Re: Truly Astonishing -- Palm Sunday (407 Views)
Posted by:
richiebee (IP Logged)
Date: April 14, 2014 12:18PM
PapaChach Wrote:
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> Oh it's ludicrous, alright. I whined about this
> earlier, cannot believe it.
"Whining" is a word that came to mind when I read a lot of these posts The Head
Whiner on this issue was always Steve Crist.
Sometimes when others are whining it is time to be contrarian and take stock of
what is good. I remember that when I first started following the game I lived in
Brooklyn, and there were three alternatives for betting the races -- a subway or
shuttle ride to the track, a visit to the OTB or (if you were in the know) a
visit to the local "Social Club". The Social Club provided programs, food and
light beverages [i]gratis[/i], showed a hijacked live feed from the track, and
paid track prices. At OTB, you got surcharged and harassed by the branch manager
if you brought food in or nodded off in a chair. Instead of watching the races,
you got the minimalist audio live call of Marshall Cassidy. (If OTB had adopted
the "Social Club" model, it still might be viable today.)
When I moved back to Staten Island and had a car again, the sacrifice made to
play horses had a different dimension. Imagine the extreme torture of a long
losing day at the races, or a tough photo or bad ride beat in the last race of
the day, followed by an awful trip home on the Belt Parkway, stewing in your own
juices.
We have it all now. Living Room Downs allows us to bet on races all over the
world at all times of day, all days of the week (except in NY on Palm Sunday and
Easter Sunday). An extensive wagering menu which allows us to make certain wagers
in denominations of less than $1. We have so much information available to us,
though we are entitled to more and eventually will get it.
Papa, you of all people know that life is short. I hope you made good use of your
unwanted dark day.
Sorry for the diversion. Back to doping out a solid Derby selection. At this
point I would say that Gilligan and the Skipper had a better chance of getting
the Minnow back to port in three hours.