Injuring the Fan in the Name of Diversity

Wait, you couldn't think of a better reason? How about this: When ESPN first began covering NASCAR, i had never watched a race in my life. I am their target audience. When I saw Brad Daugherty's name as an analyst, I recognized him, and I kept watching the show. I'm not saying that ESPN should be targeting non-fans or that he's a good analyst, just that there's a rather obvious explanation for his position besides his skin color.

I don't want to speak for all non-NASCAR fans, but whenever any information about racing comes on, my brain immediately turns off. I know Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson; thats it. When I see them on tv, I immediately change the channel or ignore them. For this reason, I think it was smart (at least at first) to include a sports figure like Mr. Daugherty in ESPN's coverage.

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youre not a fan of affirmative action? as long as there are racist bosses out there who wouldn't hire minorities unless a government program was forcing them to, i think its better than nothing.

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From where I sit, NASCAR coverage feels like forced diversity.

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There are better well-known sports and non-sports figures who are NASCAR fans and know the sport. They could have brought & kept the audience (like you) but they also could have kept the NASCAR fans happy. Retaining fans (and viewers) needs to be just as important as getting a new fan to watch.

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Look Daugherty's less than stellar, yes but
I do believe he is trully "into the sport"
and genuwinly excited about it...

THE WOMAN THEY HAVE IN THE BOOTH IS THE WORST
SHE DOES'NT KNOW DICK ABOUT THE SPORT AND HER
VOICE REALLY REALLY SUCKS!!!!

AND I DONT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WOMEN
I LOVE WENDY & KRISTA FROM SPEED
THEY BOTH KNOW WHAT THERE TALKING ABOUT
AND LOOK REALLY CUTE AT THE SAME TIME...

I GUESS NBC WAS'NT THAT BAD AFTER ALL...

BUT I WOULD TAKE Daugherty OVER Bestwick
ANY DAY Allen IS A SPAZ!

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Brad is freaking terrible. He could at least do a little homework on the sport and know who the all-time greats are. I get tired of Rusty having to correct him every 3 seconds when he says something stupid like "Jeff Gordon is easily the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR!"

Are you freaking kidding me? Until he wins 7 championships or 200 races, not even close. How about the greats of the 70's and 80's? Cale Yarborough, Tim Richmond, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, shall i go on? Those guys raced in the days where there was much more parity between the teams. Now you've got basically one team that is capable of running at the front every week.

Brad D. might be a good commentator for a sport he knows something about, like basketball. But he got the job doing NASCAR for one reason, and it's not his knowledge of the game, he proves that every time he opens his mouth.

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I hate your writing, but I dont assume you got this gig because you're a woman. I assume you slept your way to the position.

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Yo Mad Monkey,,,

Monkey see, Monkey do, Get off this blog site and SCREW YOU! ! !

Alohahaha, Brad

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Well, I am not going to touch on all of the affirmative action comments, but I am going to say that the ESPN/ABC commentators are the most annoying and least talented I have ever heard when it comes to the NASCAR broadcasts. I think that they all need some kind of class on NASCAR or maybe even a class on broadcasting in general.

They can look to SPEED as an example of the RIGHT way to broadcast the sport. I love Wendy Venturini and all of the guys who take part in Trackside and NASCAR RaceDay. They are knowledgeable and at times funny/corny and make the race entertaining.

If ESPN only brought Daughtry on because of an AA policy, well then they should give me a job too. I know way more about NASCAR, plus I am a female and half-asian :P

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Can't pretend to be a NASCAR fan or any motor racing fan for that matter, but Brad does not bother me. I've heard him say in interviews that he grew up a nascar fan, he is a child or the south, and that his childhood hero was Richard Petty.

Maybe he is not a good nascar announcer (I don't know enough about the sport to say) but that does not necessarily means he was an affirmative action hire anymore than charlie weis or george bush are affirmative action hires. Sometimes you get a job based on potential (bush &weis)and thing don't work out. But because a black person is involved does mot make it an affirmative action hire.

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Stephanie... female and half-asian
& know way more about NASCAR...

Honey how old are you? you sound like the
kinda woman who could get me firin' on all 8's

are you taken or what? ps. what are your measurements??

look back to the edwards v/s kensith topic
to find my stats!!!

to all: F.Y.I. this just became the
NASCAR pick-up blog....

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Getting a job based on potential? What potential did he have? His knowledge of the sport is atrocious! You readily admit that you aren't a fan and know nothing about the sport, therefore you probably never watch it. What would you think if Fox hired Paris Hilton to be an announcer for the NFL? Because she had potential? Because seeing her name on the description box could catch new viewers eyes and make them tune in for a bit? And then the real fans had to sit through 4 hours of "that's hot" "that big one is really cute" blah blah blah. Because basically that's what Brad's comments add up to, a bunch of BS that makes no sense and no one cares to hear about.

If it was happening in your sport you would question why he was hired, and more importantly, why he was there. Was it affirmatie action? Well let's look at the stats. They have a bunch of white men who more or less know what they're talking about and then one idiot girl and one idiot african american....who know nothing. They filled their quota's with the first semi-well known (i've never heard of Brad before now) and pretty girl they could find. There are plenty of people out there who could have fit into their desired mold that could have done better but they didn't even try.

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I will agreee Brad is horrible, but a few of the reasons he has the job is that he's from Daytona Beach (they run a race there from time to time) has been around racing since he was a child, and had the means to get a successful team. However, I will agreee that i'm sure they could have found someone better with the same if not better credentials.

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Did Emmitt Smith get hired just b/c he was black as well? I mean, he sucks as a broadcaster, so he must've been hired because he was black. It can't be because ESPN is a poor judge of talent, or thought a celebrity would be good for ratings regardless of color.

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RC, everyone has potential. But to get the job that potintial has to be based on something. In Brad's case, he had experience behind the mic as a broadcaster, grant you a different sport. I believe he also had ownership interest in one of the racing teams ( I could be mistaken) so he is familiar with the nascar experience. Your Paris Hilton anology does not hold up. She has no experience or background to suggest that she has potential to be a sport analyst.

I'm not arguing that Brad is a good analyst, I don't know the sport enough to say one way or the other. What I'm suggesting is that just because someone is hired in the south to fill a position traditionally held by white males, does not automatically make it an affirmative action hire, or an hire motivated by diversity.

Sometimes you hire someone whom you think is the best person for the job, and thing don't work out. Maybe that's what happened with Brad. It's illogical to believe that only southern white males can analyze a nascar race, and that any other hire can only be an act of diversity.

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This is SSSSSSOOOOOOOO dumb! Didn't he own a Busch team years ago? That makes him a FORMER CAR OWNER! DUH! So from where I sit i say let the guy grow into the roles he's not done TV as far as I know and he's doing a job as well as anyone else on ESPN (they suck now) If I have to hear Rusty say the line "THATS FOR SURE" one more time I'm going to kill myself. NOW THERE'S A GUY THATS AWFUL AT HIS JOB!
What NASCAR needs to do is work a damn deal out that DW and Larry Mc, Hammond do all the damn races no matter what network they are on.

And you people this it's bad NOW! You just wait till M. Waltrip gets a full time TV gig, We're all in trouble then!

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That woman Kolber is the one that has NO RIGHT on there at all. You can look at here and tell she's clueless about the sport! If you're going to get a woman JUST to have a woman on the thing PLEASE make her attractive!

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For me, its not so much the color of Brad's skin, but his qualifications and his lack of personality. Im tired of hearing about how bad a "cat" that Kyle Busch is...sorry, just doesn't translate to my demographics.

Suzzy needs to go back to football or whereever she came from. Its obvious that she doesn't know what the hell she is talking about. She's as bad as Brad in the inane rhetoric if not worse.

I prefer the Speed Channel with their reporters. I'd love to have Wendy Venterrini and Crew doing all the races....at the very least, they refrain from asking the obvious questions. Like does it hurt to crash? At times like that, i want to throw a brick at the t.v. in order to shut them up.

Diversity in and by itself is fine and dandy. How about getting some qualified Announcers?

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How's this for an anology then....how would you like it if Todd Hamil started announcing for the NFL? He's an announcer after all. I'm sure he grew up in a state where they play football. Yet I'm also pretty sure that growing up near something doesn't qualify you as an expert (example I live 5 minutes from the ocean but know nothing about fishing).

My Paris Hilton analogy does hold up by the way as she has hosted shows and done other tv work. Emmit Smith was a football player and while some athletes make horrible announcers at least they know what they're talking about. Just because a person owns a team doesn't mean they know anything. They might just have the financial backing that they other owners needed. It says nothing about knowledge.

Did they hire Brad simply because he was black? I don't know. I think that Nascar is working very hard to attract minorities and prove that it's a diverse sport. And to have a whole panel of old white guys as announcers wouldn't help to promote that image. All I'm saying is couldn't they have found someone with the image they desired to fill the spot? Perhaps Bill Lester, who isn't doing much Nextel Cup driving these days could sit up in the booth.

I think at some point ESPN/ABC should listen to what they fans are saying because they're loosing viewers. They know they are too. But they refuse to make any changes to their broadcast and instead spend huge amounts of time trying to spin the data. It's not working.

P.S. I'm not saying that only white southern males know about Nascar, unfortunately the broadcasters that ESPN has chosen do nothing to change this viewpoint.

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Color and gender should have no affect on which commentator they use. Obviously television tries to cater to certain demographics with certain personalities; however, in a perfect world, the best person for the job would get the job. If a 90-year old woman can call the race better than Daughtry or Kolber then put her on. But no one wants to see grandma the commentator and that's not how things work in the world of the media.

The only way that ESPN/ABC will change their announcers is if the fans write in and complain in a CONSTRUCTIVE mature way, and if there is a proven drop in ratings. Even then, its only a possibility.

So where does that leave us? We have 4 options:

1) grit our teeth and bear it
2) listen to MRN or get one of those DirecTV hotpass subscriptions (though there may be the chace you won't like those commentators either)
3) go to the race and watch it in person sans graphics of clean and dirty air and down force
4) hit the mute button

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OCTANE, didn't see your comments on the Edwards/Kennseth blog. But to answer a few of your questions:

How old am I? -- I'm 25
Am I taken? -- It all really depends on your definition of the term.
My measurements? -- Seeing as I know nothing about you, I think I'll keep that piece of information to myself. Feel free to post your email addy and if you prove you aren't some "internet wierdo" maybe I'll clue you in.

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