Comments on: They Have Got To Be Joking!

By: DZ

DZ — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:29:24 +0000

Not sure about the sources of those questions, but your article reminded me of a few things.

1. Indycar fans, in my experience, have been a bit insular much like hockey fans. Perhaps it’s the requisite and lengthy history one must learn to become at all knowledgeable in the sport, but similar nonetheless. I’ve brought numerous uninitiated to the Indy 500 and been patient as we discuss why the race is important, etc. All talk is meaningless until their first flyover, Back Hom Again, and green flag.

2. Indycar (like hockey) is far better experienced in person. The action can’t be replicated well enough on TV yet to give you the feeling of being there whereas football and basketball and baseball are fairly true to sitting in the stands.

Let’s be patient with newcomers to the sport and do our very best to describe it by saying, “you just have to see it in person to understand.”

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:31:55 +0000

Yeah; we oughta have a Chase – Penske versus Ganassi …
Well, we will see our Car of Tomorrow around May.

By: gnome

gnome — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:16:46 +0000

George, the blue lines are like the “line of scrimmage” in football… In football, you can’t be across that line before the ball is snapped or you’re Offsides. In hockey, the offense can’t be accros the blue line before the puck goes across it or they’re Offsides.

Having a right winger skating across-ice ten feet over the blue line before the offensive play starts is like having a tight end starting the play by standing a couple yards past the linebackers – it’d be unfair to the defense.

Hope that helps…at least not all hockey fans are jerks. Well, if anything, we might be jerks but we don’t want to high-bank Indy !

By: Christopher Leone

Christopher Leone — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:54:04 +0000

Ah, this made me feel better about my day. Going back to hockey – today I watched my beloved Boston Bruins defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 7-0 in a matinee.

When I got home to see the highlights on SportsCenter, the rundown on the left side of the screen said “Panthers – Bruins.” Yes, as in the football team.

Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. Great idiocy deserves to be called out. And unless the banking question was indeed from a 10-year-old, that was great idiocy, and it deserved to be called out.

(As for me, I’m wondering why we don’t have our own Chase. It’s working so well for NASCAR.)

By: jameso

jameso — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:32:13 +0000

You’re right–I confused it with Cocoa Krispies.

By: jhall14

jhall14 — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:42:00 +0000

George, You just became the producer on Tv that decided to show the fan,bolting onto the field in full glory,dashing down the hash marks. You gave them some credit when they had none coming. I still love your blogs,everybody is entitled a mulligan.

By: Oilpressure

Oilpressure — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:32:03 +0000

Ron:

That’s why I brought up the hockey analogy…to point out why we SHOULDN’T sneer at people asking these questions. – GP

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:22:53 +0000

George didn’t sneer at one’s lack of knowledge. We don’t know if questioner “Charles” is a a new IndyCar fan, a longtime IndyCar fan, a newspaper coworker pulling Mr. Cavin’s chain…
George is the one who mentioned the haughtiness and disdain of the hockey-moms and dads.

May I posit that there’s a difference between asking questions to others in bleachers about penalties and scoring and asking a ‘dumb’ question in a public way so that we suspect that the asker is joking.

“Will IMS ever bank the north and south end so we the fans can watch side-by-side racing all the way around on the last 10 to 20 laps? I hope so…”
‘Gee, why didn’t anyone before “Charles” think of that?’ was my reaction…

By: Ron Ford

Ron Ford — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:11:51 +0000

George, on the one hand you criticize hockey fans for “sneering at your lack of knowledge of their sport”. Aren’t you doing the same thing about IndyCar fans who may be new to the sport? Have you never asked a question about a subject new to you that turned out to be a stupid question? Have you been eating grumpy flakes for breakfast?

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:22:27 +0000

General Mills makes Cocoa Puffs.

Kelloggs would be a dream sponsor, though. Talk about activation.
Plus, from 1993 to 2002, millions upon millions of Corn Flakes flags were sold at NASCAR races. People who didn’t even like Terry Labonte or Corn Flakes bought them, an unexplained phenomenon that became known as Labonte’s Law.