Sports Illustrated dissing motorsports

[vintage]

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.

Wow - don't get your I heart Sarah Palin boxers in a bunch!

[harvick#1]

auto racing is not a sport, its a way of life mokin:

stick and ball fans will never ever understand why. when I was at Road Atlanta, I was thinkin to myself, how can anyone not think this is the best thing in the world, the most friendliest atmosphere, within both teams and fans. yeah people tailgate at all sporting events, but there is no bigger tailgate than at racetracks, and they continue that all day, and whats even better is that you can basically walk up to any trailer and just start talking to the most random strangers and its all in a friendly mood unlike with other sports where everyone is kinda displaced with their own area not allowing anyone near outside of friends.

but remember, like ESPN, SI is extremely biased

any driver puts him/herself in harms way once they go into the race car. there are no timeouts, no halftimes, no real breaks for a driver. they have to be at 110% at all times or they will crash. not any other athlete except for cycling and a few others can say that

[harvick#1]

Even in the dentist's office, I'm more likely to pick up a home decorating magazine than a Sports Illustrated.

only unless there is no Motortrend or something else :

[anthonyvop]

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

I never did get the "mountain climbing" part. Isn't that more of a pastime?

[Jag_Warrior]

only unless there is no Motortrend or something else :

Nah, no Motortrend or Road & Track there. Sadly, the options are pretty limited where I go to the dentist now. It's either a 4 year old copy of Business Week, a 2 year old copy of Time, a coloring book... Sports Illustrated or some sort of home decorating mag that the guy's wife gets.

My girl is on me to get with the "granite counter tops and stainless steel appliance" craze (not sure why... it's not like she's going to move in here anytime soon ), plus real estate is my side business. So I enjoy reading about what people are doing with different architectural styles and features these days... especially lighting and home entertainment.

But yeah, I'd prefer an old copy of Motortrend or R&T over a new copy of most anything else... especially Sports Illustrated.

[Jag_Warrior]

I never did get the "mountain climbing" part. Isn't that more of a pastime?

I think what he was getting at was unless there's a distinct possibility that you could die, it's not a "real" sport. And most every year you hear about some dunder-head falling to his death or getting turned into a popsicle while climbing a snow covered mountain.

[SoCalPVguy]

Wow - don't get your I heart Sarah Palin boxers in a bunch!

OT: If "Only" Sarah Palin would bunch my boxers !!! xxxoooxxx

[ICWS]

The other reason I think auto racing struggles to get reporting coverage in media like Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and other channels is the lack of highlight-making: overtaking another car or executing a crucial pit stop doesn't seem as spectacular as hitting a 400-foot home run, throwing a 50-yard hail mary touchdown, scoring a goal via a bicycle kick, hitting a tennis ball through your legs with your back to the net, dunking a basketball over a 7-foot tall opponent, etc. It seems to me, the main highlights are crashes and if the drivers confront and fight each other like Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. Auto racing really is something that people with short-attention spans cannot understand and appreciate.

This may be mean and "politically-incorrect" for me to say, but another way a racer possibly could be considered Sportsman of the Year is if they overcame something like cancer, loss of a spouse/child, poverty, racial/gender issues, etc. and go on to win a championship and significant races within the same year.

[Lee Roy]

One thing that separates motor racing from other sports is that there is a technical aspect to auto racing (the car) that doesn't exist in other types of sports. I know that there is somewhat of a technical aspect to some sports such as bicycle racing, ski racing, and sledding, but the technical impact of the equipment on those sports pale in comparison to the impact of a race car.

Also, most of the stick and ball sports are open for anyone to try. Nearly everyone has the opportunity to try to participate in sports at the school level. For example, basketball and football were open to nearly all of us to attempt to compete in if we just showed up. All it took to compete was the physical ability. That's a little different than having to provide yourself with a several thousand dollar race car if you want to compete.

Just some thoughts.

[Chaparral66]

SoCal, I'm as liberal as anyone, and I've been watching racing since I was 4 years old. There a few other things about me that don't fit the type as well. That's the great thing about this sport, in all its various types, be it F1, NASCAR, rallying, V8 Supercars, etc. It unites like most other sports (with all respect to soccer) can only dream about.

beachbum, there's a lot of truth in what you said, like kids not playing with toy cars like they used to. That fun comes in video games; maybe that's where racing needs to concentrate some of its marketing efforts.