Comments on: Drivers Still Hate To Lose

By: NaBUru38

NaBUru38 — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:01:04 +0000

Wow, it had been a long time since the last time I strongly disagreed with one of your articles, George.

A few minutes after Castroneves lost the 2010 Edmonton race, he was smiling at the camera. He wasn’t happy at all, yet he wanted people to look at him and feel ok. After all, sport is just another form of entertainment. Drivers and all sportsmen feel bad when they lose, but that shouldn’t forbid them to feel good that they had a nice race / match of the sprot they love to do.

By: Lindy Tungsten

Lindy Tungsten — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:44:20 +0000

Yes there is nothing contrived in racing.

The NASCAR victory lane celebrations. Victory donuts and burnouts. Danica putting on her “show” after someone has wronged her. Paul Tracy playing a WWE character. Kyle Busch doing the same. The Waltrip’s. Digger The Gopher.

Most of these race drivers are from very, very privaledged families and have more money then they could ever spend anyway. And in NASCAR you can make millions of dollars by just running 26th every week and selling a bunch of souvineer crap.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:09:26 +0000

I’ve been around pro athletes of all sports (especially baseball) a lot, and they are all insanely competitive individuals. You have to be in order to get to that level. I had an uncle who was a pro baseball player and played college basketball, and he HATED to lose. I remember him once even talking trash and then getting upset when he lost a game of lawn darts at a family reunion.

Some just don’t show it the way we would like them to, and others reach the point where they are only concerned about themselves (I do think Johnson is a guy who doesn’t care about winning or losing, so long as he gets his carries).

In some sports where the season is so long you have to keep and even keel or it will eat you alive. So those guys go out to win ever game, but at the same time they don’t live or die with it. A baseball player would have to be committed if they did. “That’s baseball” is a phrase I hear a lot from guys because one, they know even in an MVP year they are going to make 400 outs in a year and two, when you win 100 games you still lose two months worth of them, and most of those losses are out of your control.

I think IndyCar drivers have to have a more laser-like focus than other athletes given their margin of error, but to say they care about winning and losing more than other athletes is a broad stroke. That said, what I do like about IndyCar is that EVERY RACE COUNTS. You don’t have the luxury of having a bad day, in many of the ways you mentioned, especially when it comes to the championship. So of course many of these guys are going to take winning and losing very personally, as they well should.

By: Oilpressure

Oilpressure — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:49:40 +0000

I don’t think you barked like animals to the militaristic cadence of one of your leaders when you played high school football. As for Jeff Fisher…he has NOT lost the team.

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:34:14 +0000

Chris Johnson can’t help that his coach has lost the team and his head can stray because of it. As for the pregame pep talk from the captains and coaches, that has always been a part of the game. The cameras know its coming and get to the players to show it because it makes for great TV. We did it in high school and that was a long time ago. As for IndyCar drivers, I wouldn’t pull for one who didn’t want to win. I still follow Tony Stewart in NASCAR because of that trait and it is something I liked about AJ Foyt. I can only follow those that want to win like that.

By: redd

redd — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:56:53 +0000

I think–in pro sports–that the competition is still pretty intense when and if the game means something. When the game is meaningless, as many of them are, the intensity falters a bit. Also the money is so huge that they sometimes have to consider the cost/benefit factor. Like–do I really want to go up for that pass on a crossing route in December when my team is out of the playoffs anyway. Racers–Indy and Nascar–seem pretty focused most of the time for the reasons you stated. But there are start and parkers in Nascar and there are non-competitive teams in Indycar who just put down laps.

By: Zachary

Zachary — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:42:49 +0000

I think auto racing is still inherently dangerous in a way that football, basketball, etc., isn’t. Now, there are some hardcore competitors in thaose sports. You don’t find Peyton Manning laughing at a blowout; Kevin Garnett has a white-hot focus on winning.

But honestly, endeavors like the NFL have paled for me in recent years. I don’t like the overhyped, overproduced “entertainment” game it’s become, played by athletes who at times seem apathetic. As I said, there’s great competitors in the NFL, but you notice the Chris Johnson and Derek Anderson cases, you know? Thank goodness I have IndyCar.