Monday, September 29, 2008

F1 Sundays are Great...

After feeling sick all day Saturday, and pretty much just laying on the couch watching television, I was hoping to feel alot better on Sunday. I did. :)

Of course it helped by starting Sunday off with viewing the TiVo'd F1 race from Singapore. This was F1's first night race, and it was a great success all around. But I'll speak more on that aspect in a bit. The race was fun to watch even though my favorite driver, Kimi Raikkonen, crashed out within the last 10 laps. Kimi is the current world champ, and I hoped he would repeat this year. However, it seems that fate & other things are conspiring against him. Well, he's signed with Ferrari for the next 3 years I think, so there's always next year.


The success of Singapore will probably start a trend for all of the far-east races on the calendar (Japan, China, Australia, India?) in future seasons. From what I understand, F1 chief, Bernie Ecclestone, is pushing for turning the races in these locations to night races. He wants it in order to put the races on at a better viewing time in Europe where viewership is high. I can't say I blame him for that line of thinking overall. Europe's where the bulk of the money is for the sport, so he's going after it.

However, it does bug me that one man, Ecclestone, pretty much has say over what happens in F1. Oh, there is the FIA, the governing body of F1, but they pretty much do whatever Bernie says, and everyone knows it. I'm never a fan of one person dictatorally holding sway over anything. I think all sports commissions should be governed by a body of people who are not owners or sponsors, and they should have finite periods of service. Five years at most. Those five year terms should also be staggered, so that only one or two people are changed at a time. From that commissioning body a president or chairperson would be elected by the body. Also, that chairing election would be each year as well, and the current chair could not serve successive terms. They could serve multiple terms, but only every-other year.

I don't see that happening in F1, the NFL, Baseball, or any other organized sport. However, I think it would be the most fair way to run a sports organization. That way no one person could play favorites for years on end as has happened in other sports before.

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