January 23, 2010
By Brenda Benedict
Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback, brought his team to within one game of going to this year's Super Bowl. But last Sunday, after Favre threw an interception, his team went on to lose in overtime. The New Orleans Saints beat the Vikings and they will move on to play the Indianapolis Colts in the big National Football League championship game on February 7.
Favre has had an illustrious football career. In 16 seasons, he led the Green Bay Packers to seven division championships, four NFC Championship games of which they won two. The team appeared in two Super Bowls under Favre's leadership and won Super Bowl XXXI.
But according to many Green Bay fans, Favre committed the unpardonable sin when he left Green Bay in 2008 for greener pastures. Some fans are still holding a major grudge. So Sunday when Favre's performance hurt the Vikings, many Green Bay fans cheered loudly.
To this day, disgruntled Packers’ fans describe Favre as a traitor. The fact that this year Favre played for their arch nemesis Vikings added fuel to the fire. The fans showed their anger with loud boos each time Favre returned to Green Bay's Lambeau Field in a Vikings uniform.
The reaction of Green Bay's fans to Sunday's loss teaches us that there is something deep in fans that admires loyalty.
Nowhere is loyalty more valued than in NASCAR. Fans were angered in the past few years at the changes being incorporated by the NASCAR organization that was molding their rough and tumble sport into a boring race best characterized by a follow-the-leader racing and drivers who were tightly managed and appear personality-less.
NASCAR has been instituting changes in this off-season that seem to indicate they are listening to their fans and realizing that the loyal fans are looking for a brand of racing that reflects back on the racing of the past.
Mike Helton, NASCAR president explained the new outlook, "It doesn't mean that you get a free pass-out-of-jail card. But it certainly means that what we are encouraging the competitors ... for their character and their personality, within reason, to be unfolded."
NASCAR is going to encourage competition and the loyal fans are going to love it.
Brett Favre would do well to realize the importance of loyalty.
Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball, showed the ultimate loyalty. He spent his career playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But as his skills began to wane because of age, his team arranged to trade him to the arch rival New York Giants. But Robinson showed his loyalty by choosing to retire rather than leave his beloved Dodgers. Now that is loyalty old-school.
NASCAR needs to keep that fact in mind as they continue to 'fine tune' our favorite sport and try to make improvements. Pay attention to the fans.
We need to understand that NASCAR is a sport of personalities -- more than most other professional sports. We are loyal to our drivers and we want to be loyal to our sport. Brett Favre is going to suffer a loss of fans because he didn't realize the importance of loyalty.
NASCAR would do well not to make the same mistake.
You can follow me at Twitter @nascarfaithful
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
