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May 29, 2005 My column about Jeff Gordon's performance at Wrigley FIELD on Tuesday, May 24, 2005, outraged some people. To those people that I outraged and offended, I stand by my words, EACH and EVERY word that I wrote. The reason why I stand by my column is that I was outraged. Several people I have talked to since that night and since I wrote that article are just as outraged as I am. For you see, Jeff Gordon was not only representing himself that night, but he was representing NASCAR as well. I do believe he was the first NASCAR driver to be invited for the first pitch and the traditional seventh inning stretch singing of the song, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." And to many, they felt like he had treated this honor as a joke. To the Cubs' fans, this is relative to a time honored family tradition. To those that have written hateful emails to me, consider this and think deeply. What if you invited Jeff Gordon into your home and, let's say, he accepted the invitation. Let's even say that you invited him for your family or your family's religious tradition. Let's take this a step further, how would you feel if he treated your traditions as a joke? What if your family was Jewish and you invited him to partake with your family the first night of Chanukkah and after the lighting of the first candle on the menorah and during the prayers, he leaned over, blew out the candle and started laughing about it? How would you feel? What if you invited him to your Christmas celebration and he leaned over the Christmas Dinner, grabbed the turkey leg or the first piece of ham during prayers and then laughed? How would you feel? To Cubs' fans, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" is not just a song, it is a family tradition. And they felt that they invited Jeff Gordon into their home and he treated their tradition as a joke. And to the NASCAR fans I spoke to after the incident, they felt just as betrayed as the Cubs' fans, because as one gentleman that is a Gordon fan put it, "Now Jeff Gordon has made NASCAR and the fans look like jokes and what other sports fans have thought about us all along, a bunch of southern beer drinking rednecks." This is NOT the action of a four time Season Champion of NASCAR. One would expect more dignity than what was shown by Mr. Gordon. I know I did. In my opinion I doubt that seven time Season Champion Richard "The King" Petty or the late Dale "The Intimidator" Earnhardt would have acted that way if they had been invited by the Chicago Cubs. Yes, it is true that I am not a true fan of baseball, but a die-hard NASCAR fan and have been since as far back as I can remember. And my husband is not a NASCAR fan but a baseball fan and a Chicago Cubs fan at that. But we respect each other's sports and I have been learning the game of baseball and the line up of the Chicago Cubs just as he has been learning NASCAR and the drivers. This mutual respect we have of each other's sports and trying to learn about them has helped us to grow as a couple and also has helped our sons to join in with us and this allows us to spend what precious little time we have together that much more special. To be honest, even though I am not a fan of Jeff Gordon, I was looking forward to his appearance at Wrigley Field. I was looking forward to it because I am a fan of NASCAR and I was proud that one of the drivers would be at the Cubs' game representing the sport that I love dearly. When he embarrassed himself in the way that he did, I wrote what I felt. On Friday, May 27, 2005, Jeff Gordon appeared on a program called "Sports Night" on Comcast's Channel Sports Net and he, himself, said, "I pretty much looked like an idiot." Now, I think that the people that said in emails to me that they wouldn't buy nor read my novel, have not gone onto my web-site and read the two chapters of my novel that is on there. What I write in my columns does not reflect my novel and my novel does not reflect my columns as they are two different writing styles. But back to the subject of my column, I don't believe that I am the one that should be embarrassed by what I wrote, nor should I be ashamed, nor should I apologize for my feelings. The feelings of the fans of NASCAR and the feelings of the fans of the Chicago Cubs are their own feelings too. And the more that I talk to, the more of them I find that were outraged and the more NASCAR fans I find that know in their hearts that the Chicago Cubs will probably NEVER invite another driver for the honors that were extended to Jeff Gordon. The one that should be ashamed and who should apologize is Jeff Gordon, not me. ------------ About the author: Kaycee Nilson has completed her first novel, "Night Falls on Chicago." The first two chapters can be viewed at http://www.KayceeNilson.com. Besides writing columns for Useless-Knowledge, Kaycee is currently working on two more novels, "From the Mind of a Vampire", and "I'll Love You Til You Die." If you have enjoyed what you read, or would like to leave Kaycee a message, please visit her message board at http://www.KayceeNilson.com/Board Email: Kaycee@kayceenilson.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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