DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ever wonder what happens between a sports figure and a sports journalist after the latter criticizes the former publicly? When they next meet face to face?
Here's an example of the way it should be handled, but usually isn't. And here's how the sports figure can take the journalist's remarks under advisement, actually weigh them -- which almost never happens.
In the season-opening "NASCAR Now" show on ESPN2, during the Monday Roundtable this week, I said Mark Martin is too nice a guy for his own good, that he's too polite to other drivers on the racetrack ... that there's not enough dog-eat-dog in him to win races -- and a championship -- in this era.
I said it knowing I was sure to see him face to face, and soon. But I get paid for telling the truth as best I see it.
"When you criticize a guy, always write it as if you're going to have lunch with him the next day," I was advised years ago, by one of the wisest editors I've ever worked for. And I've tried to live by that. It cuts down on the cheap shots and exaggerations.
And so, upon arrival here for Speedweek, I sought out Martin right away, early in the morning of Daytona 500 media day Thursday, to face him and talk to him.
As I walked to get a place up front in his media stall, somebody clapped me on the shoulder from behind, and I turned to see Martin, grinning -- beaming. We walked over to his stall together.
I prefaced my first question by reminding him that everyone he's raced against has said Mark Martin races cleaner than anyone else, and --
"I saw you," he said. "I know."
"I was going to tell you what I said up front."
"I know what you said" -- and now he was laughing.
"Is there not enough dog-eat-dog in Mark Martin?" I asked.
"Are you saying would I turn a guy to win the championship? Is that what you're asking?"
"Well, would you rub on him?" I continued. "A lot of times you're so clean with a guy that you don't even rub him."
"I like what Marty [Smith, of ESPN] said to you," Martin said. "I haven't seen Jimmie [Johnson] knock anybody out of the way to win any of his races."
Well, not slam or turn, but Johnson can be aggressive with his fenders and bumper if he needs to be. Martin rarely touches a fender to the other guy.
"So you feel like you can be aggressive enough to win races?"
"I don't feel like changing who I am is necessary to get the job done."
But then he pondered.
"I will do what I do in the future based on split-second decisions. So I really can't tell you."
Seriously now, the man, at age 50, with 35 Cup wins but none since 2005, was thinking.
"Do I understand that I only have so many more opportunities? Yes, I do. But every decision I make, no matter how I answer your question, will be made split-second. And all those things might weigh into my psyche, but at the end of the day, I really can't tell you."
This is not the only fender-rub Martin has gotten from ESPN.com lately. My colleague Terry Blount, in his new book, "The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated and Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams and Tracks," lists Martin as the No. 1 most overrated driver.
But Blount sees it the same as I do, saying Martin is too nice a guy on the racetrack.
Martin in no way apologizes for following his conscience.
"I can tell you that I've had a couple of wins where accidents were part of it. Like the Busch race at Bristol with Davey Allison years ago, where Davey was passing me for the win and moved up before he got clear of me. And he wrecked, and I won the race ..."
To this day, "That win doesn't mean anything to me, because that's not how I wanted to win the race," Martin said. "Really, it's how I feel when I lay down at the end of the day that matters most."
After three winless years, and now with a ride with powerful Hendrick Motorsports ...
"I can tell you that I want to win really, really bad."
He was pondering. Really pondering.
"I can't tell you what I'm going to do. I won't be able to answer that question until it's over with."
Don't ever expect to see Martin turn another driver to win. It isn't in him. But he still would be sainted in this sport if he laid a fender on someone to get a win or two in this, the twilight of his career.