Sports news programs exist for a reason. Professional sports journalists exist for a reason. ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and CBS Sports all have cable channels. When those channels are not showing live sports, odds are they're talking about sports. On Monday the world saw proof of why you should leave sports to the sports people.
ABC's Good Morning America opened their broadcast Monday morning like any other. The headlines from around the world ready to be discussed. Only there was something new. A NASCAR story. Not just any NASCAR story. A story about a NASCAR fight.
Fights in NASCAR are about as common as a fight in hockey. A fight put NASCAR on the map in 1979. On the final lap of the Daytona 500 that year, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed on the final lap. Richard Petty went on to win the race while Yarborough and Allison threw punches on the back stretch. It's a tale every NASCAR fan has heard. The first live telecast of a NASCAR race happens to show the raw emotions of the drivers up close. However that was 1979.
Saturday night's Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race saw four of NASCAR's top drivers scuffle. Brad Keselowski made some questionable moves on Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Following the race, Kenseth and Hamlin showed their displeasure towards Keselowski by aggressively bear hugging him.
However it was the fourth driver, Tony Stewart, that is receiving most of the heat. In one of the most sickening displays of slanderous journalism, reporter Gio Benitez focused his NASCAR story on Tony Stewart. When Brad Keselowski came speeding down pit road, Keselowski made contact with Stewart's car. Stewart, feeling the move was reckless and unnecessary, backed up and crunched Brad's front bumper. This act is nothing compared to what Brad had done. Keselowski intentionally trying to wreck Hamlin, running into an unbuckling Matt Kenseth, and squealing his tires through the garage area was apparently nothing to Benitez.
Benitez twisted his story, almost blatantly ignoring facts. Stating "Tony Stewart is under NASCAR's microscope in the wake of the death of Kevin Ward Jr." could not be any further from the truth. In fact, NASCAR is in no way involved. The accident was not associated with NASCAR in anyway.
To further discredit the story, Benitez brought in USA Today columnist Christine Brennan. Brennan claims Stewart's actions were 'nonsense' and 'unconscionable'. However, doing a little research on Brennan will tell anyone she is as credible a source for NASCAR as an American is for cricket. Her main stories focus on basketball, football, and the Olympics.
Benitez concluded his story with one last jab, saying Tony Stewart had not responded to his request to comment. The camera then shifted to anchor Robin Roberts who showed disgust. Roberts claimed she 'couldn't believe it'. If Roberts could not believe this happened, she probably hasn't watched much NASCAR to know how common this kind of thing is.
It is truly saddening to see such irresponsible and sensational journalism be approved. Stewart wants to move on. Whenever tragedy happens in racing, you cannot dwell on it. You must move on and learn. It seems the general interest media wants Stewart to either express only sadness or retire from racing all together. Neither of which he should feel inclined to do.
ABC's Good Morning America opened their broadcast Monday morning like any other. The headlines from around the world ready to be discussed. Only there was something new. A NASCAR story. Not just any NASCAR story. A story about a NASCAR fight.
Fights in NASCAR are about as common as a fight in hockey. A fight put NASCAR on the map in 1979. On the final lap of the Daytona 500 that year, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed on the final lap. Richard Petty went on to win the race while Yarborough and Allison threw punches on the back stretch. It's a tale every NASCAR fan has heard. The first live telecast of a NASCAR race happens to show the raw emotions of the drivers up close. However that was 1979.
Saturday night's Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race saw four of NASCAR's top drivers scuffle. Brad Keselowski made some questionable moves on Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. Following the race, Kenseth and Hamlin showed their displeasure towards Keselowski by aggressively bear hugging him.
However it was the fourth driver, Tony Stewart, that is receiving most of the heat. In one of the most sickening displays of slanderous journalism, reporter Gio Benitez focused his NASCAR story on Tony Stewart. When Brad Keselowski came speeding down pit road, Keselowski made contact with Stewart's car. Stewart, feeling the move was reckless and unnecessary, backed up and crunched Brad's front bumper. This act is nothing compared to what Brad had done. Keselowski intentionally trying to wreck Hamlin, running into an unbuckling Matt Kenseth, and squealing his tires through the garage area was apparently nothing to Benitez.
Benitez twisted his story, almost blatantly ignoring facts. Stating "Tony Stewart is under NASCAR's microscope in the wake of the death of Kevin Ward Jr." could not be any further from the truth. In fact, NASCAR is in no way involved. The accident was not associated with NASCAR in anyway.
To further discredit the story, Benitez brought in USA Today columnist Christine Brennan. Brennan claims Stewart's actions were 'nonsense' and 'unconscionable'. However, doing a little research on Brennan will tell anyone she is as credible a source for NASCAR as an American is for cricket. Her main stories focus on basketball, football, and the Olympics.
Benitez concluded his story with one last jab, saying Tony Stewart had not responded to his request to comment. The camera then shifted to anchor Robin Roberts who showed disgust. Roberts claimed she 'couldn't believe it'. If Roberts could not believe this happened, she probably hasn't watched much NASCAR to know how common this kind of thing is.
It is truly saddening to see such irresponsible and sensational journalism be approved. Stewart wants to move on. Whenever tragedy happens in racing, you cannot dwell on it. You must move on and learn. It seems the general interest media wants Stewart to either express only sadness or retire from racing all together. Neither of which he should feel inclined to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment