Last weekend, as those of you familiar with my work here on The Internet™ know, I watched the Daytona 500 start to finish.
It was a great day.
Since last Sunday, when I’ve relayed to people that I’ve done this, their reactions have ranged from amusement to concern. All of them, though, have included judgment.
It’s possible some of this is because of how it’s been presented:
My Friend: Hey man, how are you feeling after Saturday night? That was a late one!
Me: Still recovering *laughs*. How about you?
My Friend: Same *laughs*. Spent all day Sunday in bed.
Me: *Laughs*. Yeah, I watched the Daytona 500 start to finish.
Now, the takeaway from this is, and should be, that my friend and I did a good job in this exchange of obeying social cues and laughing at each other’s comments, turning the conversation from one of shame and sadness into a comfortable personal interaction.
The other takeaway, though, is that what my friend did next (widen his eyes and actually laugh, not in a polite way, then proceed into a discussion of how anyone watching NASCAR must either be very hungover or a “redneck”—his word, not mine, as I’m mildly red-green colorblind) might have to do with me presenting my NASCAR-watching Sunday as a result of a hangover, when it had actually been the plan the whole week.
Let’s take a look at another interaction:
My Roommate’s Girlfriend: (Our mutual friend’s name), did you know Stu watched the whole Daytona 500 Sunday?
Our mutual friend: Wait, really?!? *Laughs uproariously*. That’s dope. But also, lot of left turns.
This interaction says less about how any parties have been socialized than the previous exchange, but continues the theme of people assuming I did this as a joke.
All of which prompts the question:
DO YOU PEOPLE THINK I’M DOING THIS TO BE FUNNY?!? DO YOU THINK I’M THE TYPE OF GUY WHO LATCHES ON TO AN IRRELEVANT SPORTING EVENT AND DEFENDS IT DESPITE THE OBJECTIONS OF SOCIETY?!
Well let me riddle you this: I like NASCAR. I don’t love it. I often watch the Daytona 500 and then forget about the sport for the rest of the season. But dammit, I like it, and I want it around, and that’s why I just stood up from writing this, turned on FOX, and am going to leave the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 on when my roommate and I go to an unlimited sausage event at a brewery when I’m done posting this. No, I don’t know how ratings work, and yes, I leave things on my TV because I (probably) mistakenly believe this is going to help their ratings.
Laugh and judge all you want, friends and acquaintances. I’ll be watching (well, not actually watching, because I’m going to be stuffing myself with sausage) men drive huge boxes of sheet metal around a concrete oval at 200 miles per hour and often collide in dramatic explosions of fire, metal, and rubber. Go Blaney.
