After almost eight months of racing and then talking about it, here we are. ESPN2's re-vamped NASCAR Now TV series is about to preview the first race in The Chase for the Championship for 2008.
This Sunday morning one hour edition has been slowly gaining ground on the big brother Sunday night wrap-up show at 10PM. Nicole Manske and Ryan Burr both host the morning show, which features a ton of ESPN folks with news and comments from the Sprint Cup Series tracks.
This weekend, ESPN fell victim once again to the "ESPN only" syndrome and eliminated all mention of NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series race in Loudon. The simple and childish reason it was pushed off the map is because it was on SPEED. This issue also happened last year at this time.
The Truck race was dumped off the NASCAR Now racing schedule page and was not even promoted by the ESPN announcers who were on the air from the very same track. A sad commentary on the current state of the ESPN and NASCAR relationship.
ESPN replaced the Truck Series race with NHRA information, even though the name of the show is NASCAR Now. So, it should be interesting to see if the Sunday morning show uses footage from the Saturday NCTS race. The race was pretty good, but the fight on pit road after was outstanding. Brought back memories of Jimmy Spencer at Riverside Speedway in Agawam, MA.
Dr. Jerry Punch is a former medical doctor who practiced for a very long time. His silence on the Ron Hornaday steroid issue has been puzzling. Perhaps, the Sunday morning NASCAR Now program is a good place for him to man-up and speak to fans about the testosterone replacement therapy that Hornaday was attempting and why it had nothing to do with performance-enhancement.
Also silent on this issue have been Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Both men know Hornaday and Jarrett is about the same age. Their views on this subject should be interesting to hear. It was NASCAR Now's Lead Reporter Marty Smith who teamed with host Nicole Manske on Friday to deliver a stinging rebuke of ESPN the Magazine reporter Shaun Assael's assertions of Hornaday's steroid use as performance-enhancing.
The in-fighting at ESPN is almost more fun to watch than the COT on a flat track like Loudon. This show should also have the UPS news of David Ragan sponsorship and a look at Joey Logano taking to the Cup Series in the #96 rental car.
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20 comments:
Watching NN to see if they have any mention of the fracas after the truck race tomorrow - 10 minutes in - previewing the chase.
Also - why is ESPN so "wet" (rain analogy) over Logano?
Wow have Tod Bodine on to talk about the chase - lets see if they ask about the truck race.
Bill H
Todd's done, they never mentioned that he drives a truck???????
Never knew Todd had so much experience in the Chase.
Bill H
umm - Todd doesn't - guess you knew that.
Showed truck fracas up front and Bodine commented then-
hello, they showed the fracus off the top of the show and said they would show much more later.
Craven is better on this Sun morning show than Bodine
They showed it? Guess thats what I get for not turning on the show immedietly and missing the first 2 minutes. (insert sarcasm anywhere in that sentence).
Bill H
notice you NO drivers other than K Busch are talking to ESPN? so far
Good point Anon- lets see if anyone other than Shrub talks to them in the next 1/2 hour
Bill H
Seems they're not going to let go on the Smoke/Zippy "conversation" - just like a Jack Russell with a bone....
Poor Ryan Burr in a full business suit and tie in the middle of the rain in the NASCAR pits.
Logano is starting his first Cup race! You don't think he is worth hearing from?
Show almost over and they talked to Shrub and Logano. Wow!
Bill H
They had sound from Addington, Stewart, JJ, Jr, Gordon, Burton. What show are you watching?
Should be interesting to see what Truck highlights they can squeeze in with six minutes left.
So far I am enjoying Todd Bodine on NN. He does give a good driver perspective and was easy to follow, even though he does drive in the truck series only. Todd and Nicole seem to be able to have a normal conversation with no yelling.
I think I have had enough of J Logano. I realize he has been successful in all he has done. But enough please. Let him perform well atleast in a cup race. Last time I checked there are 43 cars in the race.
Glad to see they did discuss the fracas after the truck race. Convenient that with Todd on the show he gets the last word, lol.
Will be watching Hotpass this afternoon. Last espn show of the day to include the abc network. In that I want to watch a race which espn/abc has yet to provide us.
That worked out well, Manske certainly is good at directing traffic. Did miss Ricky Craven though, he and Manske are a very good pair on this show.
JD
Anonymous said...
They had sound from Addington, Stewart, JJ, Jr, Gordon, Burton. What show are you watching?
I would think that was just pool feed, there was no interview.
Bill H
TDP: "Dr. Jerry Punch is a former medical doctor who practiced for a very long time. His silence on the Ron Hornaday steroid issue has been puzzling. Perhaps, the Sunday morning NASCAR Now program is a good place for him to man-up and speak to fans about the testosterone replacement therapy that Hornaday was attempting and why it had nothing to do with performance-enhancement."
Dr. Punch is not a mind reader, so he doesn't have the definitive answers about the supposedly sincere motives of Hornaday and his HGH-shipment-ordering wife. Neither does TDP. Punch can't say why Hornaday was using it for sure and shouldn't be called on to do so. Hornaday said his piece explaining and folks can choose to believe him or not.
On another blog here, "Two Sides of ESPN" another TDP reader mentioned that the expert that NASCAR itself hired for its drug testing program has questions about testosterone use within NASCAR. On scenedaily.com. I think some folks here should read it if they are so interested in an expert view.
The only inference that Punch should be a mind reader on this issue is yours.
A simple explanation of the difference between a substance like testosterone that the body produces and anabolic steroids that are created for performance-enhancement would go a long way to get some credibility back for ESPN.
A quick check on a few articles about testosterone therapy tells me that it can help men improve their energy level and 'cognitive function'.... I personally don't think that's why he was taking it, I believe Ron, but that could be a side effect & there is nothing wrong with ESPN reporters bringing up (originally) the possibility. I do not believe their story was balanced, but even if it was, I would expect them to bring to light that information. I just wouldn't have sensationalized it as they did. But I didn't need to be a doctor to figure that out--and a non-practicing trauma surgeon may know less about it than Assael after the amount of research he did. Finding an expert in the field of prescribed testosterone therapy might have been a better choice.
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