Top Gear is a British show, where they do various weird things with cars and other Big Boys Toys. One episode I saw, They were to buy a used Porsche and drive it some distance, and then sell it. The one who got the most money won; they couldn't spend more than a thousand pounds, so they started with some pretty burned-out Porsches.
This episode, they were in America, Alabame to be precise, and the challenge was to write things on each others cars that would get each other in trouble. Not being used to the violent nature of Americans, they went at it and.... well, just watch the video. You know how it's going to turn out, but it's still amazing to watch.
One of the gents says, as they're driving away "I firmly believe that many Americans are now breeding with vegetation." I couldn't agree more. Hey, we elected Bush twice, what did you expect?
Sarcasm aside, America, as a society, and Americans as a people, have a long way to go.
Great Architecture, Cont.
1 hour ago
All very amusing, in a tense and skittish sort of way, but to generalize it to all of America is, again, ridiculous. If I drove through certain Parisian neighborhoods with cartoons of Muhammed on my car, I would expect a similar reaction. Except, I think, I might actually be killed.
ReplyDeleteFrom that, should I then generalize that French society and French people have a long way to go? Mankind as a whole has a long way to go. And society is riddled with idiots, and bigots, and all around stupid people. So, let's call idiots and racists and bigots what they are, please, and stop over-generalizing to entire societies, nations, religions or ideologies based on isolated examples.
And for the record-- I found it rather offensive and, surprise, over-generalized that the one British gentleman makes the statement that all NASCAR drivers and fans are from the south. Thirty years ago, that was probably true, and certainly that is still the base for NASCAR, but it is a ridiculous assertion to make these days. I know lots of NASCAR fans, myself amongst them, and while many are prototypical rednecks, many others are, like me, college educated, well-read men and women who enjoy the sport. A car driven show, even a British one, should know better.
I don't think NASCAR can be called a sport. Maybe it could be called competitive sitting-on-my-ass but not a sport.
ReplyDeleteI could quite easily be wrong but most NASCAR drivers are from south of the Mason Dixon aren't they? Petty, Earnhardt, etc?
Well, NASCAR d/n require a ball, but it is competitive and does require skill, strategy, concentration, patience, daring and physical conditioning. Which pretty much sums up the essense of sports to me.
ReplyDelete"Competitive sitting-on-my-ass"? Please. Condescend much, Chuckles? Ever drive for 2-3 hours straight? Ever drive 125 mph or so for about 20 seconds? Try driving 150+ mph for 2-3 hours straight. With a car about a foot in front of you, and another a foot to your right.
NASCAR started in the south, and many of the race teams are still based there, but no, most of the drivers aren't from there. Top 10 finishers last week:
Kenseth: Wisconsin
Gordon: California
Johnson: California
Burton: Virginia
Martin: Arkansas
Bowyer: Kansas
Kyle Busch: Nevada
Stewart: Indiana
Kurth Busch: Nevada
Vickers: North Carolina
Looks like 30% to me. Nor are all of NASCAR's fans southern, redneck, bigots. Though most southern, redneck, bigots probably are NASCAR fans. If you don't like NASCAR, fine, but don't disparage something you clearly know next to nothing about.
This chart shows that NASCAR fans are pretty evenly distributed among the country and among income levels, so it's got a pretty solid base of support of support, I guess.
ReplyDeleteSo what? So does access to abortion, but politicians constantly are making that a political football.
Yeah, driving a race car is difficult. Some do it better than others. So what. It doesn't make it less boring.
And what's with the preoccupation on just one of the slogans? One of the British gentlemen made an assumption based on the how media portrays the sport, and the south. So waht. The other statements were also based on stereotypes and bigotry. All in all, it nearly ended in violence.
Who exactly made the chart to quantify NASCAR people?
ReplyDeleteAnd like cheerleading, it's not a sport. In fact, it makes a case for cheerleading to become a sport given how non sport NASCAR is.
Well, I mentioned the NASCAR thing simply because I thought the British dude's comment on it was terribly uninformed and surpisingly so because the show is car related. Then I felt a need to respond to Chuckles, because his comment was also terribly uninformed. I did not mean for it to become the central thread of these comments. Overall, I suspect the gay cowboy car was the one that really put their lives in danger. Homophobia is the truly virulent and dangerous disease these guys exposed themselves to.
ReplyDeleteCheerleading is a sport. There are a wide variety of high school and college tournaments. It also does not use a ball, but otherwise fits the criteria.
Why is NASCAR not, other than that it does not use a ball? Something which swimming, gymnastics and many other sports also lack.
I made the chart of the NASCAR drivers who finished in the top 10 of last week's race. It is not an indication of fan support across the nation, which I suspect is quite broad, but still almost certainly strongest in the south.
Boredom is in eye of the beholder. I personally find it surprisingly fun to watch. But then, I like to watch golf as well. Perhaps I'm a freak, but at least there are plenty of other freaks for me to hang with.
Anyway, sorry to distract from the main point. Which I also disagree with, though less strongly.
Um....
ReplyDeleteIt's a "reality" TV show. It's all scripted. The producers probably gave "the boys" a case of beer to "attack" the hosts. They sure showed up fast. And why do you think the battery failed at just the right dramatic moment?
Nice use of the Blair Witch school of cinematography however.
Zelmo, of course they showed up fast. They live in the trailer down the road. Badum-chuck! Thankyew, I'll be here all week!
ReplyDeleteActually, Nick, I think the guys from Top Gear know perfectly well what NASCAR is about. My understanding is that European race enthusiasts are pretty disdainful of it, preferring road racing, where you have to use left AND right turns.
As far as the southern thing, that may have been just a faulty perception. Certainly something NONE of us here are subject to.
But really, given the stats I was looking at, the fan base comes from all over the country, pretty uniformly-just a couple of percentage points higher in the South. But given that, your list of drivers DOES seem to be kind of heavy on the southern side. Of course, the sport certainly has its roots there, and maybe its just more of a way of life because of it. My brother is a big Kenseth fan, but he wouldn't beat somebody up becasue of it.
Nice use of the Blair Witch school of cinematography however
ReplyDeleteI'm coming over to your office so we can see how well you do YOUR job while I'm chunking rocks at you.
Anyway, sorry to distract from the main point. Which I also disagree with, though less strongly.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, in the OP I didn't say anything about NASCAR. I'm NASCAR-agnostic.
Kind of liek the recent Sadly, No! thread which started as a condemnation of the violent, genocidal and enthusiasm for war of a man who almost certainly has never experienced any of that, Daffydd ab Hugh, but devolved into a vitriolic discussion of whether fat jokes were fair game.
Why is NASCAR not, other than that it does not use a ball?
ReplyDeleteNASCAR is not a sport because it requires no physical fitness. A flabby out of shape person could do it just as well as an atheletic person.
Cheerleading requires a certain level of physical fitness and is also competitive. Sounds like a sport to me.
Mostly I like to make fun of people who like to watch cars go round and round an oval. I wonder if I could market a new 'sport' called RATSCAR. People could watch rats run round and round a track chasing a piece of meat dangling from a string. Roughly the same as NASCAR, but requiring more effort from the participants.
Gad, chuckles, I hate to defend NASCAR, but things like darts and bowling don't require much in the way of physical fitness either, just some level of coordination.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't know if they're sports, but they both have televised tournaments. Actually, the American Bowling Association is HQ'ed right here in Milwaukee...
And sumo wrestling actually REQUIRES flab.
But I still think NASCAR is dull.
It's not a sport if you can drink a beer while playing it.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can certainly drink a beer while driving in NASCAR. Hah!
ReplyDeleteBut really, that's where I LIKE darts and bowling. You don't get all sweaty and you can enjoy a nice frosty bev. It's so civilized.
They're not sports, they're competitions
See a lot of fat NASCAR drivers then, do you Chuckles? Well, of course you don't, A) Because you don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about and B) because there aren't any. Driving is not the most physically demanding sport in the world, but to say that it requires no physical fitness at all is just ignorant.
ReplyDeleteTo drive normally for three hours is draining. Legs, arms and hands get tired, feet fall asleep, concentration wanders. Now do all that at 150+ mph. Where you also have to worry about your tires, your fuel levels, and what the best line for your car is on the track. Where one lapse of concentration likely means you'll be in an accident. At 150+ mph.
NASCAR requires quite a lot of concentration, large measures of coordination, surprisingly large amounts of strategy and in-race adjustments, and plenty of stamina and conditioning. Maintaining otherwise just clearly illustrates your ignorance and intolerance. As does your ludicrous RATSCAR analogy.
If you're going to make fun of something or someone, you might want to have at least a small inkling of what you're talking about. Otherwise, oddly enough, the only person who looks stupid is you.