Seahawks' Golden Tate criticizes NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson

Seattle Times ^ | 7-15-2011 | Associated Press

[Route797]

LOUDON, N.H. — Jimmie Johnson has two titles he is especially proud to have linked to his name. Five-time NASCAR champion. AP Male Athlete of the Year.

Johnson was swept into a brief Twitter feud this week because of his inclusion as a nominee for male athlete of the year at the ESPY Awards.

Seahawks receiver Golden Tate posted on his account, @ShowtimeTate, "Jimmy johnson up for best athlete???? Um nooo .. Driving a car does not show athleticism."

Tate, 22, angered NASCAR fans and posted, "12th man get these rednecks off me."

More Tate tweets:

• "I've driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athletism."

• "Guarantee he couldn't in million year play any SPORT."

• "give me 6 months of training and I bet I could compete."

NASCAR defenders got Tate's attention.

"Apologies for my offensive comment to NASCAR fans. I actually read up on it and NO I couldn't race a car 150 mph," he wrote.

[Rannug]

I remember years ago when a race car driver, Peter Revlon perhaps, won a weekly, nationaly televised, sporting contest. This was against participants from various sports.

[cripplecreek]

[cripplecreek]

Dale Jerrett turned down a football scholarship to race. I’ve read that he also could have been a pro golfer.

[cyclotic]

IIRC, a few years before that Rudd was in a crash that resulted in severe facial brueising and swelling. He drove the next week at Talladega with his eyelids taped open. Didn’t blink for 500 miles.

[cyclotic]

Sorry, it was Daytona 1984.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Yet another real good reason why Twitter is an absolute, utter waste of time.

[reaganbooster]

To my mind auto racing involves the test of a machine, not a human. Therefore, it’s not truly athleticism, regardless of the driver’s physical abilities. Kind of like being a horse jockey: it’s the horse who’s competing.

###

Exactly. While I do appreciate the physical and mental toughness and stamina required to sucessfully race cars, drivers are not world class athletes. I’m going against most on this thread but Tate is correct, IMHO.

[Hot Tabasco]

if the NASCARs had air conditioning

Well they do, sorta. Side windows rolled down, wind gently blowing thru their hair........

[FunkyZero]

Funny how easily some folks find it to criticize others via keyboard.

I challenge Mr. Tate to run just 2 heats one Saturday night in Silver Crown... or better yet, World of Outlaws.
do that then come back and talk to us about it. But beware... heroin has nothing on open-wheel racing. You will end up broke and forever wanting more.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I’m going against most on this thread but Tate is correct, IMHO.

I'm with Tate as well. Most on this thread seem to define "athletic" as "something that requires great physical stamina and strength." That's not sufficient, in my opinion. Collecting trash or performing construction work can be quite demanding physically. I doubt if you'd want to call them athletic endeavors.

[cashless]

I am no fan of 5 time to say the least and I did a search for a photo of G. Tate. Athleticism is particular to each sport. Each trains in a specific regimen to maximize their potential. If Tate trained as a race car driver, he would suck more as a football player. If Johnson trained as a baseball pitcher, he would not last the amount of time needed to finish a race. All players in all highly actives sports, dehydrate in a direct proportion of the amount of effort exerted. Recently, another driver Brad Keselowski, lost 15 pounds during a single race, and trust me he was skinny before the race started. G. Tate loses weight per game but every football game last for exactly 60 minutes. Not one second more or one second less. Without TV the games stop and many times the players on the field go to the bench to rest and rehydrate. A race driver's quickest race is probably on the order of 2 1/2 hours but averages about 3 1/4 actual race time. Even under caution they are busy and may or may not have enough time to recover from the last stint. What I am trying to say is G. Tate is a narrow minded individual that tries to compare apples to oranges but winds up with sour grapes. My suggestions is he have his agent schedule some medical tests for aggravated repetitive concusions cause that dude is crazy in the head.

[ConservativeChris]

Had an old race car driver tell me the secret to making a small fortune in racing,....Start with a large one.

[cripplecreek]

Athleticism is particular to each sport. Each trains in a specific regimen to maximize their potential.

That's also true within most sports. In baseball there's a world of difference between what a first baseman does and what a 3rd baseman does.

[tubebender]

Being a football player requires 2 things...

Big
+
Dumb

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

There are only two professional sports; Golf and autopmobile racing. You have to win to get paid.

Based on that criteria, you have to add tennis to your list. Now you see how your criteria is flawed, eh? *grin*

[gleneagle]

I road race very high performance sports cars. Serious racers stay in good shape by working out (aerobics and weights) 5-7 times/week. My endurance racing team includes 5 pros, from 5’ 10’ to 6’1” The 6’ 1’ guy is 168 lbs and a former world class gymnast. All the others, including me are under 150 lbs. All have single digit body fat.

Mr. Golden Tate might argue that being an athelete of his type requires courage. I guarantee approaching a corner at 180mph, late braking at 3G’s and cornering at 2G’s would have Golden crying for his mommy if he rode with any of us for just 3 laps, if he wasn’t vomiting.

Then there are the motorcycle and air racers. Golden you don’t want to go there.

[11Bush]

"There are only three sports, bull fighting, mountain climbing, and motor racing. All others are just games."
E. Hemingway

Various variations have been reported, but the three are always the same.

[rlmorel]

"...I don’t see any big controversy over whether baseball players are athletes or not..."Certainly not I...:)

[Ransomed]

Right now I guess it is hard enough that Nascar drivers could be considered athletes. I guess the question becomes what happens when technology becomes available to lessen some of the extreme endurance and strength factors that drivers deal with now. If there is technology that allows the cars to be cool, more advanced gyros,gimbles,seats and harnesses to lessen g-force, true zero effort power steering/assist so it just becomes a sport of skill and strategy, and it doesn’t cut down on a high level of performance, does NASCAR use it? Are grueling/hard conditions part of the sport, or is the important thing skill and strategy?

Freegards

[phormer phrog phlyer]

I recall back when CART was still around they did some testing on the drivers, they essentially had very elevated heart rates for most of the race. As others have noted high g-loads, heat, noise etc take their toll. I doubt there is much difference in NASCAR, in fact it may be worse wrestling those big sedans around.