Why is NASCAR more entertaining than a football game? Well, let's look at each first.
A football game essentially consists of two teams, 11 two-hundred-pound guys on the field for each team. They face off every week in stadiums across the country. No matter what stadium they play at, the field is always 120-yards long and 53-1/3-yards wide, with 100 yards between goal lines.
All the fields have green grass or some synthetic substitute. The fields are level, solid ground. There are no holes to worry about tripping in while you're running. The two teams play for four quarters, repetitively trying to drive down the field, past the other team, and score. The only thing that changes is the weather and time of day.
A NASCAR race has 43 teams, 43 drivers, and 43 cars weighing 3,400 pounds apiece. They face off on racetracks across the country every weekend.
Some racetracks are ovals, and some are road courses. The size of each track varies, from the smallest on the circuit, Martinsville, at just over half-a-mile in circumference, to the largest, Talladega, at 2.66 miles around. Each track has its own set of challenges. Some tracks are freshly paved and smooth as glass, others are weathered, with bumps in the turns that make the cars bounce around and wobble.
Weather plays a factor in every race weekend. Sometimes rain washes the track, leaving teams scrambling to figure out the correct setup with the limited practice time left before the green flag. Sometimes it's hotter or colder than expected, and the grip of the track changes.
In day-to-night races, the track changes as the sun sets, and the teams have to change their car throughout the race to stay competitive.
The objective for the teams and drivers is to drive well each lap, and try to be around at the end to get a win or at least a solid finish.
Now, there are two main ways to be a fan of your favorite sport every week.
First, you can watch the network broadcasts on TV, yell, scream, jump up, and cheer for your team while you're watching with friends or bar mates. Second, you can buy tickets, drive to where the game or race is that weekend, and yell, scream, jump, and cheer for your team there, with the action happening right in front of you.
This is where the real difference between racing and other stick-and-ball sports shows up.
If you've been to a football game recently, you may notice, every so often, a guy with a headset gets out on the field, stands next to a ref, and during that time, the action stops, and no plays are run. The only thing to watch is the cheerleaders on the sidelines, or maybe something entertaining on the giant screen.
Perhaps a lucky fan wins a lifetime supply of hot dogs, or maybe they win that shiny new car that you all walked past on the way in.
After this TV time-out, the little man runs off the field, and the action continues. I fully understand why this happens, don't get me wrong, if I'm watching at home I don't want to miss that great 60-yard pass for the touchdown.
However, if I'm there in person, these pauses make me wish I had brought my PSP, or a magazine, anything to occupy the pauses.
This TV time-out thing really wouldn't work in racing. The closest a network could come would be to just pick up where they left off before the commercial, kind of like when you press pause of your Tivo. You can walk away for a couple of minutes, come back, and not miss any of your favorite show.
However, in racing, not every lap is super important, not every lap has a great pass for the lead, or a gnarly wreck in turn one. It's the job of the network to pick up those important things that happen during a commercial break, and show them to the fans at home through instant replay.
Admittedly, sometimes the TV guys miss some of the good racing during the commercials, but I often miss what's happening in the game when some previous Super Bowl champion, long since retired, is drawing on the screen half the time in bright neon colors!
So what's another reason racing is more exciting to watch? Motivation.
In a football game, or really any non-racing sport, each team knows they only have to beat the other team to win. If they can outdo the other guys, whether it's by a little or a lot, they win. If the plays are called right, then they can move the ball down the field, bit by bit, and as long as they can get 10 yards in three plays, then they get to do it all over again, until they score.
The teams don't have to go all out to win, they can play it a little cooler, be more defensive, and don't throw the long passes where they can lose the ball. They just run it up the middle, through all those linemen. Do that better than the other team, and you win.
In racing, there isn't just one guy you have to be better than to win, there are 42 guys. You can't play it cool and safe when you have to beat that many people. You have to take chances, gamble a little, and put up the big plays to end up the winner when they wave the checkered flag.
I can't speak for everyone else, but I know that when I watch a football game, and especially if I pay money for a ticket, drive to the stadium, sit in the cold weather, rain hitting my face, soaking my clothes, I want to see something exciting, something spectacular.
I want to see the receiver barely catch the ball before going out of bounds. I want to see the quarterback snap the ball to the receiver, just before he gets sacked. I want to be surprised when the quarterback throws to the guy in the end zone 60-yards away, instead of the easy 10-yard pass.
I want to see that guy on the other team get clobbered six-yards short of the end zone on the third down. I want to be on the edge of my seat about whether my team can hold them off for just one more down. Don't let them score!
I guess if I had to sum it all up in just one sentence, one reason why racing is more exciting to watch: it keeps me on the edge of my seat a lot more often than any football game ever has.
Not every game is going to thrill me with those long passes, those games where the receiver dodges six guys bent on bringing him to the ground; his footwork alone is a thing of beauty. I'd say probably 40 percent of the time I watch a football game, I walk out happy with the time spent, happy that I saw an exciting game.
With racing, however, I walk away, having seen an amazing race, about 98 percent of the time.
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about 1 month ago
NASCAR is more interesting than professional football.
College Football is more interesting than professional football.
The NFL stands for No Fun League. I believe its main purpose is to sell beer to people.
about 1 month ago
My favorite football game evah, Boise State vs Oklahoma, I downloaded from iTunes.
Length of video? 34+ minutes with 28 minutes of plays from every snap to whistle ... bullshit cut out.
I just can't watch the NFL, never have.
about 1 month ago
Great read, but I like both NASCAR and the NFL. I will admit, since the Chase started. If Bobby's too many laps down, wrecks, DNF's and can't win. I usually switch the channel, to see what NFL games are on or to the NFL Network to check out the scores.
Don't blame me, blame NASCAR for taking a excellent product and reducing it to be mediocre at best.
It's just to hard too watch 3 to 4 teams dominant, week after week and if Smoke goes where I think he is. It's going to be a bad, bad thing. I miss the days of when a guy like Alan Kulwicki could race Roush, Childress, and Hendrick and win a Championship.
from about 1 month ago
I dont really think that the chase is to blame for 3 to 4 teams winning most of the time. The influx of big money from sponsors and tv deals is what allows those teams to dominate. They've got the money to buy the technology to figure out how to go faster than the lower budget teams.
about 1 month ago
The key to watching a NASCAR race is to either have a favorite driver to root for or to have a driver in a betting pool. This always makes it more interesting. NFL gets more boring than a nascar race. There is always a race going on on the track and some plots brewing such as fuel mileage or people gaining just enough points to overtake someone when it gets close to chase time. I do agree though that when your favorite i.e. Bobby Labonte crashes or is running a dismal 22nd it is hard to watch, but I always like to watch then entire race, because who knows, "You could be running 20th the entire race and end up winning....Just ask Kurt Busch.....by the way him winning and not finishing 20th cost me 350 dollars!!!!>:0
15 days ago
ok....who ever wrote this is an idiot. 22 200 pound men?...mabey the place kickers weigh that. Just run the ball up the middle and it's that easy?....HEY...just pass the other cars...IT'S JUST THAT EASY!!!. Not that easy to run it up the middle. Even when you can run it up the middle..it's NEVER easy. Try moving one or two 320-365 pound men who are trying too jam up the middle...even when it looks easy...just like when a car passes another car...it's not easy. Tony stewart MAY be a "big guy" for an average guy....but the kickers alone would hand his ass to him...he would be VERY small. Oh yeah...going fast DOES NOT make you an athelete. You dont see space men crying they should be called athelets...and they are in 100 times better shape than a nascar driver and go 100 times faster. Sport yes. Atheletes no. Just look at tony stewart. By the way. If you are a nascar driver and athletic...guess what....driving fast did not get you there. Good hand eye cordination is a big factor...but again...you do not need to be a athelete to have that.
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