Total Domination

It's an age-old question in the world of sports - is it good or bad to have one team or player dominate?

Whether it's Tiger Woods, the Chicago Bulls, the Yankees, the Lakers, the Patriots or Hendrick Motorsports, there has always been dominance in the sporting world. But when one entity takes complete control, the end result may turn off some fans and viewers.

As a Chicagoan, I loved it when the Bulls were winning six straight NBA titles. But obviously, I'm sure that wasn't the case with millions of other fans around the country.

Some most likely tuned in to root against Michael Jordan and company, but I wonder if more parity across the board makes a sport more popular than one powerhouse.

Hendrick Motorsports is the NASCAR juggernaut this year, with seven wins in ten races. If you're a fan of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and oh yeh, Casey Mears, the start to the season has been a dream.

But if you're a fan of any one of the other drivers and teams, the start to the year stinks.

I think having one team win everything hurts the sport and "casual" fans don't care as much. Spreading the winning around is more interesting and probably makes for a better show.

That's what I think. But I'd rather hear what you all believe.

 
Posted: 4/30/2007 9:23:00 AM
Comments:
Good comment Bristol i agree...even though i do have a favorite, its really the drama of the sport i enjoy...i recall moments like 2004...the very first race at richmond, the night before who makes the chase and who's out...i remember Mcmurray yelling on his radio..."is that for position...tell him to move over im trying to make it in"....i remember Homestead 2004....When the caution comes out...and Gordon yells "what the hell r they throwing the caution for" and loomis said two words " the 97"....and Gordon replied "O"....then Busch looses his wheel and comes an inch from hitting the wall and handing Gordon or Johnson the championship....I love how you can be on top of the world one second and be at the bottom of the hill the next....remember homestead, it was Bill Elliots last full season and how better to end your career than with a win...but coming to get the checkered on the last turn of the last lap...he blows a tire and Labonte rolls to victory...Thats y i watch...I LOVE NASCAR!
Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM
Dominance has been a part of all the sporting world even NASCAR. You can pretty much break down all of NASCAR history into different driver eras, but that has changed in recent years. After the "Gordon" era, we have had a string of quite a few different champs.

This year seems to be different than the previous few. Four of the seven races that Hendricks has won have come at COT races. Hendricks is way ahead of the game in their COT development which has given them a dominant position.

I agree that parity in NASCAR is better for the sport than a dominant driver or a dominant team. I'm not sure I can say the same thing about all sports. Have you watched a Lions/Browns game, lately? Having a bunch of mediocre teams can be boring. NASCAR is a completely different creature from all the other sports.

I don't think fans will tend to stay with the sport if the same team or same driver wins every week. I would guess NASCAR has known this for a while now, but the COT might have had an effect that they didn't intend.

I would go as far to say that race attendance and TV numbers are down in part due to the predictability of the races this year. Next week, Darlington, another COT race, sound exciting to anybody? Not me, but I'm not a Hendrick's fan.

Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM
As a Hendrick fan I can honestly say that yes...Nascar needs a villian, and the only way to create that in sports is to have one guy win alot... would Gordon be hated if he had 15 wins and 1 championship or would he be looked at as just another mediocre driver...like Bobby Labonte.....Nascar is no different from the NFL....the NFL leveled the playing field through free agency and now its hard to watch football...no one agrees on which team is the best...and most ppl cant tell me who won the championship in 2002 with out looking it up....the reson Dominance is important to the sport...one..it keeps fans watching so they can  root against the Champion...and two if your a casual fan, and u see one guy dominating...you kinda start making that the person you root for....and then that casual fan becomes a normal fan...and eventually a faithful fan....As far as Team Hendricks be'n crybabies, look at Jr's bestest buddy Stewart, and you'll find the meaning of a crybaby....and Jr could be teammates with these guys pretty soon...maybe some of their talent will rub off on him...
Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM
Dominance will come and go time and again. Enjoy it or not, the best thing about racing is you don't need to have a "favorite" team week in and week out. How about enjoying each race with the multitude of struggles each team has. Their success or failure need not mean a first or 43rd place finish. This is the beauty of racing. The joy of intense hard racing, the action on pit road, the fan comraderie cannot be ruined by the lose or win syndrome of other sports. I do not have a favorite driver from today to forever, rather each week I determine who looks like the favorite, who could be a dark horse, what team is due the twist of fate, etc. and a racing we go. Win or lose, there is gonna be some action this weekend. Enjoy! That's really all that matters. Thousands of little hard fought battles will be lost and won this week within each team. These battles are not win or lose important, but progression or recession. We grow with the sport at its' pleasure.
Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM
Pete, Pete, Pete,... as a Chicagoan you should know it wasn't 6 STRAIGHT NBA titles.  Remember MJ's time off in baseball?  You are right,... I don't care for the Hendricks domination so it's easy to become more of Hendricks "hater",... just like I used to be a Dallas Cowboys "hater", Yankees "hater".  Maybe for the fans who don't like Hendricks aren't happy,... but their passion to see anybody else BUT Hendricks win is probably at an all time high.  And when someone else does win, ... just how much more popular is that win going to be than if Hendricks wasn't dominating?
Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM
Well Pete, i'd say I have to agree with you on this one. I too was from Chicago and when the Bulls were winning championships there wasn't any other sport I loved more than basketball. However, with basketball, football, baseball, or most other sports, you only have two teams facing each other at one time. For NASCAR, you have 43 teams going head to head. The advantage for the other sports is that you get to see tons of games in just one weekend, meaning plenty of winners and losers. Nascar on the other hand has just one race per weekend and you have one winner and 42 losers. And when the same two guys keep winning, things get old pretty fast (just imagine the ratings at the end of the season if we didn't have the chase?).

Now for the Hendrick situaion, I would have to say that it is hurting the sport. One reason is because the people at Hendrick are the most hated drivers. All of them (minus Casey Mears since he's just stuck with left overs) do their share of whining about this and that and that's why they get the most boos each weekend. Want to know why I hate Jimmie Johnson? Because he blamed Jr for a wreck at Talladega that Jimmie caused. Jeff Gordon? He whines every other weekend, even if he finishes second to the car he owns! And don't even get me started on Kurt Busch. It's people like Jeff Burton and even Dale Jr. that can at least keep their mouths shut and have some class.

I think the main problem is that right now it is obvious that Hendrick has the best cars on the track, which i'm ok with. Hendrick pours a ton of money into his cup program and it is obvious they worked the hardest and spent the most to be on top. What i'm not ok with, however, is that the car of tomorrow was supposed to level the playing field. Instead it now appears to be the opposite where one owner is completely dominant and most everyone else is playing catch up. I feel really bad for owner/drivers or teams that are 2 cars or less because they are the ones struggling the most. Plus, it just seems like these races are getting less exciting because of such dominance.

In conclusion, I have to say that I see very little reason to stay at home and watch a race that Hendrick will probably win. In my opinion they should just all be driving IROC cars because at least then we would have winners based off of talent and not equipment. Yes talent, the one factor that usually determines the winner is every other sport. I'm not saying Jeff Gordon or Jim bob Johnson don't have talent, but it's hard to argue that their equipment doesn't have something to do with all their wins. Jr and Waltrip were dominant on restrictor plate tracks with their equipment too, but I really wish the focus was always on what the driver can do.



Posted On: 5/7/2007 10:23:00 AM

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