Sunday, February 24, 2013

HEADLINES and HYPE

DOES THE NATIONAL MEDIA KNOW WHO THIS IS?: Courtney Force in victory lane at Pomona. (Photo courtesy of Ron Lewis.)


I'm not going to do what so many "journalists" do these days -- write about what I don't know about. I'm just home from the NHRA Arizona Nationals and haven't yet watched a tape of the Daytona 500. So I'm not going to comment on The Great American Race.

For now, I'll just stand on this story from Sunday's Arizona Republic. ESPN already has used John Force's first quote :
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/20130223courtney-force-gets-win-danica-patrick-gets-press.html

Here's a link to my story on the Force racing dynasty from last Friday:
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/20130220fear-courage-will-force-daughters-stare-down-danger-nhra.html

And, if you're hoping Ashley Force Hood will be back driving anytime soon, read this on CompetitionPlus.com:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/24267-force-hood-has-no-secret-plan-for-return-



It's NASCAR week in Phoenix. Mark Armijo and I will have the Arizona Republic's coverage starting Tuesday. That's AzCentral.com on the web. I'll have notebook every day starting then, plus a Kurt Busch feature on Thursday. Look for one of my infamous Q&As Sunday -- with Danica Patrick. Yes, I'll Tweet as time permits and legitimate news demands. @SpinDoctor500 .


FAST LINES: Good move by NHRA to return to a print version of its media guide after online only last year. Take note, Indianapolis Motor Speedway . . . Will someone in ESPN management please tell Tony Kornheiser to shut the bleep up about auto racing? Cranky Korny puts his foot in his mouth every time he talks motorsports. Last week he said Danica Patrick had to drive "four laps" to win the Daytona 500 pole. Legit question: How many other sports does he yap about without knowledge? . . . The Adam Carolla and Juliet Huddy segments on The O'Reilly Factor are so vacuous they'd be just right on Around the Horn . . . I wrote here at the time that CNN's Candy Crowley should have been suspended from all political coverage through the end of the election after her unprofessional and biased performance as a presidential debate moderator. Well, last week, one of the Commission on Presidential Debates co-chairs, Frank Fahrenkopf, finaly admitted selecting Crowley was a "mistake." 

[ more next Monday . . . ]