Cynicism is easy, which explains why everyone seems to be a cynic – smarter-than-thou, smirking-at-the-world misanthropists with all the answers but little ambition to follow up on them. If cynicism were difficult, like hard work and success, then only a few would be cynical. Instead, cynicism is easy, so society is brimming with sofa-surfing intellects who solve the world’s problems between bags of Cheetos.
We heard from this crowd again this week after the announcement that Carmelo Anthony and Gene Simmons would back P.J. Chesson and Ron Hemelgarn in the IRL IndyCar Series this season. Car-melo apparently struck a nerve with the anti-IRL crowd – as if anything doesn’t strike a nerve with them – and they’ve been chuckling about Simmons since his marketing firm signed on with the IRL in January.
The teaming of Anthony and Simmons threatens the know-everythings because it contains the elements of external fame and attention they find so intimidating. Anthony, the star forward for the Denver Nuggets, has on his coattails the attention of mainstream sports media; after Wednesday’s press conference, ESPN set a non-Danica record for SportsCenter time devoted to the IRL. The message-board experts don’t understand this concept, but Anthony’s ability to deliver different eyes to the IRL actually helps both sides of the open-wheel conflagration. What he brings, you shall also receive.
If one rule could be added to the unwritten motorsports handbook, it should be this: Outsiders are beneficial. Too often, they’re viewed as adversary. Instead, they should be welcomed. Nothing profits sport more than attention, and nothing brings it like outsiders. Inside the thick glass of the racing fishbowl, people become myopic. It’s time to stop treating this game of ours like it’s ours only. Open it up. Let others in. Maybe they have ideas that we can’t see because we’re too close.
True, Simmons is a born salesman. After all, he turned a mediocre rock band with a gimmick into a 30-year marketing wonder that can be found on anything from lunchboxes to credit cards. As he often says, KISS isn’t one of the top 100 bands in history, but it is one of the five best known. In turning makeup into gold, he became one of the most famous faces in the world. Now that fame is redirected to the IRL.
True, we’ve brought ourselves to tears making fun of his “I am Indy” anthem. True, most of us – inside and outside – scoffed when he was hired. But he is enthusiastic about it, he does demand attention, and he is entertaining. That’s far more than can be said about any previous attempts to market the Indy Racing League.
True, Anthony and Simmons know little about racing. So? Maybe that’s a good thing. As two factions of the same racing game beat each other about the head and neck over what amount to petty, insignificant issues and enormous amounts of greed and ego, the viewing public yawns. Regardless which side of this silly war you’re on, you know the sport needs help reaching the public. You know people have rejected an intriguing form of racing – that includes both open-wheel sides – while embracing another form of racing. You know the help might well come from beyond the boundaries of the game. It might have to.
True, Chesson has little experience at the top level. So? What the sport needs is a brash, clever, ballsy tough guy who knows how to put on a show. What it needs is a good quote. What it needs is a challenger, a guy who isn’t afraid to wear the black hat or offend sponsors or knock down a wall or two. What it needs is a new face that’s interesting. At this point in his career, only one thing can be said about Chesson: He is not boring. The same cannot be said for every other racer out there.
It would be fun to sit about and trash all of this, to be the detractor and joker and wise-ass. In fact, it would be delightfully easy. It’s more fun to rip something than it is to come up with a better plan. Solutions are much more difficult to come by. They take time and effort and even failure before they come to fruition. They take more contemplation and exertion than it takes to be a clown on a message board, ripping away in anonymity.
If this team and this effort turn out a failure, it wasn’t because somebody didn’t try. And it wasn’t because someone sat around and laughed at it.
