I was one of the ones watching those top-end interviews
and was particularly intrigued with John Force's comment
about they won't let me cuss. I took it as the usual Force
bluster. However the Agent's comments about how the lack
of cussing robs drag racers of their personality is way
out of line!
The English language contains approximately
615,500 words...more than twice as many words as any other
language on the planet. What that means is we have way
more words with which to express ourselves. If we fall
into the habit of simply relying on cuss words to
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express
how we feel then as my 14-year-old daughter was quick to
point out, you simply display your own lack of language
skills.
Come on...cussing is as an English teacher once told me "a
poor man's way of expressing himself." I believe we
should expect a certain level of civility in our communication
skills (and that applies to all of the other programs cited).
Just because someone else is doing doesn't make it right.
It's not about sanitizing the interviews, it's about communicating.
If you are happy, tell me...conversely if you're unhappy
explain why. There really is no excuse for cussing. And
regardless what the Agent says, personality is more than
just the cuss words. A lot more.
Jerry Lucky
IS IT LIVE OR IS IT MEMOREX?
Isn't that what tape delay and "beeeeeep" are
for? The broadasts aren't live so there should be enough
time to take care of cussing on the editing room bench.
Besides, anyone who has watched enough SportsCenter long
enough has seen enough to know that many sports people
use vernacular English in everyday speech.
Ever seen the "Lee Elia Incident"? I didn't
know that a baseball manager could string together so many
cuss words and invectives in a row. All the cussing by
drag racers in all the years of TV coverage pales in comparison
to that 30 seconds of tape.
The PC Police should get a life and realize that the TV
editing staff can take care of it one way or another. All
that would have to happen is to tell the racers that if
they cuss on camera, the tape will be edited so that their
interview does not go out over the air. Period. End of
discussion.
Then let the racer get as colorful as the racer wishes.
Sponsors can then put pressure on the racer to clean up
the act or it would hurt where it really counts -- in the
pocketbook. Racer sponsorship is in part predicated on
getting the sponsor's name in the interview, as well as
on the side of the car. More interviews with sponsor mentions
equals more exposure for the sponsor which translates to
better name recognition, etc., etc., etc.
Dale Tuley
Las Vegas, NV
SEEING CLEARLY?
What was the person smoking when they gave
you the rumor on IHRA?
1. Clear Channel Entertainment had income
of $424.5 Mill in the 1st quarter corp. report. BUT they
also had expenses of $423.5 Mil. Do the math.
2. CC Outdoors has the deep pockets. Why
would they dump dollars into CCE when it is going to be
spun off into a separate corp. by the end of the year (2005)?
Sounds like wishful thinking, unless. . .someone
with "less than controlling interest" in IHRA
has some big plans. Maybe they are getting an advance from
Bruton.
Bob Busch
