Nascar could take a lesson from MLB!

Let me start by saying I am NOT a baseball fan! However, due to a houseguest, we have been watching the World Series. I grumbled a lot, but secretly I was starting to immerse myself in the drama. (The only games I had ever attended in my life were the Cardinals, as a young girl with my father! There is a sense of irony here, after all! )

I watched Wainwright throw the last pitch, throw his hands in the air, jumble up with his team. I saw a bunch of players pile on each other. I saw the team manager walking through the field with a face quietly happy. The team was hugging, slapping, and dare I say, crying! I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting...for something! Then it struck me, I was waiting for the NASCAR spin on the celebration.

WHAT IN THE WORLD? Where was the media? Wasn't there supposed to someone there telling the team members when to shout with glee? Why didn't we break for a commercial, and then point to the team members and say "NOW, how thrilled are you?" And wait, did I miss seeing the microphone immediately shoved in the face of the last Tiger's batter? No, I saw the media training their cameras on the celebrations. I was able to be a part of that celebration, but I was not an intruder.

How could this be so different? Perhaps NASCAR has become too rigid. To justify the way things are done, they can recite the requirments of the television contracts. They can recite timing of the race. They can give us a million reasons why they like it to be done THIS way, but every moment of Victory Lane is carefully choreagraphed.

The end of the NASCAR broadcasts are so stilted that one could wonder why a fan would even bother to watch. Perhaps, we are hoping to see something different, a flash of emotion, a burst of excitement or just hoping to see someone who looks just plain glad to be there!

NASCAR, listen up here! Those team members all work so hard to get a win, we would like to see them celebrate without being immediately obligated to respond to the camera. Give them a moment, one moment only. Let them be themselves.