telecast.
Well over one-third of the total race telecast time was dedicated to airing full-screen commercials.
Thanks for the great comments, keep them coming.
JD
JD,
Wonder if you can do some digging on those commercials. There's been 2 rain-outs this year (Martinsville & Texas) that moved races to Monday. Obviously, companies got commercials during those Monday race broadcasts. But I wonder if a number of the commercials we saw on Sunday were in a sense, "make-goods" because of the rained out broadcasts. Maybe some companies were sold packages as such?
It just seemed like there were an abundant amount of commercials compared to a normal broadcast. And I'm having a hard time believing this race was any more of a better seller for the Fox sales staff than any of the others. As I say, it came across to me they were doing "make-goods" more than anything else.
Interesting MikeC! Never thought about that. And I would have killed to have been in my old seat on row 47 in Lincoln Tower for this one. And I've seen some racing. 10-15-2000 anyone?
I can think of three on-track incidents where the pit reporters fell flat on their faces. The first was when Kyle Busch ran into the back of Sauter. The second was the Jimmie Johnson mega-block on Jeff Gordon. The third was the pit road situation with Kesolowski mentioned earlier. Surely someone on the box could have given a statement,but instead we got silence. How does this happen?
Anon of 9:02 and 9:15 (same person?) makes this all that more fustrating. Both claim it was a great race in person. And I bet it was.
To bad Fox can't show it to the fans on Tv.
I wonder how the commercial contracts are written. Does Fox promise a certain number of minutes or a certain number of viewers? If it is based on the number of people who are exposed to the commercials, fewer people watching the races would require more commercials.
JD, that article about the commercial breaks during the race was very funny plus mentioning Mike Joy saying there would be no more commercials then having even more! I wonder how the folks in the booth felt about all of them. Guess we'll never find out.
The breakdown of commercial time
should also include the remarks
made that cover the post-race list
of "promotional considerations".
How many times did DW tell us how
well the Toyotas were doing,
Reutiman/Aaron's, et al? The in-car cameras also provide us with
the decal shots in lieu of showing
racing. Until we turn off the TV
we will be treated as a captive
clientel.
Not only does DW talk way too much, but also the quality of what he has to say just plain stinks. Where has he been all of these years , not knowing what the listener wants to hear. He was obviously one of those people who during his career showed up, drove the car, and went home, never bothering to learn the many nuances of the sport. Take Ray Evernham, dove cars,worked on them, owned them, and now owns a track. I believe that's why when he talks, most of the time what he has to say is very interesting. Just the opposite for DW. I rarely buy what he's selling and am sick of him. Hope FOX moves him to another job.
66 minutes of commercials in 167 minutes of broadcast! OMG no wonder I didn't enjoy the race on TV -- no continuity, plus DW blathering away.
I love the racing at Richmond -- I think I will try the radio and mute the TV completely this weekend.
Dear NASCAR,
Darrell Waltrip has become your Brand. For all of the efforts to attract even your long time fans back to the sport, what the public sees is DW. He makes me cringe with goose pimples every time I hear Boogity. I'm not alone. Your brand makes people embarrassed for you.
For most Americans, especially in this economy, NASCAR races are not something that you attend as a spectator, it's a TV show. Right now It's a carictature of rednecks.
When I was a kid, I would see NASCAR Races on TV and they would have Jackie Stewart and Jim Mckay calling races, and I don't think any portion of the Southern demographic tuned out because it wasn't being presented by people who reflected the fanship's culture. Perhaps even the opposite was true.
What we're getting now is basically insulting to the viewer. What we hear from television is "Hey Yall rednecks, watch this redneck racing. We're just a bunch of good ole boys like yall".
Like my mother always said, "You're accent never matters as long as your grammar is good".
thank goodness you changed that photo...I think it's time to retire DW waving the green flag, okay? :)
Any else click the 'last year' button on Caws & Jaws? It was roughly the same as last year's race...168 minutes/57 commercial minutes. Maybe people griped about it then too...I wonder if because Talladega is so popular that they are able to sell more commercial time?
But also, if I remember correctly, at least one of the networks said they would be fine showing side by side--it's *NASCAR* that will not allow it. Probably because they figure it takes airtime/space from the 'official sponsors' of NASCAR. But I think 50 year fan has a very good point, it's not just the ads, it's the internal ads. Even the 'Coca Cola' family of drivers, for example. I can't really comment much on the commentary--I don't pay much attention until the last 20 laps of a plate race (not a fan) unless there's a wreck and I could follow it better on MRN so I shut the sound off.
the fox guys can be just moronic. so here's how I watched it (to the amusement of the wife). put on the fox HD broadcast with it on MUTE. pulled the truck up to the liv room window, opened the truck window, put on MRN on the sirius satellite radio, and LISTENed to mrn while WATCHing fox. oh, did I mention it was RAINING in new england?
Great Cup race! Lousy Cup TV! No, I did not let TV spoil what was a really exciting race. The rest they can keep. And I did appreciate some post race being moved to SPEED.
I've lost a lot of respect for both Waltrips. They appear to be milking the Sport of as much money as they can.I could say a lot more,but it's probably best that I not.
I think you need to read the Caws-n-Jaws summary again...
It was not 66 minutes of comm'ls INSIDE of 167 of race broadcast, it was 66 mins of comm'ls PLUS 167 of race broadcast = the total minutes of 233 shown.
She shows the time recorded as 1:00 pm to 4:53 pm (233 mins.)
66 mins comm'ls + 167 of race broadcast = 233 minutes.
(Still a lot, mind you, but let's be accurate.)
Anon 11:17 -- now THAT is awesome!
I hate to pile on, but I must echo what others have said about DW - between making sure to promote Aarons/Mikey and telling us 40 laps into the race how Junior (does he know there are other drivers out there?) was practicing how he was going to win the race (how'd that work out DW?). As for the Boogity chant - I always pause the race during the commercials before the start just so I can FF through it!
I also found the timing of some in-car shots a little peculiar, took away from some of the action I wanted to see.
Finally, I know they were short on time, but it would have been nice to hear from some of the other top finishers on FOX.
On a positive note, Mike Joy is the best PxP in the game - always enjoy listening to him.
BTW, Ben is right about MRN being ahead, but I found that strange...seems like MRN is usually a little bit behind, but this time they were already describing the wreck we hadn't seen happen yet on TV. At least it alerted you to look up if you weren't paying attention!
This was one ouch of a broadcast. Several times cameras missed wrecks in development, the replay of Ambrose and Keselowski was late at best and only had one angle, and most importantly the mass of commercials late was disgusting.
Give FOX credit the final restarts and the multiple angles of the JJ wreck, that kind of effort though would have been appreciated for the other 188 laps though.
ESPN blew FOX out of the water yet again.
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