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HEY, WILLIE! TV sports, Ross Chastain, Smokey Yunick and even cornhole is on the table

ken willis, the daytona beach news-journal
·3 min read

HEY, WILLIE!

Last weekend I was able to watch the World Series, college football, the NFL, NBA, NASCAR playoffs, MLS playoffs, NHL, boxing, MMA and PGA golf.

These were all on basic cable and it boggles my mind to see the big contracts TV pays out while still having to compete with Pay-Per-View, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.

I know I'm not the targeted demographic (my last new product was Crunchy Raisin Bran).  

Can you attempt to enlighten me on the vicissitudes of these sports clashing with each other? I am confused and it's getting worse.

RON

If you don't see this shield, chances are, you're watching a niche sport.
If you don't see this shield, chances are, you're watching a niche sport.

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HEY, RON!

Yeah, sure, but gimme a minute while I look up vicissitudes.

Wow, turns out it’s not a cold French soup, so here you go . . .

Every sport outside of the NFL, college football, and the annual big events (Daytona and Indy 500s, Kentucky Derby, Masters, etc.) is now a niche sport, with roughly half or a quarter of the TV audience they enjoyed back when everyone got just three networks and had to walk to change channels.

The horror!

In Nielsen-speak, an overnight rating of 1.3 is the new 3.1, and here’s why. With few exceptions, folks don’t record live sporting events and watch them later while fast-forwarding through the commercials — as they do sitcoms, CSI's, etc...

If you’re watching something live, you’re subjected to the commercials. And the commercials pay the bills. Lots of bills. Maybe even the modern power bill.

For instance, NASCAR’s weekly numbers were once double and sometimes triple what they are these days, yet as the ratings declined, each new network contract expanded.

So, to sum it up, all these sports-entertainment operations can sharpen the knives and slice off a small piece of the pie and keep their benefactors satisfied. The alternative is either no pie, or leverage it all and borrow enough cash for a 30-second ad during an NFL halftime.

See anyone diving for Derrick Henry? Nope.
See anyone diving for Derrick Henry? Nope.

HEY, WILLIE!

Here’s something that bugs me over and over. 

An offensive guy will break into the clear. A defensive guy, or even more than one, will follow him but never dive — just follow him a long way into the end-zone.  

Unless there is something misleading about the angle in those videos, it seems incredibly lame. It's like in basketball, not wanting to get “posterized” and therefore not challenging someone's shot.

JOEL

HEY, JOEL!

Think back to replays you’ve seen of some helpless defender diving frantically, hoping against hope he might catch just enough of the runner’s shoe to trip him up. How often do you remember seeing it succeed?

And how often did you say, “Look at that poor fool, dirtying up his jersey for nothing, except a possible heel to the chops.”

You answered your own question, basically.

HEY, WILLIE!

Will there be a Ross Chastain rule for 2023?

ROBERT

Ross Chastain rides the wall on the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Ross Chastain rides the wall on the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

HEY, ROB!

I’d think so, though NASCAR will probably (and should) wait until the 2023 preseason to announce it. You don’t want to kill the buzz with Chastain’s Martinsville miracle still glowing.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such a thing could be very dangerous, particularly with spectators sitting just several steps away.

I was quickly taken back about 25 years or so to the Best Damn Garage in Town, where Smokey Yunick had a few full sheets of plywood covered with old tires. It was his crude, raw version of “soft wall” technology, eventually known as the SAFER Barrier once engineers took over.

“Every time you read about some poor bastard killing himself in a race car," Smokey would say, "the first sentence includes ‘after hitting the wall’.”

Smokey Yunick
Smokey Yunick

He talked about the need for softer, energy-absorbing walls. As for drawbacks, and as my eyes glazed, he'd talk about the problem of a solid getting tied up with a semi-solid — a race car, for instance, getting its right side into the “soft” wall at speed, getting slowed, and not being able to get away from it.

Smokey had an imagination, of course, but not sure if he ever imagined a driver intentionally tucking into that wall and using it as leverage to pass everyone — like a slot-car GTO at Wise Hobbies in the old Port Orange Plaza, circa 1972 (but I digress).

HEY, WILLIE!

The average hard-working person can’t even afford to go to an NFL game these days. Now you have to pay to have Prime, ESPN+, etc., just to see a game.

It’s all about the money.

I think I’ll just watch the American Cornhole League from now on.

TIM R

Here's Ohio native Gabe Dolen. He's a professional cornhole competitor in the American Cornhole League. No kidding.
Here's Ohio native Gabe Dolen. He's a professional cornhole competitor in the American Cornhole League. No kidding.

HEY, T.R.!

Don’t look now, but professional cornhole tossers exist, and they’re not chucking for free.

I doubt they’re in it for the groupies.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NFL still rules TV; Also, Ross Chastain, Smokey Yunick and cornhole!