It Was The Wrong Call
For a while it appeared that NASCAR would
not buckle under as the NFL, NHL, and other sports bodies had done in the days
following the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Department of
Defense. But in the end, NASCAR and also the IRL did knuckle under. Races slated
for the 16th of September have been postponed – NASCAR’s event at New Hampshire
has been pushed to the 23rd of November.
There has been considerable commentary
about how the cancellations and postponements are the right thing to do. Two of
the more forceful proponents of such have been Joe Theismann and Ray Dunlap,
both of ESPN. Theismann
argues that the NFL’s decision "places value on human life…….The
NFL has sent a message of respect to the victims, the rescue workers, and those
who are trapped, saying their lives are important and that (sports) pales by
comparison to the consequences of Tuesday’s attacks."
Dunlap is far less eloquent in his piece,
published before the decision to postpone the race was announced, but he makes
much the same point – "There was only one call to make….it was so simple
to come to the right decision…..for God’s sake, the decision to cancel this
weekend’s activity is a no-brainer."
The problem with Dunlap and Theismann’s
pieces is that the decision was NOT a no-brainer.
Theismann’s point about cancellations
putting value on human life is silly. The games and races really are not relevant
to anything involved in the New York and Washington disasters. They ARE,
however, part of people’s lives, and Senator John McCain made this point on the
ESPN network – getting on with ordinary lives in areas not directly affected by
the wreckage in New York and Washington is at least as important as digging out
the bodies – to a certain extent it is even MORE important.
Theismann claims that "maybe this is
a time that, instead of watching football (or a race)…..a father turns to a
son, or a wife to a husband, or a mother to a daughter, and let them know how
important and wonderful they are….Maybe it’s time for the nation to stand up,
look around, and appreciate the people in our lives instead of taking them for
granted."
And just what concrete good will such do?
People can appreciate those in their lives without paralyzing themselves.
Whenever I go to Stafford Motor Speedway or Pocono or New Hampshire, I regularly
see people doing exactly that – appreciating the people in their lives. When I
go to Pocono, I go with my nephew, and the period of togetherness is always
enjoyable. Indeed, part of the reason I always look forward to Pocono trips is
the opportunity to get together with my nephew.
"We need to put the importance of
life into perspective," Theismann writes. Just how is canceling and
postponing sports accomplishing this? Far from putting life into perspective,
such actions put the FACT of life above actual LIVING of it. Unable to
participate in events that are part of their lives, people who go to these
events are in a serious sense being denied the opportunity to live their lives.
"After the Oklahoma City
bombing," Ray Dunlap writes, "the race went on. After Dale Earnhardt
died, the race went on. Over the years, I am sure there have been many
compelling reasons to cancel any number of NASCAR races."
You’re wrong, Mr. Dunlap. There has never
been any compelling reason short of full-scale war to cancel any number of
NASCAR races. Cancellations do not put human life above competition, they put
fear and paralysis above normality. Such accomplishes nothing, no matter how one
slices it.
Now I don’t know if any of the dead at the
World Trade Center or the Pentagon had tickets to the events at New Hampshire. I
suspect at least a few did have tickets to scheduled home games for the New York
Giants, the New York Jets, and the Washington Redskins.
Then there is the matter of when the
rescheduled New Hampshire 300 has been tentatively slotted – November 23. There
is a racing tradition of a sort around Thanksgiving – one of the biggest midget
races in the country is the Turkey Night Grand Prix, held at Irwindale Speedway
outside LA.
New England, though, is of course
different from LA. On the day following Thanksgiving, New Hampshire temperatures
are usually in the freezing range. I have doubts that everyone who purchased
tickets to the September event will return in latter November. Those who will,
like myself, will do what we can to put up with whatever weather is involved.
There are concerns about possible snow, though up there snow usually does not
show up until December.
Gary Bahre reportedly fought a
rescheduling of the weekend until NASCAR overruled him. He was right to do so.
If New Hampshire’s weekend truly HAD to be
rescheduled, could not the entire Winston Cup/Grand National schedule have been
pushed back?
Regardless, the decision to postpone, by
NASCAR, the NFL, etc., was wrong. Contrary to the popular belief, it does not
respect the dead, it simply punishes the living.