Espn... Wth?? (1 Viewer)

[Dave]

This may belong in the 4 wide thread i don't know... Wow really ESPN, who directs your show? I thought maybe just MAYBE with this 4 wide stuff and shorter sessions they could change up the format and maybe show all 4 qualifying sessions. WRONG! How about instead of running looped footage of a few friday night runs to "build the excitement" you just show the damn session in it's entirety. You can't tell me you couldn't edit a 2 hour show so each session was a 30 min segment. The 4 bike passes are done in less than 5 mins.. Oh wait we had to see Hagan and Deihl blow up 14 times! 14!! A 25 minute block of coverage to just ONE run is a waste. Let's promote how awesome 4 wide racing is.. not 2 cars blowing up together. Who picked the camera angles? Seriously? Two center wall mounted cameras facing the starting line and down track are great! FOR REPLAYS! The cars are out of the frame for about 2-3 seconds... and when the run only lasts from 4-7 seconds per class.. well that's almost half the pass gone. Inexcusable. I guess i'm too old school (started watching in 1992 and haven't missed a race since) for this type of b.s. I sure as hell hope the elimination shows don't use that camera angle during the live run coverage. What a waste. Don't even bother with NHRA Raceday.. it'll be 20 mins of reruns of the funny car explosions and 10 mins of explaining how the race procedures work. I thought NHRA Raceday would be the place to have the segment on the bobsled team and the safety safari report. Hell they cut away from the bobsled introductions to show a trivial pro stock motorcycle run then cut back to the guy already in the drivers seat of Jeg's car. That couldn't have been planned any better? Wow. Sorry for the rant but this show just proves status quo for the worldwide leader in entertainment.. ESPN.

 

[Tim5636sc]

 

[james]

it would of been nice to see the 3 tf cars try to get in on q4 , but i guess there was no time to show that

 

[wilbur]

Dave I agree we you on most of the points you made. Personally I think the title of the network says it all( espn2). 2ND RATE, 2ND RATE PRODUCERS-2ND RATE DIRECTORS-2ND RATE BRAINTRUST. uNTIL THEY BRING IN FRESH MINDS, WITH FRESH IDEAS, NO CHANGE. I think the high points of the telecast were the 4 at a time burn-outs, and the sounds of the strip segment. And I think race-day really BLOWS. It,s almost cartoonish, and very BORING. Gotta tell virgil about mike dunn picking rhonda as his upset pick.

 

[big guy]

I love it Tim.Well just concider the sorce.

 

[d'kid]

I love it Tim.Well just concider the sorce.

Concur, Happy Face to Tweety Bird to Resident Evil (love Milla Jovovich's acting)

as far as the broadcast, in an hour and a half of usable airtime , all four rounds of qualifying could have been show, and still left some fluff time.

still think they are doing it wrong, should only be 4 winners from round 1 and 1 quad for round two for 1/2/3/4th.... show done by 2 pm great for LIVE TV.

Please note the below is sarcasm....
Want to make it really feel like your at the track, 1 camera, in the stands, ten rows up, at about 300 feet, no other cameras... Don't forget the drunk working on his 2nd 12 pack by noon. That would give it the "Live, I'm really there" feel.

d'kid

 

[mach9]

Yeah, 4 wide racing is GRRRRREAT! You get to watch four little teeny sticks go down a race track. They're so small you can't tell if one shook, or what the (*^& happened. All you know is, it just didn't go. There is no way to show 4 cars at one time with any effectiveness. And there is no way to watch 4 cars go down the track in person, and have any idea what happened with all 4. ESPN's coverage absolutely does suck. But, to their defense, you've got to have something cover first.

 

[PJ]

I don't like the tv coverage being so far away but to cover 4 cars there really isn't much they can do coverage wise.

2 cars blowing up at once sadly is the type of "excitement" that they want from this. What has a better chance of showing up on non drag racing coverage. The final round or the two funnyc ars tossing the bodies?????

As an exhibition it was very cool to be there the more I see of it for a real race the more I think circus act.

If it were only going to be once a year I could live with it but now that they want vegas to go that way we are looking at possibly 4 races. Instead make it a special all star race or something. Next there gonna have them race in opposite directions then they can sell seats for the starting line at both ends on of the track

Mark this day down. I'm think NHRA was right to not sell to Smith. I'm not sure the drivers could find fire proof clown suits

 

[d'kid]

Have watched more racing on ESPN2 the last two days than I did all last season.

I've stopped counting Matt and J D launching bodies, Cory blowing a tire, Robert sideswiping Jeff... and I really don't feel things need to be re-explained after every commercial break. Is this sport really that complex? Or does someone feel the 'average' channel-surfer is too stupid to figure out that green means go and in this case, the first two across the finish line go on to the next round...

 

[murdock]

There were times this weekend, especially during eliminations, that trying to keep up with everything happening on the track was kind of like watching the CNN news anchor and reading the crawl at the bottom of the screen, you can do one or the other, but not both.

 

[megadeth]

I don't like the tv coverage being so far away but to cover 4 cars there really isn't much they can do coverage wise.

2 cars blowing up at once sadly is the type of "excitement" that they want from this. What has a better chance of showing up on non drag racing coverage. The final round or the two funnyc ars tossing the bodies?????

As an exhibition it was very cool to be there the more I see of it for a real race the more I think circus act.

If it were only going to be once a year I could live with it but now that they want vegas to go that way we are looking at possibly 4 races. Instead make it a special all star race or something. Next there gonna have them race in opposite directions then they can sell seats for the starting line at both ends on of the track

Mark this day down. I'm think NHRA was right to not sell to Smith. I'm not sure the drivers could find fire proof clown suits

That's some funny chit right there, I don't care who you are! I agree with you PJ!

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

I've stopped counting Matt and J D launching bodies, Cory blowing a tire, Robert sideswiping Jeff... and I really don't feel things need to be re-explained after every commercial break. Is this sport really that complex?

Amen, brother! I get so sick and tired of all the freakin' replays, and it's not just this show either. All we hear about is how hard times are and how many folks are on the sidelines due to the economy. What the hell do they expect when all any potential sponsor sees when they tune in to this crap is 500 replays of whatever and anything JFR? It's a joke and as long as they've (ESPN) been at it, there's just no excuse.

Want some coverage? Go blow your sh!t up...............

Sean D

 

[None]

The Formula 1 race from Australia was far more exciting than this over hyped boring piece of work on tv yesterday.
Never thought that would happen.

 

[mick]

button wins australia two years running!

in defense of the 'circus' lovers - yesterday during the NHRA Today show,
there stood a circus freak painted from head to foot in the middle of my
television - i felt embarrassed for nhra, much less motorsports in general.
NHRA, please if you have any control over broadcast content, WHY couldn't
the camera cut this moron out of frame!?.....he consistently showed
throughout the 1/2 hr. telecast; very amateurish.

also during same show - (and i really like wilk), tim wilkerson is interviewed
and basically says 4 wide is a novelty and hopes like any novelty it will pass.

this gets back to how the NHRA is setup - teams as independent contractors
not tied to sanctioning body - each are dependent on other, but could divorce at any moment; and plenty of arguing along the way.
would a franchise system work in drag racing? teams and sanctioning body
working in unison towards a common success?

 

[Baron]

Am I the only one?
I hate those huge superimpositions on the screen when they are promoting Nazicar.
I hate watching the cars about to make the turn when the screens is covered with a huge ESPN2 logotype accompanied by a whooshing sound (I believe whooshing is the technical term). Then they show us the run again. Following the cars at that point would help us keep track of the wrap of the week. I'm sure the sponsors would like a little airtime, too. Frankly one of the things I dislike most about the roundy round coverage is the constant "Yeah, Clem, that 39 car looks like he's goin' to make his move." Unless you follow that stuff every week, you are left to wonder which is the "39 car."
It would improve the coverage and enhance the value of the sport if reference to cars in drag racing focused more on the sponsors.
That's how I see it.
Am I the only one?
Cheers,
Ed
Rocky Mountain Superchargers

 

[Vince]

We had a family thing scheduled for Sunday afternoon/evening, so I diligently set up my DVR to record not only the scheduled time slot, but the following one as well. We never know when the latest grade school girls softball game might run over into our time allotment, thus screwing up any previous settings for catching the end of the drag racing show. Thought I had it all covered. Stayed away from the computer, Nitromater, etc on Monday so that I had no idea who won what. Sat down on Monday after work, had my popcorn, all ready to watch the entire show, having the luxury of fast forwarding through all the John Force soundbites, a luxury that I really enjoy lately. Imagine my dismay when half way through the second round of competition, Paul Page informed us that the rest of the program had been postponed due to rain and would be televised on Monday. Are you kidding me? I guess from now on, I'll have to forego the surprise element and just catch the last part of the show to see if any postponments took place.

I wonder if they'll show the last round anytime soon, maybe on the 1/2 hour show on Sunday morning?

 

[mick]

....It would improve the coverage and enhance the value of the sport if reference to cars in drag racing focused more on the sponsors. That's how I see it. Am I the only one?
Cheers, Ed

i'll second that - why not - or say driver + sponsor "that's doug herbert in the irwin tools TF'r"...........do all you can to retain the players right?
seems like a no brainer to me.