Offside Undo.(Speedvision )

Race team owner Chip Ganassi once said women use a television channel changer to watch TV and guys use it to watch what's between channels. That's not entirely true. When guys stumble onto something that whips us into a frenzy, like the nude luge network or anything involving chainsaws, try to pry us from the screen.

Speedvision whipped us up and thus was our totem. The all-enthusiast, all-the-time network choked our airwaves and to us was lullaby-soothing white noise. It was the magic goo of life for the testosterone-addled seeking speed in the air, on water, on two and four wheels.

This success killed Speedvision as we knew it. The enthusiast network blipped on the corporate radar screen as a ``commercially viable entity engaging males ages 18 through 49'' and it was consumed by a bigger fish, the Fox network and NASCAR. Today it has a new name, new owners and a new agenda. Everybody, let's give a down-home howdy to the Speed Channel. As Darrell Waltrip said on the network's relaunch broadcast, ``We gar-an-tee this is the place to be.'' His emphasis, not mine.

As many of you know, Speedvision was created by Roger Werner, who himself is a passionate speed freak. It crossed Roger's loves with a medium in which he was a master. He married a growing advertiser-friendly audience to a successful business model. Speedvision covered car races and shows and airplane fly-ins and boat conventions, and people watched. SV broadcast the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy ...