Sports Illustrated dissing motorsports

[Chaparral66]

Here I go on my annual rant about Sports Illustrated and how is continues to ignore motorsports. SI carries monthly NASCAR coverage in their magazine, but it's almost like they have been dragged kicking and screaming into it. They used to be much better with motorsports when I suscribed to the magazine as a kid. Yes, after the season is over, they publish a special edition devoted to showing what happened during the course of the season, and the people who produce this work very hard on it. That's all well and good, thank you SI.

But my issue (pun intended) is with the weekly mag, and how such influential events like naming "Sportsman of The Year" continues to ignore the history being made in racing, especially this year.

I was all set to advocate for Jimmie Johnson being Sportsman of The Year, and if he won that would have been just. While I agree that Drew Brees helping the New Orleans Saints winning their first Super Bowl is the feel good story of the year, that championship was for the 2009 season (which makes the job for SI a bit more difficult), and it almost looks like the deck was stacked before the 2010 sports season really got started. You might think I'm nitpicking here, but it's something to think about. Jimmie Johnson is certainly deserving of it, and anyone or team that wins 5 titles in a row is worthy of such recognition. Johnson was worthy with 3 in a row, but with 5 consecultive titles, I'm not sure what else he has to do to merit consideration. The New England Patriots a dynasty? C'mon. Pats haven't even won 3 in a row, let alone 5. Which is not even a criticism, just pointing out a fact.

But after thinking about it, there were other historical things happening in motorsports this year besides Jimmie Johnson that one could make an arguement for 2010 being the year of racing. And most of it happened here in the US.

The other driver that merits consideration for SI's Sportsman of The Year is John Force of NHRA Funny Car. What Force did this year was nothing short of a miracle. Coming back from a catastrophic wreck and critical injuries that most thought would hamper functioning as a human being, let alone getting back to racing, looked tough enough. But come back he did, and while he gradually got more competitive, he also worked closely with Ford to significantly improve safety in drag racing cars. This year - at age 61, no less - Force fought an intense close battle to win back the Funny Car championship on the last day of racing. Jimmie Johnson's 5 Sprint Cups is a dynasty, but even he is not in Force's league with 15 titles. I consider John Force's return to glory, given the specific circumstances he was in when he won his 15th title, to be just as much a feel good story as Drew Brees. This is not to belittle what the Super Bowl triumph meant to not only first time winner but first time entrant the New Orleans Saints, or to the town of New Orleans; this was critical to the city of New Orleans feeling good about itself after such a tragedy as Katrina. But this award is still about the competitors, not the fans; and in that light, Brees comes up short to both Jimmie Johnson and John Force.

I'd hate to have to decide between Jimmie Johnson and John Force, that would be a tough call. But as I continued to think about it, and I realized there was one more person in racing worth considering (with all due respect to Sebastian Vettel, youngest F1 champion ever).

Chip Ganassi.

Not even Roger Penske has had the kind of year this Ganassi had in 2010. Think about this: Ganassi's teams won the Daytona 500 with Jamie McMurray, Indy 500 with Dario Franchitti, Brickyard 400 with Jamie McMurray, the Indy Car Championship with Dario Franchitti, and the Grand Am Championship with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, all in the same year. Absolutely unprecedented. No ower of multiple major sports organizations has ever had a year like this in the history of American sports, and likely not anywhere in the world either. This multi layered performance from a single owner is not likely to be repeated by anyone anytime soon. Managing just ONE team to perform at such a level is a huge undertaking; having all teams performing like that is other worldly. A true testement to one man's committment to excellence and the staff's dedication to the owner. With all due respect to Johnson and Force, it just might be Chip Ganassi who really should looked upon as Sportsman of The Year.

Not that Drew Brees was a bad choice for Sportsman of The Year, he wasn't. He deserved as much consideration as anyone. But in my view, Jimmie Johnson, John Force, and Chip Ganassi represented what competing is sports is all about. Sometimes finding the most deserving recipient means looking in in areas where X does not mark the spot.

[ICWS]

You have to ask yourself if Sports Illustrated considers auto racing to be an actual sport. As far as I know, a sport in SI's, ESPN's, and whoever else's eyes is something that requires remarkable skill and may cause physical exertion that most regular people would never come close to meeting in their own lives. That's why guys like Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, etc. are always gonna be in contention for that award, whereas racers may only get as far as being in consideration/nominated and probably will never win the award unless they do something unheard of: like winning the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, Long Beach Grand Pix, and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship all in the same year. Even then, I don't think that would be enough to win the Sportsman of the Year award over those other athletes, regardless of what they accomplished that year.

[Chaparral66]

You make some good points. The ironic thing is the qualifications you mention the other ball & stick athletes have, racers have as well. The other thing is that there is precedent for SI choosing a racer for Sportsman of The Year; last one I remember is Jackie Stewart - yes, THAT Jackie Stewart, of Formula 1, no less - way back in 1973, his last year driving when he retired as Champion, the only time SI has ever made a race driver Sportsman of The Year. Back then as I mentioned, SI was much more even handed about its coverage which included motorsports. Today, SI seems to follow what it thinks is the popular path. What gets me is that NASCAR has certainly surpassed leagues like the NHL in fan numbers, but hockey continues to get cover treatment much more than NASCAR. I remember SI giving cover treatment on the Daytona 500 as recently as 1996; since then, not much at all, and is one of the reasons I let my subscription lapse after some 20 years getting it, and replaced it with Autoweek and Racer.

[beachbum]

IMHO, SI just reflects the opinions of its readers. There are many who think that "sports" are mostly stick and ball sports and sports where the physical capabilities of the athlete are the primary measures of success. The fact that racers are athletes is lost on many people because of the focus on the machine and the technology of the machine.

There was a story some years ago that suggested that people followed sports they could relate to personally. Many kids play baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, track and field, or even football. Even old geezers can play golf (badly in my case). While watching the professional sports, they can fantasize about being out there and participating. In effect, they are reliving their own youth.

They just can't relate to racing as a sport. Its expensive, most kids don't play with cars and motorcycles as they once did, and the focus is often on the machine. Cars have become necessary appliances and the teenage car culture has morphed into the teenage computer culture. Racing now is back to being a "thrill" sport "others" do to entertain and thrill the people watching. The average person just doesn't seem to relate to racing in the same way they relate to other traditional sports.

[nigelred5]

I haven't read more than an article or two of SI for probably 15 years or more. I generally have a choice between popular mechanics or SI (or every woman's magazine on the planet) at the Doc's office, I always read the PM. Even a weekly magazine is old news by the time it's printed.

[SoCalPVguy]

SPorts Illustrated is a sister publication to the ultra liberal left TIME magazine. I quit my SI subscription last year after 45 years due to the constant insertion of non sequiter leftist / anti conservative comments in so called sports articles.

You're not going to see much auto racing coverage in a liberal left publication. Auto racing by definition is a sport that leftists hate because: 1) Uses dirty polluting internal combustion engines,
2. Too noisy for the birds or whatever,
3) Its real competition not managed by a central government authority (whoops well maybe liberals like Nascar--NOT)
4. Its basically a 'capitalistic' sport
5. Race fans still like God, beer and the USA all of which liberals hate.

[Easy Drifter]

Motor racing is too complicated for most of the peahead stick and ball sports reporters.
With Baseball you have minor leauges leading to the majors.
NHL has Jr. hockey and minor league pro with some college.
NBA has College.
NFL or CFL has College.
Motor racing has all these different major leagues.
It is just too confusing for those stick and ball little brains.

[garyshell]

4. Its basically a 'capitalistic' sport

As if all the other sports are not???

5. Race fans still like God, beer and the USA all of which liberals hate.

Really? Who died and made you the official spokesman for what liberals like and don't like?

Take your politics somewhere where someone gives a rat's ass.

Gary

[booger]

"The only real sports are bullfighting, mountain climbing and auto racing. All the rest are merely games."

[Jag_Warrior]

"The only real sports are bullfighting, mountain climbing and auto racing. All the rest are merely games."

That was also the first quote that ran through my mind when I read this thread. Hemmingway was hardcore, wasn't he?

My "fandom" of stick & ball sports began to wain after I got out of college and stopped playing any sort of stick & ball sports. And except for the swimsuit issue, I don't guess I've even picked up a Sport Illustrated in 20+ years. Even in the dentist's office, I'm more likely to pick up a home decorating magazine than a Sports Illustrated.