|
Recent headlines in the NASCAR world say that any
driver not named Matt Kenseth or Jimmie Johnson is struggling.
Each week, many of the top 10 drivers change spots, but the
driver that drops the most spots or has the most disappointing
race is the latest victim and in dire straits. If the driver is
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, or Tony Stewart, the headlines
are bolder, more desperate, and apt to appear in every media
outlet in the country. The reports of gloom and doom will only
get more tenacious as each checkered flag waves, and the races
remaining until the Chase starts in New Hampshire diminish in
number. Are the headlines just attention getters or, in fact, is
each team’s situation as hopeless as they predict?
Do the media personnel perceive the drivers and
crews as having problems making the chase, or just in their
finish for the particular race that week? Do they mean the teams
are struggling in relation to point leader Jimmie Johnson, or in
achieving the goals set for their own team? Depending on the
answer to those questions, then the more appropriate word to use
would be either struggle or expectations.
The dictionary definition of the word struggle
is:
-
To exert muscular energy, as against a
material force or mass: struggled with the heavy load.
-
To be strenuously engaged with a problem,
task, or undertaking: struggled with his math homework.
-
To make a strenuous effort; strive:
struggled to be polite.
-
To contend or compete: “Right and wrong...
will ever continue to struggle” (Abraham Lincoln).
-
To progress with difficulty: struggled
through the novel.
The definition of
expect is:
-
-
To look forward to the probable
occurrence or appearance of: expecting a telephone
call; expects rain on Sunday.
-
To consider likely or certain: expect
to see them soon. See Usage Note at
anticipate.
-
To consider reasonable or due: We expect
an apology.
-
To consider obligatory; require: The
school expects its pupils to be on time.
-
Informal. To presume; suppose
Mathematically before the start of the Brickyard
400, 34 drivers can still make the Chase. It isn’t realistic to
expect anyone outside of 20th in points to make the
Chase, but it could happen. Elliott Sadler currently sits in 20th
position, and 435 points behind Tony Stewart in 10th
position. Sadler would have to finish ahead of Stewart and make
up 74 points per race to make it into the Chase. If Sadler were
to finish each race 2nd, then Stewart would still
have to finish 21st or worse. (Sadler would have to
similarly finish better than the teams currently sitting 11th
through 19th.) This is mathematically possible, however
unlikely, with the difficulties almost every team has
experienced since the All-Star race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a
classic example of how quickly a team can rise or fall. After
Chicago, Dale Jr. was 3rd in points. After he
experienced consecutive DNFs -- a blown motor at NHIS and a
wreck at Pocono -- he is now in 11th position, 15
points out of the Chase.
After the Brickyard 400, any driver between 5th
and 12th could be “in the Chase” or “out of the
Chase”, since only 133 points separate Kevin Harvick in 5th
and Greg Biffle in 12th. Therefore, the headlines
could announce misfortune for any one of eight drivers. In
addition, as the picture is a little clearer each week, the
media will be even louder for those drivers barely inside or
just outside of the Chase.
Looking at the definitions, if the media is
trying to say the teams are struggling to attain a good
finish each race, then yes, that would be the correct word,
especially if the team had problems that resulted in a finish of
30th or worse. The term would also be justifiable in
a comparison between most teams and points leader Jimmie
Johnson, because Johnson is first and the other contenders
struggle to keep close enough to compete for the title in the
last ten races.
However, to say the teams are struggling in the
overall point standings or in achieving their goals, I disagree.
Let’s look at a group of 43 athletes. The middle number is 21.5,
so anyone below that number in a rank order could be defined as
below average, while those above that number would be considered
above average. However, that is still too ambiguous with such a
large number. To narrow it down, let’s put them into three
groups: above, below, and just average. Logically, the bottom
third, those ranked below the 28.66 position, could be called
struggling, while the ones in the middle 14 positions would be
the average performers, and those ranked in the top 14.33
positions would be the best of the 43 total men.
The drivers with a realistic chance at the Chase
are, for the most part, in the top 14 positions, which is above
average in a group of 43 drivers. That certainly is not
something to be ashamed of, as the media is leading the fans to
believe in the headlines. I believe many teams might be meeting
and even exceeding expectations, while there are some teams that
aren’t meeting their goals. Every team would love to win each
race and to be the top in points, but realistically there can
only be one.
Almost everything we encounter in life is a
struggle, unless you attempt something that is a natural gift,
or you were educated in how to handle the task and it has become
second nature. As children, we are taught that struggling to
achieve something of importance builds character,
self-confidence, and pride. Struggles also can lead to
frustrations and disappointments if we don’t achieve a goal
within our own acceptable timeframe. We learn that in school
it’s a struggle to pass some courses and exams, while other
classes are easy “A’s”. We come to realize with maturity that in
the easy classes, sometimes we never learned a thing, while we
retained the knowledge from the ones we struggled at and the
next level of classes we took was based on that hard-earned
information.
Fans expect their drivers to excel and are
disappointed each time they don’t achieve what they had
expected, even when the team met or exceeded its own goals for
that race. No driver should feel that he has let his fans down
if he has tried his best with the equipment he was provided by
his team. No team should be ashamed if they did their best with
the knowledge they have, and the rules set by NASCAR. Fans need
to be realistic in their expectations, not believe the shame the
media is trying to place on the drivers, and show continued
support to their driver throughout adversity. And the media has
to learn the power of their word or words.
Definition source is www.dictionary.com
Source: The American Heritage®
Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
reserved. |
