From Deseret News archives:
Move over, football, hoops: NASCAR is back on ESPN
The auto-racing franchise returns to the network after a six-year absence. Actually, it's not returning to just the ESPN channel but to what we might want to think of as the ESPN, um, experience.
"We fully intend to deliver and make this a perfect marriage between NASCAR and ESPN," said ESPN senior vice president Jed Drake "And stop thinking about ESPN as one entity. ...But it's ESPN. It's ESPN2. It's ESPN on ABC. It's ESPN HD. It's ESPN2 HD. It's ESPN Deportes. It's ESPN the Magazine. It's ESPN Classic. It's ESPN.com, ESPN News, ESPN Radio, ESPN International and ESPN 360. You get the picture.
"It's the most comprehensive presentation, and you will see NASCAR every day on all of those platforms continually. It's a multimedia partnership that's never been touched in the world of sports television."
Whew! When will they find time for little things like the NBA and college basketball?
And you've got to wonder what the folks at the NBA, NFL and major-league baseball will think if what Drake told TV critics is true.
"Quite literally, in terms not only of presentation and quality, but whether you see, hear, read about NASCAR, you are going to do it on every ESPN platform."
Hope you like NASCAR. If not, you might have to avoid the Wonderful World of ESPN over the next few weeks.
BRENT MUSBURGER will be the lead voice of NASCAR on the ESPN networks, and he's up-front about his relative lack of expertise.
"I'm not an expert on automobile racing. When I need something fixed, I call my man Rusty over here and he tells me how to jack a car up to change a tire," Musburger said. "However, the one thing that NASCAR has always had ... and that I love the best of all are the stories that come out of it the human drama, if you will, and the personalities."
That's got to sound a little bit scary to NASCAR fans, given Musburger's recent performance during the Las Vegas Bowl. If he's going to concentrate on personalities rather than the actual event he's supposed to be covering, well, that's going to tick a few people off.
Hey! Maybe ESPN could get Jerry Tarkanian into the booth when ESPN airs the Busch Race at Daytona on Saturday, Feb. 17!
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com
Comments
- Partnership to fight Russian olive 9:53 p.m.
- Marines will deploy to stronghold 9:48 p.m.
- National news briefs 9:47 p.m.
- New plan to combat foreclosures 9:46 p.m.
- Iran could leave nuclear treaty 9:45 p.m.
- Shooting leads Jazz past Blazers 9:40 p.m.
- Woods to be interviewed today 9:39 p.m.
- Utahns back anti-bias laws 9:38 p.m.
- Marriage definitions vary widely 9:38 p.m.
- Legal battles about marriage 9:38 p.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Idaho woman dies after fall
- Cougars beat Utes, 26-23
295 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
134 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
114 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Letters: Trump card for believers
99 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73
It's finally time for the game that everyone has been waiting for all...
Its finally here, the big game. No matter what the circumstances are, it...
To: Mike R. If I could be so bold as to speak for my fellow Democrats......
On winning your biggest game of the year. I'm glad beating Utah places you...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...funny how so many Ute fans just bring up the past when...
Now we can go back to the Tebow highlights and Weis' losing post-game...
If you can't say sumpin nice, don't say nuffin at all. -from a BYU alum...
Wait...BYU is supposed to represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day...
Even if the Aggies had lost tonight, what has happened this year has set the...
Clarification for the typical Ute who likes to forget inconvenient truths....
It's always so fun to go see the Christmas lights downtown and I can't wait...
as Bush had been such a disappointment I didn't think anyone could do worse;...
You can be the first to comment on this story.