THE SHRINK
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Danica drove home a point about ratings - and racing
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=87164&ran=242062
Television viewership of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 was up 40 percent over last year, an increase credited to the presence in the race of Danica Patrick.<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.hamptonroads.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/www.hamptonroads.com/sports@Middle"></SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT>
</NOSCRIPT>As the only woman in the field, Patrick was the driving force behind the improved ratings. It didn’t hurt interest, either, that leading up to the big day, racing’s pin-up girl was only too happy to exploit her looks.
Apparently there is a market for pictures of the photogenic 5-foot-2, 100-pound, dark-haired 23-year-old rookie driver. Like the one where she is peeking over her shoulder in an unbuttoned black leather vest and shorts.
Don’t remember Mario Andretti ever trying that.
The Danica hype hooked a lot of Americans, as well as viewers in Canada, where ratings also shot way up. But she brought a big game to Indy, too, and had a decent shot at winning even as her race-day calamities provided memorable drama. A fourth-place finish proved that she is more than just a pretty face.
Would the Indy novice have created as much buzz if she wasn’t Maxim material? Probably not.
But while sex adds sizzle, the Patrick phenomenon is a little more complicated than that, isn’t it?
Because if you tuned in to the Indy 500 expecting Danica to be auditioning for Victoria’s Secret, you were disappointed. She was attired in work clothes, the same frumpy driving suit worn by the guys. And squeezed into her car, helmet in place, she looked like anybody else. Which is to say, she was impossible to identify. It could have been A.J. Foyt or Condoleezza Rice in the No.16 for all we could tell.
Besides, posing suggestively is nothing new for sportswomen, though few pull it off — both the stunt and the clothes — as well as Patrick has.
At the approach of each Olympics, female athletes traditionally shuck their garments for magazines in the hopes of attracting attention to themselves and their sports. It rarely has much effect, except, one presumes, on their parents.
For all the importance given to sex appeal, a clothing-optional approach to sports promotion generally is an overrated strategy. If appearing in public with very little on were the key ingredient to attracting large audiences, the WNBA would be more popular. And those scantily-clad runners and jumpers in women’s track and field would not have to travel to Oslo, Norway, to attract a decent crowd.
Anna Kournikova is the obvious example of an athlete who cashed in her come-hither looks, but her career has been all about individual glamour, with her appearance dwarfing her talent.
Now along comes another racket-wielding blonde, Maria Sharapova, who can be seen on TV commercials removing a tiny, digital camera from under her tennis panties. Nothing suggestive in that.
The biggest parts of Kournikova’s career have been about self-promotion, and though Sharapova became an international celebrity of sorts at the world’s biggest tennis tournament last summer, she was never called upon to resuscitate Wimbledon.
Patrick, though, was asked to do nothing less than breathe new life into one of America’s oldest events. Never mind that safely navigating the race course at 226 mph against a field of men should have been expectations enough for the fledgling driver.
She was up to all the challenges, though, albeit for a single day.
It’s assumed that none of the other drivers look quite as good in leather as Danica Patrick. And that no other driver could have saved the Indy 500 without winning it.
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=87164&ran=242062
Television viewership of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 was up 40 percent over last year, an increase credited to the presence in the race of Danica Patrick.<SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.hamptonroads.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/www.hamptonroads.com/sports@Middle"></SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT>
Apparently there is a market for pictures of the photogenic 5-foot-2, 100-pound, dark-haired 23-year-old rookie driver. Like the one where she is peeking over her shoulder in an unbuttoned black leather vest and shorts.
Don’t remember Mario Andretti ever trying that.
The Danica hype hooked a lot of Americans, as well as viewers in Canada, where ratings also shot way up. But she brought a big game to Indy, too, and had a decent shot at winning even as her race-day calamities provided memorable drama. A fourth-place finish proved that she is more than just a pretty face.
Would the Indy novice have created as much buzz if she wasn’t Maxim material? Probably not.
But while sex adds sizzle, the Patrick phenomenon is a little more complicated than that, isn’t it?
Because if you tuned in to the Indy 500 expecting Danica to be auditioning for Victoria’s Secret, you were disappointed. She was attired in work clothes, the same frumpy driving suit worn by the guys. And squeezed into her car, helmet in place, she looked like anybody else. Which is to say, she was impossible to identify. It could have been A.J. Foyt or Condoleezza Rice in the No.16 for all we could tell.
Besides, posing suggestively is nothing new for sportswomen, though few pull it off — both the stunt and the clothes — as well as Patrick has.
At the approach of each Olympics, female athletes traditionally shuck their garments for magazines in the hopes of attracting attention to themselves and their sports. It rarely has much effect, except, one presumes, on their parents.
For all the importance given to sex appeal, a clothing-optional approach to sports promotion generally is an overrated strategy. If appearing in public with very little on were the key ingredient to attracting large audiences, the WNBA would be more popular. And those scantily-clad runners and jumpers in women’s track and field would not have to travel to Oslo, Norway, to attract a decent crowd.
Anna Kournikova is the obvious example of an athlete who cashed in her come-hither looks, but her career has been all about individual glamour, with her appearance dwarfing her talent.
Now along comes another racket-wielding blonde, Maria Sharapova, who can be seen on TV commercials removing a tiny, digital camera from under her tennis panties. Nothing suggestive in that.
The biggest parts of Kournikova’s career have been about self-promotion, and though Sharapova became an international celebrity of sorts at the world’s biggest tennis tournament last summer, she was never called upon to resuscitate Wimbledon.
Patrick, though, was asked to do nothing less than breathe new life into one of America’s oldest events. Never mind that safely navigating the race course at 226 mph against a field of men should have been expectations enough for the fledgling driver.
She was up to all the challenges, though, albeit for a single day.
It’s assumed that none of the other drivers look quite as good in leather as Danica Patrick. And that no other driver could have saved the Indy 500 without winning it.
good food for the brain
