AFLAC's Carl Edwards???
With their limited penalty, NASCAR has unintentionally invoked a new code of hockey-style vigilance, into a high-speed, high-adrenaline sport, where death is far more common than any other sport.
Here’s why vigilante justice is a really bad idea.
- Too much money at stake There’s way too much money involved with not only putting together a good car but also with team salaries. Allowing drivers to intentionally wreck each other as payback negatively impacts sponsors, fans, vendors and team payouts; it goes way beyond the two drivers.
- Those with a vested interest are emotional It’s unrealistic to expect anyone with a vested interest in an outcome to remove their emotion from a situation, especially when the adrenaline of driving 180+ MPH is involved. In the heat of a competition, a competitor’s basic instinct of survival will surface, unless there’s a significant deterrent.
- Ratings Viewers tune into NASCAR or any other sport to see their favorite athletes or teams, when they’re out of the game or race there’s a much higher probability that fans will tune out. As fans, we want to watch the best of the best compete and ratings suffer when it’s anything less.
- Safety A car, like a gun, can be used as a weapon. People who say the real problem was with the way Keselowski’s car reacted are akin to people who blame the gun when someone’s shot.
Anyone wondering how AFLAC, Carl Edwards’ sponsor, feels about an insurance company driver intentionally wrecking another car? It’s a little ironic, don’t you think?
Anyone notice the PGA’s ratings without Tiger Woods?
The car wouldn’t have reacted that way had Edwards not intentionally spun him out.
The consequences of an intentional penalty in other sports
What happens when athletes in other sports commit an intentional act during the competition?
- In football terms you can relate Edwards’ act to a defender committing an illegal blow to the head, which results in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
- In baseball terms you can relate Edwards act to a pitcher intentionally throwing at a hitter’s head, which results in the pitcher getting tossed and the batter is awarded first base.
- In basketball terms you can relate Edwards act to a flagrant foul, which results in two free throw attempts for the opposing team and possession of the ball.
- In hockey terms you can relate Edwards act to high-sticking or elbowing, which results in time in the penalty box and a power play for the opposing team.
Notice that in every other sport, an intentional act of misconduct not only results in a penalty against the offender but is followed by an award, whether it be free throws, an extra base or yardage, for the opposing player/team. In NASCAR however, the driver who committed the intentional act may be punished but nothing is awarded to the opposing driver. Furthermore, in NASCAR, the driver who’s wrecked is penalized because they’ve got to repair the car, which normally results in losing track position and points.
In effect NASCAR penalizes a driver who was intentionally wrecked by another driver. Is it just me, or does that not make any sense?
My Solution
My solution, to end vigilante-stlye justice, would be to not only immediately park the offender who intentionally wrecks another driver but also award the victim’s team with the offender’s points at the time of the incident.
This solution would not only penalize the driver who committed the intentional act but also award the victim of the attack with the offender’s points.
I believe my solution would be effective because a loss of points would negatively impact a sponsor’s marketing plan, and without the sponsor, most drivers would be racing go-karts on a dirt track.
Intentionally wrecking another driver is hockey-style justice and it dumbs down the sport.
