Folks in Sadlerville is at it again! The long, long fingers of blame are hunting a target – but it appears that the target keeps moving! Everyone has opinions, speculations, complaints, suggestions and downright remorse over the #19 Team’s performance at Bristol this past Sunday. What a heartbreaking turn of events we witnessed – as once again Elliott Sadler went from front-runner to keep-upper, and we now need a scorecard to keep track of the theories regarding what actually happened – and who is at fault!
I’m surprised at the number of fans who see this as a SINGLE problem, with a SINGLE culprit and a SIMPLE solution. ONE bad guy… ONE problem… and the insatiable urge to point that finger firmly in ONE direction and see the issue resolved by next Sunday. In this case, I’m afraid, we need to point a whole fistful of digits (and perhaps some toes, as well) at many contributing factors. As usual, at some point in the various Sadler camps’ blame games – the only targets actually hit are the fans themselves. We actually blame one another for blaming! Ain’t racin’ grand? Ain’t people funny?
I’m not immune, either! We ARE talking about human emotions here! If we didn’t get self-righteously indignant and hot-headedly vocal about our drivers’ (lack of) results – all our posts would look like this:
“The UAW Dodge Dealers’ Dodge Avenger failed to achieve the results desired this week. We shall endeavor to persevere.”
Or……
“I’m SOOOOOOOOO happy that we didn’t come in 28th!!!!!!”
Or……
“Drat.”
Sooooooo….. for the record, I think it’s a little bit the driver’s fault, a little bit the crew chief’s fault, a little bit the Team Owner’s fault, a little bit the pit crew’s fault, a little bit the COT’s fault, a little bit Brian France’s fault, a little bit of Bristol’s fault, a little bit of Goodyears’ fault; and a WHOLE lot of racin’s fault!!!! I’m hoping that this week, we get straighter rims, a track that allows some passing, a driver who’s LONG recovered from the flu, a Crew Chief who understands his driver (and vice versa), an owner who has spent some quality time with his progeny discussing improvement, and an audio feed that doesn’t leave a huge gaggle of opinionated fans without anything to base their speculation on during the crucial parts of the race!
In the meantime, I’m going to practice a little old-fashioned cockeyed optimism and rejoice in the fact that EMS seems to have REALLY great motors (for the #19, anyway) this year, Elliott didn’t drop in the points order, he didn’t seem to be a fish-out-of-water in the COT, he’s had NO DNF’s! And most importantly:
Finishing 27th didn’t make him a BIT uglier!!
(now I’ll get some blame for THAT comment, for sure!)
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT……..(but not really):
When disappointments occur, as they often do in any fan-based endeavor, it’s nice to see an online community rally to the support of those less-fortunate. This past week, I’ve been witness to some of the most INCREDIBLE camaraderie I’ve ever witnessed from a group of message-board/forum members. Yup – the Who-heads strike again.
The Who had to cancel a couple of U.S. gigs last week due to Roger Daltrey’s serious bout with a viral infection and resulting dehydration. The first was in Tampa, where several of our group traveled for a semi-official get-together, only to do an about-face and return home when the show was stopped mere moments into the 1st song. So many people expended time and money making the trip to Tampa – including several younger fans who had never seen the band live, and who had chances to meet Pete & Roger for the first time. (Race fans: Imagine the disappointment if you had traveled across the country to a race, had VIP seats & hot passes, only to have Elliott get sick and the race rain out 2 laps in!)
Instead of moaning, wailing, and gnashing of teeth – WhoTour forum members rallied around their fellow fans and provided the most sincere encouragement and moral support I’ve ever seen! The “tribe” managed (for the most part) to help each other re-group after SXSW and make the trip BACK to Tampa a week later and in return they provided those of us at home with the most incredible concert experience imaginable short of being there in person!
Each “live” attendee used cell phones, cell cameras, blackberries, etc., to stay in constant touch with those of us on the board, posting photos and a running commentary of the 2 final shows on the U.S. Tour, and took the time to call us on the phone during key songs so we could listen “live” to our band make their farewells to the US. They obtained setlists in advance so we could “cyber-synch” our experience with our own recordings of recent live gigs. We even got to share in the exuberance of Michelle getting a hug from Roger – AT LAST!! (high drool-factor!)
I recently learned how hard it is to really ENJOY a show while fiddling with cameras, cellphone, etc. You have to watch the show through a camera lens, you can’t “boogie” around lest you take shaky pics, and you certainly can’t “whoop and holler” or you’ll drown out the sound you’re trying to capture!! In a complete act of unselfishness – Burton Anderson called me on his cell at the beginning of the FINAL ENCORE of Tommy and let me hear the BIG farewell all the way from “Captain Walker” to “Listening to You!” Now THAT’S a case for sainthood, right there! Thank you from the bottom of my heart Burton!!!! That absolutely ROCKED!!
I’m surprised at the number of fans who see this as a SINGLE problem, with a SINGLE culprit and a SIMPLE solution. ONE bad guy… ONE problem… and the insatiable urge to point that finger firmly in ONE direction and see the issue resolved by next Sunday. In this case, I’m afraid, we need to point a whole fistful of digits (and perhaps some toes, as well) at many contributing factors. As usual, at some point in the various Sadler camps’ blame games – the only targets actually hit are the fans themselves. We actually blame one another for blaming! Ain’t racin’ grand? Ain’t people funny?
I’m not immune, either! We ARE talking about human emotions here! If we didn’t get self-righteously indignant and hot-headedly vocal about our drivers’ (lack of) results – all our posts would look like this:
“The UAW Dodge Dealers’ Dodge Avenger failed to achieve the results desired this week. We shall endeavor to persevere.”
Or……
“I’m SOOOOOOOOO happy that we didn’t come in 28th!!!!!!”
Or……
“Drat.”
Sooooooo….. for the record, I think it’s a little bit the driver’s fault, a little bit the crew chief’s fault, a little bit the Team Owner’s fault, a little bit the pit crew’s fault, a little bit the COT’s fault, a little bit Brian France’s fault, a little bit of Bristol’s fault, a little bit of Goodyears’ fault; and a WHOLE lot of racin’s fault!!!! I’m hoping that this week, we get straighter rims, a track that allows some passing, a driver who’s LONG recovered from the flu, a Crew Chief who understands his driver (and vice versa), an owner who has spent some quality time with his progeny discussing improvement, and an audio feed that doesn’t leave a huge gaggle of opinionated fans without anything to base their speculation on during the crucial parts of the race!
In the meantime, I’m going to practice a little old-fashioned cockeyed optimism and rejoice in the fact that EMS seems to have REALLY great motors (for the #19, anyway) this year, Elliott didn’t drop in the points order, he didn’t seem to be a fish-out-of-water in the COT, he’s had NO DNF’s! And most importantly:
Finishing 27th didn’t make him a BIT uglier!!
(now I’ll get some blame for THAT comment, for sure!)
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT……..(but not really):
When disappointments occur, as they often do in any fan-based endeavor, it’s nice to see an online community rally to the support of those less-fortunate. This past week, I’ve been witness to some of the most INCREDIBLE camaraderie I’ve ever witnessed from a group of message-board/forum members. Yup – the Who-heads strike again.
The Who had to cancel a couple of U.S. gigs last week due to Roger Daltrey’s serious bout with a viral infection and resulting dehydration. The first was in Tampa, where several of our group traveled for a semi-official get-together, only to do an about-face and return home when the show was stopped mere moments into the 1st song. So many people expended time and money making the trip to Tampa – including several younger fans who had never seen the band live, and who had chances to meet Pete & Roger for the first time. (Race fans: Imagine the disappointment if you had traveled across the country to a race, had VIP seats & hot passes, only to have Elliott get sick and the race rain out 2 laps in!)
Instead of moaning, wailing, and gnashing of teeth – WhoTour forum members rallied around their fellow fans and provided the most sincere encouragement and moral support I’ve ever seen! The “tribe” managed (for the most part) to help each other re-group after SXSW and make the trip BACK to Tampa a week later and in return they provided those of us at home with the most incredible concert experience imaginable short of being there in person!
Each “live” attendee used cell phones, cell cameras, blackberries, etc., to stay in constant touch with those of us on the board, posting photos and a running commentary of the 2 final shows on the U.S. Tour, and took the time to call us on the phone during key songs so we could listen “live” to our band make their farewells to the US. They obtained setlists in advance so we could “cyber-synch” our experience with our own recordings of recent live gigs. We even got to share in the exuberance of Michelle getting a hug from Roger – AT LAST!! (high drool-factor!)
I recently learned how hard it is to really ENJOY a show while fiddling with cameras, cellphone, etc. You have to watch the show through a camera lens, you can’t “boogie” around lest you take shaky pics, and you certainly can’t “whoop and holler” or you’ll drown out the sound you’re trying to capture!! In a complete act of unselfishness – Burton Anderson called me on his cell at the beginning of the FINAL ENCORE of Tommy and let me hear the BIG farewell all the way from “Captain Walker” to “Listening to You!” Now THAT’S a case for sainthood, right there! Thank you from the bottom of my heart Burton!!!! That absolutely ROCKED!!
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1 comment:
We do have a great blogger community, don't we? I'm glad you got to participate vicariously! Wish you could have been there in person. Great news about Michelle, as well. I'm so happy for her!
Cathy xox
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