McNabb has NASCAR fans fueled up

[sufandu]

I'd be willing to bet any amount of money that Jimmie Johnson would run circles around Donovan McNabb. Obviously not every NASCAR driver is like Jimmie, but every football player isn't Calvin Johnson, every basketball player isn't LeBron James, etc. The majority of NASCAR drivers are in very good shape. Even the ancient drivers like Mark Martin still work out every other day to try to remain competitive with the other drivers.

Also, I think McNabb would kill to look like this:

I don't even like NASCAR, but it was a laughable comment on McNabb's part.

An athlete is defined as someone that is proficient in sports and or physical fitness. NASCAR racing is a sport, and every race (not to mention the workouts leading up to races) is a physical workout. So they pass the athlete test for me.

Fitness by itself is not athleticism. I know a number of very fit people that can't play any sport. Lets's see any Nascar driver try and tackle McNabb now, much less in his younger days. When he was in his mid 20's they wouldn't have laid a hand on him. If you were to measure Nascar drivers against most of your mid sized d-lineman, say around 270-280, I'm confident that the d-lineman would run faster 40 times, shuttle runs, and agility drills (we don't need to talk about the strength tests). Then you could compare them with the skill position guys and the gap would really widen. I'm sure some Nascar drivers are athletic (the way some of us were in high school or college), but you don't have to be athletic to be a Nascar driver.

 

[orange79]

I would say that baseball players CAN be athletes, and many are, but it's not a prerequisite.

 

[Melancer46]

I have friends who look like that who never played a sport in their life beyond youth soccer and little league. Being dedicated to working out, having good genes and eating right don't make people athletes.

If we allow race car drivers to call themselves athletes, what's stopping professional gamers from wanting to be considered athletes? Then it's just a slippery slope down to some worked out kid who plays Dungeons and Dragons and wins some sort of championship saying he's an athlete too.

Lol, I don't think it's that serious that we should be worried about who calls themselves athletes. I'm not a professional athlete in any sport, but I would still say that I'm an athlete. Being an athlete is a very broad term, one that includes racing IMO. Driving in a NASCAR race takes just as much a toll on your body as a lot of sports do.

And I think that in the very least, guys like Jimmie Johnson that compete in decathlons and Iron Man competitions, are athletes, which is what McNabb got in trouble for saying.

 

[xc84]

Race car driving is so inaccessible to most people it's really hard to say how hard it is to be good at it. It's not like e.g. basketball, which besides being a very athletic sport, is accessible to most kids. The pool of talent is so large that the top talent can be judged really special in a sport like hoops. And race car driving is so reliant on the equipment that it is hard to quantify whether the winner wins due to talent or equipment superiority. It's why some of us cringe at calling race car drivers "athletes"...that and the fact that they sit in a car drive around a track.

 

[OburgOrange]

OH stop... basketball, football, soccer, track and field, wrestling, hockey and yes baseball are all athletes, not one over the other, IMO

I stick by my post!

 

[STEVEHOLT]

"Fitness by itself is not athleticism. I know a number of very fit people that can't play any sport."

These fine people from the 80's would disagree with you

 

[OburgOrange]

"Fitness by itself is not athleticism. I know a number of very fit people that can't play any sport."
These fine people from the 80's would disagree with you

Your avatar looks exactly like the guy in the middle! Hmmm

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Your avatar looks exactly like the guy in the middle! Hmmm

busted

 

[Orangeyes]

Round the Track: It might look simple, but racing takes athletic skill

 

[SmilinBob]

Now McNabb is being accused of bulling by an ex Eagle linemen.

 

[Ghost]

Yeah, McNabb is right. I'm not even sure how anyone can argue they are athletes. I think that's proven in OrangeEyes link, if this is your argument, you already lost.

He's athletic, therefore NASCAR drivers are athletes!! He won an award with the word in the title, therefore drivers are athletes!! Kim Kardashian can be on Barbara Walters' 'Most Interesting People in the World' show - doesn't mean she's interesting.

“I'd like to see McNabb come run the Boston marathon with him or swim the lake out here,” Hendrick said, referring to Johnson’s fitness level. “Guys like that don't know what they're talking about.

“He wouldn't have been (an Associated Press) Athlete of the Year if people didn't know what kind of unbelievable athlete he is.”

I have to admit I love the whole "swim the lake out here" line. Not sure why, but I find it hilarious. That's pretty much NASCAR to me - ridiculous. Oh, yeah Donovan McNabb, you don't think Jimmie is an athlete???? Let's see you swim that there lake, tough guy!!!