Trevor Bayne/Daytona 500: Cheering in the Press Box

I'm far from convinced the Mize comparison is a good one. The situation at Daytona sounds different to me. For one thing, did the press cheer Mize after his presser?

 

If the reporters have money on the outcome, they can cheer.

 

No, the reporters didn't "cheer" Mize after his presser. It's been a long time, and maybe some did, but I don't think so. But that's not what I was getting at. Yes, the press box is a working press box. I get (and got) that. People are in there to work, so you don't want yahoos in there end on end. And in my day I saw such yahoos up and down the Atlantic seaboard, from Boston to Tampa. But even if they had, so what? You don't cheer because the ethics of your profession demand it. You don't cheer because it's discourteous to a goodly portion of the rest of the people in there. And a brief eruption in response to an unbelievably improbable outcome doesn't rise to that level. This was not (and could not) be an ethical breach.

 

I always close my notebook and click my pen before I break out the Silly String in the press box.

 

There's a fine line between gasping in astonishment/shock and applauding as a means of offering your support, and these media members at the Daytona 500 spat on it.

 

I can believe this.

 

A spontaneous gasp after a chip-in is not the same as applause after a presser that comes well after calming down from cheering the moment the cars hit the finish line.

 

The foreign media is a different animal. Aside from the North American media and, to a lesser extent, the Brits, cheering is not discouraged by their tradition.

The Formula One press box is a sight to behold in that regard. You've got Spanish journalists vs. Nordic journalists vs. British journalists cheering and booing almost against one another.

Also, to be fair, the Kentucky Derby has MAJOR cheering in the press box because all of the writers are cheering for their bets like everyone else. There's a betting window (or was in the old press box, the last time I covered the Derby was '02) in the press box for crissakes.

You can't make much sense of watching the race live, unless you're an experienced turf writer, so many wait until the replay to get to work.

 

This.

I've been in tons of golf media centers as both a writer and flack and there is a distinct difference between awe/amazement/disbelief at a given happening and out-and-out clapping and cheering a given happening or outcome.

The yahoos at Daytona crossed the line and never looked back.

 

That was my first thought, too.

 

Or the Japanese media covering any native ballplayer over here (but especially Hideki Matsui).