Miles's blog

I actually watched part of the Daytona 500.  I had never watched a NASCAR race before, but Daytona is close to St. Augustine and Susan and I were curious.  Frankly, I don’t think there is as much action in NASCAR as in Indianapolis 500 racing, but it was somewhat interesting.  I did not wait out the long delay after the freak fire which occurred when a car slammed into a support vehicle full of jet fuel.  Many people stayed with the broadcast, and thousands followed one of the drivers while he tweeted during the delay.  NASCAR officials must like the publicity because they announced that they will allow drivers to use social media during races “as long as they’re not at full speed,” according to Don Coble of the Jacksonville Times-Union.  (I could not find this statement in other media.)

What?!  Race car drivers will be allowed to use their cell phones during the race?  The only prohibition is that they are not at “full speed.”  Full speed is over 200 mph.  So if they are cruising around on under a yellow caution flag at about 90 they can send out a few tweets?  Or maybe while waiting to be refueled:  “Damn #pit crew is taking forev”

Most states are moving to ban the use of cell phones and text messaging by drivers, even at stop lights or while stuck in traffic.  Every study in the world emphasizes how dangerous it is to be distracted while driving, but NASCAR wants to encourage exactly this unsafe practice.  Unbelievable.  This is not a good signal to send to teen and young adult drivers who already have one eye on the road and the other on everything but. 

With new phones allowing for voice commands, drivers will actually be able to send texts and tweets while driving.  Can you see them making a post on their Facebook page: “Kyle Busch just cut me off that SOB” to see how many people will give that a “thumbs up.”  This will be interesting the first time somebody crashes when answering a tweet from a disgruntled opponent.

For now the other major sports prohibit the use of social media during games, but if this NASCAR thing catches on maybe they will change.  We could see football players taunting each other.  Or maybe the opposing coordinators going back and forth.  “Nice defense.  Haha.  We will bury you. @JoshMcDaniels”  “No way, we will #blitz your @assoff. @RobRyan”

Baseball could use their coaches.  If a guy gets on first he could send tweets to the catcher through the first base coach whose job would change from relaying signals and counseling runners to being a media consultant.  The coach could use his cell phone camera to provide video during the game, and relay information.  Should a player get hit, the coach could send a message to his wife saying he is ok and not to worry.

I don’t know why this could not be extended to other professions.  I can just see surgeons sending out some interesting message from the operating room, complete with pictures of the spleen they just removed, or maybe showing somebody’s brain.  

Judges and lawyers could really send out some great stuff.  They already email from the courtroom.  The DA’s would send out e-mail all the time which went something like this: “You won’t believe what the judge just did.  She is not letting the victim tell the jury how much it hurt.  Are there any cases?”  About five minutes later: “Thanks for the cases, she changed her mind, but now the defense wants to put on a pain expert to say should could not have felt that much pain.  What should I argue?”  And later that day: “The victim is crying and refuses to testify anymore.”  But then nothing.  I would have to track down the lawyer and ask what happened with the trial.  Ordinarily I would hear that everything was fine and the defendant was convicted.  

Social media would really make trials interesting.  The lawyers could tweet back and forth.  In fact they could just make their objections on their cell phones and the judge could rule.  That would eliminate having to remove the jury all the time.  In fact, why restrict this to the lawyers and judges?  We could send the jurors home and have them deliberate by Facebook.  The court could set up a Facebook page for every trial, add video of the testimony and pictures of the exhibits.  Jurors could put thumbs up or down at each stage.  “10 out of 12 jurors like the prosecution’s opening statements.”  At the end they could just deliberate by message, post their verdict and never leave the comfort of their living room where they would probably at the same time be playing a video game, downloading a recipe, and reading an athlete’s blog from the Olympics.