From the posts I had a chance to read, it seems like a fair number from each camp are itching for some friendly, hopefully, competition. What I propose, which is open to suggestions, as long as they're made in time for an announcement on the AP feed this afternoon, is that both camps bury the hatchet for one night & do something along the following lines:

(1) TG & Sheets make the online version of their products available gratis for the Sun card at Evangeline, which is donating all, as in 100 cents on the dollar, of its revenue that night to the victims of Katrina.

(2) Everyone who's willing & able play the Evangeline card that night, & those so inclined donate their winnings to the Arlington Park Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund, which Mark Guidry & Toni Gabriel discussed on Christine Gabriel's show yesterday, & which Brian Hernandez & others will be discussing on her show today.

(3) Everyone who is willing & able indicate, in a separate thread on each site, or to a designated email address if he or she doesn't want to post and/or would prefer to remain anonymous, that they are willing to enter a contest with an entry fee which consists of a $100 check made payable to the "Arlington Park Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund." A single person from each site can collect the checks & post the totals.

(4) The contest itself can be along the lines of the one which gave HP the championship, which I think was an imaginery $200 bankroll which could be bet on anything the player wanted. Hopefully, the guy who did such a good job of keeping track of everything then is still around & would be willing to fufill the same role for this contest.

(5) In addition to bragging rights, the winner, if he or she is so inclined, can present all of the checks in person to Mark Guidry, as nice & laid back a guy as you're ever going to meet, on Christine's show. Alternatively, someone from Chicago could do it, giving appropriate credit to the winner, & if that's not doable, then I'll do it, as well as anything else nobody volunteers to do.

(6) Prior to Christine's show today, someone can contact Evangeline & Arlington & advise them of the plan, which should at the very least help in the efforts each of them has already undertaken, as well as generate some good publicity & who knows, maybe even snag an additional customer or two. Equally important, some publicity might give others ideas of their own about raising a few bucks for those who need it so desparately. For starters, my guess is that the htr handicappers would be willing to participate in the contest. Perhaps more significantly, I ran this idea past a friend of mine & got a call 5 minutes later in which I was told that if something like this works for us, the ntra would be interested in talking about a nationwide fundraising contest, as soon as they can get some kind of handle on the immediate crisis.

I've always been of the belief that despite whatever other faults they might have, just about everyone involved in horseracing is very generous, in many cases to a fault. What I'm asking here is that everyone please come together long enough to prove me right.