Comments on The Daly Planet: So, What's Up With Jamie Little?

In the future, when we move to a stand-alone websi...

2008-03-03T21:14:45.417-05:00

In the future, when we move to a stand-alone website, there will be an easy way to address topics in a forum style.

I completely understand how some readers are off-track because a topic for comment is posted where normally a full original column would be.

Because of this issue, I am going to refrain from posting topics for comment other than live events until the forum is open.

Once there is a designated area for open discussion, rather than specific comments on one topic, things will be much smoother.

Thanks to all who expressed their views and did not get off-track.

JD

It doesn't matter if Jamie Little got started broa...

2008-03-03T21:00:11.656-05:00

It doesn't matter if Jamie Little got started broadcasting X-Games or Supercross or World's Strongest Man (just kidding). The point is she doesn't know NASCAR and we know it. On the other hand, Shannon Spake knows NASCAR but is an inexperienced pit reporter. She'll improve with time. Jamie Little represents a fundamental flaw in ESPN's thinking about who should be a NASCAR broadcaster. They've learned their lesson to a point but will likely have to make more changes. It shouldn't be necessary for her or any other reporter to use a cattle prod to get an opinion from a driver but I'm sure the persistance was Neil Goldberg motivated. Her inexperience showed and that's the difference between Jamie Little & Wendy Venturini. Wendy grew up with racing and instinctively knows what questions to ask.

Why should Kyle Busch get a pass on answering a qu...

2008-03-03T20:22:00.203-05:00

Why should Kyle Busch get a pass on answering a question about what caused his tire failure or Goosyear in general? Just because he didn't feel like answering? I say good for Jamie for challenging Busch when he CLEARLY knew something (or thought he knew something) about Goodyear's tires. I sure would like to have known if this was an issue we should have watched for all Saturday and Sunday. We all know that Kyle Busch has an opinion on everything, and Jamie knew it too and was trying to get it out of him, maybe trying to expose more of that personality NASCAR has been searching for. So I say good for her!

Actually, the X-games was just something ESPN had ...

2008-03-03T20:01:10.817-05:00

Actually, the X-games was just something ESPN had her do once she worked there..

She came up through the "Supercross" series, to then be hired by ESPN to cover the X-games and the IRL.

Its not like she hasn't worked hard to make it to where she is today, last season was her rookie season, she's just learning this NASCAR deal. I think her and Shannon will do fine and get better through out their sophomore seasons, comparing them to Wendy V and Krista who have been at this awhile is unfair to both IMO...

First, I didn't like Jamie Little in IRL and I don...

2008-03-03T19:49:00.234-05:00

First, I didn't like Jamie Little in IRL and I don't like her any better in NASCAR. What I didn't know about was her beginnings broadcasting the X-Games. This is a fundamental problem with ESPN's NASCAR broadcasts. They seem to believe that knowledge of NASCAR is irrelevant in order for a NASCAR broadcaster to get over with fans. For years, we have become accustomed to broadcasters like Allen Bestwick who cut their teeth in MRN and know NASCAR. We can tell the difference. We know Jamie Little doesn't have a clue. And as long as ESPN continues to attempt to force someone like her on faithful NASCAR fans, our reaction will not be pleasant. That being said, ESPN is also looking for a "sensational" story and no doubt were in Jamie's ear to use a cattle prod to get a controversial statement from Kyle Busch. He wisely didn't take the bait as it would have cost him a few bucks.

Anon 7:18PM,If you will email me at editor@thedaly...

2008-03-03T19:46:17.029-05:00

Anon 7:18PM,

If you will email me at editor@thedalyplanet.tv I would be happy to address that issue. Open comments is not the place to address issues like this.

If you do not want me to see your personal email address, why not get a gmail or hotmail address?

JD

I think Jamie does a little better with the actual...

2008-03-03T19:45:03.136-05:00

I think Jamie does a little better with the actual pits stops she gives me the information I need although how much of it she actually understands is questionable. This lack of understanding may be why she has some trouble framing her questions properly. I cringed during her Kyle interview but I do agree that perhaps she overheard a conversation with Kyle and his team but did not understand enough to ask the right question so Kyle could answer without getting himself in trouble. I had less of a problem with Tony until the are you OK? That would be a no Jamie he already said he was not. This makes it look like she wasn't even listening to the answer, how can you ask the correct follow up question if you do not listen to the answers. I am not ready to say go away to Jamie I do believe she has potential. I honestly believe she needs to watch as much Nascar as she possible can including old races, Nascar Performance, etc and talk with people like Ray, Andy and Dale to learn Nascar technically and work as closely as she can with AB for everything else.

I'm pretty shocked that people are upset at Jamie ...

2008-03-03T18:22:28.607-05:00

I'm pretty shocked that people are upset at Jamie for the Tony and Kyle questions.
first off, none of us where in her headphones, so not one of us knows if it was a producer asking her to ask, or maybe as I suggested on saturday, could Jamie have maybe heard a conversation between Kyle and a crew mate before the interview started where he stated exactly what he thought happened.
I think she's doing the best she could, interviewing petulant drivers like Tony and Kyle who are notoriously GRUMPY interviews after wrecking out of races.
The "what happened" question to tony, was simple, "WHAT HAPPENED", did he hit something? did the tire just blow???? You know, WHAT HAPPEND tony??
Hows jamie sposed to know? She wasn't driving the car was she???

Mercy....

I think she can be pushy, but for the most part does a purdy good job on the whole....

And I have a question for the person who thought Jamies web site was "just what i thought it would be"; Did you check the site out? or just make a judgment on her front page?

Bet I know the answer...

Anyone who watched the IRL races a few years ago s...

2008-03-03T17:41:36.453-05:00

Anyone who watched the IRL races a few years ago saw the same type of questions asked by Jamie in that series. She got the same reaction from some of the drivers over there that she got from Kyle and Tony this past weekend. So I do not think it's the guy in her ear piece prodding her, it's just her style of asking questions.

It takes skill and good timing, plus a basic knowledge of the sport and the characters in the sport to ask a good interview question. Anybody that knows Tony knows that you don't ask him "what happened?". You can get a good interview with Tony and Kyle if you ask them intelligent questions. I have not seen Jamie ask an intelligent question yet. JMO

Jamie Little and Shannon Spake did the same type o...

2008-03-03T16:57:47.999-05:00

Jamie Little and Shannon Spake did the same type of interviewing last season which is a big part of why I rarely watched any race coverage on ESPN. They ask stupid questions and try instigate crap from the drivers just like a couple of manipulative gossip mongers. I honestly think the only reason they are on the air is to provide some eye candy for the male viewers.

They are a waste of t.v. time as far as I'm concerned and neither of them can hold a candle to Wendy Venturini or Krista Voda.

My own personal troll is out today, so I apologize...

2008-03-03T16:13:28.430-05:00

My own personal troll is out today, so I apologize for the deleted entries.

In life, some participate and some judge. Those who judge are usually scared or unable to participate.

This topic was listed today for comments because of lots of email. It gave readers a place to post.

We have all kinds of views from all kinds of people from all over the US.

If you saw these moments on TV and have a view about it, go ahead and express your opinion.

If you need to judge or create wild stories, you comments will just continue to be deleted. Please feel free to email me anytime with your concerns.

JD

Anonymous @11:49 said:If you can write us a descri...

2008-03-03T16:04:50.560-05:00

Anonymous @11:49 said:
If you can write us a description of the reaction, you can write us a description of what happened, right?Otherwise, it's basing a lot off of hearsay.

I hope this doesn't become a TDP trend. It's poor writing and fact gathering for an opinion report, in my view, especially when JD tells a poster: "This is truly the big time, and when a topic comes up for debate, it comes up for a reason."

If so, the topic should be fully fleshed out in the original entry before putting it up for such a public debate.

I don't care what Jamie Little says. She is so at...

2008-03-03T16:01:01.990-05:00

I don't care what Jamie Little says. She is so attractive, I find myself not really listening to her. I am watching her, though! Seriously, I think she is a great reporter. Crossing the line every once in a while is no big deal as long as it isn't a habit.

I have no way of knowing whether she is being push...

2008-03-03T15:32:12.266-05:00

I have no way of knowing whether she is being pushed by producers when she asks questions, however I would rank her as less than effective with regards to her reporting.

Pit reporting (not that I am an expert on such things) seems to be mostly instinct. Being in the right place at the right time and knowing what is going on without having to think through it. She just doesn't seem to be able to pull this off, or at least it comes across that way on TV. The result of this is that she tries to overcompensate by pushing the drivers.

I don't know if this is really what is going on, but it just seems that way.

I tend to think that Jamie was given a specific di...

2008-03-03T15:06:02.839-05:00

I tend to think that Jamie was given a specific direction to probe from the truck. Even though she is not one of my favorite reporters, but she has not been bad so far this year - until Saturday.

I also think that the Tony ESPN issue is over. Towards the end of last year Jamie had intervied Tony before the beginning of an ESPN CUP race and he was "messing" with her while she was beginning the interview. He has also been cordial in the other interviews done with ESPN so far this year.

I think Tony's response was based on his relations...

2008-03-03T13:58:26.122-05:00

I think Tony's response was based on his relationship with ESPN and not so much the question asked.

Kyle on the other hand, looked like she was trolling for a " I don't know what Goodyear was thinking" type of response.

stricklandfan82: one point of disagreement. yes, i...

2008-03-03T13:43:51.065-05:00

stricklandfan82: one point of disagreement. yes, it is a reporter's job to ask questions and get answers. however -- the way the question is phrased is important. my position is that "what happened?" is not a solid question to toss out there, especially to someone like stewart. it's cheap and quick but doesn't lead the interviewee into an intelligent answer. that's why it gets the "we wrecked, jamie" sort of answer -- and what in heaven's name is the intelligent follow-up to that? there's a way to ask "what happened?" without using that phrase.

i would also contend that, like it or not, the reporter does have to modify how he/she asks the questions. for example (taking busch and stewart out of the argument for now): bobby labonte answers questions differently than, say, denny hamlin. and dale jarrett brings a different take on a wreck than, oh, ryan newman. a good reporter who covers a sport fulltime knows the personalities and understands how a question should be framed to get the best answer.

it's not -- or shouldn't be -- just about sticking the mic in someone's face. language matters.

I have met Jamie and she seemed very nice and resp...

2008-03-03T13:40:14.813-05:00

I have met Jamie and she seemed very nice and respectful. That being said, the one thing that stuck, in my opinion, is that all the ESPN pit crew seemed to end their interviews one question late. By that, I mean, the interview should be over but they have to get in one more question and it seems to perturb many of the people being interviewed. Does anyone else see it like that?

The context for Jamie's questions were the continu...

2008-03-03T13:32:46.249-05:00

The context for Jamie's questions were the continuing tendency of the tires to chunk and/or blow-out. (These were the causes for both the Shrub and Stewart crashes.)

In the Shrub interview, Jamie was trying to get him to talk about his opinion on the tires Goodyear brought to Las Vegas. Shrub clearly didn't want go there. My impression (and maybe I'm reading too much into it) was that they had been talking about this off-camera before the interview.

I think her interview with Shrub was reasonable. She probably could have framed the question better.

Her interview with Tony wasn't handled well. Some guys you can toss an open-ended question and they'll run with it. Tony needs thoughtful, focused questions. Hence the "What happened?" - "I crashed, Jamie" exchange.

I don't think she was rude. I think she was trying to deeper reporting. I respect her for that.

I do think she needs re-think how she formulates her questions. Stick and ball athletes are free to gripe about field conditions. Nascar guys have to be a lot more careful when griping series sponsors.

-RichZ

I will never bash a reporter like Jamie Little for...

2008-03-03T13:25:09.872-05:00

I will never bash a reporter like Jamie Little for asking "What happened?" after a wreck, because that's their job. I will never defend a driver like Tony Stewart that snaps back with some comment like "well we wrecked obviously Jamie". It was Jamie's job to ask Tony what happened so she did nothing wrong there in my opinion. The only issue I had with the Stewart-Little interview was Jamie asking him "are you okay?" right after Tony finished saying he banged his foot but other than that he was alright. It didn't seem like she was listening since she asked a question that Tony had already answered.

The only issue I had with her was the Kyle Busch interview. I didn't have a problem until she responded to Kyle Busch's comment that he had no opinion about the tire situation by saying "yes you do Kyle, what is your opinion?". That was extremely rude in my opinion and completely uncalled for. Kyle was obviously biting his tongue and trying to avoid trashing Goodyear for bringing bad right side tires to the track and Jamie was obviously prodding him and trying to get him to say something controversial.

It is a reporter's job to ask drivers what happened, it is not however a reporter's job to constantly prod someone and try to force out a controversial response that is obviously buried beneath the surface of someone that is trying to use the "no comment" route.

If someone remembers another incident with Jamie Little where something this inappropriate happened let me know, but I don't remember another one that sticks out so hopefully this was an isolated incident and won't happen again. Mike Massaro did the same thing at Richmond last fall so it's not like it's unprecedented.

I hope this was just a mistake and she will learn from him and never be that rude to a driver again. NASCAR fans are very passionate about this sport and when an "outsider" comes in and appears to disrespect this sport or any of the people in it it's going to elicit a very negative response. I just hope she can put this incident past her and maintain a level of mutual respect with the people in this sport that she has to work with every week.

I posted at the time, but would like to add that w...

2008-03-03T13:18:46.154-05:00

I posted at the time, but would like to add that when the 'talent' is being pushed around by the guy in her ear, her own career ambitions or just isn't familiure enough with the drivers and their 'patter' to accept an answer for what it is; they are not getting the job done. I put this on ESPN trying to manufacture the kind of story they want, as they tried to do with races last year. Kyle's answer was a non answer that most fans could read between the lines. Wendy and Krista would know and except that, but the ESPN crew except for AB won't let it be. The pit reporters on FOX and SPEED TNT and NBC got very good at not purposly walking a driver or crew chief into a minefield after a werck or bad call. We have all witnessed pit reporters saying to somone "Ahhh...wait, why don't you watch the repaly" before you put your foot in your mouth. SPEED works hard at this and it is the kind of respect that gets them access and not ESPN, I think Jamie could be fine, if she learned more about racing, and pushed back at the producers. I have to ask myself if, and that's a big if, Wendy or Krista were pushed to do that kind of 'gottcha' stuff, I believe they just wouldn't and take the heat later. That's the beauty of integrety, credabillity is built in.

geez: great observation about tony's reaction to e...

2008-03-03T13:18:14.184-05:00

geez: great observation about tony's reaction to espn questions and non-espn questions. when i think back to this weekend, that difference is clear to me as well. wonder what, if anything, espn can/would want to do to change that dynamic. i certainly believe that a driver is entitled to treat different reporters or outlets differently, based upon his experience with said reporter or outlet. if espn is, in fact, going for the drama and pushing for a hot sound bite, then i would encourage drivers to answer politely but briefly. leave "the good stuff" for the media outlet which treats the driver with more respect.

jd: if ms little was "being pushed" by the truck, then someone needs to step up and explain why it was felt necessary. otherwise, it is reduced to what geez posted: "the habit of creating drama."

I have never thought much of her as a reporter esp...

2008-03-03T13:17:06.963-05:00

I have never thought much of her as a reporter especially how she treated the winner after the IRL Homestead race a few back in regards to the death of Paul Dana

Im clam. Im not mad. I just telling everyone what ...

2008-03-03T13:14:01.267-05:00

Im clam. Im not mad. I just telling everyone what I know about her. I like her style. I've been watching her for years now. I liked the interviews. I am also excited that they are now using her on NASCAR Now as a reporter. She seems really excited when she is on NASCAR Now.

Perhaps in a few years I would like to see Jamie in the Pit Studio to fill in for Allen Bestwick if needed.

Im not angry ay anyone. I was just tell you guys what I know about her and that I like her style of reporting. I think I have dug myself into quite a hole. I didn't means to make anyone mad or or affend anyone.

Brett,Relax, my friend. No one is saying anyone di...

2008-03-03T13:00:35.410-05:00

Brett,

Relax, my friend. No one is saying anyone did anything wrong. There is nothing to defend or get angry about.

Again, what your post is missing is your opinion. There is a transition going on in NASCAR from the old school announcers to the new group, and Jamie is a part of it.

What did you think of her interviews? Victory Lane, Infield Care Center, garage, pits, etc...

If you like her style, just tell us. If someone disagrees, understand they have that right. I thought she handled the end of the race quite well.

That raises the question of if she was being pushed to keep going after Kyle? He certainly was patient.

JD