Being told I'm full of crap (and maybe I was)

When I posted my blog post about Danica Patrick on Twitter earlier today, I tagged the person I was writing about, because I thought it would be really weak if I wrote about her behind her back with no way for her to see it or respond.

Well, she saw it, and she responded.

@LastHonestSport @SportsBlogRT @IrelandOPatrick @DanicaPatrick You never bothered reading the reply... (cont) http://t.co/RGWl9zn0Ki
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

@LastHonestSport @SportsBlogRT @IrelandOPatrick @DanicaPatrick And next time don't hide behind a blog-
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

To review, this is what I based the post on.

@GinaV24 @jeff_gluck My daughter just said that she needs to get in the kitchen...
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

However, she said there was more to it than what I saw, so here it is.

It was someone else who made the jealousy crack, but otherwise, it was all me.

And we've been having a conversation ever since.

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick I am not the only one who has noted her inability to 'change gears' in a race. I think it of many men too
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick What was wrong was your insinuation of what I am teaching my child.
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick Thank you.Funny enough my kid grew up with my dad who did all the cooking/cleaning & i worked(not at home)
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick I am a fan of SHR so it kills me each week to see a car where they say their goal is 25 and not wrecked
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick it is words that were bought on by something seen on tv, words are not bothersome- actions are.
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

And yes, during the conversation, I asked the question ... and she replied.

@LastHonestSport @IrelandOPatrick She is not getting any better, if anything she has regressed.If it happened I would be glad to compliment
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

Kudos to her for that.

I said it in the conversation, and I'll say it here. If there was something I missed, that led me to the wrong conclusion ... I'm sorry.

Chickening out

There was this very odd incident in the NASCAR race at Bristol last night when Danica Patrick was coming off pit road just as a restart happened, and were it not for some evasive action, there could have been a huge pileup.

Oh man. Danica just got in the way of the leaders! That was ugly.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 25, 2013

I don't think Gluck would be offended if you said he was skeptical at best about Danica's NASCAR career to date and her prospects going forward, but there have been a few times where she has done something well and he has given her credit for that much. I am also well aware that such relative open-mindedness is not universal, and since I sometimes enjoy exploring human nastiness, against any semblance of good judgment, I decided to read the replies to Gluck's post.

Where I found this.

@GinaV24 @jeff_gluck My daughter just said that she needs to get in the kitchen...
— Allison Duncan (@adny103074) August 25, 2013

I have been known, once in a while, to start an argument or two or 1,000. Most lately have been about Alex Rodriguez, but I even got into it with someone lately over whether a team from Westport, CT, should represent New England in the Little League World Series.

@BreettR4763 @Marc_Bertrand @TonyMassarotti Ummm... Connecticut is part of New England. Would you say Williamstown isn't in New England?
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 9, 2013

@BreettR4763 But Williamstown is closer to Albany than Boston, and it's still New England. Whether it's rural doesn't matter.
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 9, 2013

@BreettR4763 I'm not being OCD. I'm reminding you that Connecticut is part of New England, even if parts are close to New York.
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 9, 2013

@BreettR4763 And your point is? By the way, you're obsessing over who gets to be New England in the Little League World Series.
— LastHonestSportsFan (@LastHonestSport) August 9, 2013

There was more, which I'll spare you, but we ended on a more-or-less friendly note.

But as much as I wanted to (and as much as Mrs. Last Honest, who hates when I argue with people, wanted me to), I couldn't start what could have been quite the argument with the question I was dying to ask ...

... Who is teaching your daughter to think that way?

Saying a woman belongs in the kitchen, meaning that's all she's good for, is one of the most sexist things you can say about a person, along with saying all she's good for is sex.

I don't think all of the criticism of Danica Patrick is because she's a woman. I'm sure there are people who legitimately feel her accomplishments-to-attention ratio is skewed -- although they should probably take that up with the broadcasters, particularly Fox, as it seems that TNT and ESPN have not played her up as much -- but for some reason, it's more personal when it comes to her. Can't imagine why.

(Multiple times, I have asked critics, including Kyle Petty, what they would do if she ever got good. The rare times I do get an answer, it's "She never will," which avoids the question for what I think is the same reason I have trouble engaging critics on Twitter ... too many questions.)

So why did I chicken out in the face of what looked like completely obvious sexism?

Because it involved her daughter.

A friend of mine home-schools his children, and we were having a discussion of it one day, and I made the point that while in the public schools the teachers have to be licensed, it's not required for home-schooling. Since it's his wife that teaches their kids, he took my comment VERY personally, and the conversation got kind of ugly for a few minutes.

If I had asked the question I wanted to ask last night, not only would I have called her out as sexist (which is personal enough), I would have pretty much stated that she or the girl's father was a bad parent. I don't know the woman or the girl's father; they may be outstanding parents other than one awful comment.

And that's what stopped me from pulling that trigger, not that everyone had that problem.

@adny103074 @ginav24 @jeff_gluck @danicasshoes pretty IGNORANT thing for one female to say about the other. Another jealous catty woman. ugh
— Ireland O'Patrick (@IrelandOPatrick) August 25, 2013

@danicasshoes last night the most vicious tweets about Danica came from women.Will never understand how hateful women are toward each other
— Ireland O'Patrick (@IrelandOPatrick) August 25, 2013

Some questions for Kyle Petty

Dear Kyle Petty:

So you said some stuff about Danica Patrick.

I'm a fan of hers (and my wife, who otherwise couldn't give a darn about NASCAR, bought one of her hats when we visited Stewart-Haas Racing while we were on vacation), so I hope she eventually proves you wrong. However, I'm not here to disparage you, your driving career, your family or your work on TV; in fact, I love what you guys do on TNT and wish you covered the whole season.

And I have no idea what your ponytail has to do with anything, either.

However, if you are reading this ... first, thanks! ... there are a couple things I'd like to ask.

1. In your opinion, is Danica the only bad driver?

One of the things that has always bothered me about NASCAR announcers is their refusal to criticize anyone or say that someone isn't good enough. Now I understand that the worst driver in NASCAR's lowest-tier series can do things with a racecar that the average person could never dream of, but there are Sprint Cup drivers who are out of their league.

Have you ever talked about any of them?

Like I said, I'm not here to rip you for your opinion. You said what you honestly thought, better that than some marble-mouthed answer that you don't really believe. And if you said what you said in response to a question, has anyone else ever asked you about a driver you didn't think was very good? What did you say?

Or is Danica Patrick the only bad driver?

2. What if she does get good?

Maybe as she gains experience, Danica will become a good Sprint Cup driver. I'm not talking Jimmie Johnson, or even someone who wins one championship, although that would be cool. I'm talking someone that runs in the top 10 to 20 most of the time, makes the Chase as often as not and even picks off a win once in a while.

You see, it's hard to argue with people who say Danica isn't very good, especially given the amount of publicity she receives, although I'm still waiting for the Venn diagram of Tim Tebow fans who complain that Danica "gets too much attention." She's not very good right now.

But what if she gets good? I wouldn't expect you to make a big show about being wrong on TV, but would you admit she's better than you thought she would be?

What do you think Danica's other critics will do? Will they admit she's better than they thought, or will they always find some reason to criticize her? And if they do insist on criticizing, will it be about something other than her ability?

Thanks for reading.

What NASCAR fans would write about today

Years ago, my parents got a magazine called NASCAR Scene, until they realized I read it more than they did, so they transferred the subscription to me until the magazine shut down a couple years ago, a victim of the lousy economy.

I used to read it cover to cover (Jeff Gluck, who I still follow, was one of the staff members), but the most entertaining part by far was the letters. Even my wife, who isn't a NASCAR fan, used to read them.

I'll be kind and say that many of the letter-writers weren't completely comfortable with things being different. My wife's and my favorite was the person who wrote, after NASCAR started providing funding to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, that NASCAR already had enough diversity. To which my wife responded, "What, because not all their drivers are Southern?"

Yeah, pretty much.

Most of the letters fell into one of the following categories:
1. National anthem singers/drivers not properly respecting the anthem.
2. Toyota being the worst thing ever.
3. NASCAR having the nerve to race somewhere other than the South.
4. The number of commercials during races.
5. "Fox should cover the whole season!" (in spite of all the helpful editor's notes that Fox doesn't pursue the whole season because of NFL commitments).
6. The merits/lack thereof of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. "Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt did not win seven 'Nextel Cup' championships! It was Winston Cup then!"

If the magazine still existed, there's no doubt in my mind what else would be on that list, quite possibly the top of it.

Danica Patrick.

And it wouldn't be pretty -- she wasn't that good in Indy Car/doesn't belong in NASCAR/gets too much attention since she's not that good/has a ride that someone else deserves ... etc., etc.

The thing is, there's truth to some of it. She was a pretty good Indy Car driver, but not a great one, and she has a ton of work to do to get good in NASCAR. And she does a lot of attention because she's famous for her looks and her advertisements. (Go ahead and look. I don't mind. Just come back.)

But then again, no one gets more attention than Dale Earnhardt Jr. ... a guy who is going on four years without a win (I'm writing as the Coca Cola 600 is in progress, and I hope he wins) and has maybe seriously contended for a championship once.

Yet even if some of the criticism of Danica is valid, there seems to be a vitriol about it, that people seem to find her an affront. I can't imagine why.

I couldn't be ... could it? No....

This guy is a word that starts with "a," and it's not "awesome"

I've rooted for Danica Patrick since the beginning, but it's because of guys like this that I really want her to succeed.



And for people who make the argument, "Well, she doesn't have to do those Go Daddy ads," Jim Palmer didn't have to pose in his underwear, either, and I bet he didn't have media members calling him "sexy" all the time.