I recently heard this word in conversation and was disheartened by it’s connotation.
The definition alone breeds discontent in everyone else who is not feeling the same.
It suddenly becomes a dirty word; a word that devours the soul and disrupts the happy balance of things.
Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you want, nor does it say what you want to hear. That is OK, but when a level of complacency has been achieved, there adds a certain poisonous aspect to the mix that unless remedied, will ultimately lead to disaster.
By now we’ve all heard the outcome of NASCAR’s decision to penalize Edwards 60 points in the Nationwide Series championship standing, a fine of $25,000 and probation in all NASCAR series until the end of the year.
Edwards' car owner, Jack Rousch was penalized 60 owner championship points and Keselowski has also been put on probation until Dec. 31, 2010.
I am sure that NASCAR believes that it did the right thing. Kudos to them for following through with a penalty, but is it just another case of the punishment not fitting the crime?
Oh, I don’t know, let’s ask Carl Long, who was penalized 200 driver points, his wife and team owner Danielle Long was penalized 200 owner points and crew chief Charles Swing, being fined $200,000 – all for having an over sized engine in Long’s Sprint Cup car during last year’s All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Just sayin' is all.
Has NASCAR become complacent? Is it indeed pleased with itself given the current situation, despite knowing that there could be potential danger lurking around the corner?
Does their decision hurt or help the sport?
Fans can and will debate NASCAR's actions until collectively we are blue in the face.
It is an argument that none of us will truly be able to win. We each have our own differing opinions and nothing can be said that will ever really change them.
We are NASCAR fans. At the end of the day every single one of us is right. We are right to love a “good wreck.” It’s OK to admit that aggressive driving is exciting. Good times for NASCAR fans include fueling a heated rivalry, amongst drivers and each other.
If we all entered any given Sunday and the occasional Saturday night with the same train of thought, just how boring would our sport and we become?
We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t. It is a case of not being able to “live with or without you.”
This current penalty may not have been the right thing, but more so the safe thing for NASCAR to do.
Maybe that is the key. Perhaps we need a “safe word” to keep things sane and consensual between us all. A virtual cry for “Uncle” when things become a bit too turbulent.
No matter the outcome, let it be known that I personally appreciate being roughed up by you each and every week. I like the element of surprise and I await your decisions with baited breath. It fills me with a delicious uncertainty that I equate to stepping into a darkened room, unsure of what will be waiting for me when I click the lights on.
Sometimes nobody is home. At other times I am beaten about the face and shoulders with a sock filled with soap bars forcing me to lash out, and on occasion you are sitting there sweetly, greeting me with loving arms.
Ah NASCAR, what a complicated beast you be. You are a bewildering, disheveled, hot mess. You leave me tattered and torn but I want you to know, I wouldn’t have you any other way.
Damn you for being every catch phase in the book! You had me at hello and to this very day I just can't quit you.
Article originally published 07/21/2010
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