Joseph R. "Joe" Mannix worked the Los Angeles beat as a private detective in the 1970's. TV viewers loved the fact that he was just a regular guy. He was of Armenian heritage and fought in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was hard to impress, tough as nails and loved to mix it up with the bad guys.
This week, the big news was a dust-up in the garage area after the Saturday truck series race. On Sunday, the track was going to be slippery and the weather was going to be very hot. Tempers had the potential to boil.
Before the race, Chris Myers hosted a rather rowdy pre-race show featuring Jeff Hammond and Darrell Waltrip. When Waltrip gets fired-up he stays fired-up. Myers directed some traffic and Hammond made some good points. But Waltrip was the show.
FOX also offered the feature on Jamie McMurray visiting Joplin, MO that had been seen on ESPN2's NASCAR Now and SPEED's Race Hub. Great heartfelt story.
Waltrip got "Revved Up" about those who have passion for the sport. Richard Childress was his example although he actually included Kyle Busch in the same rant. His point was that real feelings and emotions still had a place in a sport now dominated by polite drivers with marketing agendas.
Kyle Busch appeared with Matt Yocum and repeated the content from an earlier interview with Wendy Venturini on SPEED. Polite answers to all the questions about the incident, confirming he did not participate and was the victim. In both interviews, Busch made a point to remove his sunglasses so TV viewers could see he did not have a black eye as reported earlier.
The FOX coverage of a track like Kansas starts strong and then hits a groove that many know all too well. The cars are strung out, there is little real racing and rarely is a caution flag caused by an accident. In this event there were several cautions for debris like water bottles and trash on the track.
The race quickly settled down into what was destined to become a gas mileage race. Larry McReynolds was great in keeping viewers up to speed on strategies. Waltrip was not in that loop and just observed.
FOX followed the usual script of hyper-tight coverage with two or three cars on the screen. Replays were again used for every item being discussed, including passes under green that were missed due to poor coverage. FOX has lived on replays this season.
The pit reporters worked well but were not used down the stretch very well. Final fuel stops were called, but the best team of pit reporters on TV was not allowed to offer strategy updates or opinions. It was a tough way to close out the season.
FOX ran one split-screen late, sped up the ticker a bit and tried to use multiple video boxes at critical times to show multiple races. The weather stayed good, the suspense at the end was over fuel and the finish was a bit anti-climactic.
This post is used to allow you to offer your opinion on the FOX production of this race. To add your comments, 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 stop by The Daly Planet.
53 comments:
Just got home from work a bit ago. WTH with the in-car at the finish line before everyone had even crossed it? FOX, you never fail to disappoint. *sigh*
Can Larry Mac not say Nascar Nationwide Series?
FOX,
Goodbye and good riddence!
That's a good tagline, terri.
NASCAR on FOX: We Never Fail To Disappoint!
Anon, I cannot get an answer why Nationwide has recently become NNS for FOX. There is no sponsorship issue as the NNS is on ESPN, so it makes little sense.
They might be holding out for more money from Nationwide before they will mention their name. They are a pay to play network.
last race of 2011 for Fox, thank goodness. they held true to their doctrine of how they were going to produce the race, no matter that it is stupid beyond all measure.
Final race and we see ONE car cross the start finish line. Why did I waste 4 hrs of my life on this?
Bye Fox, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
If Larry learns to say Nationwide Series, we'll really challenge him by trying to get him to correctly pronounce the word "Keselowski". Krista in Victory Lane asked a couple of really fawning and lame questions. Bottom line-lousy booth coverage, totally crappy camera coverage and a sad gas mileage finnish. Simple question- would you pay $1,500 to sit in 100* heat for three days to watch the race(?) you just witnessed? So for the next week we'll get to hear about Golden Horseshoes,Junior's resurrection and Rambo Childress! Lord help us!
DW says they have a great product. If that's true, it's a shame that Fox never shows it to us.
As boring as it was watching the cars tiptoe around the track saving gas at home, can you imagine how maddening it would be to be sitting in the heat after spending hundreds of dollars to watch the race and having to watch the leading cars drift around the corners.
I am sure glad to be rid of Fox this year but we only have a brief break before we are exposed to ESPN and their foolishness.
I will miss Mike Joy and Dick Bergerren (sp), but other than that, good riddance FOX.
It's hard to believe how much this group has changed. I was on the verge of tears when FOX departed after Sonoma in 2001. In 2011 I had no interest in watching their final broadcast.
"It's all about winning, not finishing second and a good points day"
Larry Mac just explained exactly why Fox covers the finish of the race as they do. Just showing the winner crossing the finish line and thats it. Screw everyone else.
Fuel mileage saved that race. Didnt save the broadcast though. That was a poor effort today. Thank God thats over. TNT here we come!
The side-by-side commercial we saw today was the perfect model to show why they are needed. In the middle of a fuel strategy with guys needing to pit, we would have missed the story of the race had we had a full-screen commercial break. Kudos to FOX for that one, let's see more next year.
During the late race pit stops, I was reminded of when NBC indicated on their scoring ticker which drivers had pitted. That would have been nice today.
On to TNT and, to quote a Team Red Bull Spotter off Twitter, "The 24 Hours of Pocono."
One thing that is maddening to me is the tape delay post race interviews. Why they think we all want to listen to Chris Myers in the Hotel instead of live driver interviews is beyond me. I understand drivers scramble to get back to their transporters or motorhomes, but show me live interviews.
Spent the whole race trolling twitter instead of watching. I feel more informed than I do when I watch the broadcast
Despite my previous statements otherwise, I decided to watch the race on Fox instead of going with radio. I did this mainly to enjoy the live commentary here on The Daly Planet. It is really the only thing that made today's race watchable.
There were two positive areas of note. Early on, there seemed to be a lot more wide camera angles showing much more of the field. However, these disappeared pretty darn quickly (the Dale Gribble in me thinks it was a call from NASCAR to stop showing all of the empty seats).
In addition, there was a point in the middle of the race where, of all things, the Hollywood Hotel did a sort of through-the-field that was very well done by both Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond. I was literally stunned as both did their jobs in that little run to perfection with no buffoonery. After that, there was also a good run of pit reporting, a facet of the Fox telecast that has been tragically underused all season long.
Those lone highlights aside, as I said during the live blogging, I really don't think I will bother watching any NASCAR on Fox next year unless major changes are made in both the announcing crew and the manner in which races are presented. The telecasts have gotten worse every year and I am tired of not getting a proper perspective of the racing.
It's really a shame. Despite my complaints about the on-track product (left out here as we focus on media), there are still great story lines and, apparently, good racing (even during races that come down to fuel mileage). Fox just fails to show them and I feel that I have lost touch with NASCAR because I go half the season now without ever seeing a fuller picture of what happened.
As Mr. Daly has coined it, the hyper-tight coverage needs to end. I would also add that the DW-centric telecasts have to stop too as he is embarrassing himself (as well as many fans) with needless and contradictory statements.
I could go on even longer but I am too sad and angry to add anymore right now.
Was Mike Joy almost crying there at the end? I decided to go shopping & listened to the race on the radio (as usual). Got home with 25 laps to go & got to see the fuel mileage end. btw, RaceBuddy is going to have TEN screens! Heard it on the radio!!
All of your posts I could not agree more with.
Fox just does not want to make changes to satisfy a vast majority of the fans. We fans expect to see most of the cars finish, not just the leader.
We epect to see racing throughout the field, not just the leader or the cars in contention.
If you want to use in car cams once in a while thats OK, but not every 3-5 laps. The Tight shots are unneccessary, especially at a superspeedway.
The only breath of fresh air in the booth are Mike Joy and Larry Mac. DW needs to be put out to pasture. He is a clown and his boogity's are getting old. DW needs to retire from the booth so that his name does not get dragged through the mud any further.
I feel bad for Mike Joy, Larry Mac and Dick Berrgren, they have had to put up with this lousy excuse for race coverage all year.
Fox all i have to say to you is this. If you dont care about us why should we.
So long Fox hope you do some soul searching in the off season.
And please fire your production crew.
PammH@4:46
I agree with you about Mike Joy. In the same shot, I thought DW's eyes and body language indicated that he was misting up as well.
Fox's closing "Good Bye for the season" seemed to rely much more heavily on prerecorded material than I remember from previous years. Maybe Fox has learned they can't rely on the booth crew to do it ad lib or even read a script live.
As for my reaction to Fox's departure, I can only repeat GinaV24's comment. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Today for the first hour of the race I had company so while I had the tv on, had no sound and was unable to follow on the computer. Had absolutely no idea what was happening from just watching the pictures.
Then following the race @Nascaronfox tweeted "You guys are the best fans! What was your favorite part of today's race?"
Hmmmmmmmmm!!
It's the last race on Fox!
No more Chris Meyers!
No more DW!
No more bad camera shots!
No more not being able to follow who is doing what on the track!
No more yelling at the tv telling the camera guy to show the race, widen the shot, show the field, etc., etc., etc.!
No more thinking I'm losing interest in Nascar!
No more saying, I've been to races and know there is more going on - why can't we see it????
Ad nauseum!
Ad nauseum!
Ad nauseum!
Thanks for the sounding board, JD - I was ready to blow up Twitter with snarky comments.
Fire Dr. Dick, bring DW down from about a 12 to about a 7, reassert Larry Mac as the crew chief in the booth. That fixes about 95% of the coverage for me, I could give a flip less about wide angles and whether they show three cars cross the line or 38.
open letter to fox -- and i'll even capitalize!
Dear FOX,
I understand that broadcasting a race, which has no natural time-outs, has to be challenging. I accept that there's a ton of information about varying strategies that make it difficult to keep information flowing and coherent in a live broadcast setting.
I also realize that it's not just two teams competing, it's 43 different teams and pretty much every team has fans who want to see their driver get some air time. Add in the sponsor obligations and network requirements and it has to be a tough job.
But here's the thing: you signed up for this. You're professionals. You're supposed to be able to handle all this -- and more. Yet week after week, the same glaringly poor decisions are apparent and ruin what gets shown. There's no need to outline each of them as various posters have provided that feedback for literally years by now.
If one accepts my base premise -- that you're professionals at what you do -- then one is left with a sadly inescapable conclusion:
you have an agenda for the race broadcast that is not in sync with what fans want.
And it doesn't matter to you at all that fans turn off your production thinking the racing itself was boring, the track has nothing to offer a race fan and the drivers are all points racing.
While that may be the case from time to time, I hold you responsible for creating that impression and turning fans away from our sport. I maintain that, because of your arrogance, ratings and track attendance have suffered. You've been saved this season by some pretty spectacular finishes and so have dodged the bullet that would reveal just how bad it has become on your watch.
But I didn't watch one single race all the way through this season because I now have alternatives that respect my intelligence as a fan and provide me with solid information.
As professionals, I would hope you'd be at least a bit embarrassed by your lack of respect for nascar and fans. But I suspect that is an unfounded belief on my part.
So I won't be around when you return. I have too much love for our sport and my fellow fans to participate in your arrogance.
Thank goodness for Hot Pass and
and a baseball game. Still had to
listen to some of DW and Larry "uh in Keselowski" Mac. I will be clear
of DW for awhile since he and Kenny
Wallace will cause me to tune out
the pre race.
Time to go out buy a bottle of
Childress Vineyards finest and
celebrate my new hero.
Fox really tried to make the final lap dramatic by even counting down the seconds making it sound like Jr was closing up behind and was going to catch him. We all thought Kez was going to win anyway. I wish they advised us of all the drivers who came into the pits near the end. Like you JD, I noticed that scroll kept on bouncing around then they slid it back and forth very annoying. I was getting frustrated trying to keep up with my favs. I only watched a tad of Raceday and did ya'll see the invitation given to DW. Gee! Also one more thing, happy birthday to my son today!
Never follow Fox on Twitter. They are screwing up baseball games with BLEEPING split screens & interviews on FILM OVER PITCHES. WOW.
Will once again delete today's race on Fox due to this quote
Anonymous said...
Today for the first hour of the race I had company so while I had the tv on, had no sound and was unable to follow on the computer. Had absolutely no idea what was happening from just watching the pictures.
Then following the race @Nascaronfox tweeted "You guys are the best fans! What was your favorite part of today's race?"
Hmmmmmmmmm!!
It's the last race on Fox!
No more Chris Meyers!
No more DW!
No more bad camera shots!
No more not being able to follow who is doing what on the track!
No more yelling at the tv telling the camera guy to show the race, widen the shot, show the field, etc., etc., etc.!
No more thinking I'm losing interest in Nascar!
No more saying, I've been to races and know there is more going on - why can't we see it????
Ad nauseum!
Ad nauseum!
Ad nauseum!
Thanks for the sounding board, JD - I was ready to blow up Twitter with snarky comments.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, i was visiting family from out of town & my sister no longer owns a tv cause it's full of CRAP tv shows & HORRIBLE news. she gets it off the net & she's 65! Just got an iphone so she can do face to face of grandkid & grandkid to be from son & wife who've tried for 12 years.
Maybe IF the camera coverate on TNT is good, I shall try NASCAR again, otherwise, I'll see highlights online & WTunnel.
Can't even watch SPEED Report anymore due to Adam Alexanders screaming. DREAD his being part of TNT. Miss Ralph Sheehan!!!
Soph
@jerry, what's wrong with Dick Bergerren. He's probably the only quality pit reporter on FOX.
I think part of the problem is the way the NASCAR broadcast contracts are set up. Fox has twelve or thirteen races altogether, then TNT has a hand full and ESPN has the rest till the end. I liked it better when the broadcast moved around, one week on ESPN, the CBS, TNT and so on. We never had a chance to get tired of a certain broadcast team. I think it provided a better mix. Just my opinion
@bill, I don't care for his style, seems like more sucking up than interviewing. Like some do not care for DW in the booth, the doc has never really done it for me as a on screen personality.
Odd thing is, he is one of the few FOX pit reporters that doesn't have a conflict of interest that I'am aware of.
@red:
Your open letter was thoughtful and intelligent. And really summed up the situation.
Oh,I wish FOX would read it..and act on it.
(Im just happy I don't have to mute for the rest of the year to get away from DW.}
Makiki
Honolulu
If your a member of Dustin Long's fan council, your going to want to take this weeks survey. Lots of questions about FOX.
could the NNS thing be because Allstate or Geico are big advertisers on Fox? In other words, loyalty to sponsors that may spend more money on their own network, as opposed to one that paid NASCAR for the privilege?
Allison, happy to have your opinion on today's race coverage. Not happy to have you try and judge the comments of others. Try again.
I don't think Bergerren should be fired, but he has been off all season. He used to be the Dr. Jerry Punch of FOX, getting the most out of the drivers. His most memorable report this season was Harvick's interview at Darlington, and he was played like a fool.
Roland, thanks for the reminder about Dustin's survey. Another place to add my 2 cents regarding Fox's coverage.
I would like to add my virtual signature to the open letter that red posted above. That post perfectly captures how I feel. I cannot add a single thing to it.
Agree with you Buschseries61. What a difference 10 yrs makes. They were really great when they started their coverage. You could tell that they knew what they were talking about and that they cared. Now they just listen to the producer/director and hype hype hype.
RaceView saved the day today when I had a thunderstorm and lost directv.
Hey, JD, thanks for the blog. I've been enjoying it and your efforts for a couple of years now.
KS Speedway is about an hour away from me, but today's heat/humidity are brutal! Would've loved to be there, but knew better! The Anthem was horrendously bad! Also brutal was the Fox telecast of this race. About 60 laps in, I went to take a nap & woke up to hear BK won.
Won't be sorry to see the end of FOX for the year. Just wish it was the end of DW in the booth. He has some great stories, but is useless at calling the races. I respect the man, but it's time to move him to a position more suited to his talents.
LB in MO
So basically, what I've gotten from reading some of the comments and blogs posts from the last few weeks the perfect race coverage would be the blimp shot of a wide of the whole track so that you can see everybody on the track... give me a break guys... I thought the coverage was fine today, how wide can you get when the cars are as spread out as they are. You guys continue to say that fox dosn't cover the rest of the field. What about the time in todays broadcast when Myers and Hammond ran through the field giving updates on the lead lap leaders and some of the other cars that went a lap down.
Nascar is the hardest sport to cover for television. Name one other sport where you have every team in the sport playing all at the same time playing in an arena that is miles long, with multiple stories and passes happening all at the same time.
Please tell me why people would get upset over when a caution comes out during a commercial. It is not like football, and basketball where you have a red hat telling the officials when they are in commercial and when they can start playing again, there are no timeouts in nascar like other sports and the producers can't tell the car about to hit the wall to not hit the wall because they are in commercial break, the producers can't tell the tire that is about to blow to not blow up...etc...
I do have to say that the fox production is not the best it can be, but I really think you guys are not giving fox enough credit. I wish that they would show more than just the winner at the end of the race. There are always room for improvement for every production in every sport. From my background in production I have never had a perfect production, and we are always chasing the perfect production that we will never achieve. There is always a graphic that could of gone up better, a shot that could of been better framed, etc...
Too bad DW is going to be at the Prelude :(
Every restart tight shots on the leaders and just when you think they might show the 3 and 4 wide we go o a digger cam.
No need wasting text to say what you guys already know.
Just a comment about Dr. Dick Bergerren. I think he's a great guy who is an excellent pit reporter. Does he suck up to the drivers? Absolutely. All the pit reporters do it. Dick just does iit more obviously. It seems that you can't interview a driver whose engine blew or who got taken out in a wreck without stating what a fabulous competitor he/she has been. All the Network pit reporters are well known to the drivers. From a credibility standpoint, you'd think that they could walk up to a driver and tell them that their baby is ugly. Guesss not.
The (new) Official Fox Sports Motto:
We Overestimate our Creativity and Value
We Underestimate the intelligence of our audience
Ain't We Great? Pay Raises All Around!
Good post Ms. Gina. I can agree with everything. With the Raceday being jumbled up I guess that will free up the time I spent watching it while KP was on. Kenny said it best to KP when he said "they want you because you are good". Bet he didn't think that Raceday doesn't need anyone "good" with Waldrip coming over. Haaa.
I wanta buy a new TV. My problem is will it last the next 3 years without me throwin a beer bottle at it for the garbage that FOX televises, i.e 15 miles into the race we're forced fed a commercial.
(Note: I do enjoy those super super slow mo's they insert just before those commercials.)
BTW, will FOX go another round (albiet at a reduced cost)with NASCAR ???
"Nascar is the hardest sport to cover for television. Name one other sport where you have every team in the sport playing all at the same time playing in an arena that is miles long, with multiple stories and passes happening all at the same time." anon 12:16
NASCAR is not a sport, it's a sanctioning body. *Racing* is a sport. SPEED manages to cover a race with all the things you mention, plus two classes and multiple driver changes (Grand-Am Rolex). They do a good job covering the field, using all kinds of TV angles and with pit interviews and intelligent commentary on what we're watching. Likewise, even within Sprint Cup racing, TNT manages to do a far better job than Fox or ESPN. No one wants 'nothing but blimp shots'...we want ALL camera angles that are useful to be shown, not constant in car cams and bumper cams that show no perspective of the cars on the track. There are moments those things are useful, but it's not for 3 hours straight. I don't get upset if a caution comes out during a commercial (at times they've been quite good at coming back when it happens.) There are plenty of disagreements here about coverage; we don't all think the same thing. I can't get more specific about this race because I was so sick of DW 'knowing' what the drivers are thinking I turned on the radio and muted the sound.
@Ziggy, hard to say if FOX will continue in 2015 or what the entire situation is. I'd like to think NBC and Versus will get involved, but Turner Sports will still probably want some part, so who really knows? I think the NFL contracts one year earlier will also play a role in what happens.
JD, have you heard anything about this? Obviously the contracts are years away still, but any rumblings at this point?
I usually only listen to the radio as I don't have access to TV during the weekends. But this weekend and last weekend I was home and able to take in the broadcast live. I do usually DVR them but never really bring myself to watch them once i already know who won.
I do find DW very difficult to take just because he seems to want to be the voice of authority for NASCAR. When DW was a driver (until his last few years) he was always respected on the track, but when his mouth was running very few people ever would take anything he said seriously. So I find him becoming the "Voice" of NASCAR difficult to take, I find Rusty over on ESPN similarly frustrating to take as someone with a valued opinion. Great Driver on track, but painful to listen to when he got out of his car, difficult to listen when he won, even worse when he didn't. I've heard mention here and there and lately that DW may be nearing retirement and similar to his retirement from driving i can only hope it comes sooner rather than later, to me he's already overstayed his welcome in the broadcast booth. DW blames the cars/team on his lack of success at the end of career and not that his talent had fallen off, I'm not sure who/what he'll blame for his lack of success in broadcasting (or if he'll even admit to his role in the decline of ratings) but hopefully they'll rebound once he's gone.
Mike Joy was solid as always and Larry Mac has really grown on me. When he first started I got quite frustrated with Larry not getting through a sentence without mentioning Earnhardt or Davey Allison. Larry Mac (like Jeff Hammond) had stayed long enough as a crew chief to have slid from upper echelon to also ran, and going to the broadcast booth both seemed to want to portray themselves as having turned down opportunities as a crew chief to do TV when neither of them likely had any choice, it was broadcasting or retirement.
I'm not sure if the deal has gone away but Jeff Hammond is also quite tolerable now versus when Fox first started because he used to regularly suck up to Roush (where he was still employed in some role when away from the track).
I was doing other things while the race was on, so only really looked up when it called for it, so FOXs approach of showing most things in reply worked just fine for me.
I do look forward to TNT coming in as the coverage that probably appeals most to old-timers with NASCAR like myself. Back in the ESPN/TNN/TBS days i always looked forward to TBS races and for whatever reason TNT coming has the same appeal. And I'll miss Phil's voice as a reminder of missing Benny, but won't miss Phil's content.
Back to FOX
I think the biggest thing fox should fix is DW. Maybe they should make DW listen to the MRN/PRN coverage in his ear so he'd know how to cover a race (or at least what is actually going on). They make every race interesting. When the race is on FOX i have to follow the ticker to figure out what interesting story is happening for myself.
I didn't find the broadcast awful, and i'm glad i got one in live but it's likely next year my only live FOX broadcast will be Daytona like most of the last 10 years. For listening to Sirius hours a day and following NASCAR 364 days a year, the broadcast just don't have any draw over the radio. I guess that's about as bad an indictment as there can be for the lack of appeal of broadcast coverage of racing. I didn't dislike, but just can't be bothered to watch it, if anything i got a far lesser product than radio.
I am happy to see the end of the FOX coverage! We thought if we responded to the side bye side commercial it might show someone was watching, it was amazing the response was everywhere. The reward we got, instead of listening and RESPONDING the FOX team led by the FACE OF NASCAR, chose to offer ONE SXS per broadcast, like a left over crumb!
As I have stated many times here, they should be ashamed of their efforts. They are both deaf and blind! IF they broadcasted the NFL like they broadcast NASCAR, and I never heard them call John Madden the face of the NFL, they would be asked to leave!
On Memorial weekend we watched three diferent races in one day, which one was the worst covered, NASCAR on FOX. It takes a lot of gaul to claim they are that good, and OL DW, is that good.
DR DICK, he is the most respected short track guy since Cris Eckonomacki, you may not like his style, but on his days off you will find him at a short track somewhere usually in the Northeast, and IMHO you will never run into OL DW there! The dr is a racer through and through, not a fake has been!
It's sheer laziness on LarryMac's part that he doesn't pronounce Brad Keselowski's name correctly. I'm really sick and tired of his mangled English. He's old enough to correct some of his more glaring errors. I don't expect perfect grammar, but a close approximation would be a refreshing change.
I've been tuned out during most of Fox's telecasts. Hope ESPN does better. It won't be hard to do so.
Can I say that I am thrilled with DW and Fox being gone? Yes, I am.
Race was great Sunday. Was happy to see that Kez won!
Count me in as one to also say thank goodness fox is done. Just put me down as a ditto to all JD has said about why.
What perplexes me is how fox cannot see how bad their "product" is? Do they not do some kind of survey or test viewers or heck, just watch the race on a standard HD tv? I can understand their overload of all their commercialization as just plain greed and nascar not caring since bf already has his money. But their race coverage is just bad. dw is just bad. The ticker is just bad. The camera work is just bad. How can they be blind to this? Do they not ever watch what they put on tv? Or is this just a simple case of "let them eat cake"? MC
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