Millers Mail Bag

[SarahFan]

he seems a bit on edge.....even more than usual

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-robins-indycar-mailbag-for-4-30/miller-robins-indycar-mailbag-for-4-30/P1/

[garyshell]

Seems pretty much his normal fare to me. What did you see that seemed to have him more riled up than normal? Looks like the same old RM we either love or hate.

Gary

P.S. I'm in the former camp.

[SarahFan]

Seems pretty much his normal fare to me. What did you see that seemed to have him more riled up than normal? Looks like the same old RM we either love or hate.

Gary

P.S. I'm in the former camp.


referring to the current car as a toilet seemed a bit more bitter than usual

[Chamoo]

referring to the current car as a toilet seemed a bit more bitter than usual

I think he is being generous.

[Loneranger]

referring to the current car as a toilet seemed a bit more bitter than usual

He's often referred to them as toilets.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Robin has hated these cars for years. Newsflash, this is nothing new, and I have agreed with him all along.....

[underpowered]

I enjoy reading Robins stuff. You just have to remember he is not a journalist.

A real journalist would never call the cars a toilet.

[Mark in Oshawa]

underpowered, this is sports. Slang and bad words are part of the game my friend. Robin is as much as journalist as anyone out there....

[underpowered]

underpowered, this is sports. Slang and bad words are part of the game my friend. Robin is as much as journalist as anyone out there....

I agree about slang and bad words, and I read his mailbag every week. I just dont take him too seriously.

He is very emotive and has a lot of baggage. Thats why I dont regard him a jounalist. He is more like the members of this forum and less like Curt Cavin.

But I guess no-one reads Robin for a balanced account of the facts.

[Chamoo]

I agree about slang and bad words, and I read his mailbag every week. I just dont take him too seriously.

He is very emotive and has a lot of baggage. Thats why I dont regard him a jounalist. He is more like the members of this forum and less like Curt Cavin.

But I guess no-one reads Robin for a balanced account of the facts.

When Robin talks, people listen.

Kudos to Miller (http://aowrtheotherside.blogspot.com/2009/02/kudos-to-robin-miller.html)

[jarrambide]

I agree about slang and bad words, and I read his mailbag every week. I just dont take him too seriously.

He is very emotive and has a lot of baggage. Thats why I dont regard him a jounalist. He is more like the members of this forum and less like Curt Cavin.

But I guess no-one reads Robin for a balanced account of the facts.
Do you read any journalist for a balanced account?, every journalist has baggage, an agenda and is subjective, somo more than others but they are all subjective, that is why I read as many sources as possible and then I try to get to my own conclusions, that is why I don´t watch newscasts, I prefer to read a lot of newspapers online.

[Wilf]

Do you read any journalist for a balanced account?, every journalist has baggage, an agenda and is subjective, somo more than others but they are all subjective, that is why I read as many sources as possible and then I try to get to my own conclusions, that is why I don´t watch newscasts, I prefer to read a lot of newspapers online.

I think it is pretty gracious of Robin to offer Mid-Ohio, Sonoma, and the Glen free access to TG's checkbook so they can improve their tracks. I wonder if he is that gracious with his own money. The last time he was so gracious with someone else's money he was telling CART to invest in some of their teams and we all know how well that went.

[Easy Drifter]

You have to realize there is a difference between reporters or journalists and columnists. Journalists are reporting facts and stories that are supposed to be unbiased, although that is not always the case.
Columnists like Robin Miller or say Gord Kirby, are there to express opinions and not just news. The line gets blurred at times.
Robin's job is to express his opinion not just report dry news or regurgitate hyped up press releases.
Sure he is going to step on some toes and he won't always be correct but he does what a columnist is suppoed to do. Express his opinion and try and see behind the hype.
He has been around for a long time and has many sources that he cannot reveal, or he would be cut off and I expect gets fed a line of BS on occasion but then those sources are never trusted again.

[Jag_Warrior]

I've always thought of sports journalism to be an oxymoron, on the same level as government intelligence.

[edv]

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde..
There is only one thing worse than having Robin Miller, and that is NOT having Robin Miller.

Personally, I enjoy his pontifications, regardless of whether he's reporting or opining. I liked the Wind Tunnel show last night, what with the & 2002 I500 references with Paul Tracy, and the 'hotel keys' barb at Brad Keselowski.
The Politically Correct bunch would not touch those subjects.

[Chamoo]

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde..
There is only one thing worse than having Robin Miller, and that is NOT having Robin Miller.

Personally, I enjoy his pontifications, regardless of whether he's reporting or opining. I liked the Wind Tunnel show last night, what with the & 2002 I500 references with Paul Tracy, and the 'hotel keys' barb at Brad Keselowski.
The Politically Correct bunch would not touch those subjects.

Exactly. RM is one of us, just he managed to land an awesome gig reporting/covering our favorite sport. He is a fan first and foremost, and calls it like he sees it, just like we do on here all the time.

[underpowered]

Exactly. RM is one of us, just he managed to land an awesome gig reporting/covering our favorite sport. He is a fan first and foremost, and calls it like he sees it, just like we do on here all the time.

That was my point, he is more like us here on the Forum and less like a Journalist. Makes for fun reading and he from time to time will say things like the cars are toilets. A journalist would never say those things (even if he believed it).

[EagleEye]

That was my point, he is more like us here on the Forum and less like a Journalist. Makes for fun reading and he from time to time will say things like the cars are toilets. A journalist would never say those things (even if he believed it).

When people in the forums start spending all their time at the track, talking to drivers, owners, sponsors crews, engineers, then your statement would be validated.

A quick look at all journalists and how all news is being portrayed shows you have'nt a clue in what has transpired in the news media over the last twenty or so years.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism


We look forward to seeing at the speedway this month....

[NickFalzone]

I liked this video RM did yesterday on wind tunnel:

http://www.speedtv.com/video/popup/?bcpid=1336737893&bclid=595223643&bctid=22023109001

[Civic]

I wrote this article on Robin Miller in my journalism class:

As a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Robin Miller grew up in the so-called Racing Capital of the World. Indianapolis is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 auto race. Billed the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indy 500 is the worlds largest single-day sporting event. Miller is the motorsports editor for the Indianapolis Star, the newspaper of record for the Indy 500.

Miller was born in Indianapolis in 1949. His interest in motorsports began as a child when his father took him to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Raceway Park, and the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It was during that time that he fell in love with auto racing legends Jim Hurtubise and Parnelli Jones.

During high school, Miller was the sports editor for the school newspaper. After high school, Miller flunked out of Ball State and attended only one semester at IUPUI. Interestingly, Miller did not take any journalism-related classes.

After his short-lived college career, the Indianapolis Star hired Miller.

"I began working at The Star when I was 19 years old. I was hired in February of 1969 and immediately began writing racing stories on my own time because I was hired to work the desk. But eventually, when I began racing myself, I wrote a column on racing 52 weeks a year," said Miller.

Though he is best known as a motorsports writer, Miller has worked in other departments of The Star.

"I've done it all," said Miller. "I was the assistant and executive sports editor, and I did layout, made out schedules and ran the office for 16 years while covering racing. I was a general columnist from 1985 to 1998, covering the Pacers, Colts, colleges, and whatever major sporting events we had."

As a writer for The Star, Miller concentrates on racing.

"For The Star I cover Formula One and some NASCAR, but mostly CART and IRL because we are the paper of record for those two series," said Miller.

In addition to his regular job writing for the Star, Miller is a regular columnist for Champ Car, a magazine that covers the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) racing series. Miller also appears regularly on ESPNs racing news show, RPM2Nite, where he comments on major news stories surrounding CART, the Indy Racing League (IRL), and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Prior to Champ Car and RPM2Nite, Miller did work for Sports Illustrated, Car and Driver, and Autoweek.
Writing about racing requires interviewing racers, and some drivers are harder to interview than others.

"The best interview always is Mario Andretti, followed by Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva, and Eddie Cheever. The worst? Danny Ongais. AJ Foyt intimidated most people but because I worked on Indy 500 pit crews and drove USAC (United States Auto Club) midgets, we always got along pretty well, but weve had our moments!"

Auto racing is a dangerous and exciting sport, and Miller has experienced the good and bad sides of auto racing.

"Racing my midget against Indy 500 veterans from 1975 to 1982, that was the best experience possible. (Gordon) Johncock and (Rick) Mears in 82 at Indy was about as good as it gets, and this years Michigan 500 duel between (Juan) Montoya and (Michael) Andretti was hard to beat.

The worst was the 1973 month of May. Art Pollard, one of my best friends and the man who got me started racing, was killed in practice. Then Swede Savage died in the race, along with a crewman, said Miller."

Despite living in Indianapolis, Miller travels out of state or out of the country to attend races through out the season. The Indy 500 is but only one race in the IRL season, which holds races throughout the United States. CART races in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and Australia, with Europe added to the calendar next year.

"I attended 17 out of 20 CART races in 2000, 6 of 9 IRL races, the Canadian Grand Prix (a Formula One race), and the Daytona 500 (a NASCAR race)," explained Miller.

Having covered racing for the past 32 years, Miller has developed relationships with drivers and team owners. He was closest to the late Tony Bettenhausen, a former Indy 500 competitor and owner of the Bettenhausen Motorsports CART team.

"Friendly is the term, but on a professional level! I was closest to Tony Bettenhausen because we raced together and ran around together for years. I flew to a couple of races a year with him in his private plane. Then he was killed last February in a plane crash (along with his wife Shirley, and two friends/business partners)."

Because he is one of racings well-known writers, Miller receives a lot of correspondence from his readers. The letters and emails are usually in response to an article in The Star or Champ Car, or his regular appearance on ESPN. Miller also answers questions through espn.coms Ask The Expert section.

"I get 200 to 300 emails a week from people all over the world and about 150 questions a week for my web site feature, Ask The Expert. The responses are varied. Some are supportive, some hate me, and some just like to vent!"

Despite not having any formal training, Miller achieved his status through experience in the field. His passion and knowledge of racing has been one of the major ingredients for his success. Though his road to success may have been a bit different from other writers, Miller still has tips for aspiring motorsports journalists.

"Go to as many races as you can. Be willing to work cheap at the start to get experience. The more stories you write, the quicker you can develop a style. Newspapers and magazines are dropping at an alarming rate so try to get some radio and TV courses also."

[underpowered]

A quick look at all journalists and how all news is being portrayed shows you have'nt a clue in what has transpired in the news media over the last twenty or so years.


Maybe it's me....But I would expect a journalist to say "no-one seems to like the cars and nor do I" not "the car is a toilet"

You are unlikely to hear a journalist say "Paul Tracy is a fat has-been *****" . More likely you would hear "Paul Tracy is probably past his prime and his waist line is showing signs of his impending retirement",

I just thought "toilet" was a bizarre extremely emotive (Juvenile even) description for any Journalist in relation to a race car.

That being said...I read everything he writes, so it doesn't bother me that much.

[nigelred5]

Maybe it's me....But I would expect a journalist to say "no-one seems to like the cars and nor do I" not "the car is a toilet"

You are unlikely to hear a journalist say "Paul Tracy is a fat has-been *****" . More likely you would hear "Paul Tracy is probably past his prime and his waist line is showing signs of his impending retirement",

I just thought "toilet" was a bizarre extremely emotive (Juvenile even) description for any Journalist in relation to a race car.

That being said...I read everything he writes, so it doesn't bother me that much.


That WAS likely RM's journalistic way of describing the cars. What he wanted to call them more likely was the actual excrement that is generally deposited in said toilet and a wheeled carriage usually pulled by a horse. :rolleyes: ;)

[edv]

That WAS likely RM's journalistic way of describing the cars. What he wanted to call them more likely was the actual excrement that is generally deposited in said toilet and a wheeled carriage usually pulled by a horse. :rolleyes: ;)

Well, apparently you cannot say that. I wrote that word (made of crap plus the word wagon) in my post above because it was used multiple times in the TV interview, however that word disappeared from my post later. Seems kind of petty and pathetic that a word can be used on TV but not here, expecially considering the liberal use of the word 'toilets', which seems worse to me.
A sticky note detailing what can and cannot be said would have been helpful, or at least replace the word with *****s which would retain the grammatical correctness of the offending phrase. :rolleyes: