Not To Be A Nit Picker, BUT...

[Defender]

How did a race in a foreign country for a series the IRL's broadcast 'partner' no longer carries merit TWICE the coverage on an open wheel Wednesday broadcast than the actual partner?

Who makes these disingenuous decisions?

Good God.

Who will ESPN be paying to send to St. Louis? A paid IRL employee? Didn't think so. C'mon folks. Who's your partner? Who's yo daddy?

[PHJIndy]

I happened to watch RPM tonight and won't be watching it again any time soon. Tonight's show was a total slap up side the head of the IRL! :mad:

[KnockOff]

Media types fluffing for CART exhibit the same phenomenon as the kids who work in music stores and try to dress and act like rock stars.

You know, "trying to be hip by association".

Get used to it.

[PHJIndy]

KO, we shouldn't HAVE to get used to it, and we shouldn't GET used to it. I just refuse to watch! JMO!

[PHJIndy]

BTW I just saw the ad again on FoxSports St. Louis for the Gateway race. NICE SPOT!

[kevin99]

That's it, I'm done with RPM, John K. is a nice guy and really tries, but the show is a joke.

[Tooonces]

I have found the cure for the rpmtonien issues - stopped watching quite a while ago. It really wasn't hard considering it airs while most of America is still working or commuting after work. Maybe if large a contingent of the IRL's followers are shift workers, they get home after 1st shift in time to watch. Not sure if that fits the demo's the IRL has been shopping.

In addition, the absolute inconsistency of the replay sealed the deal for me trying to watch. I

I very much enjoy the IRL. I don't believe it is the only series that needs to be covered by the racing magazine shows. However, with the choices they make to fill their show they are second rate. Both Nascar and Cart have dedicated programs each week and extensive coverage pre/post race including replays of their races. (I am basing the cart coverage is as stated, since I don't have Speed, but I haven't seen anyone refute the coverage they get there)

The only "primary" coverage they could give is trucks, NHRA, and the IRL. (This skips the coverage they could also give WoO or USAC, which also baffles me). By not doing this on a consistant basis, they are delegated to 2nd rate/2nd banana.

They totally control their own destiny here. To be honest, if the IRL was playing behind only NHRA and CTS, I could not argue. But, to continually promote other networks programming with stills of races and over coverage of a series that does nothing but degrades the series they 'own' as well as mucking up the problem with distinguishing the open wheel series is horrible.

I have begun to expect only coverage of the race and the pre-race show from the Disney folks. If the drivers can keep the race in the window by keeping yellows down, they do get decent post race. But if by chance they mention the race and/or show highlights on SportsCenter, mention the race winner on ESPNRadio or give more than a promotional announcement about the upcoming race, whoopie. I still put the onus for building the event to demand coverage on the IRL. ESPN could help its own cause, but until there is sufficient advertising demand for them to pick up the pace, it's not going to happen.

WAI - we see several cart sponsors on the show, is there a school of thought that says these are cart time buys to be used as make-good exposure for their sponsors? That would make sense. They are in the time buying business and it would explain why they are getting so much coverage on the mouse.

[cruise control]

Nit nit nit.

As I understand things - always a questionable issue, I know - RPM tonight averages fewer than 300,000 households per night. Using the coverage ratios and story order and all that to infer some sort of (lack of) support level may be defensible as a quasi-academic exercise, but enough is enough.

I repeat, it's less than 300,000 households. Why not pick a crusade that would bring a meaningful victory? Or is that the point?

[BADGER]

Originally posted by Defender:
<STRONG>

Who's your partner? Who's yo daddy?

</STRONG>

"The Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis recorded the highest attendance of any U.S. sporting event so far this year with 350,000 people."
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/D...ads020820.html

Hows that for a pardner.

[PHJIndy]

The BY400 did NOT have the largest attendance. There are more tickets sold for the "500", plus there are infield tickets sold. That's FACT not my opinion!

[ August 22, 2002: Message edited by: PHJIndy ]

[SoDak_IndyFan]

I try to stay out of these discussions as much as possible, but has anybody ever wondered IF (!) RPM2Nite might draw more households if it aired just prior to ptime time. You know, like the "Kenny, Johnny, and Mikey" Show on Speed comes on at 7pm ET as a LEAD-IN (!) to prime time!! 7:30 (E & P) and THIS household would be watching it nearly EVERY night. As it is, I make it home in time for maybe 1+ (on avg) full shows a week and can catch the last 5 mins one or two other times.

[Truth Detector]

Originally posted by BADGER:
<STRONG>
"The Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis recorded the highest attendance of any U.S. sporting event so far this year with 350,000 people."
</STRONG>

At least he didn't claim it was Milwaukee.

[k-man]

Hey RPM2Nite. I've heard enough about Ricky Rudd and his contract deal.

[Mackie]

That's all you do is pick nits 'fender, and in spite of your vast media expertise, you are again wrong. rpm is a cornucopia of racing news, some days they will make you very happy, some days you will have to bite the bullet. ABC/ESPN have many "partners," it may amaze you to know that the IRL may not be their biggest one.

Again I ask, somewhere in your storied media past, did "the Mouse" have occasion and due cause to terminate your employment? There has to be some rime or reason for this constant one-issue b!tching.

[GoodStone]

I too will simply refuse to watch RPM, until they stop giving the microphone to "The Beast". I see no particular need to watch the show and be insulted.

I agree completely with Defender's complaint which, of course, is very different than Portnoy's Complaint.

I would urge Defender to keep fighting this good fight because, perhaps someone is listening.