Monday, June 20, 2005

MH - Formula for Disaster

I don't suppose many of you saw the Formula One United States Grand Prix at Indy yesterday. That's OK, I tuned in to see it and I didn't see a race either. What I saw was a fiasco that's virtually impossible to describe. It was the sports equivalent of a government shutdown. I'll leave it to this story to give the details - had I not seen it live myself, I don't know that I would have been able to understand what had happened. I was tempted to wonder whether the same people who run the NHL were in charge of this race.

A couple of observations: first of all, the superiority of the Speed TV crew in covering the event, especially when you compare it to the ABC crew that was at Indy last week. Knowledgeable, witty, smooth. If nothing else, I hope someone at ABC tunes in to these Grand Prix races and gets the message.

Second, this could well be the death knell for Formula One in this country, at least for the time being. It's too big a market for them to be able to write off completely, but this sure leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. They don't really understand Americans very well - we (that is, F1 racing fans) won't forget this soon. Americans don't buy apologies, unless they come from attractive celebrities with coying smiles talking to Barbara Walters or Jay Leno.

I always said it would be a cold day when someone came along and made Congress look competent by comparison - the devil must be shivering in his overcoat today.

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