By Staff
Justin Schuver, Sports Editor
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy, who was the Grand Marshal for Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, has a theory on why Jeff Gordon is one of the least liked figures in NASCAR.
"He enunciates," Foxworthy has said several times, perhaps most notably in the cult comedy movie The Blue Collar Comedy Tour. "He enunciates. And people from the South ain't having that!"
Jeff Gordon must have done a whole lot of enunciating on Sunday, then.
Let me be clear here. Even though I'm pretty young, I'd like to think that I'm well aware of the reasons that Jeff Gordon was pelted with debris after Sunday's Aaron's 499 race. The win gave him more wins than Dale Earnhardt Sr.; Talladega fans still remember Gordon's controversial win in 2004's caution-shortened race, even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. arguably may have been in the lead at the time; Earnhardt Jr. fans were upset about Gordon's flying of the No. 3 flag after his win in Phoenix in April that tied Earnhardt Sr.'s wins mark.
And yes, Gordon sometimes comes off as a spoiled wunderkind who didn't have to work his way up through the NASCAR ranks. I understand there are a lot of reasons not to like the guy.
But there is NO reason for the fans to have reacted the way they did following Sunday's race. It is a black mark on a state that really doesn't need anymore black marks right now.
When I went to college in the Midwest, I constantly had to defend my home state to friends from big cities like Chicago and New York.
"Oh, no, no, Alabama's not like that. There's plenty of smart people there, and believe it or not we even have the Internet. That Alabama that you see on TV and movies, the one that's just full of dumb rednecks…it's not like that at all!"
Thanks a lot, Talladega. My friends might have almost believed me.
It would have been bad enough if the beer cans and other debris had been thrown just at Gordon's car, but that wasn't the case. They were thrown with reckless abandon, putting everyone at risk – even full beer cans were thrown and could be seen exploding like pipe bombs upon hitting the track.
Now, I realize that it could have possibly been just a few bad apples that aren't a fair representation of this state. But ultimately that doesn't matter. Any sports fan across the country could have turned on ESPN's SportsCenter on Sunday, seen the footage of Gordon's No. 24 car being pelted, and then said, "See! I'd expect nothing less from those Alabama hicks."
And the mainstream media is more than happy to latch on and use it as yet another opportunity to make the state look bad. Blame it on the media if you'd like, but I think the better solution is to simply not do this kind of stupid thing in the first place.
So what is the solution? Well, considering that drinking is almost certainly at the root of this problem, it seems like limiting alcohol would be the first step. Currently, Talladega allows for patrons to bring in their own drinks, a nice gesture considering that the racetrack could probably get away with charging exorbitant prices for alcohol as is the case with most other sporting events.
You can be certain that if fiascos like this continue, that privilege will go by the wayside.
Hello, $8 Miller Lite.
And just like in the case of a kindergarten, it will be a few naughty little boys who can't play nice who will spoil it for everyone else.
And don't think it won't happen. I'm sure nobody ever thought the Winston Cup would become the Nextel Cup, either.
I love this state. I love how the people are genuinely nice; I love the weather; I love the importance of religion and family; I love the passion of its sports fans; I love sweet tea and fried chicken.
It makes me upset to see uninformed bigots slam this state as something it's not.
But it makes me more upset to see things like this give ammo to those bigots.