Sports fan can be so fickle. It's not just a case of in motorsport, but in all forms. It's great to support sports, but how die-hard some get always baffles me. Is it that important that it encompasses your entire life. Better yet, that you blindly to the point where even in the face of a bald faced truth, you still can't accept it.
At times, it reminds me of religion. I consider myself an open minded person. Do I believe everything told to me. Hell no? I try to keep an open mind on things, so that I can better understand all sides of an discussion. But there are those that cling to something like their very existence depended on it – and to refute such belief would be tantamount to trying to talk the Pope out of the idea that there is no God.
It is the same with sports. Before I start, let me state, I don't lump all sports fans into this category. I am not out here to make generalisations and to lump everyone into one category. But I do see an unfortunately growing trend.
A recent high profile example is Cristiano Ronaldo. Up until about two months ago, he was adored by the United faithful. Now, with his move to Real Madrid, he is the subject of public scorn by those who once cheered his name. His past exploits forgotten as he 'betrayed' them. The fact he has won everything he possibly can in England is irrelevant, nor is the opportunity to play with one of footballs historic teams.
That is just one example. There are countless others. It's pretty sickening the crap you see on message boards. It sometimes makes me wonder why I bother writing. The internet is a great forum for debate, but a lot of people just use it as a way to bully their point across.You look at the majority of sporting forums and they are full of ignorant people, most who lack such basic things as grammar and spelling skills.
There is no incentive to write a well versed debatable post when it surrounded by such garbage. I don't even bother looking at forum discussions anymore because there just is no point. People either see it as bias and unfair to their favourite team or sports star or just plainly resort to name calling.
It makes you wonder about these guys away from the computer. Before, I'd used to think that these are the sort of people who would never speak out in public. They use the Internet as a faceless way to speak their mind without any repercussions. Lets them feel high and mighty about it all.
Increasingly however, especially with the youth of today, such disrespect for others carries over. Not just in the sporting realm, but in all aspects of life. The attitude of the youth of today is down right despicable. Honestly, I don't remember being like that at all in my day – and that was only about ten to twelve years ago. How things have changed. Like I said at the top, I don't think all people are like this, but it just feels that there is a growing number of people with this narrow minded approach on life.
The most prevalent motorsporting example of this comes from America (see, I had to work in motorsport at some point.) The big 'feud' right now in Nascar is between long time fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Junior and public enemy number one, Kyle Busch.
To recap briefly, this whole thing started with Busch being dropped at Hendricks in favor of Junior. The major boiling point came at Richmond last year, when in a battle for the lead, Busch tapped Junior into a spin, denying him a victory. (At this point, Junior was still on a long win-less streak with the exception of a non-championship win at Daytona at the start of the year.) The funny thing is, Earnhardt himself had a carbon copy incident at the same race this year, spinning Jeff Burton out. But of course, no public outcry there.
Earnhardt Nation cried foul. Queue beer cans on the track (a common thing mind you when someone rattled up the 'Nation and calls for the head of Kyle Busch. Thus began the feud.
Busch became an hated individual amongst a majority of fans. One thing I liked about Busch was that he relished it. He could've been meek and tried to smooth things over. Instead, he relished the role of the bad guy and played it up. He developed his character of the bad guy, but still played fair (depending on who's opinion you gauge) on the track. Theatrical bows followed his victories to the crowd as the Las Vegas native tore up the track. Countless victories followed, while Earnhardt has one solitary championship victory to his name at this point.
His success only riled those who hate him on. But his driving style has seen him garner many fans. Busch's desire to race anything and everything is something that I love about the guy. On numerous occasions, he has raced three times in the one weekend. He wants to race, he wants to win and he is not afraid to use all the track. Busch is probably the only guy who can go three wide on a track all by himself.
Unfortunately, he doesn't always put himself in the right light, which I think hurts him with some of the neutrals. On the track, he is awesome. But off the track he does need some work. The guitar smashing incident at Nashville this year is a perfect example of that. While he had his reasons for it, there was probably a better way to go around it.
From my standpoint, I'd be concerned with his desire to outdo Earnhardt Nation. Yes, if I was Busch, I would feel aggrieved that a bunch of narrow minded fans were giving him hell for no other reason that he once spun him out. This is Nascar, people get spun all the time. But at the end of the day, Busch is clearly the more talented driver. Earnhardt, while popular, is never going to match his fathers achievements. Kyle needs to rise himself above that and focus on setting his own benchmarks.
People dig at him for not wanting to talk after he's not had a good race. The guy wants to win. I thought America was all about that. They love winners, hate losers. Yet when Busch doesn't want to be chatty after a race, they label him a cry baby and sore loser. I always find it interesting how values that American's hold so tightly are thrown out the window just because they hate the guy.
It was the same again last weekend after Daytona. Busch got in a tangle on the final straight while leading and crashed. He stalked off, not wanting to talk. Those who don't like him bitched and moaned, reciting the fact that he was a cry baby and didn't want to talk.
Here is a reality check. If you have had a good race turned sour, the last thing you want to do is talk. I've experienced this in my sim-racing career. Hell, I've gone through a patch of five races where I've had a great car only to have terrible results. The last thing I want to do is talk about it, and if I do to someone, there is usually an expletive every third or fourth word.
So why should Busch give those who are on his back further ammunition? Had he spoken right there and then, he would've. His decision not to speak, if you ask me, is the best one. Cool down, review what happened, talk in private rather than airing it all to the public.
I'll finish up with returning to the ideal of narrow-minded fans. See, Junior inherited many of his fans who supported his father. The funny thing is, Kyle Busch probably has more in common with Earnhardt Senior than Junior has. Yet, because his name isn't Earnhardt, they don't see it. I think trying to compare Senior's style to Busch would be again, like trying to talk the Pope about God. You would be lynched and locked up for it.
The strange thing is, fans cry out for drivers with character. So often they complain that the drivers are strictly controlled and un-interesting. The greatest example of his is Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. Both are often accused of being cookie-cutter drivers, very politically correct. But then when someone breaks the mould, he is chastised for it. It's irritating, if you ask me. They want drivers with attitude, but only in a certain shape or form.
Suffice to say, this is a problem that is only going to get worse, one I doubt will ever truly get better. The people I feel for most are the open minded fans. No longer do we have a forum for frank, open discussions. Instead, we are left simply to chat to ourselves as the haters rule the world.
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