-- January 31, 2003 --
Baseball and NASCAR: Two Great Sports
It’s getting to be that time of year again. In just a couple of weeks, the action will start anew -- a fresh start and a clean slate for all. Everyone will be gunning for last year’s improbable champion, and the chances of a repeat are slim. It’s a wide open field.
Spring Training? Nah. While it’s true that pitchers and catchers begin to report in the first week of February, there’s not really much to get excited about until about mid-March, when teams are firming up their rosters, players are fighting for their jobs, and the pre-season games actually start to get interesting.
No, the sport that’s truly about to begin its 2003 season is NASCAR. The Daytona 500 on February 16 marks the start of a grueling 9-month schedule of speed, noise, flaming wrecks and flaring tempers. And just like the start of a new baseball season, fans can count on seeing some intense rivalries, promising young rookies mixing it up with seasoned veterans, and more than a few surprises.
The similarities between baseball and auto racing can be striking. Strategy plays a tremendous role in both sports. Swing away or bunt? Two tires or four? Outfield in or deep? Track bar tighter or looser? Keep that pitcher in for one more inning? Pit under green or try to hold out for a caution? In the stands, the Jeff Gordon supporter and the Rusty Wallace devotee scream for their guys with as much passion as the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. And after the race they’ll continue their debate over a cold one.
The two sports have their detractors as well. Baseball, say some, is boring. A bunch of guys stand around until the pitcher finally decides to put the ball in play for – if you’re lucky – five seconds or so. Then everybody stands around for a while longer. And who in their right mind would care to watch 43 cars driving around in circles for three hours? Everyone’s just there hoping to see a good crash anyway.
In both cases the counter-argument is the same. The more you learn about the sport the more there is to see within it. “Guys standing around” become fielders shifting their positions for the strengths and weaknesses of each batter, positioning for the double play or guarding the lines against the extra-base hit, the batter altering his stance, trying to outguess the man standing 60 feet in front of him, the tension hanging heavy in the air until the hurler finally lets it go. Similarly, “cars driving around in circles” contain myriad situations to one who knows what to look for: the driver to watch, who’s moved up from 30th place to 12th; the lead car that may be low on gas since its team decided not to pit on the last yellow; the season points-leader, driving conservatively, trying to hold off the young gun with nothing to lose. Crashes do happen, but real fans don’t need them.
Of course, it would be specious to suggest that Baseball and NASCAR offer the fan a wholly similar experience. Quite apart from the pastoral experience of a baseball game, auto racing appeals to something primal deep within us. The raw power of a NASCAR stock car sliding around turn 4 at Bristol or thundering down the long Daytona straightaway at 200 miles per hour, coupled with the smoke, the smells, and the decibel level, may well be the most exciting spectacle in all of sports when reduced to sheer adrenaline-generating power.
Two sports, so similar and so different. Who says you can’t be a fan of both? Play ball – and start your engines.