Coverage of Kalitta crash raises questions

As I'm sure you've heard, champion drag racer Scott Kalitta was killed on Saturday when his funny car blew out an engine and then crashed at nearly 300 mph while he was making his final qualifying pass for the NHRA race at Englishtown, NJ. The main eliminations took place as scheduled yesterday, although in a very subdued manner. Racing went on, as the cliche says, because "Scott would have wanted it that way."

(Note: Just so there's no question what I want, let me make this clear. When I die, I want the mourning process to be incredibly, stupidly intense. Like after a champion boxer from Latin America is killed in the ring. I would like all blogs that have linked to me, that I've linked to, or that might have heard of me to shut down for at least three days after my death out of respect, and the inability to move forward because they are so personally crushed. Thanks.)

The cause of the accident is currently being investigated, and the NHRA has pledged to take those findings and make any necessary changes to limit the risks for other drivers in the future. (I said "limit" since even though drag racing cars are much safer than they were even five years ago, there is no such thing as a 100 percent safe car.) Some things are clear: the engine in Kalitta's car exploded when he reached the end of his quarter-mile run, creating an explosion forceful enough to raise the car off the ground and buckle it into two. Kalitta was unable to stop the car - either he was knocked unconscious from the initial engine explosion or the brake lines had been severed in the blast - and he went through the gravel pit at the end of the runway meant to stop runaway cars, through some addiitonal netting and into a large pole, where it there exploded in a huge fireball and basically disintegrated while sending parts into the woods behind the track.

There is already a lot of speculation on if the "run-off" area at the Englishtown track is large enough to handle a runaway dragster. Many people familiar with the sport - including two-time funny car champ Tony Pedregon - have expressed the opinion that the run-off area is far too short at the Englishtown track, and that this was a major factor as to why Kalitta's crash was fatal. Needless to say, there are going to be a lot of questions asked about this in the weeks to come, and the NHRA needs to have some pretty damned good answers.

But beyond mentioning the crash itself, I want to talk about the coverage of the crash, primarily by ESPN. As you might have noticed, I haven't posted the video of the crash yet. If you want to watch it, here it is - I'm sure not going to embed the clip. But you are all big boys and girls, and I'll let you make the decision on watching it for yourself.

There was a lot of hand-wringing on the Deadspin late night comments thread on Saturday night about two things: the size of the run-off area at the track, and ESPN's coverage of the accident and its aftermath. Specifically, there seemed to be a general agreement that ESPN has being ghoulish or appealing to the viewers' prurient nature by showing footage of the crash over and over.

First off, I watched the 10 p.m. Sportscenter on Saturday night (at least 10 p.m. on the West Coast, check your local listing for dates and times). In their segnent in the accident, they showed the footage of the crash exactly one time, preceded by a warning the the footage was "disturbing." On the ESPN2 tape-delayed coverage of qualifying (which was canceled after the crash), they also showed the accident once, and spent the rest of the time talking to drivers in the pits about Scott Kalitta. And on ESPN News immediately after it was announced that Kalitta had been killed, they broadcast the footage once every "show" (i.e. half-hour), with the same warning that Sportscenter had.

And I suspect that part of the problem is that people were getting confused because of the sheer frequency of ESPN's broadcasts, and equating that with the footage being shown "over and over." If ESPN re-runs the same Sportscenter eight times in one evening, it might feel like you can't turn on ESPN without seeing that crash. Add in ESPN News, the coverage of the actual event, etc...people tend to jumble things in their minds anyway (which is why most people are not reliable witnesses), and seeing it a few times on repeated programming can seem like it's being shown on an endless loop.

If you watched the footage, you'll notice it's not particularly "graphic" - from the angle that ESPN has released, you really don't see much of the crash into the barrier itself, just a giant ball of dust and smoke and flames. As much as people want to make the comparison, this clip isn't the same as when Greg Moore was killed in a CART race at Fontana several years ago, where ESPN essentially refused to show any replays of the accident. This was footage of a closed vehicle crash from a wide-angle shot; the Greg Moore crash footage is a much tighter angle of an open-wheel car, where the car flipped and hit an inside retaining wall. Basically, you can see a human body get crushed against a wall at 200 mph and flip, still in the "tub" of the cockpit but lifeless and limp, along the grass. Needless to say, I'm not linking to that clip - find it yourself if you are so inclined.

But beyond all of this, the question remains - does ESPN "need" to show the footage at all? After all, this isn't Joe Theisman's leg, which was gross and painful, but not anything near fatal. Couldn't ESPN cover the story without showing the footage?

Personally, I think ESPN has a obligation to show the footage in a responsible manner, which I think that they did. There is inherent news value in the footage of the crash, and not just grim fascination like it's from some "Faces of Death" video. Seeing the video and how the crash unfolded gives fans the chance to form their own conclusions on what happened. You can see how the track is laid out, and how much (or little) run-off space there is. I can guarantee you that the outrage over the track set-up wouldn't be nearly as loud as it is (or will get) if there was no footage of the crash made public right after the accident. And the NHRA needs to answer these questions, whether they are at fault or not - for the sake of their drivers and their fans who pay good money to take their families to the races and would prefer that they didn't have to explain to their kids on the drive home why that driver who crashed isn't racing ever again.

Should they be "showing it over and over?" No, and I don't think that they did. And I think they have a duty to choose what angles are shown - having watched a lot of races over the years, I promise you that there is footage from a camera stationed after the finish line that would show the crash in much more horrific detail, and ESPN chose not to release it. (I find it interesting to compare the coverage of this crash to the crash that killed Gordon Smiley in qualifying for the 1982 Indianapolis 500 - where his car went head on into the wall at 200 mph and basically broke apart like a missile hit it. It was one the most graphic and disturbing crashes I've ever seen, but ABC showed a replay of it to lead off their broadcast along with news that Smiley was dead - the crash happened before the broadcast began - and ABC Nightly News showed a different, still icky angle in their broadcast.) ESPN doesn't need to show blood and guts to do its job, but they do need to report the news, even if it's troubling.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 8:47 AM 2 comments  

That Bulldog fever

The Fresno State Bulldogs were thwarted in their first attempt to make it to the College World Series final series, as North Carolina rallied for a 4-3 victory on Saturday night to force a rematch today, with the winner moving on to face Georgia. Now, normally, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the College World Series - somehow, I've managed to remain immune to the "ping" of metal bats. But...Fresno State's run to the precipice of the College World Series final series is significant enough to make me care, and that's not just because I grew up 20 miles away from Fresno.

What Fresno State is attempting to pull off, frankly, would be the equivalent of a No. 16 seed winning the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Quite literally - they were a No. 4 seed out of four teams in their sub-regional - essentially one of the 16 lowest-ranked teams in the tournament (so I guess they could have been as high as a No. 13 seed, but...quit ruining the narrative with your math, Mr. Math!). After making it through that, they took down nationally-ranked Arizona St. on the road to punch their ticket to Omaha - despite the Sun Devils' "fake fight", which I haven't mentioned here yet, but it's one of the stupid things I've ever heard of. Even my kickball team - the one that almost burned down our park this season - wouldn't pull something that stupid.

It's pretty amazing stuff. As I've mentioned here before, the local community has a special bond with Fresno State teams, especially the baseball team, which is almost entirely made up of players from the area. The whole Central Valley will rally around a Fresno State team when it does well, especially because in each local town like Visalia or Turlock or Hanford, there is a kid that plays on the team, and that they can rally behind. At least, they would if everyone in town wasn't too busy hiding out in their houses with the air conditioning cranked up, afraid to turn the TV on for fear that the heat from the TV will be the tipping point that causes the house to catch fire.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 1:08 AM 0 comments  

Pac-Man Jones undergoes some corporate rebranding

Remember Pac-Man Jones, the troubled football player with such a long history of legal problems that he was suspended for all of last season, and only just now reinstated on a "screw up one time and you're dead to us" basis by the NFL? Well, he doesn't exist anymore. He'd like to be known by his given name of Adam Jones, thank you very much. Which reminds me of when a company has a horrible disaster, and as part of their crisis communications decides to "rebrand" themselves to get rid of the negative associations with whatever God-awful thing they previously did. Like when ValuJet changed its name to AirTrans Airways after one of their planes slammed into the Everglades due to massive safety failings.

(Personally, I was hoping he would have just moved on to a different 80s arcade name, such as "Frogger" Jones or "Q-Bert" Jones or "Elevator Action" Jones.)

Also, this guy would prefer if you just refer to him as George Kelly. He's really past the whole "machine gun" part. Thanks.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 10:16 AM 2 comments  

Sports Motivational Posters

Big Huge Labs has a fun program where you can make your own "Motivational" poster. You know, the one that your cheesy boss has of a rock climber that says something like "Endurance: Having the grit to hang tough"? So I thought, there are certainly some posters that could be made involving athletes in the news.

Kobe Bryant:

Javon Walker:

Tiger Woods:

Michael Wilbon:

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 3:14 PM 4 comments  

Brian Scalabrine is an idiot

First, please watch this video:



Now, I'm sure you're asking "who the hell is Brian Scalabrine"? Well, he's a back-up forward for the Celtics known more for being a "good luck charm" by riding an exercise bike when the Celtics are rallying than anything he's done on the court. While playing with the Nets earlier in his career, he distinguished himself by forgetting to wear his shorts underneath his sweats, a fact he only realized after he was surprised to find himself actually called into a game and started to remove his pants. Whoops.

And oh, yeah, he went to USC. So did Gabe Pruitt. So, congrats to them, although I did about as much to earn a championship ring as they did.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 6:13 PM 0 comments  

Earthquake felt across Southland attributed to Laker fans ripping flags off of cars

LOS ANGELES - Cal Tech researchers reported that a massive earth movement that registered 4.3 on the Richter scale Tuesday night was not an earthquake as previously thought, but the result of hundreds of thousands of small Laker flags being thrown to the ground in disgust after the team's series-clinching 131-92 defeat by the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

The jolt was felt by people as far north as Merced and as far east as Phoenix at 8:54 p.m. Pacific time. Cal Tech researchers admitted that they were puzzled by the event.

"Of course, your first reaction is that this must be an earthquake, but it became apparent quickly from the data that there was no epicenter and in fact the impact was felt equally across the area," said Lucy Davis, a seismologist at Cal Tech. "It wasn't until we left the lab for the evening and saw the streets littered with hundreds of suction-cupped Lakers flags with tire tracks on them that we were able to piece this together."

Davis warned that something similar to aftershocks could be expected over the next few days, caused by Laker fans simultaneously slamming their garage doors as they put remaining Laker flags away for the next 11 months.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 6:01 PM 1 comments  

The Schilling Curse

Not to burst the bubble of my esteemed colleague, who seems to think that his daughter personally jinxed the Lakers and doomed them to a collapse similar to a Jenga tower built by Michael J. Fox (Editor's note: too soon?), but she was not responsible for what happened. No, the blame squarely rests on the shoulders of an organization known to be so corrupt, evil and Machiavellian that it's obvious that they would be responsible for this.

I'm, of course, talking about the New York Yankees.

Think back to before Game 4, when Curt Schilling blogged about sitting behind the Lakers bench for Game 2, and how Kobe wouldn't stop yelling at his teammates. First, let's concede that Schilling is an idiot and a lout - the fact that he is an athlete that is universally hated by bloggers despite being a blogger himself (usually an instant path to Blog Crush City) is proof enough of how transparent his self-promoting, blowhard ways are.

The problem came from Kobe's response when asked about Schilling's comments: "Go Yankees." Now, at first blush, that's a fun, innocuous comment that's good for a chuckle. But you have to be in Los Angeles and know the history to know that Kobe saying "Go Yankees" was not just tempting fate, but basically was A Hot, Blonde, Teenaged Hotel Worker in Vail for fate. (Editor's note: too so...never mind.)

I know Kobe spent most of his time in Italy, or Bulgaria, or wherever the hell he grew up, so his idea of a rivalry is his ego vs. Shaq's ego AC Milan vs. Juventes, but for people with any sense of history, the leading figure in the Los Angeles sports scene saying "Go Yankees" is the equivalent of Abraham Lincoln waving a Rebel flag while singing Dixie and beating a slave. (Maybe not quite that bad, but you get the point.)

The Yankees and the Dodgers have always hated each other, as long as there has been baseball, and the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn in the 1950s did little to change that. Things really were bad in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Yankees beat the Dodgers in the World Series back to back in 1977 and 1978 before Los Angeles was able to extract some revenge in 1981. Tommy Lasorda would be spinning in his grave if he knew that the Lakers' star player was saying "Go Yankees."

(I've been told that Tommy Lasorda is still alive. Please substitute "his grave" for "the bed of a high-class call girl". Thanks.)

Frankly, Kobe's lucky that he wasn't struck by lightening, or that a plague of locusts didn't invade the Staples Center. At least he has booze to ease the pain.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 11:19 AM 0 comments  

NASCAR is more screwed than the NBA

In case you missed it on Monday, there was a story that broke featuring allegations that, if true, could potentially be so damaging as to cripple an entire sport. No, I'm not talking about Tim Donaghy's attempt to go down in a Tony Montana-like hail of bullets by claiming that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals was fixed. (The main problem the NBA has in that regard is the lack of shock that fans would have to that being true, even before Donaghy opened his maw. The fact that the latest Fox Sports poll shows that almost 80 percent of fans think that the fix was in on that game tells me that there was a fair amount of distrust of the NBA in general.)

No, I'm talking about NASCAR, and the $225 million discrimination lawsuit brought by a former tecnhnical inspector who is black and female. Obviously, it will be up to the courts to decide exactly what did or didn't happen, but Mauricia Grant's allegations make NASCAR seem like it's being run by some combination of Marge Schott, Isiah Thomas and this LSU baseball fan. Among some of the "highlights" of the allegations in her lawsuit:

• Co-workers gave her such heartfelt and personal nicknames as "Nappy Headed Mo'" and "Queen Sheba" and told her that she worked on "colored people time"
• Her supervisor, Nationwide Series director Joe Balash (you know, the person she should have turned to with complaints about discrimination) asked her "Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?"
• Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black - apparently NASCAR has hired Dusty Baker as their Special Sunburn Advisor
• When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."

And on and on. I know some of you are saying "This is a surprise?" And yeah, any sport that has hundreds of Rebel flags flying in the infield and stands during events has a bit of a problem with race. Which, of course, is why this is so bad. NASCAR is desperate to move past it's redneck past, but without alienating their "core" fans (i.e rednecks). In order to continue to grow (and stop their ratings flatlining), they need to reach new audiences. Advertisers need NASCAR to broaden their reach. That's why they've poured huge resources into their largely-unsuccessful Drive for Diversity campaign.

And then this happens. As you can expect, NASCAR has gone into full retreat mode, with NASCAR Chairman Brian France saying that he just wishes she would have gone to her supervisors with her complaints instead of filing a lawsuit. The same supervisors who were asking her if a little urban looting was part of her workout routine. Right.

All in all, I'm just stunned that NASCAR didn't settle this quietly and out of the public eye, whether the allegations were true or not. It's a huge, dark cloud hanging over the sport as it tries to maintain its position as a major sport and not drift back into "niche sport" status that is beloved by some in certain areas but not popular across the US.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 9:17 AM 1 comments  

Crotchety old man doing crotchety old man things at MSU

Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk retired this season after 35 seasons and 1,373 wins to his name. As you might expect, he thought he should have some say in the hiring of his successor, backing longtime assistant coach (and former player under him) Tommy Raffo. However, Mississippi State recently brought in a new athletic director, Greg Byrne. And he, for obvious reasons, wanted to put his own stamp on the athletic department, and decided to hire Kentucky coach John Cohen.

Big mistake.

Polk is, as they say down South, madder than a toothless dog with a bone. (I don't know if they actually say that; I might have mixed up my Southern sayings with the wisdom of Ed Anger.) Polk has ripped into Byrne, said that he is "on the war path" and has vowed to "do everything I can to make his life miserable."

Among Polk's plans to protest the "snub" of Raffo are:

• Removing his name from the stadium
• Taking Mississippi State from his will
• Use his influence to undermine several successful booster clubs
• "Personally" take down banners that display his name and number
• Hold his breath until they hire Raffo or he dies, in which case they'll have to live with that the rest of their lives (Editor's Note: I made this one up)

Other than pointing out that it's shame that his wife and family will presumably will have to be written back into his will (and that I'd like to see him on a ladder, angrily taking down banners as if he's a homeowner whose house just got TP'ed), I feel like Polk has a point here - other coaches who have reached legendary status in their respective fields have had the chance to hand pick their successors, so why shouldn't he? Again, I don't think it warrants him acting like a petulant child who didn't get to buy a toy at Wal-Mart, but who am I to judge?*

*Answer: a member of the World Wide Blogosphere, that's who.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 9:30 AM 0 comments  

Five non-conference trap games for national title contenders

Every year, you can go through the college football schedule and find several games involving national title contenders that just jump out at you as all sorts of potential trouble. It doesn't always work out that way - sometimes the "better" team does what they are supposed to do and takes care of business. But sometimes these games lead to dogfights...and upsets.

As a wise, squid-faced Admiral once said...

























IT'S A TRAP!

Here are five games to watch out for this season as games with the potential to change the title chase.

Oklahoma @ Washington (Sept. 13): Washington is either going to be one of the surprise teams in college football this season, or else the Huskies will be in the familiar role of conducting a search for a new head coach at the end of the season. Jake Locker is going to be a handful for the Sooners' defense to control, and if he has matured as a passer over the off-season, look out. Plus, we all know what happened the last time Oklahoma ventured to the Pacific Northwest.

Georgia vs. Central Michigan (Sept. 6): With all the talk of the Murder's Row that Georgia has for itself in terms of their schedule this year, and with their SEC opener against The Ol' Ball Coach the following week, it would be understandable if the Bulldogs look past Central Michigan. They shouldn't. The Chippewas have stud QB Dan LeFevour, who joined Vince Young last season as the only two QBs to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Now, Central Michigan's defense isn't nearly good enough to slow down, much less stop, Georgia's offense. But don't be surprised if this isn't more of a shootout and a lot closer than people would think.

LSU vs. Appalachian State (Aug. 30): I don't think we need to explain why this could be a dangerous game for the Tigers. But still, knowing what Appalachian State did last season, there's no way that LSU overlooks the Mountaineers, right? Right?

Texas vs. Florida Atlantic (Aug. 30): Remember who Texas let Arkansas State hang around in last season's opener before stumbling their way to a 21-13 victory? That wasn't the first time they've had trouble with supposed "easy" victories under Mack Brown. If they pull the same stunt against Florida Atlantic - the class of the Sun Belt - they might not be so lucky. FAU QB Rusty Smith (which is kind of a dirty name if you work really hard to make it so) threw for more than 3,600 yards and 32 TDs last year. And Owls head coach Howard Schnellenberger isn't going to be intimidated by the name on the other team's jerseys. This could be big, big trouble for the Longhorns.

Wisconsin @ Fresno St. (Sept. 13): It's one thing to schedule a game against the "giant killers" from the Central Valley. It's another thing to schedule one at their place. From personal experience, I can tell you that it's going to be witheringly hot at Bulldog Stadium, and the atmosphere should be insane. It's not going to help the Badgers that this might be Pat Hill's best team ever at Fresno St. This is less "trap" and more "giant flashing sign that says Uh Oh."

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 12:39 PM 0 comments