Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 01:27 PM PST
[
General]
Sporting events are not only meant to be entertaining, but they are
also meant to be exciting as well. So when you take the time to think
about what it is that makes watching sporting events so exciting?
Excitement can come in the form of a last minute touchdown, a game
winning homerun, or even a last lap pass that was not expected. A sport
in general is full of exactly that, the unexpected since after all it
can neither be choreographed, nor can it be predicted. Sure there are
plays that are pre-conceived, but because of the human nature element
that is thrown in, you can almost guess that something out of the
ordinary is lurking in the shadows just waiting for the right moment to
jump out and surprise you.
Now along those same lines, there is what we could call the
playmakers, or the heroes as well as the villains of the sport. The
heroes are always the ones that are probably the most loved, because of
the storybook endings that usually follow them around. They are the
ones that most fans will always adhere to because of the persona of
being the so-called, "good guy." Good guys as the saying goes are
usually the ones that finish first, and even when they don't, they take
losing just as well as they do winning. Now what about the villain or
the dramatic character, that is typically at odds with the hero as
defined by Webster's Dictionary. Villains are not hard to spot, and
it's usually because of their antics or their actions that set them a
part from the rest of the sporting world. They are always the ones that
do things that are at times not normal, or they like to push the
envelope just to draw attention to themselves.
We can look back to some of sports biggest villains and
exactly what it was that gave them that label. After catching the
second of four touchdown passes against the New York Giants, New
Orleans receiver Joe Horn was handed a flip-phone by teammate Michael
Lewis, who pulled it out from under the padding used to protect the
goal post. San Francisco's 49ers' receiver Terrell Owens pulled out a
pen from his sock after scoring a TD against Seattle, signed the ball
and handed it to his financial consultant seated in a nearby suite.
Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson mugged for the cameras. After his
10-yard touchdown catch on the Bengals' first possession, he ran out of
the end zone and retrieved a preprinted sign stored behind a snow
drift. Johnson, who has repeatedly been fined by the league for uniform
violations and touchdown celebrations, held up the sign that read:
"Dear NFL: Please don't fine me again."
Or for those of you that can remember that far back, it was
NASCAR driver Tim Richmond who used to roll his drivers suit down to
his hips showing off his chest, while signing autographs for the woman
after a race. And then there was Dennis Rodman of the Los Angeles
Lakers who got upset after a technical foul, and took his jersey off
and threw it into the crowd while leaving the court. There are many
more incidents that have taken center stage, as well as the focus off
of what should have been a normal celebration, but is there such a
thing as a normal celebration especially when you try to put yourselves
in the shoes of those who have tasted the thrill of victory? Does
winning ever get old, or can a driver get too complacent especially
when you think about all that adrenaline that is flowing through their
bodies, especially at the speeds that they are traveling at?
Now most of the fans already have these pre-conceived notions
that what Kyle did by smashing a guitar, was distasteful to those who
already have it in for Kyle. And of course for some of his fans, it was
quite alright for their driver to act in a way that he has been acting
since he first came into the series back in 2003. What Kyle did could
have easily gone either way by all the discussions that followed the
incident that were either in his defense, or they were totally against
his actions. But no matter how you look at it, whether he walks away
after having a bad finish, or he chooses to bad mouth the fans of
another driver, Kyle was once again playing the part of the villain,
and he plays that part very well. Kyle knows exactly how to keep the
attention on himself, and away from those that try to take the
spotlight from him.
When you begin to talk about a driver that has already built a
really strong love-hate relationship with the fans? Its not hard see
that whether he is winning or losing, Kyle in his own way lets the fans
know exactly who is in charge of the situation. One thing he has
learned, and he does it very well is how to use his own antics to stir
up the crowd. Stirring up the crowd is one his best attributes since he
has already made it clear that he will probably never be the most
popular driver in the sport, because that title belongs to his arch
rival and he has made it more then clear on a couple of occasions. Now
being the most popular driver doesn't necessarily mean that you have to
be liked, but it could fall under the category of being able to draw
attention to yourself even if you are considered the "bad boy" in the
sport.
Dale Earnhardt Sr was not liked by all the fans, but he was
still the most popular driver in the series because of his overly
aggressive style of driving. Whenever Earnhardt was on the track, you
always wanted to make sure to keep an eye on him because you never knew
when he was going to take that aggressive style out on another driver
to get the win, and that in itself was one of the reasons that the fans
kept a sharp eye on him. Earnhardt almost single handedly made NASCAR
what it was during his day, and he knew exactly what to do to keep
himself marketable. Kyle is also doing what he needs to do keep himself
marketable, except that when he loses he has taken on a whole new role
that has never been seen in the sport before. How many drivers whether
past or present, have ever gotten out of their cars, and just walked
away from the track because they didn't win, or because they had a bad
finish?
Now is this a behavioral problem that many in the racing world
today think is abnormal? Because even in victory he still knows how to
work the crowd to his own advantage, with his signature bow that he
takes after winning a race. Kyle has no remorse for his own actions, or
for that matter his own bizarre behavior, because it's a given fact
that he is a publicists dream come true by the way he chooses to
portray himself. Because when you think about his on-track antics, how
many other drivers are willing to take the steps that this young driver
has taken to keep himself in the spotlight? Whether it's an out of the
ordinary way of behavior, or this is just his normal attitude, the end
result is still the same and he is still getting the attention that
Kyle himself is after. Because when you think about it, how many fans
are keeping an eye on him to see what he will do next? Im Out
Send Message
Add Friend
Block User
Invite to Group
Report User 
All Star