MID-WEEK MAILBAG: Next ISU national championship, football No. 58, and a wedding gift suggestion

[Fitzy]

I am not liable for any computer screens that are destroyed by dogs when they look up and see the main image that @JStanz51 picked out for this week's mailbag.


https://cyclonefanatic.com/2019/05/...football-no-58-and-a-wedding-gift-suggestion/

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

A few of things that would help NASCAR
1. Keep it on one channel, you never know what channel it is on.
2. Have real start times on the TV. Why do they have a pre race show for 30 minutes then switch to the race where they have pre race babble for 10 minutes and other times for 1 hour and 10 minutes. And no one thinks your stupid little promos are cute, funny or clever.
3. The Waltrips. At least one of those problems is solved at the end of FOX's coverage. But please Michael Waltrip isn't funny.

 

[Sigmapolis]

NASCAR was losing popularity long before Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. hung it up. The years after Dale Sr.'s death were some of the best in the sport's history, too.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/daytona-500-ratings-viewership-history/



The decline started in 2006.

 

[Fitzy]

NASCAR was losing popularity long before Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. hung it up. The years after Dale Sr.'s death were some of the best in the sport's history, too.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/daytona-500-ratings-viewership-history/

View attachment 64526

The decline started in 2006.

Good stats, thanks for sharing. You almost wonder if Dale Sr.'s death catapulted ratings a bit just because everyone was rooting hard for Junior to do well for those first few years afterward. That steep decline from 2013-2014 is interesting - would that have been fueled by any significant event?

 

[Sigmapolis]

Good stats, thanks for sharing. You almost wonder if Dale Sr.'s death catapulted ratings a bit just because everyone was rooting hard for Junior to do well for those first few years afterward. That steep decline from 2013-2014 is interesting - would that have been fueled by any significant event?

The above data is for the Daytona 500 only -- this are obviously going to vary race-to-race or year-to-year, but I think the long-term trend should be clear.

The 2014 running had a 6 hour and 22 minute rain delay...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Daytona_500#Rain_delay

...which obviously killed its ratings with the race really starting around 9:00 PM.

The general trend was the sport was strong through the late 2000s (and the recession), suffered (like many things) during that downturn and... never recovered.

The timing of losing Jeff Gordon and Dale, Jr. cannot explain it, however. You could say those two retiring keeps it down, but they were still out there when the slide started.

 

[NWICY]

@Fitzy do you actually have a good pie crust recipe and is it fairly easy? I've always used cheater crusts.

 

[jbindm]

For grilled chicken you can't go wrong with a basic mojo marinade - fresh citrus juice, a dash of olive oil, minced garlic and minced onion, fresh oregano, cumin, salt and pepper is a solid base. You can customize with stuff like cayenne, chili powder, honey, etc depending on how your tastes run.

Mix all that stuff up, throw the chicken in, and let it sit overnight before grilling.

 

[NenoFone]

My two cents worth,
1) a ridiculous and incomprehensible point system, followed by a "chase" that is trying to go head-to-head with the NFL. The chase might have worked short term, but was never going to win over the NFL.
2) Stage racing. A sport with too many yellow flags and non-racing action on purposely adds more down time to add to the confusion of point 1). If you want heat races host some dirt track races.
3) Way too many commercials. Anybody watch the Grand Prix of Monaco Sunday morning? not one commercial.
4) Spec cars. (wait are those Mustangs out there?)

 

[Sigmapolis]

My two cents worth,
1) a ridiculous and incomprehensible point system, followed by a "chase" that is trying to go head-to-head with the NFL. The chase might have worked short term, but was never going to win over the NFL.
2) Stage racing. A sport with too many yellow flags and non-racing action on purposely adds more down time to add to the confusion of point 1). If you want heat races host some dirt track races.
3) Way too many commercials. Anybody watch the Grand Prix of Monaco Sunday morning? not one commercial.
4) Spec cars. (wait are those Mustangs out there?)

I will add to this -- replacing hallowed, interesting tracks with boring, soulless ones.

They gradually took races away from places like Darlington, North Wilkesboro, and Rockingham and gave them to a series of dull, repetitive, 1.25 to 1.5 mile triovals like Kansas, Chicago, Kentucky, Las Vegas, and Texas. The racing on those smaller, thinner tracks was always more interesting than on those longer, wider tracks, and both the live product and the television product declined by reducing the quality of the racing. NASCAR's roots are in short-tracks.

 

[Cycsk]

I think NASCAR hurt itself by masking the racing venues with sponsor names for the events. I would be more interested if they led with the name or location of the track.

Upcoming races are indistinguishable from each other when I see them in the Sports on TV list:

FireKeepers Casino 400

Toyota / Save Mart 350

Camping World 400

Spoiler: Locations

Michigan, Sonoma, Chicago

 

[Fitzy]

@Fitzy do you actually have a good pie crust recipe and is it fairly easy? I've always used cheater crusts.

Let's see if this works...

 

[Land Shark]

I am not liable for any computer screens that are destroyed by dogs when they look up and see the main image that @JStanz51 picked out for this week's mailbag.


https://cyclonefanatic.com/2019/05/...football-no-58-and-a-wedding-gift-suggestion/

Good stuff as always! Just for clarity- Ron Renko was the women's track and cross country coach when the program won those XC national championships. Sadly, Ron and his assistant were killed in the tragic1985 plane crash coming home from NCAA's and a national runner up that year. That crash essentially ended competitive women's XC at ISU until Ihmels revived the program. Coach Bergan did take over the women's program on an interim basis but **** Lee took over a few years later.

 

[Fitzy]

Good stuff as always! Just for clarity- Ron Renko was the women's track and cross country coach when the program won those XC national championships. Sadly, Ron and his assistant were killed in the tragic1985 plane crash coming home from NCAA's and a national runner up that year. That crash essentially ended competitive women's XC at ISU until Ihmels revived the program. Coach Bergan did take over the women's program on an interim basis but **** Lee took over a few years later.

Got it! Wikipedia has failed me for the first time ever... Sad!

 

[jcyclonee]

My two cents worth,
1) a ridiculous and incomprehensible point system, followed by a "chase" that is trying to go head-to-head with the NFL. The chase might have worked short term, but was never going to win over the NFL.
2) Stage racing. A sport with too many yellow flags and non-racing action on purposely adds more down time to add to the confusion of point 1). If you want heat races host some dirt track races.
3) Way too many commercials. Anybody watch the Grand Prix of Monaco Sunday morning? not one commercial.
4) Spec cars. (wait are those Mustangs out there?)

Sorry. I missed the Grand Prix of Monaco.

 

[jcyclonee]

I'll consider any mailbag that ends with an Up gif to be a winner. It makes me both smile and cry.

 

[cyclonpediaJoe]

Let's see if this works...

Homemade pie crusts either come out awesome or a little burnt. Got to tin those edges!

 

[VeloClone]

@Fitzy do you actually have a good pie crust recipe and is it fairly easy? I've always used cheater crusts.

I don't make pie (Mrs. Velo has an unholy dislike for pie), but my mom made killer crust and her secret started with always using lard in her pie crust.

Apparently she was able to get Lard to behave better than Prohm was.