Dale Earnhardt fans don't blow up government buildings or shoot fellow high school students in the suburbs of Denver, or fellow dot-com employees in the suburbs of Boston. We may be a little crazy, but we're not nuts. After the race, it was altogether different. After the race, Dale Earnhardt would smile that grin as wide as the Mississippi River, just like we all have to do on Monday mornings when we have to go back to our jobs, take out the garbage, thank our sponsors, and return to our own competitive worlds. All sports provide some form, directly or indirectly, of allowing the fans and participants to be the gladiators, to let off a little steam, to display some forms of aggression.
Wrestling is just too fake.
Dale Earnhardt was the one who brought the sport from the good old boys to where it is today. I doubt if Michael Jordan will die, taking his last gasp with a thundering slam-dunk. Tiger Woods probably will not drop dead after swinging a nine iron at Pebble Beach. Dale Earnhardt died doing what he loved doing best. He didn't need the money.