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On Track #7: The Spectators

Sorry it's been a few weeks...if I keep up the goal pace of one post per week, not a chance I finish by the Olympics. Because they're only two (2!) weeks away? (Right? I'm pretty sure that's close to accurate...)

This post is structured around one simple question: do fans (particularly on TV) know what they are watching?

No, they don't. Not even close.

The casual fan has no clue about the strategies, tactics, participants...or really anything about track. As mentioned in earlier posts, part of the reason for that lack of knowledge is that the commentators also have no idea what they're talking about.

What boggles my mind is that Americans (A-murr-icans) can sit for three hours and watch cars drive around an oval, but they can't sit for 5-15-30 minutes and watch actual people run around an oval. You know, actual athletes.

People get NASCAR. They don't get track. Track isn't boring...it's just boring for people who don't know anything about what they're watching. And how can they know anything when: a) the commentators don't either, and b) commercials cut out everything that happens in the race?

So how do we educate the mass of fans about the ins-and-outs of track? Welp, I have no idea...I guess that's something else to try and diagnose by the end of this series.

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