Nov 5th, 2009 by T.C.
I’m coming to this party a little late, but after what I read earlier today, I have to say something.
On Saturday, during the pre-race show for the Truck Series race on SPEED, the broadcast crew which includes Rick Allen, Phil Parsons, Michael Waltrip, Adam Alexander, Ray Dunlap, and Krista Voda, all dressed up for Halloween. The crew were all dressed as characters from “Batman.” Being as how it was Halloween, I thought it was a neat idea. If you might remember, this crew did the same thing last year before Halloween at the Texas race, choosing to all dress up as characters from the “Wizard of Oz.” Dunlap as Dorothy and Alexander as Glenda the Good Witch were priceless.
Apparently though, not everyone thought it was so fun.
I first came across this little situation while trolling some racing forums today. I then clicked over to the story about the situation at The Daly Planet (Mr. Daly has a picture of the crew, plus there are a ton of comments on his post).
After the race, Matt McLaughlin from Frontstretch.com and Michael Knight from SpinDoctor500blog both chimed in about their dislike of the costumed broadcasters.
First, I’ll give you McLaughlin’s take from his piece on Frontstretch.com:
There have been some badly ill-considered moments in NASCAR broadcasting history. Few of them were as badly conceived, darkly disturbing, or clearly hallucinogenic-ally inspired as the Batman themed pre-race showprior to Saturday’s truck series race. If only that sort of effort, talent and pre-production had been devoted to something useful, SPEEDmight really have been onto something other than ensuring Krista Voda can never show her face in public without shame again. Two words Ms. Voda, “Thigh-master.”
And here are Knight’s thoughts from his blog:
Those who appeared on-air in costume last weekend lost credibility and gave away the honored title of journalist. I now consider them to be actors who dress-up and play a part. They should now be disqualified from membership in any professional journalists’ organization.
After seeing both of those reactions, I was completely blown away. Are these guys serious?
Before I get into the meat of what I have to say, let me first preface this. I read McLaughlin’s columns once in a while, and I have enjoyed some of Mr. Knight’s commentary in the past. I don’t know either man personally, nor do I have anything against them.
Now, it’s one thing to dislike something that happens and write about it, it’s another entirely to go about it as these two have.
There is so much negativity being pushed by the NASCAR media right now, that it’s almost to the point where any commentary is unreadable. But to throw out such nasty, mean spirited comments and to attack someone personally is absolutely unacceptable. Krista Voda is a consummate professional and did nothing to deserve McLaughlin’s rath.
Also, before we start removing “journalist” from anyone’s title, lets remember that this crew is covering NASCAR, not the war in Iraq. If Christiane Amanpour shows up on CNN reporting from a battlefield in Afghanistan wearing a Hannah Montana costume, then I could understand Knight’s problem. Until then, lets try and remember that NASCAR is entertainment, and meant to be fun. If the NASCAR on SPEED crew wants to have a little fun with the pre-race show, have at it!
I also think it’s interesting that in a time when TV ratings are down for NASCAR and that so many are complaining about coverage that these two chose to attack the one broadcast who’s ratings continue to climb. The Truck Series has seen double digit ratings increases for quite a few of their races this season shown on SPEED. So instead of attacking this group, maybe we should be lauding them and using them as an example for the other networks. They are obviously doing something right.
So gentlemen, in the future when you decide to throw your opinions around about how badly you dislike something, I’d suggest using a little more tact. Your methods not only make you look bad, they also hurt your credibility.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but because of this incident you’ve lost any future audience you may have had with me. I won’t waste my time on writers who so obviously can’t stand the sport they write about regularly.
