Random Thoughts

In addition, in most other sports members of the media can't chase the players through the halls of the stadium - or even the locker room, since many teams have areas of the locker room that are off-limits to members of the media where a player can hide if they need additional time or don't want to talk to the media at all. However, at the track media members can chase driver through the whole garage area if they want, and while drivers can escape to their hauler or the motorcoach lot, media members seem to have a lot more leeway in terms of where they can go and what they can do. I'm fairly certain that at the NCAAs if officials allowed the media to chase members of the losing team through the halls of the arena to try and get a quote that those players might also give some less than courteous interviews. No one wants to be chased down, and especially when things have gone bad. In general, while there are many rules and guidelines in Nascar that the media have to follow, there seems to be even more control in other sports as to when and where the media can approach the players.

That said, I definitely think that speaking with the media is an obligation that the drivers need to live up to. Frequently, interviews are the only way that fans hear from their favorite drivers so when a driver dodges interviews, they're also dodging their fans. Also, the drivers have obligations to their sponsors to get exposure for them which is another reason why the drivers should be doing interviews. I also think that the drivers should make every effort to be cooperative and pleasant with the media - not only is that showing common courtesy for another human being, in the long-run things will go a lot better for them in terms of the kind of coverage they get if they have a good working relationship with the media. It bothers me that Tony Stewart is routinely rude to some members of the media and not just under trying circumstances. Tony seems to have problems even being courteous during routine Q&A session with the media. I don't like when other drivers like Kyle Busch are rude either.

However, I also understand where the drivers are coming from. There's a lot of emotion in not just racing but in all other sports. When the drivers aren't given an opportunity to gain control of their emotions then it should be expected that they might not always react perfectly. Athletes, the drivers included, aren't robots, they're human beings with flaws who experience the full range of emotions that anyone else does. The drivers are also constantly being swarmed, not only by the media, but by fans, sponsor reps and others who don't always understand proper boundaries or that they might be having a bad day. The drivers probably feel like they're in a giant pressure cooker and it has to be very difficult to deal with at times.

If there's a story to be told then the reporters have to do their jobs and try to get a comment even when someone is having a bad day. But if there's nothing to be gained other than footage of a driver giving short answers that are nothing of substance as they try to get away from the media member as quickly as possible and the media outlet and it's journalists know that's what the likely outcome is, at that point are they still pursuing the driver to get the answer to their questions or is it an effort to get footage that makes a driver look bad that create drama and draw attention? I feel like that's what happened to Kyle Busch at Nashville where it might not have been so much of an effort to get an interview as an effort to get something that made for good TV.